Fordham Head Coach Jeff Neubauer (Image Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports0
Fordham’s woeful shooting in the first half put them in a big hole. At halftime they were down by 21 to La Salle while just shooting 27 percent from the field. Despite shooting over fifty percent in the second half Fordham lost to La Salle Saturday afternoon at Rose Hill Gym, 73-60.
In the first half, Fordham struggled on defense and on the boards. La Salle out-rebounded Fordham 27-11, eight of those rebounds came from sophomore guard Saul Phiri. For much of the first half, La Salle had a small lead until about the five minute mark where they went on an 11-0 run, led by Amar Stukes. The senior guard finished with 14 points in the first half. Senior center Tony Washington finished with eight points in the first half. The Rams managed only four points in the last eight minutes of the first half.
In the second half, La Salle held control of the game until the 13-minute mark when Fordham cut a 22-point lead down to 10. With the Rams trailing 53-31, senior guard Will Tavares and junior forward Slanina Prokop put together a 22-10 run. Tavares scored 11 points and Prokop added six points. Their second half surge came after both scored an abysmal three points in the first half. With 5:14 left to play and the score 63-53, the Rams looked ready to take over the game. But La Salle managed to pull away with the victory.
Four of La Salle’s starters were in double figures. Senior forward B.J. Johnson led the way with for the Explorers with 23 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks. Stukes added 16 points. Washington had 14 points while junior guard Pookie Powell also chipped in with 14 points.
Fordham has now lost four in a row and sits last in the conference with a 9-19 overall record, 4-12 in the conference. The Rams have two games left in the season and would like to finish strong.
When asked about the team’s struggles and how to cope with losing Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer said, “I’ve never been apart of this, so I can’t refer back to some other experience. All I can do is tell my team is I’m not going away, I’m not quitting.”
March 3rd is Senior Day for Fordham at Rose Hill Gym. Coach Neubauer shared his thoughts about the day.
“It’s about the emotion the players feel,” Neubauer said. “It’s about the emotion they bring because as a coach you literally go through senior day every year. As a college basketball player you only get one senior day, you’re a senior only one time, so hopefully our team will bring a fighting spirit.”
Fordham’s next game is against George Washington at the Charles E. Smith Center Wednesday 7pm.
Desi Rodriguez of Seton Hall (Image Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
In the biggest game of the season for Seton Hall, Desi Rodriguez couldn’t buy a bucket. The senior forward missed his first five shots from the field, he also committed two turnovers.
The timing simply couldn’t be worse.
Seton Hall’s season, full of promise, was spiraling out of control. They’re in a fight to stay afloat in what’s become a logjam in the middle of the Big East standings. A loss this past Sunday in Newark to DePaul, the last place team in the conference, would be a body blow for the Pirates and their postseason hopes for March.
But with the pressure on and a sense of urgency inside the Prudential Center, there was Rodriguez and his fellow seniors struggling from the opening tip.
With a little over seven minutes left in the first half, Rodriguez found his shot. He drained a three-pointer to break a 23-23 tie. He hit two more from downtown which keyed a 10-3 run from Seton Hall.
Rodriguez found his shot just in time, he finished with a career-high 33 points. When Angel Delgado, the walking double-double, wasn’t pulling down rebounds he was diving on the floor for loose balls. It wasn’t pretty by any means but the Pirates escaped with a hard-fought 82-77 victory over DePaul.
[irp posts=”565″ name=”Seton Hall Keeps Tournament Hopes Alive With Win Against DePaul”]
These are tough times for Seton Hall and they needed badly to beat DePaul. The win over the Blue Demons snapped a four-game losing streak which raised red flags all over the place. With the Big East tournament quickly approaching, these are desperate times for the Pirates.
Head coach Kevin Willard’s senior core group of Delgado, Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington, and Ismael Sanogo have struggled with bouts of inconsistency. It would’ve been easy to understand Willard shaking things up.
