Photo Credit: GW Men’s Basketball
By: Scott Greaney (@ScottGreaney_)
On a warm, humid evening in the U.S. Virgin Islands, men’s basketball could not overcome a first half in which they shot just 25% from the field and trailed by 19 at the half. Jacoi Hutchinson delivered a career-high 19 points, sparking a second-half rally that brought the Revolutionaries within four. However, his career night was hindered by late-game cramps, and the early deficit ultimately proved too steep to overcome.
In arguably the premier out-of-conference game for the Revolutionaries, GW’s vast differences from a perennial NCAA Tournament contender like Kansas State were evident from the opening minutes.
The Revolutionaries missed their first five field goal attempts – a common trend of slow starts in this young season for the Revs – and really the deciding takeaway from Friday night’s contest.
“I thought we got some good looks that we couldn’t convert and we couldn’t set our defense much at all because we were constantly getting back in transition,” head coach Chris Caputo said. “I thought they manipulated the back of our defense pretty well.”
After averaging 38.7 rebounds in the first four games of the year, the Revolutionaries were dominated on the boards, as Kansas State had a 26-12 rebounding advantage in the first half.
The highly sought-after transfer forward of Coleman Hawkins had 6 rebounds in just the first half while playing some solid lockdown defense on Darren Buchanan Jr, keeping him to just 5 points on 1/4 shooting in the opening period.
Fueled by a 10-0 run that pushed their lead into double digits, the Wildcats never relinquished control, heading into halftime up by 19. Kansas State was able to carve up the GW defense early on, having 12 assists on 15 made shots in the half. Another notable Wildcat transfer, Dug McDaniel, thrived off the high pick and roll, dishing out four of those 12 assists in the period.
“I think we needed a better understanding of how fast Dug McDaniel was and how hard we had to work to corral him to make his pass-outs a little more difficult,” Caputo explained.
With their backs firmly against the wall, the Revolutionaries finally found their momentum coming out of the break, kickstarted by a pair of free throws and a pull-up three-point jumper from Hutchinson all in the first two minutes of the second half.
The Revolutionaries began to find their scoring touch, even with Hutchinson sidelined by apparent calf cramps, as Christian Jones and Gerald Drumgoole Jr. each drained a three-pointer to spark the offense.
GW’s comeback effort ultimately reached its peak when Jones picked Dug McDaniel’s pocket and finished with a layup on the other end. It seemed like there was a game on our hands out of nowhere. Jones finished in double figures for the second time this season and combined with Hutchinson for 29 points, proving to be a solid guard pair come conference play.
“I think (Jones) is a really good young player. Our guard play is somewhat inexperienced, but those guys are doing a very good job,” Caputo said. “(The team’s) not shooting the ball well enough for them to get a lot of assists as you’d like, but I think those guys have done a really good job.
In response to the Revolutionaries’ newfound fight, a stepback three-pointer from Hawkins and a back-breaking four-point play from a Max Jones corner three on back to back sequences proved stifling for the Revolutionaries’ comeback hopes.
With the lead back up to nine with under nine minutes to go, the Revolutionaries tried to return to their bread-and-butter strategy of getting Darren Buchanan Jr. going downhill to his dominant right hand.
However, the length and size of the Kansas State frontcourt proved to be the kryptonite for Buchanan Jr., as he finished with a season-low nine points and committed a season-high four turnovers, albeit seven rebounds and five assists.
“When there’s some size at the rim, it’s more difficult to finish over,” Caputo said. “I thought those guys moved their feet pretty well on him.”
With Dayan Nessah out due to an illness and Zamoku Weluche-Ume still recovering from a wrist injury, Buchanan Jr. played all 40 minutes of Friday’s game, an area that’ll be interesting to keep in mind as GW has two games left in the Virgin Islands.
Caputo also attributed Buchanan Jr.’s high minute log to the success of GW’s jumbo lineup with Buchanan Jr., Sean Hansen and Rafael Castro on the court at once. This rotation has been a popular desire by fans on Foggy Bottom but has yet to be seen much in the young season so far.
While the loss may be seen as a missed opportunity for the Revolutionaries to challenge another Power Five program, their 10-0 run in the second half highlighted noticeable progress compared to last season. Despite the frontcourt’s struggles, the game showed the potential to be more competitive down the stretch. Simply put, it’s difficult to win games let alone against Power Five teams when you come out cold in the first half and go scoreless for nearly three minutes in the back end of the second half.
After suffering their first loss of the year, GW will continue their Paradise Jam tournament play Saturday evening against Louisiana. Coach Caputo will look to get back to the paint and take care of the ball against a Ragin’ Cajuns team that just gave up 46 points in the paint in a 20-point loss to Liberty.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and the game can be live streamed on ESPN+. I will be doing my live coverage and will also have a game write-up shortly thereafter.
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