Year in review: Jones departs after season ends, Smith steps in

The 2009-2010 season was rather unremarkable for the men’s basketball team. After three consecutive 7-7 seasons in the Ivy League, the Light Blue failed to break through and earn a winning record, finishing 5-9 in conference play (11-17 overall). Though there were noteworthy individual performances and a few exciting victories, the most important event for the program happened after the season ended.

After seven seasons at the helm, former head coach Joe Jones left to take the associate head coaching position at Boston College under Steve Donahue, former Cornell head coach. Just over a week ago, Kyle Smith—former St. Mary’s associate head coach—was announced as Jones’ successor.

The season started off well for the Light Blue. Though they lost their first game to DePaul by six points, the Lions rebounded with back-to-back wins over Longwood and Bucknell. In those two victories, sophomore guard Noruwa Agho emerged as shooter, knocking down 11 of 12 3-pointers and scoring 47 points over those two games.

The Lions would go on to win three more games against Lehigh, Wagner, and Bryant, while losing four games to Big East powerhouse Syracuse, Sacred Heart, Stony Brook, and Quinnipiac, giving them a 5-5 record heading into winter break. That’s when the problems began. Though the Light Blue had struggled with consistency earlier in the season, often playing well for one half but not the other, this erratic play really took its toll over the break.

Columbia lost four of its five games, with its only victory coming against American. But in that 56-51 win over the Eagles, the Lions lost two of their starters—senior guard Patrick Foley and junior forward Brian Grimes—to injury. Foley sprained his ankle and Grimes strained his calf muscle. Though Grimes would only miss two games and Foley only three, their health issues were just the first of many that would plague the Light Blue.

One of the four games Columbia lost during that stretch was against eventual Ivy champion Cornell. In the Lions’ first conference game, they fell to the Big Red 74-53 at Newman Arena after making only 36.8 percent of their shots.

The Light Blue’s rematch with Cornell at Levien the next week was no better, as Columbia lost 77-51, shooting only 23.2 percent from the floor.

“I was just really disappointed in our offense tonight, because we didn’t move the ball at all,” Jones said after that game. “We didn’t make them work. We didn’t do a lot of the things we talked about.”

Things only got worse for Columbia the next weekend, as it lost to Harvard 74-45 in its second Ivy home game. Foley had returned the week before against Cornell, but shortly before halftime, he was injured again—this time it was his shoulder. Foley was sidelined for the rest of the year, with the exception of his final home game and final away game, playing just three minutes or less in both.

Though things seemed bleak, as the Lions had lost their first three Ivy games by an average margin of over 25 points, Agho remained positive after the nearly 30-point loss to the Crimson.

“I think because we’re losing by so much, hopefully this can be a wake-up call,” Agho said after the Harvard game.

And the Lions did wake up, at least for a little while, winning their next two Ancient Eight matchups. First the Light Blue bounced back from the loss to Harvard with a 63-51 win over Dartmouth the next night.

“We probably hit all our game goals,” Jones said after defeating the Big Green. “We haven’t done that since Barack got elected.”

The Light Blue won again the next weekend, defeating Brown 65-54. In that game, Agho had team highs in both points (18) and rebounds (10), recording his first collegiate double-double.

The next night against Yale, Agho would once again lead his team in scoring with 30 points, but Columbia would not experience the same results. In fact, the Lions were dominated by the Bulldogs, who outscored them 79-64 and outrebounded them 46-27.

“One of my teams hasn’t played like this in a long time,” Jones said after the Yale loss. “We have to get back and really get to the point where we’re competing from the jump ball, and we’re not doing it right now. ... We’re expecting to win without putting the work in and not doing the job. 27-46 is unbelievable.”

After the four-game homestand, the Light Blue took to the road the next weekend, falling at Princeton, 55-45, before defeating Penn at the Palestra 66-62.

After that, Columbia traveled to then-winless Dartmouth, which was looking for its first Ivy win. Fortunately for the Big Green, the Light Blue offense was not clicking that night, as Columbia scored only 15 points in the first half en route to a 48-44 loss.

“We were awful,” Jones said after the game.

The Lions lost again the next night at Harvard, 77-57, dropping them to 3-7 in the league. Columbia rebounded the next weekend, though, defeating Penn 56-55 in a nail-biter thanks to a jumper by Grimes, giving Columbia it’s first sweep of Penn since the 1967-68 season.

“We ran our play and the ball ended up in my hands, and I just tried to make the play,” Grimes said. “It happened to be a fadeaway spin shot, but that was the only shot that was available, and it went in.”

The next night was Senior Night—the final home game for Foley, Kevin Bulger, and Niko Scott. Though the Light Blue ended up losing to the Tigers 67-52, all three seniors received a standing ovation when they were taken out of the game.

“It was a great turnout,” an emotional Foley said after the game. “I want to thank the fans that stuck with us all year, despite it all. It’s a good feeling, even though the way it turned out­—it was good to see all the support in the stands.”

While that was the final home game for Columbia, the players still had two road games left. In their final weekend, the Lions fell to the Bulldogs 65-48 before ending the season with a 65-56 victory over Brown.

The Light Blue finished the season tied for fifth with Brown and Penn, making it the first season in four years in which the Lions did not finish in the top half of the league.

On April 9, about a month after the season ended, Jones announced his decision to leave Columbia for the associate head coaching position at Boston College. Less than a month later, on May 2, the athletic department announced Kyle Smith, a former associate head coach at St. Mary’s, as the new head coach. Under Smith, the team will look to take the next step—an Ivy title.

“We have a great opportunity, we have a lot of talent coming back, a lot of good players—good young players—who are ready to work hard and make a push for an Ivy League title,” sophomore guard Steve Egee said of next season.

With six months until next season, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.