November 16th, 2017: Princeton at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma’am: A three-point barrage early in the fourth quarter gave Princeton a lead they would hold, though barely, in their 85-83 win at Seton Hall. Bella Alarie had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tigers, who put five players in double figures. The Pirates got 21 points from Donnaizha Fountain and a 13-point/11-rebound double-double from Taylor Brown in the loss.

For whining, cough drops, officiating issues, short jokes, and mass confusion, join your intrepid and pressed blogger after the jump.

Basketball never stops. Sometimes I wish it would. I really shouldn’t be in South Orange right now. I have a cold or something that makes my throat hurt at even the thought of yelling at my usual volume. There’s a St. John’s game tomorrow with an early start. It’s a long-ass haul to South Orange, and not one I’m really thrilled about doing in the dark. But Tony wouldn’t get off our asses until one of us committed to going to this game. So here I am in the wrong spot in the bleachers at Walsh, watching as Seton Hall takes on Princeton.

Tony, if you ever happen to be reading these: never again. Ask Kaela or Selena just how far it is from Queens to South Orange without a car, okay?

Three Princeton players knelt for the anthem. I didn’t catch all the numbers, but I could see that Sydney Jordan and Qalea Ismail were two of them. I think the third had a #2 in her number, but I don’t want to throw out names without being certain. There was a bit of muttering behind me when they did it, but nothing I was going to need to start a fight for.

(I support protests. I wish more student-athletes had the wherewithal and political awareness to do so. You can disagree if you want. That is, in fact, the entire damn point.)

I have to find out where Seton Hall gets their pizza for events so I can make sure to never, ever, ever accidentally inflict their inferior product on myself. Don’t look free pizza in the mouth, but dear God that is bad pizza. When you’re hoping that it tasted weird because it was bad and not because the cheese had gone bad, it is bad pizza.

At halftime, Seton Hall is up 40-35 on Princeton. Balanced scoring, lots of flashy defensive plays. Neither team seems thrilled when the other one brings pressure. It’s entertaining when the officials don’t get involved.

I feel guilty about not being loud enough, but my throat hurts so much. I have a backpack full of Ricola, and it still might not be enough.

Tony’s already feeling himself- he got a warning from the ref in the first quarter. Seriously, amigo, have you considered switching to decaf occasionally?

Someone on the Princeton bench is wearing a very unfortunate plaid top. The sleeves are a little too long and the blousy fit doesn’t suit her figure.

Look, guys, if y’all are going to forget how to cover the corner three in the fourth quarter, could y’all maybe send an advance memo so I’m not hiking around South Orange Avenue in the dark? Because South Orange doesn’t really believe in streetlights, at least along that stretch.

You dance with the one that brought you, and Princeton’s starters played well, so Courtney Banghart didn’t really need to use her depth. (The Ivies do tend to depth, I’ve noticed; if you don’t have athletic scholarships anyway, it seems like it’s easier to carry a large roster.) I’m not sure why Kenya Holland got the second half start over Sydney Jordan, or if it was a matter of Sydney Jordan starting over Kenya Holland. Holland got physical, enough that she fouled out in her limited minutes. Gabrielle Rush killed us from the near-side corner- she had two of the three threes that opened the fourth quarter for Princeton and really tolled the death knell for the Hall. Taylor Baur always seemed to be mixed up in loose balls and scrambles for the ball. I thought she used her height very well to be disruptive.

As I said before, I have no idea what the story was with Sydney Jordan and Kenya Holland- who the regular starter is, whether someone was undergoing a disciplinary benching or Banghart was experimenting with her lineup. I do know she committed two very early fouls, and I think that put her in the coach’s doghouse. I don’t know if I’d have Leslie Robinson bringing the ball up on a regular basis- she doesn’t look confident in her dribble, though she at least had the vision to pass the ball off when she got into too much trouble. (On the flip side of that, I’m a little annoyed at our defense for not pressuring her more.) Her offense has really developed since the last time I got a good look at Princeton. She’s no longer the secret weapon she was back then. She still makes the kind of hustle plays and smart plays you expect from a coach’s kid, but she’s backed it up with physical drives in the lane. Bella Alarie is the real deal. Granted, she had a height advantage on pretty much everyone out there, but she’s mobile, she’s got range, and she rebounds very well. Her free throw stroke is pretty, and she goes to the basket with the quickness. I can’t believe she’s only a sophomore.

Listing Tia Weledji as a guard just isn’t right. She’s way more physical than any guard has a right to be. She has a jumper, but overall I’d say she plays more like a forward- if you’re going to make a comparison, maybe a very young Le’Coe Willingham, the one who was move and countermove with DeTrina White back in the day. She never gave up on a rebound. Carlie Littlefield’s quick first step took me by surprise. She took advantage of very small lanes very fast. Her passing game needs some work- we jumped the passing lanes on her pretty well. I’d also want to get a look at the play-by-play to see how many of her turnovers came in the last couple of minutes, when the Seton Hall defense made the last doomed stand.

Can I say how not thrilled I was with Princeton’s tripping? Because I was not thrilled with Princeton’s tripping.

