Despite a strong offensive performance by players like Yorel Hawkins, the Stags have struggled defensively. (Peter Cady/The Mirror)
From the moment Ed Cooley took over as head coach he has preached tough defense.
And for most of his career the Stags have played tough defense, at least when they win.
When the Stags offense struggled throughout Cooley’s first season, the defense picked up the slack. Players like Mamadou Diakhate ’08 and Anthony Johnson ’10 stepped in to bring toughness and a presence that made Fairfield a hard team to face every game.
This year the Stags jumped out to one of the best starts in school history, led by a strong-willed point guard and a tough attitude. But lately that defense has slipped and Cooley has seen it happen.
Fairfield is allowing 67 points per game, fifth in the MAAC, but in the past three games the Stags allowed Rider to score 88 points, Loyola 67 and Iona 68. But that does not tell the entire story. Cooley did that emphatically after the Stags loss to Rider, one of the worst defensive performances in Cooley’s tenure.
“We’re just not a very good defensive team right now. To score 80 points at home and lose, it’s embarrassing,” Cooley said. ” We’re just disgusting defensively.”
Cooley preaches pride on defense and lately he has not seen that from his squad.
“Until our guys step up and want to try and do it, with the pride, some intensity and some understanding, we’re going to continue to win games against teams that aren’t good offensively,” Cooley said.
The Stags allowed Rider to shoot 54 percent from the floor in the loss. In Fairfield’s win against Loyola, the Greyhounds shot 52.1 percent, but a tough final five minutes and the best performance of sophomore guard Sean Crawford’s career allowed Fairfield to pull out a 71-67 win.
Ed Cooley
Now Cooley has to find a way to get his team back on track defensively.
“I think our focus has been on defense since I became head coach,” Cooley said.
The Stags showed the defensive “pride” that Cooley wanted to see in the final minutes of the game against Rider, nearly forcing the Broncs to turn the game over. The Stags forced six turnovers in the final four minutes and twice cut Rider’s lead down to four points. But they could not get any closer to that. For Cooley, the comeback was too little too late and was also a trend he has seen far too often.
“We can’t wait until we are down and then realize ‘Oh s*it, we need to play.’ When we did [against Rider] the game changed,” Cooley said.
The Stags senior forward, Mike Evanovich, who scored a career-high 24 points against Rider, also realizes that it is time for Fairfield’s defense to wake up.
Evanovich was 8-for-11 on three pointers. He started the game 8-for-8 from beyond the arc and the eight made threes ties him with Greg Francis and Jermaine Clark for most in a game in Fairfield history.
“It all felt good, they were finding me in open spots,” Evanovich said. “But it doesn’t matter if we came out with a loss – we lost at home and gave up 88 points – All that [the eight threes and record] doesn’t matter.
“Everyone in the locker room knows why we lost, before the coaches came in. We gave up 88 points and did not play defense. It is on us, we know what we are supposed to do, it is on us to go out and do it,” Evanovich added.
Leave a Reply