Columbia Couldn't Find Ways To Win

Over the course of a rough weekend for head coach Joe Jones and his Lions, Columbia was given its own initiation into a new Ivy League. On the same weekend that perennial favorite Princeton was swept by the traditionally weak duo of Harvard and Dartmouth, the Lions were not in their best form, suffering a pair of losses and blowing a chance to establish themselves in an expanding field of Ivy contenders.

In Friday night’s game against the Bulldogs, the Lions suffered from the same problems they experienced in their first Ivy loss, a 30-point drubbing in Ithaca. Simply put, the Lions did not match the effort of down-on-its-luck Yale, who entered the game without an Ivy win under their belts.

“They played like a team on the ropes,” Joe Jones said on Friday night. “We played hard, but not hard enough. We just need to play consistent basketball. A couple things go our way in the first half, it’s a different game. I was more concerned about the fact that they seemed to be beating us to loose balls than us being down.”

The lack of urgency manifested itself in a number of different ways throughout Friday’s game—the Bulldogs benefited greatly from a number of shots from sophomore forward Sam Kaplan as the shot clock was winding down, taking the air out of an otherwise solid Lion defense.

“They were able to get us deep into the shot clock, and it seemed like we were chasing them around a lot on the defensive end,” Jones said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of going from full-court defense to half court defense, and really tightening up and being able to keep guys in front of us. They consistently beat us off the dribble.”

The Lions also failed to make their usually constricting press pay dividends against the Bulldogs, who turned the ball over only 13 times despite constant full-court pressure.

“We probably went after them a little too much, but that’s how we’ve been winning games. I don’t think that’s why we lost the game; [we lost because] their will to win was a little bit greater than ours,” Jones said.

After being outplayed on both ends of the court on Friday, Saturday’s heart-breaking 54-52 loss to the Brown Bears came down to a stagnant Columbia half-court offense. With leading scorer senior guard Matt Preston bottled up by constant double and triple-teams from the Bears, the Lions’ ball movement suffered.

“Sometimes we tend to pass the ball around the perimeter too much and not drive to the basket,” Jones said. “We really have to work on it. We’re still out there with some inexperienced guys, two freshmen—Brett [Loscalzo] and Mack [Montgomery]—and at times those guys aren’t used to doing the things they need to do on a regular basis.”

Senior Jeremiah Boswell, who was able to briefly invigorate the Lions’ attack down the stretch in the second half by driving to the basket, also felt the difference on the court.

“A lot of times our offense is to go inside to Matt [Preston], Dragutin [Kravic], or Gerard [Barrett],” Boswell said. “A lot of times, they double down and crowd, and that’s when we have to hit our outside shots.”

On Saturday night, the Lions were just 4-for-23 from beyond the arc, allowing the Bears to clamp down on the Lions’ inside players. Preston managed only eight points, well below his season average of 15.1.

“Last year, [Preston] had some games like this where he struggled to score because they crowded him. When we shoot the ball at 17 percent for the game, they’re not going to be able to help,” Jones said. “Each guy’s percentage is better than what they shot [on Saturday night]—normally we’re going to make some shots and expand the defense a little more, and they won’t be able to concentrate on Matt [Preston]. They were able to do what they did because we couldn’t hit shots.”

After a 52-point showing at home, it was clear the Lions will have to work on their offensive execution before they make the trip to Penn and Princeton next weekend.

“We have to be able to space a little bit better,” Jones said. “We’re trying to get the ball inside to Matt [Preston] and we’re just kind of throwing it in, throwing the ball around the perimeter and standing around. That will be addressed—that kind of thing is fixable. Offensively we didn’t get it done tonight, but we played pretty hard.”

However, Jones professed to be much happier with a bad shooting effort on a high-effort night than an overall low-effort night.

“It’s a tough loss, I’m not going to sugarcoat that. We played extremely well in the first half, and they played well in the second half but I felt like we were right there,” Jones said. “We dug in and made some tough shots late in the game. We haven’t been doing a very good job at home. I feel bad for our fans – they really come out and support us, and they deserved a win tonight.”