Offensive woes plague 12-4 Irish over break
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Writer
After going 2-3 since Christmas, the 12-4 men's basketball team is evaluating where it stands heading into the thick of the Big East season.
"We're happy, but we're not satisfied," said freshman point guard Chris Thomas. "I feel like we could have gotten all three of [the games we lost]. In all three of them we didn't play our best game ... Four games you lose by a total of 11 points. You just can't accept that as a player and a competitor."
Despite three losses in five games, the Irish have seen improvements since the opening of the season.
"We've improved and gotten better. The competition has gotten better," starting forward David Graves said. "A lot of people didn't think we'd be in this position ... We're hanging in there. We're right at the line, we just need to jump over it and once we get over that hurdle it'll be downhill and smooth sailing for the rest of the season."
But the last three weeks have been anything but smooth sailing for head coach Mike Brey's squad. Struggling offensively, the Irish dropped games to then No. 21 Alabama, Villanova and No. 12 Syracuse.
"We need to put the ball in the hole," Graves said. "I think our defense is really starting to come together. We need to convert our shots and if we can do that and get back in the groove that we were in earlier then we'll be a tough team to beat."
Never was that more apparent than in Monday's 56-51 loss to the Orangemen at the Carrier Dome. Forward Ryan Humphrey scored more than half the team's points tallying 28 on the night, while the remainder of the Irish squad came up dry. The rest of the Irish combined for just 23 points, shooting 9-42 from the field and 5-24 from behind the arc. Even Humphrey, the game's leading scorer, went 1-7 before turning up the heat against a stingy Syracuse zone defense.
"We weren't able to get into a groove offensively," Thomas said. "We didn't have our fair share of easy buckets."
The Irish have struggled with slow starts, poor shooting and an inability to finish close games in recent outings. The task for the team now is to prove that the last few weeks will not be the norm for the rest of the season.
"We want to be 16-0, but the games we lost we had chances to win. That's all you can ask for," Graves said. "We just want a chance to win the game ... We've had our struggles, but the mark of a good team is they way you bounce back from those struggles."
The Irish plan to start that bounce back to the winning column Saturday when they play host to Kentucky at the Joyce Center.
"Hopefully we'll come out with a win and get us back on the winning track and get us rolling," Graves said.
Playing to the home crowd will make that task all the easier.
"It's been tough playing on the road," Humphrey said. "It's going to feel good having our students there."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 16, 2002
