SU Basket Blog

Agony Against the Anteaters: SU women eclipsed by Irvine on last-second layup

With nine seconds remaining in their Saturday afternoon encounter against UC-Irvine, the members of the Seattle University women's basketball team might have allowed themselves to hope and dream of a road victory.

Those dreams would be dashed just eight seconds later.

It's one of the most familiar sights in scholastic basketball - men or women, college or high school: A team takes a late one-point lead, only to give up a winning basket just before the buzzer due to the understandable instinct to stand and watch as a game is decided.

Anyone who loves basketball, anyone who has played this beautiful sport since childhood in the backyard or at a public playground, has visualized a last-second shot. Time stands still. Everything blurs into a slow-motion tableau of bodies who stand like statues while YOU, the action hero, speed to the basket or rise up to hit a game-winning jumper. If you breathe basketball, you know that last-second situations bring about a desire to observe how the ending will unfold. Before young people played the game, they watched the game and loved it.

It's perfectly natural to become a spectator in the final minutes... but that's the very same reason why college and high school coaches grow gray hairs, too. Saturday, Joan Bonvicini - who has been through the battles and has surely witnessed many stand-and-watch sequences in the final seconds of games - saw her team succumb to that very dynamic in Irvine, Calif.

With nine seconds left, SU's Ashley Brown hit two free throws to give the Redhawks a 59-58 lead. After a 30-second timeout during which Bonvicini set up her defense, the visitors stood just one stop from their first road win in 2009, a milestone moment in their evolution.

The fun wouldn't last, thanks to the stand-and-watch syndrome.

Irvine worked the ball down the court, and with one second on the clock, Anteater guard Keyonna Johnson - who met little resistance from SU's defense - got to the rim and banked in a layup for a 60-59 victory that left the Redhawks with a gut-punched perspective.

The next time SU owns a late one-point lead, this game and its heartbreaking conclusion will motivate the Redhawks to keep their feet moving.

Chairmen of the Boards: SU men clean up on the glass, dunk UC-Davis

In a game that must have reminded Cameron Dollar of his Pac-10 days, the Seattle University men's basketball team turned around its extended road trip.

As a player at UCLA and as Lorenzo Romar's assistant coach at Washington, Dollar learned to handle the rhythms of a Thursday-Saturday two-game test, the regular routine in the Pac-10's seasonal schedule. When SU took on UC-Davis in a Saturday showcase, just 48 hours after falling at Cal Poly on Thursday, the Redhawks had to make the same journey their leader had endured so many times before. Happily, Dollar's road warriors wiped away the taste of their weeknight wipeout with an afternoon delight in Davis, Calif.

Just how did Seattle stop the homestanding Aggies by an 88-78 score at The Pavilion? The answer's rather clear: The Redhawks took their hosts to boarding school.

SU outrebounded Davis, 46-26, punishing the Aggies on the offensive glass by a 19-6 count. Davis might have shot the ball better (49 percent to just 47 for SU), but a steady stream of second-chance points enabled the Redhawks to claim and maintain the upper hand. SU's foul shooting still wasn't spectacular, but a 19-of-29 day at the charity stripe (just under 66 percent, a lot better than the Cal Poly debacle) did enough to keep the Aggies at bay.

Dollar and his club will blessedly have a week to rest before finishing a six-game roadie this Saturday at Eastern Washington. Tip time is 1:05 p.m. in Cheney, Wash.

The Charity Stripe Blues: SU men give away loss to Cal-Poly at the foul line

It was an evening most foul for the Seattle University men's basketball team in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Everywhere you looked in Mott Gym on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, ugly and acutely painful ironies were waiting 'round the bend to haunt coach Cameron Dollar and his road-weary Redhawks, in their fourth game of a six-game road trip.

This was supposed to be the game in which SU repaid former boss Joe Callero - now on the Cal Poly bench - with a revenge-filled thumping after Callero switched schools in early April.

This was supposed to be the game in which the conquerors of Mountain West mainstay Utah got back on the beam following a one-point loss to Wofford last Saturday in Las Vegas.

This was supposed to be the game in which the up-and-coming Redhawks reminded Callero and Cal Poly - who were 0-5 entering this encounter - that Seattle U's program was better than the one Callero inherited several months ago.