But instead of playing his younger players more against DePaul, Willard doubled down on playing his seniors. When Rodriguez missed his first five shots, it looked like it wasn’t going to be his night. Instead of sitting him down, Willard let him work through it. The move paid off.
The logic is simple, Willard knows this group has been through this before. What made Seton Hall an early favorite to make noise in March is their experience. This team is battle-tested and familiar with adversity visiting around this time of the season.
Seton Hall’s win over DePaul, gritty as it was, did little to remove any of the current concerns surrounding them. Their final four games left on the schedule will set the tone for their last postseason run together. It won’t be easy.
These are tough times for the Pirates, but history has shown they’ll rise to the occasion for one last ride.
Seton Hall forward Desi Rodriguez earlier this year. (Image credit: AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Seton Hall won a tight game against Big East foes DePaul, 82-77 Sunday afternoon in Newark. The win pushed the Pirates to a .500 record in the conference and gave them an 18-9 overall record.
Desi Rodriguez scored a career-high 33 points and Angel Delgado added 16 points with 19 rebounds for Seton Hall.
The game was close in the first half until Rodriguez sparked a 10-0 run. The senior hit two three pointers in the run which helped the Pirates take a 31-23 advantage. The lead grew to 12 before DePaul went on a 10-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 38-36 at halftime.
Delgado kept Seton Hall afloat in the first half with another double-double. The senior scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Delgado’s play energized the Pirates at a time where they struggled to get it going.
Seton Hall barely shot over 30 percent from the field in the first half. But Delgado’s relentless hustle, diving for loose balls and extra effort on the boards helped give his team life.
In the second half, Rodriguez caught fire by shooting 9 for 11 from the field and making all five of his free-throw attempts. Delgado kept his production up by grabbing eight rebounds and scoring six more points.
As Seton Hall kept scoring so did DePaul, keeping the game within reach with the lead being no bigger than eight points. Marin Maric kept the Blue Demons in the game. The center shot eight of nine from the field and knocked down two three-pointers.
In the final minute of the game Seton Hall looked poised to close the game with a win, but DePaul kept fighting and the Pirates found themselves in a tight game. Eli Cain made two free throws for the Blue Demons to cut the lead down to 77-71.
Seton Hall freshman guard Jordan Walker missed two free throws, which kept the Pirates’ lead at 77-73. DePaul’s Max Strus hit a huge three to trim the lead down to 79-77. Walker was at the line again, but this time made one out of two free throws. Cain’s missed layup led to Rodriguez closing out the game with two made free throws.
After the game, Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard described the importance of Delgado’s leadership and why the team feeds off his energy.
“He’s our emotional leader, Willard said. “He always has been, since day one when he stepped on campus.”
Willard also confirmed Degado’s improved play and his feeling better after having knee problems.
“The fact that he feels really good right now, he got back into playing basketball and playing the way he always plays.”
What’s Next?
Seton Hall will look to get a win streak going against Providence Wednesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
The Mets report to Port St. Lucie, Florida this week. There’s plenty of buzz around the team with new manager Mickey Callaway taking over.
Pitching is once again the projected strength of this team. Their ability to stay healthy, however, is a legitimate area of concern.
What doesn’t appear to be a concern is the communication skills of Callaway. That’s not a knock on his predecessor, Terry Collins, but how quickly Callaway can win over his new team will be intriguing.
In his press conference, with pitchers and catchers already reporting to camp, Callaway raved about his first extended look at his pitching staff.
“I got to sit there and watch bullpens in the last week and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Callaway said. “The amount of very good arms and quality stuff we have in this Mets organization, I promise you nobody else has that. I have been around some pretty good arms and this is the best group of arms and stuff that I’ve ever seen, from top to bottom. It’s really amazing.”
Callaway, along with first-year pitching coach Dave Eiland, have their hands full with a staff full of question marks. Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, and Steven Matz missed significant time last season and highlighted the injury woes of the Mets in 2017.
Anthony’s Perspective
By praising his pitching staff, I thought new Mets manager Mickey Callaway made a great early impression in his first spring training.
