After an 81-77 win against St. Bonaventure last weekend, the Fordham Rams ended their short road trip at 1-1 with a 78-56 loss to Saint Louis last Wednesday. Returning to Rose Hill a few days later, the Rams’ struggles continued as they lost to Duquesne, 74-63. The Rams never held a second-half lead in either game.
As Fordham heads on the road to take on Davidson on Wednesday, they will have to reflect on the common trends in recent losses to avoid falling to 1-5 in A10 play.
Game 18: Saint Louis 78, Fordham 56
With several Rams on and off the injury list, depth has been a major issue for Fordham in conference play. A problem against any opponent, Fordham’s shallow rotation was further accentuated by conference leader Saint Louis running 10-deep against the Rams.
“They have depth and athleticism,” Rams coach Mike Magpayo said by phone Thursday. “They play in two formations, so it’s basically like that [playing] two different defenses.”
Defensively, Saint Louis negated one of Fordham’s biggest strengths in their efficiency off the offensive glass. Against the Billikens, Fordham scored just 7 points off 16 offensive rebounds, their least efficient margin in the conference thus far. Along with several missed layups, Fordham’s recent inconsistencies under the basket represent a high-priority area of improvement for the Rams’ frontcourt tandem of Jack Whitbourn and Rikus Schulte. The two big men combined for a 5-17 performance from the field.
Fordham’s struggles on the front court were only exacerbated by the performance of Saint Louis big man Robbie Avila. Avila was everywhere for the Billikens against Fordham. On one possession, he hit an open three from the right wing to put SLU up 11-5. At another point, senior C fought through contact to grab an offensive board and earn a trip to the line, hitting both to give his team a 23-19 lead. He finished the night with 9 points and 5 boards. Four Billikens scored in double figures, and as a team, SLU recorded 11 second-chance points off 8 offensive rebounds.
With little room to work inside, Fordham tried to kick out, but couldn’t either from mid-range or beyond the arc. Coach Magpayo was impressed with the way his team controlled the pace against SLU, but the same pace doesn’t matter if you can’t match the production.
“We kept it to a 61-possession game, and then that was it [the focus] It’s going to be shoot or not,” Magpayo said. “We didn’t make enough of it. They made more.”
Fordham shot 31.3% from the field (23.1% from three) against SLU, while the Billikens shot 50.9% (40% from three).
Despite the loss, Dejour Reaves had another great performance for Fordham. Reaves, Fordham’s only scorer averaging double figures (19.8 PPG as of 1/19) in conference play, has laid a consistent offensive foundation that Coach Magpayo hopes to build on soon.
“Now we just need to bring a few other guys along to be that consistent,” Magpayo said. ‘but it’s very encouraging if Dae Dae can still do that against a defense that just took us to court and made him and Christian really, really bad [Henry] work each possession to the entire field.
Against the Billikens, Reaves led all Rams scorers with 18 points on 7-15 shooting from the field. Christian Henry was the only other Ram to finish in double figures with 12.
Game 19: Duquesne 74, Fordham 63
Three days later, the Rams welcomed students back to campus with a matinee game against Duquesne. The Dukes took a big lead early thanks to a 4-8 start from three, putting them up 18-7 at the under-12 media timeout. Dae Dae Reaves only had two points at this point in the game as he received extra attention from the Duquesne defense. After the game, Dukes head coach Dru Joyce III talked about how his team prepared to limit Reaves from the field. Breaking down the film, Joyce prepared his men to stop Reaves’ effectiveness through what he exaggeratedly described as “100-something ball screens.”
“He still showed up places,” Joyce said. “We just tried to make it difficult for him. I thought we did a good job not letting him find teammates.”
Reaves finished the game with 17 points on 8-18 shooting, but also recorded more turnovers (2) than assists (1) for the first time in conference play.
In the under-12s, Fordham’s offense finally started to click. Akira Jacobs hit a three from the left side to bring the Rams within 20-10. Rikus Schulte fought through contact and grabbed a second chance to make it 22-12. On the ensuing possession, Kingston Price picked up a steal on Jimmie Williams and scored in transition to make the game 22-14 and force a Duquesne timeout on the floor. In the under-4s, this 7-2 lead quickly increased to 16-5 while Duquesne led 25-23.
As the first half came to a close, Fordham held Duquesne scoreless for 4 minutes, 52 seconds. Duquesne’s Jake Dimichele broke the drought with a layup to give the Dukes a 27-23 lead three minutes before halftime. As impressive as Fordham looked defensively, the Rams hadn’t scored an own goal in just as long. Duquesne led 30-27 at halftime.
In his post-game presser, Coach Magpayo lamented Fordham’s slow start and how it kept the Rams from fully closing the gap late in the half.
“It was a bit disappointing,” Magpayo said. “Some guys just didn’t have it early in the first half. Our energy wasn’t there in the first eight minutes.”
Fordham opened the second half with four goals, but was able to string together enough stops to trail only 33–30 to the under-16s. From the TO, Jimmie Williams hit an and-1 layup, and Alex Williams scored a three on the ensuing Dukes possession to take a 39–30 lead.
Luckily for Fordham, a returning Abass Bodija led a brief seven-point surge to get the Rams back within a bucket. In his first appearance since December 22, Bodija hit two quick jumpers and completed a successful and-1 to get the Rams within 39-37. After the match, Magpayo described Bodija’s fearlessness in attack, a trait he shares with teammate Roor Akhuar.
“Those guys are not afraid to score, not afraid to put the ball in the basket,” Magpayo said. “Roor’s fearlessness is really missed at the moment, and Abass came in and did the same [style of play]. I feel like guys are a little cautious, and Abass isn’t.
Bodija finished with 7 points, 4 rebounds and a block. Roor Akhuar hasn’t played since December 31 against Dayton.
Despite Bodija’s short run, Duquesne dictated the pace of the second half, forcing 15 Rams fouls on his way to 19 free throw attempts. Even with a pair of late threes and an overall improved offensive performance from the first half to the second, Fordham simply couldn’t match Duquesne’s consistency.
“I thought this was our worst fight of the year, and that’s what’s disappointing,” Magpayo said. “Everyone will have to reflect, evaluate themselves and hold themselves accountable. We will stand by our process and step away from it… we should have been ready for this.”
The Rams return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Davidson.
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