Instead, a Thursday night throwdown in Southern California turned Callero's frowns upside-down, while leaving the Redhawks in a state of utter disbelief.

There's only one stat you need to know about in Cal Poly's 85-74 win over SU, which gave the Mustangs their first win of the season and dropped Dollar's crew to 4-4. Free throws are supposed to be free, and the foul line is often called the charity stripe for a reason, but in this game, SU paid a price for those uncontested standstill shots 15 feet from the basket. Moreover, the Redhawks were generous at a place on the court where selfishness is a basketball virtue.

Yes, we're just trying to make you brace for the full weight of this statistic, and we can't hold it back any longer.

Here goes (sigh): Seattle U went 22-of-48 from the free throw line in this game. In other words, the Redhawks missed a majority of free throws, 54 percent to be exact. Yes, that's not a misprint: SU made just 46 percent of its foul shots.

Charles Garcia? He went 7-of-18, worse than his 9-of-18 performance from the field. Aaron Broussard? He made just 3-of-9 charity pitches. Reserve guard Garrett Lever? Coming off the bench didn't help the son of former NBA great Lafayette Lever. The offspring of the one nicknamed "Fat" experienced thin times at the line, going just 5-of-11 on the evening.

To put this in greater perspective, SU would have won with a 34-of-48 outing from the line, or a modest 71 percent clip. And had the Redhawks shot 81 percent from the line (39-of-48), they would have had several points to spare.

Free throws almost led to defeat for this team in a narrow win over Fresno State in the home opener back on Nov. 19. On an early-December evening just two weeks later, the foul line foiled SU's plans for a conquest of Joe Callero.

As Cameron Dollar gets his club ready for a date with UC-Davis (Saturday, 1 p.m. Pacific time in Davis, Calif.), one doesn't have to wonder about the main point of focus in the Redhawks' locker room. As this season continues, other teams - not SU - must pay a price when Charles Garcia and Co. get fouled in the act of shooting.

Redhawk Women Keep on Rolling

By Nick Cannata-Bowman, Staff Writer

SEATTLE--What started out as a rough debut season for new coach Joan Bonvicini has quickly taken a welcome turn.  After kicking off the season with six straight losses, the Redhawk women have won back-to-back games, with last night's win versus Pacific Lutheran University taken in decisive fashion.

The first minutes of the game were characterized by shot clock violations on multiple possessions, as the Redhawks offense couldn't work the ball from the perimeter into the paint.  Three minutes into the game, Seattle University had barely managed to scrape up a hard-earned five points.  Soon thereafter, however, the team that won its first game of the season two days earlier managed to rediscover its winning ways. The Redhawk women sped up the tempo of the game to take a commanding first half lead of 38-16.

Largely inefficient out of a set offense, the Redhawks found their rhythm once the pace of the game sped up. On the strength of defensive stops behind the 3-point arc, SU guards Cassidy Murillo and Kourtney Park changed the tenor of the proceedings.  PLU's offense was barely able to function inside the arc, as the zone defense employed by Bonvicini called for one guard to put pressure on the ball at all times.  More often than not, this ended in a steal followed by a basket in transition.  Simply put, Seattle U outran Pacific Lutheran up and down the floor, penetrating to the basket for easy layups at will. 

The second half was more of the same, except at this point Seattle U's guards were sinking threes at a 47-percent success rate, up from their 33-percent clip from the first half.  Leading the way with 16 points, four 3-pointers, and 4 blocks, Ashley Brown was by far the MVP of the game.  Not to be outdone, forward Maggie McCarthy led the way on the defensive end with 5 steals and unrelenting defense on the ball.

With a refreshing blowout win to build some confidence on the cusp of a tough December schedule, the Redhawk women are headed in the right direction.  Next up is a brief road trip to California to face UC Irvine, followed by a much-anticipated matchup with the University of Washington at the Connolly Center on December 9.

E-mail: cannatab@seattleu.edu

Two Splits, One Big Breakthrough: SU women win first game, while men lose to Wofford

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Seattle University's men's and women's basketball teams split a pair of games, but in ways that produced decidedly different emotional outpourings.

On Saturday at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, the men dropped a nail-biter to Wofford, losing 84-83 on two free throws with 14 seconds left in regulation. Charles Garcia missed what would have been a game-winning jumper with two seconds remaining.

