Billy Lange wanted his St. Joe’s team to ‘stand in uncomfort,’ and it did in a season-opening win

Around seven minutes into a St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team season opener with much anticipation, the horn jammed.

It was not Monday night’s only malfunction at Hagan Arena. The Hawks trailed Navy 16-7 at that point, after it was 14-2 two minutes earlier.

It would have been a nice story if fixing the horn fixed the Hawks’ offense. Alas, it did not. When Navy opened the second half with an 11-4 run, a veteran fan behind press row shouted “Call a timeout, will ya!” at coach Billy Lange, and he did.

(That was a coincidence, before anyone has any more ideas, but it was also fair.)

It took until just before the second half’s midpoint for St. Joe’s to fight its way to a 47-47 tie, then go on to a 70-63 win. In the long run, the details will be forgotten; and even in the short term, the bigger picture was a pleasant opening night sweep for all six local men’s teams.

But in the Hawks’ locker room, there were points to critique before Central Connecticut State visits Friday (7 p.m., ESPN+) — and, of course, before Villanova visits next Tuesday.

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s finds some late rhythm to win its season opener against Navy

Lange spoke of “three behavioral principles” that he wanted his players to work on in the first two weeks of the season: “battle cool,” “you’ve got to figure some things out,” and “stand in uncomfort.”

All three of them were fulfilled, especially the last one, and postgame, Lange had plenty to say about that.

“I don’t want these guys being weighed down by expectations,” he said, knowing that this team carries higher outside expectations than any Hawks team in years. “Whatever the game is in front of you, you’ve got to freaking compete and play it, and I thought we did it. I really, really do.”

The good parts of the box score were Erik Reynolds II’s game-high 29 points; Xzayvier Brown’s 22, 11 of which came from the free throw line, and the team’s 11 blocks spread among seven players.

But Lange did not ignore the bad parts: Navy’s 14 offensive rebounds, 14-1 advantage in second-chance points, and 34-18 advantage in points in the paint. The Midshipmen also took 21 more field goal attempts than the Hawks.

(If you’re wondering how a team can have exactly one second-chance point, you aren’t alone. It seemingly was a Steven Solano free throw after he was fouled collecting an offensive rebound. St. Joe’s was in the bonus at that point, so he automatically went to the free throw line.)

» READ MORE: ‘The power of now’: Billy Lange has his best St. Joe’s team yet, and expectations are high

At one point, Lange politely turned a question back toward the media: “Does anybody know who the youngest team in the Atlantic 10 is?”

There were only three journalists in the room, and not just because all six city teams played Monday night. None had the immediate answer, but all presumed that since Lange was asking, the answer was his team.

“We have four juniors and seniors, we have 10 freshmen and sophomores — it’s not close,” he said. “Now, I’m not making any excuse, because I’d rather have the three guys back that we had [and lost in the] transfer [portal].”

Lange’s point was that for all the hype about the Hawks being the best team in the city to start the season, this game was why he’d been pumping the brakes any time anyone asked him about it.

“We want to win every game by 25 points — that’s the bottom line,” he said. “But that could go either way and I’ve been here when it has. I know what that looks like, I know what the communication on the bench is.”

This time, he saw the communication he wanted. That made the bad parts easier to stomach.

» READ MORE: Phil Martelli has a new podcast and it’s not just about basketball: ‘There will be ripples from this’

“You don’t get the expectation and the adulation, and then think someone’s going to come in here and not give you everything they’ve got, particularly in the opening week of the season,” he said. “Whatever the word you want to use — resilience, fortitude, uncomfort, whatever words you would want to use — you’re always looking for moments. You just hope that you win when you do it.”

Those blocks certainly counted as moments, including two by Rasheer Fleming at key points of the comeback. So did Reynolds finally hitting some threes, and Brown driving hard so often that he drew nine Navy fouls.

“My job is to steward their confidence and not get caught up in what’s going on,” Lange said. “I’ve got to wake them up, but not get caught up in it.”

They did wake up eventually, just in time to get things right.

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