By Dan Wanat
With a 34 point drubbing of in-state rival University of Hartford, CCSU extended its winning streak to three behind their best overall performance of the year.
Offensively, the Blue Devils shot 62 percent from the field and 64 percent from three as Ken Horton, Robby Ptacek and Kyle Vinales combined to score 69 of the team’s 92 points.
Defensively, CCSU made the Hartford Hawks look like a small child getting lost in Wal-Mart on Black Friday holding them to just 13 first half points.
With the loss, the Hartford Hawks moved to 0-6 on the season losing by an average of 17.1 points per game and scoring an anemic 55.2 points per game, which is good for 332nd in the country.
The Hawks also started four freshmen and have seven freshmen on the roster for what Head Coach John Gallagher deems to be a rebuilding year for the program after losing four starters to graduation.
While Hartford’s winless record and young lineup promotes them to stand behind excuses and lackadaisical play, I give the Hawks credit for working hard and playing with spirit. They came out of the gate like puppies that had just been penned up all day and finally got let out. The team was scrappy, feisty and hard-working with a lively bench standing and cheering every early play.
This excitement and hope was expelled quickly as the Blue Devils finished the half on a 42-7 run putting the game further out of reach then the idea of Kim Kardashian winning a Grammy.
Avoiding the temptation to play down to their winless counterparts, the Blue Devils weathered the early storm and played a relatively flawless first half of basketball. On defense, they played tight man-to-man coverage leading to what became an insurmountable lead for the offensively-challenged Hawks.
On the offensive side of the court, hot shooting complemented the Blue Devils’ great defense as Ptacek and Horton both individually scored more first half points than the whole Hartford Hawks team combined.
As is usual with a Howie Dickenman coached team, different variations of the weave offense were run seamlessly. However, what really caught my eye was the introduction of a new play, at least in the games I’ve seen, that allowed Horton to establish himself in the post.
It’s a simplistic play run by many coaches across the country where the two forwards set up screens to get the guards from the post area out to the wing. The screener then immediately has the post up position and a good angle to receive a bounce pass from the guard.
Again, this play is a basic, foundational type play, but Howie will be able to build variations off of it that will make both Horton and the Blue Devils offense more versatile and tougher to stop.
The lack of a legitimate post presence (Horton spent most of his time near the three point line in the early season games) left me worried about struggling against good defensive guards, but with the addition of this post presence from Horton, CCSU becomes much more efficient offensively.
Now I realize that it is early in the season, but CCSU is already beginning to play some good basketball. Their young, freshmen guards are earning valuable minutes and adding depth to the team as De’Angelo Speech sits with an apparent foot injury.
The defense has shown signs of being suffocating and the sharp shooting guards have shown glimpses of versatility on the offensive end that give fans a lot to look forward to as the season progresses.
The Blue Devils may not have won any awards for beating a winless Hartford team, but the steps being made each game garners optimism for the upcoming conference games.
