Light Blue Needs Offensive Flow

Coming into this season, the Columbia men’s basketball team was expected to take some time to adjust to the loss of four of last year’s starters—Ben Nwachukwu, John Baumann, Mack Montgomery, and Brett Loscalzo.

Coming into this season, the Columbia men’s basketball team was expected to take some time to adjust to the loss of four of last year’s starters—Ben Nwachukwu, John Baumann, Mack Montgomery, and Brett Loscalzo. The uncertainty was just how the losses of the four seniors would affect the team.

Though just six games into the season, the Lions stand at 2-4 and the loss of both 55.8 percent of last season’s scoring and a go-to force in the post, Baumann, has clearly affected the offense. Last season, the Lions’ offense tended to revolve around Baumann, a two-time All-Ivy League player, as coach Joe Jones set up off-the-ball screens and hand-offs to get him open in the post. However, with his absence and the youth of this year’s team, the offense has lagged behind the defense thus far.

Last year, Columbia averaged 63.7 points on 42.2 percent shooting (33.2 percent from three-point range), while committing only 13.8 turnovers per contest. The low turnover rate allowed the Lions to stay competitive in almost every contest. This year, in contrast, Columbia has averaged 57.7 points on 37.4 percent shooting (25.0 percent from three-point range), while committing nearly 16 turnovers per game.

This trend has become even more prominent in the last three games—all losses. Against UMBC, Albany, and Stony Brook, the Lions fell behind early and became more reliant on three-point shooting, which is never beneficial. Rather than working through the offense, Columbia forced poor shots, causing stagnation.

In the past three games, they have scored only 54 points per game while shooting 32.4 percent from the field and 26.6 percent from behind the three-point line—all well below their season averages. After the UMBC game, in which Columbia shot 27.4 percent and missed numerous point-blank lay-ups, coach Jones acknowledged that he expected that the offense would struggle at times this season.

“I think this is an eye-opening experience for us. I knew at times we were going to struggle offensively,” Jones said. “There’s no way I’d think we’d shoot 27 percent, but even in practice at times, I could tell that we just need time to play together.”

As Jones pointed out, the offensive struggles are partly a result of the Lions not having played as a unit for a long time. A number of Columbia players were injured during the pre-season, such as Asenso Ampim and Niko Scott. Columbia also has a number of players that have little in-game experience, making it difficult to pick up the opponent’s defensive schemes and adjust. Additionally, with the complexity of a new offense, it has been difficult for many players to pick it up, resulting in a lot of one-on-one play.

As time goes on, the team will pick up the offense and win more games with their already stout defense and solid rebounding. But, as the offense goes, so will the success—meaning this year’s team just needs more time to play together offensively. When that happens, this team could become dangerous.