The injuries to Syndergaard and Harvey helped put the Mets in an early hole they never recovered from. Of the five projected starters for 2017, only Jacob deGrom managed to avoid the major injury bug.
Harvey and Matz are still major question marks in the rotation, not far behind is Zach Wheeler.
The Mets are coming into camp this year excited and already talking about getting back to the playoffs. But this is a team which must crawl before they can walk again.
Every team coming into spring training gets excited for the fresh start a new season begins. But those early expectations lead to humbling realities really quick.
Callaway’s early praise of the pitching staff will help sustain the confidence of his players as the spring progresses.
Fordham freshman guard Ivan Raut (Image credit: fordhamsports.com)
After being down as many as 17 points in the first half the Fordham Rams made an incredible come back in the second half to secure a 67-66 win over George Mason, at historic Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx.
Prokop Slanina and freshman Ivan Raut led the comeback by shooting 50% from the 3-point line in the second half. Will Tavares and Joseph Chartouny also contributed with each making a pair of threes in the second half.
The game started slow for the Rams. In the first half they shot a poor 31 percent from the field and 18 percent from the 3-point line. In the middle of the first half the Rams gave up a 21-0 run which lasted 8 minutes. That run was led by George Mason’s junior guard Otis Livingston II who scored 8 points in that stretch.
The Rams were killed on the glass, George Mason out rebounded Fordham 28-14 which helped give them a 10 point lead to close out the first half, 33-23. Despite Fordham’s struggles in scoring, junior forward Prokop Slanina led the team in scoring with 9 points while shooting a little under 40 percent.
Rams Begin To Click In Second Half From Three
Within a few minutes into the second half Slanina started the three-point attack cutting George Mason’s 11 point lead down to eight. The next couple of threes came from senior guard Will Tavares and junior forward Joseph Chartouny, cut the lead down to one, at 47-48.
In the six minute mark of the second half the Rams took the lead thanks to a critical 3-pointer from Raut making it 58-56. With the three-point surge coming along, the Rams looked more energized on defense and on the glass. Fordham pushed the lead to five, at 67-62, but George Mason’s freshman guard Ian Boyd hit 2 shots to cut the lead the down to one.
With 24 seconds to go, Tavares struggled down the stretch. He missed a jumper then turned over the ball, which led to a George Mason steal. The Patriots couldn’t convert that turnover into points cause of a missed layup by Javon Greene. Tavares got another chance to score thanks to a block by Joseph Chartouny and he was fouled. Unfortunately, Tavares missed the free throw and the Patriots got one more chance to win the game. Otis Livingston II, with three seconds left, heaved a long distance three that fell short and the Rams won 67-66.
Fordham out rebounded George Mason in the second half 20-19. This was huge given that George Mason destroyed them 28-14 on the glass. The star of the night was forward Prokop Slanina. He was the team leader in points scoring 17 while getting 5 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 steals.
Coach Jeff Neubauer said of Slanina, “He is the center of our universe, he is important. It’s like asking how important is the sun? The sun is pretty important in this world.”
What’s Next?
The Rams will look to get revenge against Duquesne this Saturday at 12:00pm in A.J. Palumbo Center.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles led the underdog to Super Bowl glory. (Image Credit: John Biever/NFL)
“Hate it or love it, the underdog’s on top.” – 50 Cent
If the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do, then the Philadelphia Eagles must be on cloud nine.
Because of a willingness to embrace the role of underdog, the Eagles left Minneapolis, Minnesota as Super Bowl champions. They did it with a stunning 41-33 victory over the favored New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium.
History has shown us how much we love watching the underdog dream the impossible dream. Fans of the Rocky movies can attest to watching Rocky Balboa run the streets of Philadelphia training for a fight no one thought he’d win.
The Patriots, the team most outside of New England love to hate, were heavily-favored to win their sixth Super Bowl title. The Eagles found themselves pitted against the NFL’s juggernaut, and defending champions.
