Here’s how St. Joe’s can keep the good times rolling in the new year
It has been a nearly perfect start to the season for St. Joe's. The Inquirer takes a look at what the Hawks can do to keep it going as conference play begins.
Things are never perfect, but the beginning of this college basketball season has been close to ideal for the St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team.
The Hawks are 9-3 entering their final Atlantic 10 tune-up Friday night vs. Loyola (Md.) at Hagan Arena. They won the inaugural Big 5 Classic tournament. They knocked off Villanova on the road for the first time in nearly two decades. They took current No. 8 Kentucky to overtime and probably should have won the game in regulation. They even received Associated Press Top 25 votes in consecutive weeks before their 89-82 loss at Charleston last week.
Things are going well on Hawk Hill in coach Billy Lange’s fifth season. Here are three things the Hawks need to stay in the hunt for the top of the A-10 and make a push for the NCAA Tournament.
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Keep the balance
St. Joe’s goes as star guard Erik Reynolds II goes. The junior is among the best players in the A-10 and one of the best mid-major players in the country. But St. Joe’s has been so good offensively through 12 games because of its scoring balance.
A season ago, just three Hawks averaged double figures. This season, there are five players scoring at least 11 points per game, with Reynolds’ 17.4 leading the way.
Previous versions of St. Joe’s would find it difficult to win if Reynolds had an off night. Now, Lynn Greer III, Xzayvier Brown, Cameron Brown, and Rasheer Fleming are capable of having a big night.
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Keep shooting
If you know anything about Lange, you know this part might be the easiest. The Hawks are going to shoot three-pointers, and a lot of them. Only four teams shoot more threes per game than the 30.2 triples St. Joe’s fires on a nightly basis.
The key? Keep making them at a high clip.
The Hawks are making 36.6% of their three-point attempts. It’s not elite — it ranks 66th in Division I — but it has been more than good enough on most nights.
Xzayvier Brown, a freshman from Roman Catholic, has been better than expected in this department. He exits the holiday break making 48.9% of his three-point attempts. He’s a few attempts shy of qualifying for the NCAA leaderboard, but that percentage would be good for third in the nation.
What makes St. Joe’s so dangerous is that all five of its top scorers can shoot from beyond the arc with efficiency.
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Hope for Essandoko’s health
St. Joe’s entered this season looking like it had a whole lot of depth. But Christian Winborne left the program with the intent to transfer, and redshirt freshman Christ Essandoko has been battling a toe sprain that has limited him to just five appearances.
Suddenly, the Hawks have an eight-man rotation. Their three veteran guards, Reynolds, Greer, and Cameron Brown, play more than 30 minutes per game.
In some ways, you could argue that the current rotation is working well. The ball is moving and the shots are going up.
But what team couldn’t use a 7-foot center with the skills Essandoko possesses? If nothing more, the big man’s return would add another body to the equation.
Fleming, at 6-foot-9, is the Hawks’ biggest rotation player at the moment. The A-10 lacks dominant big men, so it won’t hurt them in the long run.