Long Island overwhelms Bulldogs
Loss of Elisias hurting Bulldogs in the paint
SMITHFIELD – College basketball coaches spend the summer and fall months diagramming and designing schemes based on the personnel that will be counted upon once they toss the ball into the air for real.
In the case of Jared Grasso and the Bryant Bulldogs, it can’t be easy when the team you envisioned coaching seems snake-bitten with injuries to key members at seemingly every turn.
In the same week Bryant welcomed back senior SaBastian Townes – he missed 12 of the first 16 games due to a knee injury – the Bulldogs saw their best interior defender (redshirt junior Hall Elisias) become the latest to join the walking wounded.
Not having Elisias for the second straight game – he’s dealing with not one but several injuries – was not the main reason why Bryant dropped its fourth straight game, a 74-60 setback to Long Island on Saturday. Still, when you don’t have the services of the top shot blocker in the Northeast Conference and the opposition piles up 34 points in the paint, it’s pretty easy to declare that Elias was sorely missed.
In his private moments, Grasso probably wishes he can coach a Bryant team that was at full strength. As much as he tried to downplay the injuries, the coach broke it all down when faced with a second injury-related question during the postgame presser.
“It’s difficult. I’ve had so many guys in and out at different times. We were playing well, then Charles Pride gets hurt. He comes back and the rotation is a little funky again, then (Nathaniel Stokes) and Bash get healthy. Now Hall is out,” said Grasso. “You want to be mixing and matching in November, not in January, but you play the hand you’re dealt.”
Grasso is trying to see if Townes can supply something after being out of commission for a lengthy stretch. If Saturday’s scoreless outing in eight minutes is any indication, Townes still has a long way to go. He now has two points in two games since returning to action.
“I’ve got to throw him out there to see if he can get into the shape that he was in. It isn’t the greatest timing to be doing that, but I owe that to him because he gave me so much last year,” said Grasso. “I came in here and didn’t know if he was going to last. He lost 30 pounds and worked his tail off. One thing about me is that I’m loyal. I’m going to give him the opportunity to get back into shape and help us. I could move in another direction if that doesn’t happen, but the way he’s carried himself and the respect he has for our program, he’s earned this opportunity. Hopefully he’ll continue to improve.”
At this stage of conference play, there’s nowhere for Bryant to go but up. With a stretch of five of six league games inside the Chace Athletic Center set to come to an end Thursday – 7 p.m. tipoff against Wagner – some may say the Bulldogs are facing a must-win as schedule turns and what awaits is five of seven games where Bryant serves as the road team.
“As long as we keep working and our culture stays right … I don’t get panicked by this stuff. It’s not a façade. It’s the truth,” said Grasso. “I know we’re going to be okay. I have freshmen playing a lot of minutes and they’re learning on the fly. We have to expedite our curve so by the time March rolls around, we’re good enough. We’re going to put ourselves in position to do that.
“We could be sitting here at 4-1 and I would be feeling a lot better, but I probably wouldn’t be looking at some of the adjustments I need for us to be good when it matters,” Grasso added. “We’ll be a little desperate on Thursday and need to find a way to win, but I’m worried about the next moves and steps that will put us in position to be successful.”
Of the 62 field goals Bryant attempted, 35 were from beyond the arc. Bryant made just seven threes, which shakes out to a cover-youreyes 20 percent.
“It’s the way we play. Most of them, I thought they were good shots. I’m sure there are people out there who think I’m crazy, but I have a belief in the way the game should be played and have confidence in my guys,” said Grasso. “They’re good shooters. Eventually they’re going to make shots.”
Bryant went with a defensive-minded starting lineup and soon found itself trailing 10-1 after committing turnovers on three straight possessions. The deficit was eventually wiped away with the home team leading as many as five before the Sharks got their act together right before halftime. Tyrn Flowers was key as LIU ended the first half on a 9-2 run to grab a 37-31 lead at the break.
The iron continued to be unkind to the home team as the second half started with Bryant missing 15 of 16 from the field. The misses allowed Long Island to surge ahead by as many as 14 points. The Sharks had plenty of chances to put the Bulldogs down for good but also suffered through their own offensive droughts.
Despite shooting 26 percent in the second half, LIU (9-9, 4-1 NEC) never allowed Bryant to get any closer than four points. Raiquan Clark and Flowers lived up to the billing as the Sharks’ two best players. Each posted a double-double and combined for 39 points and 25 rebounds.
“They were tougher than us,” said Grasso. “I’ve got to figure some things out, but that’s the challenge. I’m not afraid of this. I’ve been through a lot harder situations.”
For Bryant, Juan Cardenas turned in his second straight solid performance with a team-high 15 points. Leading scorer Adam Grant never got on track and finished with nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.