Garcia threw down 41 points and owned the floor throughout the afternoon, but in a scenario akin to what the Cleveland Cavaliers have often experienced with LeBron James, the dominating performance by a superstar caused the supporting cast to stand around and watch, with generally poor results. SU falls to 4-3 on the season, and has a new teachable moment to learn from after a four-game winning streak.

For the SU women's team, a weekend split - seen by casual observers as a modest achievement - is anything but pedestrian. Joan Bonvicini's ballclub used the Seattle U Thanksgiving Tournament to post its first win of the season.

Following a Saturday evening 69-58 loss to William and Mary, the Redhawks finally cracked the win column on Sunday afternoon with a rousing 68-63 triumph over Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Bonvicini Bunch finally found the scoring punch that's been missing for much of the season, as the Redhawks hit 14-of-30 3-pointers, with five from Ashley Brown (23 points), three from Maggie McCarthy (14 points), and three more from reserve Samantha Messersmith (9 points), who have SU a huge lift coming off the bench. Now at 1-7, the pressure is off for a team that no longer has to worry about breaking the ice.

The remainder of the women's season - which begins on Tuesday at home against Pacific Lutheran at the Connolly Center (tip time at 7 p.m.) - can allow this team to simply focus on continued improvement and growth.

Victors in Vegas: SU men push past Presbyterian, win fourth straight

The good-time vibes continue to flow for Seattle University's men's basketball team. Fittingly, a red-hot ballclub is adding to its basketball bank account in a city known for providing pleasure.

Cameron Dollar's crew cashed in Friday by winning the first game of the Las Vegas Invitational. SU fought off Presbyterian College by a score of 67-63 to move to 4-2 on the young season. The Redhawks will try to make it 5-2 by sweeping their Sin City series today against Wofford at Orleans Arena.

A few notes are in order as SU's freight train of confidence keeps gathering steam: For one thing, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweeted that SU's RPI (ratings percentage index) stands at 94, which would be good for an upper-division rating among Pac-10 teams.

Second, the Redhawks' 98-81 loss to Portland on Nov. 17 suddenly looks a whole lot better. Portland, you might have noticed, is the story of the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif. The Pilots pulverized not-so-mighty UCLA by 27 points on Thursday, 74-47, and then notched an even bigger win on Friday by knocking off No. 16 Minnesota, 61-56.

Seattle U's standing in the college basketball world just keeps rising, and we're not even done with November.

Let the good times roll... in Vegas, and everywhere else.

High Output, Wrong Outcome: SU women score big, still lose to Sacramento State

The Seattle University women's basketball team is thankful to have Joan Bonvicini as its coach, and the highly-credentialed bench maestro is just as grateful to have a new opportunity in her long and storied career.

Wednesday night at the Connolly Center, one could tell that Bonvicini's methods are paying off... even if desirable scoreboard outcomes are still lacking.

After facing tenacious defenses from the likes of Purdue and Dayton, the Redhawks were able to post their highest point total of the season on Thanksgiving Eve against Sacramento State. Yet, the visiting Hornets were able to escape Seattle with an 80-68 win that puts SU at 0-6 on the young season.

Call this result lamentable if you wish, but the game flow reveals unmistakable signs of progress. The Redhawks played with a lead for stretches of time, something they hadn't managed to do over the previous few weeks. Moreover, if SU had been able to shoot better than 9-of-19 from the foul line - a very correctable weakness as far as basketball diagnostics are concerned - the Bonvicini Bunch just might have won its first game of 2009.

Yes, the scoreboard still put frowns on faces at the Connolly Center, but don't let that fact obscure an even more important reality: Improvements are slowly but genuinely emerging for the women of Seattle University basketball.

A box score appears here.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Youth Movement Trumps the Ute Movement: SU upends Utah, moves to 3-2

Last year, the Utah Utes reached the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region. This year, Seattle University's men's basketball team has proven itself to be superior to coach Jim Boylen's ballclub.

Yes, Utah lost star center Luke Nevill in the offseason, as the imposing Australian took his size and strength to the NBA's minor leagues, but the Utes have still been one of the better programs in the Mountain West Conference over the past several seasons. It's a tremendous accomplishment for SU to walk into the Jon M. Huntsman Center and steal a 77-74 win that left the home team mumbling and grumbling. What jumps out on the stat sheet is the Redhawks' 45-32 rebounding edge. No Nevill, no effectiveness for Utah on the glass.

