Photo credit: Jason Aigner
By Matthew Brooks (@brooksie1219)
GW Men’s Basketball headed into Wednesday’s matchup against Saint Joe’s in the midst of an eight game losing streak, and were without two of their key starters due to injury: redshirt freshman forwards Garrett Johnson and Darren Buchanan.
Despite the obstacles, the Revolutionaries (14-12, 3-10 A10) nearly took down the Hawks (17-10, 7-7 A10), but ultimately fell short and lost 79-75.
“I was proud of my guys,” said second-year GW head coach Chris Caputo.
“We really got what we wanted in terms of the pace of the game, changing defenses. [That] gave us an opportunity to be in position to win the game, which was a very difficult thing for us here, undermanned without Darren, without Garrett.”
The game started off with both teams shooting lights out. Dealing with the injuries they were, GW needed graduate guard James Bishop IV to step up, and he certainly did his part, especially early on. In the first eleven minutes of the game, he notched 17 of GW’s 25 points. He slowed down as the game went on, but still finished with 32 points shooting 45% from the field, along with four assists, playing all but 22 seconds.
Freshman guard Jacoi Hutchinson also had a standout performance playing nearly the entire game, finishing the night with 12 points, five assists, and seven rebounds in 38 minutes.
“He’s getting a lot of opportunity. And so when you get a lot of opportunity, you either rise to the occasion or you don’t. And I thought he did, I thought Trey did, I thought Zam did.” Caputo said.
Freshman guard Trey Autry and forward Zamoku Weluche-Ume both had extended minutes due to injuries, and both of them made important contributions to the Revs effort. Autry finished with six points, two assists, and three rebounds. All of his six points came off of two critical threes in consecutive possessions that took GW from down 49-47 to up 53-51 with 15:29 left in the second half, giving them their first lead since 20-19 with 12:31 left in the first half.
Weluche-Ume, who averages eight minutes per game, was given the chance to play a season high 18 minutes. He was able to contribute, scoring seven points and grabbing three rebounds, including a super athletic dunk in a huge moment in the middle of the second half.
With around two minutes left, graduate guard Cameron Brown hit the potential dagger three-pointer putting SJU up 74-68. To make matters worse, redshirt sophomore wing Maximus Edwards turned the ball right back over, giving the Hawks a chance to run out some clock and potentially make it a three score game.
But two consecutive missed shots from SJU and two consecutive scores from Bishop put GW back within one at 74-73 with 38 seconds left to play. After freshman guard Xzayvier Brown drained both of his free throws, GW had their chance to strike: 76-73, their ball, 32 seconds left. Bishop went up for a three with around fifteen seconds left, looking like he was trying to draw the foul, but then passed out of it and missed his target in Hutchinson. GW only turned the ball over seven times, but between Bishop’s miss and a complete airmail by Edwards with 2:05 left to go, two of those seven had an outsized impact on the game.
“I think JB was a little bit gassed. Maybe I could have done a better job of trying to find something as they change their defense to get us a better look.” Caputo said about the ending sequence.
Ultimately, the loss came down to the Revs defense, an area in which the Revs have struggled mightily throughout conference play and that Caputo has said comes down to personnel. All five of Saint Joe’s starters had recorded points just nine minutes into the game. The guard trio of junior Eric Reynolds, Cameron Brown, and Xzayvier Brown finished with a combined 49 points on 50% from the field. However, there was promising three point defense, with the Hawks being held to 9-for-22 from behind the arc on the night.
The GW starting lineup continues to see shake ups, game in and game out. Tonight graduate forward Antoine Smith Jr got his first start of the season and continued his stretch of decent performances. In 33 minutes he shot five threes and made two of them, had two assists, and grabbed a block and a steal. He did have a tougher time guarding some of St. Joe’s bigs, but there were constant mismatches against players like redshirt freshman Christ Essandoko who is seven feet tall and 285 pounds. It’s rare to see a player stick out like a sore thumb for their size on a basketball court but this was one of those times.
Caputo spoke about the starting lineup, specifically the notion of continuing to start Autry over Edwards, who has been coming off the bench as of late.
“We’re functioning very well with this group here,” Caputo said. “It’s a challenge for us defensively, no matter who we start, but offensively in the last two games… Richmond is the number one defense in the league. It’s the second best offensive performance against their defense in league play. So I like the way we’re functioning with this group. And I think those guys are sharing the ball well. And again, I think it’s going to be a challenge with our youth, our injuries right now defensively as it is. So we’re just trying to put a group that functions well together out there.”
While there was lots of promise shown on the floor of Hagan Arena, a ninth consecutive game still went into the loss column. GW continues on their worst losing streak since the 2008-09 season. Their eleventh and last loss of that streak was to St. Joe’s at the Palestra (where GW practiced this past Tuesday) on a Wednesday night in February. The then-Colonials went on to beat Fordham 87-62 that next Saturday, a game in which guards Damian Hollis and Rob Diggs led their team to victory with 19 and 17 points respectively.
GW travels to Saint Louis this Saturday to take on the Billikens (9-17, 2-11 A10) at 3:00 PM EST. That game can be streamed live on ESPN+.
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