The Whitman men’s basketball team dropped both of its games during this weekend’s trip to Oregon, falling to George Fox University in a high-scoring battle on Friday, Feb. 5, 103-90 before turning in an icy shooting performance in a 81-64 loss to Pacific University on Saturday, Feb. 6. These latest losses: combined with the team’s recent five-game losing streak: leave the Missionaries in a tie for sixth in the Northwest Conference with a record of 4-8.
Prior to the beginning of conference play, the Whitman men appeared poised for a groundbreaking season. They won six of their first eight games playing an intense brand of basketball reminiscent of former Arkansas Razorbacks Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell,” a style characterized by full press defense and a fast-paced offense. Due to their frantic pace on both ends of the court the Missionaries lead the conference in steals, turnover margin and field goal attempts.
Pacific University turned the ball over 26 times against the Missionaries, normally a staggering number for any team-let alone the winning team-but a number that has been approached and passed several times by Whitman’s opponents. Coach Eric Bridgeland’s sticky full court press has insured that his team has plenty of opportunities to score. However, the team has struggled to hit shots in Bridgeland’s dribble drive, which is largely dependent on the three.
“Recently we have tried going inside more,” said first-year guard Peter Clark. “When we go to the post and let those guys work down there we get a lot of high percentage shots which helps open up the perimeter.”
Whitman leads the Northwest Conference in field goal attempts, but they are last in field goal percentage. Whitman also ranks last in the league in assists per game for the second year in a row, largely a result of their poor shooting. The Missionaries may be second in the conference in points scored per game, but after studying the box score it becomes apparent that although Whitman has more chances to score than their opponent in any given game, the team is not consistently executing offensively. This trend continued against George Fox last Friday.
The Bruins of George Fox countered Whitman Coach Eric Bridgeland’s fast paced attack with a nine-man deep bench with sweet shooting throughout the game, hitting 57 percent of their shots. Whitman was able to keep pace for most of the game thanks in large part due to a balanced offensive attack featuring five players scoring in double figures led by Clark with 17 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc.
However, a four-point nail biter at half time quickly became a 13-point George Fox lead thanks to an 18-7 run by the Bruins. The lead would shrink to eight at one point, but that’s the closest the Missionaries would get Friday night against a George Fox team they had beat 90-85 last month.
“We were already running on fumes[after the first half] — George Fox’s depth wore us down by the end of the 2nd,” said Bridgeland.
Last week the Whitman men responded to their loss against Lewis and Clark by rallying for a surge of points and a win against Willamette. Sadly, this week Whitman ran into a wall in their Saturday game against Pacific, a wall built by their own missed shots or bricks in the basketball world. First-year LaQuam Thompson and sophomore Brandon Shaw were the only Missionaries in double figures with in their 81-64 loss to the Boxers with 16 and 12 points respectively.
Bridgeland feels that the Missionaries’ struggles on offensive are due to a lack of confidence.
“We are making each player hit one hundred 3’s and one hundred free-throws [this week, in practice] to build up their confidence,” said Bridgeland. “But at the end of the day, we have to hit our open shots.”
Colin Wester’s 19 points led Pacific, who also received an excellent contribution from 6’6″ senior post player Ross Bartlett, who finished the game with a double double consisting of 13 points and 15 rebounds; he also added five blocks.
Pacific University was able to take advantage of the Missionaries’ offensive woes, cruising to a relatively easy 81-64 victory. Whitman struggled mightily from the field the entire game shooting 28 percent overall and only 14 percent from three-point range. During one particularly cold 10-minute stretch in the first half Pacific outscored Whitman 16-2.
Clark spoke about how the team tries to maintain a positive attitude when the shots aren’t falling.
“We talk about shooting each shot as you mean it,” said Clark. “That’s got to be our focus; if we do that they’ll start dropping eventually”
Poor offensive execution has been Whitman’s bane throughout the 2009-2010 season. The Missionaries have only scored less than 80 points in a win once this season, during a late November win over the hapless: and winless, 0-20: Cal Tech Beavers, 78-63. The Missionaries will need to turn this trend around in their last four games in order to complete their first winning season since 1998.
Whitman will need to win out in order to have any chance at making the playoffs, starting with this weekend’s home games against Pacific Lutheran University, Friday, Feb. 12, and The University of Puget Sound, Saturday, Feb. 13. They will have to defy the odds the following Tuesday, Feb. 16, against eighth-ranked NCAA Division III Whitworth University.