Go ahead and say that Utah lacked a massive man in the middle; it doesn't matter. Utah should be able to reload more than this upstart program that's just beginning to get accustomed to Division I play. Seems as though the Dollar Days are already bearing fruit in the Redhawks' return to college basketball's highest level of competition.

Undefeated at the Key: Seattle U Men take down Weber

By Nick Cannata-Bowman, Staff Writer

The Seattle University men have officially arrived.  After starting out the season with a couple of rough losses to Oklahoma State and Portland, things now are beginning to look up in the wake of a 91-87 victory over Weber State on Sunday afternoon.  As satisfying as the win is, the final score doesn't paint an accurate picture of the way the game played out; SU was even stronger than the numbers would suggest.

Up until the final few minutes, the Redhawks were dominant in all aspects of competition.  In the first half, Weber State had no answer for the unstoppable inside game of forward Charles Garcia, who was getting to the basket while facing little to no resistance.  With slow rotations on its double-teams of Garcia, Weber could not figure out how to stop Seattle U's inside game.  

The turning points of the game came in a multi-possession sequence that began with 9:20 to go in the first half.  Garcia got the ball at the top of the key, as the lane to the basket parted like the Red Sea.  After a thunderous dunk, Garcia pulled down a defensive rebound on the other end and crossed the length of the floor for an easy layup that was accompanied by a foul.  Garcia's dunk was the catalyst for a 14-4 Redhawk run that turned a four-point deficit into a six-point lead.

As the first half came to a close, Garcia had thrown 22 points on the board, accounting for almost half of Seattle U's 48 first-half points.  The second half opened with another lengthy Redhawk run, which any fan would have expected to be the final nail in the coffin for the visiting Wildcats. 

Seizing control of the tempo of the game, it seemed as though nothing would stop SU. With as much as a 15-point lead with 7:38 to go in the game, it appeared as though the Redhawks were cruising to an easy victory.  Even with a largely dormant second half game by Garcia, the rest of Seattle U's lineup picked up the slack and provided a balanced attack. Aaron Broussard, Chris Gweth, Cervante Burrell, and Mike Boxley all scoring in double figures for the Redhawks, who blended well together and showed a great deal of cohesion at the offensive end of the floor. SU's offensive performance represented a considerable upgrade over Thursday night's more uneven display against Fresno State.

With a comfortable lead and very little time left, the game was all but won.  But then the Redhawks' defense started to get lazy.  Playing man-to-man, Seattle U started dropping back on its defense assignments behind the arc, allowing Weber State to shoot easy 3-pointer after easy 3-pointer.  What was originally shaping up as a blowout win quickly turned into a close game.  With the outcome on the line, Garcia awoke from his second-half slumber to finish off the Wildcats in the final few minutes of regulation.  A layup and a free throw later, SU had established a comfortable cushion once again, with the Redhawks emerging victorious for the second time in a row.

This is not a bad start to the Redhawks' occupancy of Key Arena by any stretch of the mind.  Next, Cameron Dollar's club will go back on the road to take on the University of Utah, hoping that its home momentum carries over to the Mountain time zone.

E-mail: cannatab@seattleu.edu

Traveling Home from the Travelers Classic: SU women lose twice more in Indiana

The Seattle University women's basketball team got a cruel break from the schedule maker at the Basketball Travelers Classic in West Lafayette, Ind.

Roughly 18 hours after finishing Saturday night's 68-54 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas, coach Joan Bonvicini's team had to come back on the court at Mackey Arena, on the campus of Purdue University, and take on the Dayton team that stunned the host Boilermakers on Saturday afternoon.

The results weren't pretty.

The Flyers cruised to a 75-37 victory to close out the three-day event, sending SU home with a world-class basketball education, but also the sense that teams should play night games following day games, not the other way around. It was hard to expect very much from the Redhawks against Dayton, which played the earlier game on Saturday and therefore possessed fresher legs this morning.

We'll quickly get to see how much this weekend in the Midwest did for the Seattle U women. They'll turn around and host Sacramento State on Wednesday night at the Connolly Center, before playing back-to-back games in a homecourt tournament, the Seattle U Thanksgiving Tournament, next Saturday and Sunday.