Joe Gallo woke up at 3 a.m. ahead of Merrimack’s opening game against App State. Team meal was completed by 3:33 a.m. But moments after Gallo’s team took the floor at 6 a.m., he probably wished he could curl up in bed.
Todd Brogna picked up two early fouls; the Mountaineers had no problems breaking the zone and gashed it with shot-making. It was 16-3 at the first media timeout. It was 23-3 before Gallo called his first timeout.
From there, the Warriors won the rest of the game, but the deficit was
too much. App State picked up a 63-49 win over Merrimack, dropping the reigning champs to 0-1 to start the new season. It all happened so fast.
“They were the aggressor on both ends,” Gallo told Mid-Major Madness. “That’s a really good defensive team. They provided really good resistance on that end, and I just think that led to our lack of defense as well.”
The Warriors – like every other team — spent the offseason practicing against themselves. For Merrimack, that means seeing a zone defense every single day. On night one of the season, however, Gallo’s squad faced a daunting man-to-man outfit.
App State has finished with the No. 1 defense in the Sun Belt two of the last three years.
“I think that athleticism and physicality was a little eye-opening,” Gallo said. “To see that kind of defense in game one, which is obviously tough to replicate in practice.”
Brogna’s second foul was a bad foul.
On the rebound of the free throw after his first foul, he was whistled for another one. This season, Gallo is hoping to use Brogna as an offensive hub to take pressure off of his point guards. It’ll look more like what it looked like at Stonehill.
But the Warriors couldn’t get into any of that on Monday, and the burden fell on freshman starting PG Ayden Johnson, and his veteran backup, Felician transfer Jeremiah Anderson.
“I just think everyone was a little bit wide-eyed early,” Gallo said. “You got a freshman point guard playing his first college game against a really good defense. I think that had something to do with it as well.”
The Warriors found a rhythm, outscoring App State 46-40 after the initial 23-3 spurt, but Merrimack’s season-opener goes down in the books as a loss anyway. Nobody had an efficient offensive performance. Not scoring leaders, wing transfers Denver Anglin and AJ Lesburt, and certainly not the point guards either.
Despite the resounding defeat, Gallo says he wants to return to the Field of 68 Tip-Off if he gets the chance.
“If invited, I would,” Gallo said.
Scores in the Metro Conference
Iona 56, Vermont 55: In what was otherwise a pitiful opening night for the Metro Conference, Iona grabbed the league’s only Division I win, taking down Vermont on a Kevon Vanderhorst game-winner. With 5 seconds left, just after Gus Yalden gave the Catamounts the lead, Vanderhorst took the ball from a timeout, went coast-to-coast, and laid the ball in with under a second to play.
Vanderhorst led all Metro players with 27 points, a new career high for the Drexel transfer, who looks like a superstar already. Dan Geriot was impressed with his scoring over the offseason, and we see why on opening night. He was the catalyst of everything Iona did on offense.
The Gaels did not do very much well on the offensive end. They’re most-used lineup was Disu-Vanderhorst-Akametu-Ibine Ayo-Mitchell. That’s not a very good offenisve group. There were a few minutes of lineups with Martin Kheil and Luke Jungers together, but most lineups that Iona threw out on the floor were defense-first.
Yalden went for 17 points, but the rest of the Vermont team struggled to enter the paint. They were just 6-16 inside the arc outside of Yalden, as Iona’s deterrent five man, whether it’s Mitchell or Alliou Fall, gave the Gaels defensive push. They held Vermont to .88 points per possession.
Dartmouth 69, Marist 62: This is a bad loss for Marist. The Red Foxes had never lost to Dartmouth under John Dunne before Monday night, and this is projected to be the worst team in the Ivy League. Credit goes to first-year head coach Brett McConnell, but there are definitely things to be worried about for Marist on its home floor.