Kaity Healy had one job: foul the designated victim and do so as quickly as possible. She did so. Smart move; Kaity had a fresh set of fouls and absolutely no other relevance to the game. Kimi Evans saw some extended time with the foul trouble on our post players, and because at least she’s taller than everyone else (except for Jayla Jones-Pack, who I’m assuming is hurt {again} because otherwise I think she would have been in the rotation). Her shot needs work. Her mobility needs work. I continue to love Selena Philoxy’s hustle and the work she does on the glass, and I continue to be frustrated with her free throw shooting. Shooting in general seems to be a problem with the squad this year, but we’ll get to that in a little while.

Inja Butina needs to look for her shot a lot more often and a lot earlier in the clock. Normally I am all about the selfless, distributing, facilitating guard. And I love what she brings to the floor on defense, with her pressure and her ability to disrupt the ballhandler. But it got to the point where we were practically playing 4 on 5 on offense. That’s a problem, especially when the big guns are firing blanks, as they were tonight. I don’t know why Kaela Hilaire’s minutes were limited in this one- she didn’t have a great game, but it wasn’t terrible either. Deja Winters had streaky shooting- when she got hot, she got us back in the game, but when she was cold, that made it a lot harder for us to answer Princeton’s shooting. Her defense in the fourth quarter was top-notch- she kept us in it that way.

So now I’ve seen Donnaizha Fountain have a bad shooting game. I suppose it was inevitable. I suppose many things in life are inevitable. It seemed like she was relying too heavily on puck luck, on the lucky bounces high off the rim that didn’t go in this time. There wasn’t as much offensive discipline in her game as I might have liked, and I’m not sure whether that was because of Princeton’s defense or because she was panicking for whatever reason. I still absolutely love her energy- she supports her team even when she’s not on the floor, which to me is a sign of the best teammates. I’ve come to the conclusion that Shadeen Samuels is my current favorite Pirate. (I’ve also come to the conclusion that I have a type when it comes to favorites.) I swear she’s gotten taller. She was fierce on the glass, though she’s got to finish better at the rim- she had a lot of good looks, and she couldn’t get them to go down. I love the vibe she brings to the floor so very much. (That fifth foul on her was a lie. A lie, I tell you. FIGHT ME FATOU CISSOKO-STEPHENS.)

Missing at the rim was the theme of the night, as Taylor Brown couldn’t put it in down low for love nor money. She found her stroke near the end of the game, but it was too little, too late. She had the toughest defender on the floor on her in Leslie Robinson, who pushed her around a lot. They got tangled up quite a bit on both ends of the floor, and usually Taylor got the calls against her. She did get one fantastic block on Robinson, though. It was very satisfying. Nicole Jimenez was unremarkable, except that I don’t know if she was on the same page as Coach Bozzella much of the time. The body language seemed to indicate that there was some kind of failure to communicate going on. (I could be wrong, though.) JaQuan Jackson at least managed to get her points at the line, but I’m still worried about her shooting. We need her offense, and we need her to be an effective outside threat. That doesn’t mean she should stop going to the rack, though.

Guys, we need to have a talk about clock management, and I’m not sure if I should be having this talk with Tony, or with the entire squad. I noticed it originally when we still had LaTecia Smith, but it seems to be a team-wide problem, whether it’s Kaela, Inja, or anyone else with the ball. Y’all have got to know time and score. The play-calling at the end of the half was crap in both halves, culminating in Inja hitting the meaningless three at the end of the game that might have had more meaning if she had taken pretty much the same shot fifteen seconds earlier. I’m starting to think this is a coaching issue.

I am also somewhat confused as to why Kaela Hilaire didn’t play much in the fourth quarter. She’s a better defender than Nicole and more of an offensive threat than Inja. I’m not going to say that any one decision cost us the game, but I don’t think we countered them well.

(I am also starting to think Tony recruits his point guards on the basis of not having to look up at them, but that’s petty and unkind of me.) (And so is pressuring people to make four-hour round trips. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.)

Officials let a lot of contact go early, and were generally inconsistent on the contact they called. I can understand why Tony got the warning and the technical. The fifth foul on Shadeen was the worst, because from where I was sitting, it didn’t look like she was even involved in the play- if there was a foul, it would have been on Taylor Brown, and I genuinely wonder if someone threw up the wrong number of fingers- Taylor wears #23, Shadeen wears #24- and the ref didn’t want to back down from the decision because it would make the officials look weak.

Not a big crowd, but a noisy one. The DayQuil, the Ricola, and the hydration didn’t kick in for me until the third quarter, so for the first half I was limited to banging the clipboard and making wild gesticulations. But unlike some fan bases, Seton Hall fans at least recognize simple percussive cues to get a “DE-FENSE” or “Let’s Go Pirates!” chant going. Apparently I was audible on the stream, though that might have been as much to do with positioning as volume.

I would have enjoyed the game a lot more if it weren’t such a pain in the ass to get to. I’m still exhausted, and I’m finishing these up about an hour before I have to leave for St. John’s. Basketball never stops, but sometimes a blogger has to sleep, you know?