How did the Eagles do it? What did it take in order for them to overcome the odds? Here were three factors I believed played key roles:
Heart and Fire
For over a decade now, the Patriots have stayed at or near the top of the NFL with the arrogance, skill, and star power of Apollo Creed. Their resume is intimidating enough to make you think Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago were coming through the tunnel before kickoff.
We already know how it turned out for the “Italian Stallion”. A mixture of “heart and fire” fueled Rocky in each of his battles inside the ring, he was the underdog in all of them.
Heart and fire is a key component for any underdog to achieve success. You have to really want to win, that’s where it starts and ends. That passion inside of us, once realized, must be ignited.
I believe successful motivational speaker Eric Thomas captured it best with this quote:
“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.”
Throughout the 2017-18 season, the Eagles showed plenty of heart and fire during a campaign which had plenty of setbacks along the way. But it still came down to embracing their role.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson (Image Credit: Kirt Dozier-USA TODAY Sports)
Owning Your Truth
Of the three, this one I feel provides the most impact. The Eagles, by embracing their role as the underdog, owned their truth.
Mindset and transformational coach Rebecca Mckown, in the Huffington Post, wrote “The truth of the soul is powerful. The weight of the ego is sometimes more powerful.”
The numbers rarely ever lie. The Patriots came into Super Bowl LII with future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, a future Hall of Fame head coach in Bill Belichick, and five Super Bowl rings in seven tries together.
Those are tough odds to go up against for any team. The Eagles had backup quarterback Nick Foles, who took over late in the season for the injured Carson Wentz. Their head coach, Doug Pederson, didn’t begin his coaching career until 2005 at a private high school in Shreveport, Louisiana. In February of that year, Belichick and Brady were winning their third Super Bowl in four years.
In the game, Brady threw for 505 passing yards, a Super Bowl record. He added three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
But from the opening kickoff, the Eagles were the aggressors and made sure they stayed that way until the clock hit 00:00. Pederson rolled the dice twice on fourth down and came up a winner. It’s really the only way to beat a juggernaut like the Patriots, you have to stay aggressive.
Foles threw for 373 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. It was enough to not only win the game, it earned him the Most Valuable Player Award.
It would be easy for anyone to look at the tale of the tape and put the smart money on New England. But, despite a 13-3 regular season record (identical to New England), Philadelphia went throughout the playoffs as the underdog. This included their NFC wild-card win over the Atlanta Falcons, at home.
This wasn’t new territory for the Eagles and, like they’ve done all season, they embraced the role of underdogs because the numbers clearly said that’s what they were. By doing so, the Eagles lived in their truth and owned it all the way to a Super Bowl title.
Tom Brady came up short in his bid for a sixth Super Bowl ring. (AP/Chris O’Meara)
The Resilient Eagles
Every NFL team wants to succeed, however, in the end it always comes down to which team’s the most resilient.
If there’s a new poster-team for the next-man up position, it must be this year’s Eagles team. They lost Wentz, a regular-season MVP candidate, in week 14. Before that, it was nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, linebacker Jordan Hicks, running back and speedster Darren Sproles, and Chris Maragos. All key players on offense, defense, and special teams.
“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo-far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” – Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper
The Eagles didn’t take a knee once the injury list began to fill up with names, they plugged the next player in and persevered on with their season.
With every step forward afterwards, confidence grows. By the time the Eagles lined up against the almighty Patriots in the Super Bowl, they were ready for what was ahead because they’ve been battling all season through adversity.
Resiliency is an important characteristic for the underdog to possess. This life will throw punches at us which will occasionally put even the strongest down on the mat. Those who can get up and keep fighting leave a lasting legacy.
It’s been a long time coming for the city of Philadelphia and its football fans.
By showing heart, owning their truth, and displaying remarkable resiliency, the Eagles showed what it takes as an underdog to win on the field. They also gave justification to life’s sweet pleasure of doing what everyone said they couldn’t do.