Myles Parker led Marist in scoring – but didn’t attempt a two-point field goal. None of Jack Graham, Dywane Chess, or Edward Onyia broke into double figures. Jadin Collins-Roberts was forced to do more offensively, and he turned the ball over seven times. Marist only put up 0.89 points per possession.
“He didn’t play up to his potential,” Dunne said of Collins-Roberts. “Part of that is probably fatigue in the first game of the year, in front of the crowd, working so hard.”
Marist needs more than just shooting from Parker, and it needs one of Chess, Graham, or Onyia to emerge as a big time scorer as well. Right now, the Red Foxes have no alpha, You can criticize their offensive efficiency over the last few years all that you want, but they’ve always had somebody to go to to take a tough shot late in the clock. It was Max Allen, then it was Josh Pascarelli, then it was Justin Menard.
Who is this team’s guy? Is it too early to panic, I’d say yes. But my eyes are open.
Bryant 80, Siena 75: Siena led by 11 points in the first half, and it looked like the Saints were going to run away with the opening night game against a tough Bryant team on the road. But Keegan Harvey willed the Bulldogs to victory. He battled with Tim Ibukunoluwa down low, each putting up a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Ibukunoluwa though, has the license to do much more than simply battle down low. He’s brought the ball up, made ambitious passes, attempted a bunch of threes (as did Harvey), and was all over the floor. He also turned the ball over eight times trying to do that. Nevada Smith wants to play with chaos. He’s fine with effort or process turnovers if the Saints continue to play hard.
He’s also emphasizing the three-point shot. They weren’t falling for the Saints on Monday. Siena shot 6-for-27 from threee. Brendan Coyle made two, but Reid Ducharme was 1-for-4, and Pace Prosser was 1-for-5. Freshman Trent Egbiremolen was 0-for-6.
More importantly, Siena shot just 21-for-32 from the line. Parrish Edmond, who had a massive poster dunk in the second half, was 0-for-5. The Saints dealt with turnovers, poor shooting, poor foul shooting, and got out-rebounded by a massive Bryant team, and yet, they had chances to win the game.
They’ll be around. This isn’t a great loss for a team that we expect to be one of the best teams in the Metro, but it’s certainly not as bad as Marist’s.
Michigan State 96, Quinnipiac 59: The Spartans held Quinnipiac to .82 points per possession. The Bobcats shot 6-for-21 from 3, which is probably not too far off from their average night this year. They just won’t be able to keep up with high-major athletes, and they’re gonna win games with athleticism.
West Virginia 91, Niagara 46: Niagara led 16-6 after nearly six minutes. Nothing after that counts.
Pitt 95, Rider 57; Rider scored just .77 points per possession. They were 11-for-33 inside the arc against Pitt’s dual-rim-protector starting tandem. The size mismatch just hurts a team that will want to play smaller lineups.
Xavier 97, Mount St. Mary’s 52: The score honestly doesn’t even do justice how big of a rout this game was. The Mount was down 39-5 in the first half. They shot 3-for-26 from three and turned it over 19 times.
Seton Hall 66, Saint Peter’s 42: Saint Peter’s had no way of scoring in this game. Seton Hall manhandled them inside the arc, forced 16 turnovers, and didn’t send them to the line very much. It’s a little disconcerting for an SPU team that I thought had some better offensive pieces, but Seton Hall is always a tough team.
Penn State 97, Canisius 57: After two high-scoring exhibition performances, Canisius dropped a dud against Penn State. Michael Wilson, who scored 25+ in both exhibitions, scored just six points.
Sacred Heart 111, Coast Guard 44: Number on the board. The Metro did not lose to a Division III school on night one. Jojo Wallace came off the bench and scored 21 points to lead a SHU rout.
Closing Note
The buy games aren’t bad losses, per se, but there wasn’t a ton of positives to go around the league within them. Night one was not great. Night two, with Manhattan visiting Kentucky, probably won’t either. We’ll learn a lot more about these teams in the Metro-America East Challenge on Thursday and Sunday.
