Bazemore helps lead ODU

Following the 2010-2011 season, the Old Dominion University Monarchs basketball team graduated four seniors.  Those players were significant contributors to a program that had won 27 games each of the last two seasons, as well as 25 wins the year previous.

While this year’s ODU squad also includes four seniors, it is a group that has not been relied upon collectively by Coach Blaine Taylor as much as last year’s seniors were.  While Preseason CAA Player of the Year Kent Bazemore accumulated two All-CAA Tournament honors prior to this season, the trio of Chris Cooper, Trian Iliadis and Marquel De Lancey had contributed as role players rather than featured starters.

Coach Taylor has thrust the upperclassmen into more of a leadership role.  The CAAZone recently covered ODU’s games at home against Hofstra and on the road at Towson.  Below is a summary of the games, the team’s strengths and areas for improvement, with an emphasis on how the seniors contributed to the outcomes.

69-61 Win over Hofstra (1/14/2012)

Consistent with a recent trend heading into this game, the Monarchs were down 16-3 six minutes into the game; Nathaniel Lester led the charge with seven of the Pride’s points.  Iliadis and Bazemore would combine to score nine unanswered points, bringing the Monarchs back in the game before Hofstra ran away with it.  The rest of the first half was fairly even, as ODU tied the game at 33-33 before the Pride scored five points the last twelve seconds of the half. 

The Hofstra lead hovered around five points the first five minutes of the game, at which point the Monarchs began to flex their defensive muscle in the following sequence:

• At 14:16, sophomore Donte Hill converted a layup following a Bazemore steal to bring ODU within three points.
• After grabbing a defensive rebound at 13:45, Bazemore led the Monarchs quickly to the other end and fed Iliadis for a three-pointer to tie the game.
•  Junior Nick Wright’s block forced a jump ball on Hofstra’s next possession.  With the possession arrow keeping the ball on Hofstra’s end, Iliadis subsequently stole a pass and converted a layup for a 50-48 lead with 13:06 left.
• After Hofstra retook a 52-50 lead, redshirt freshman Richard Ross scored on an offensive rebound to tie the game at 10:24.
• The Monarchs took the lead when Iliadis found Cooper ahead of the pack for a thunderous dunk on a fast break.  The score gave ODU a lead at 54-52 at 9:29 that it would not relinquish.

All told, the quartet of seniors scored 54 of the Monarchs’ 69 points.  Iliadis and Bazemore each had three steals, while Cooper led the team with eight rebounds.  Just as important as the quantity of points by Iliadis and Cooper were the timing of when the points came.  The seniors sparked the five-minute, 11-4 run that gave ODU a two-point lead.

71-41 Win at Towson (1/18/2012)

Four days after downing the Pride, ODU traveled to Baltimore to battle the other CAA team without a conference win – the Towson Tigers.  Against a struggling Tigers team, Old Dominion had a more balanced outcome in terms of production from players.  Nick Wright led three Monarchs in double figures with 13 points, as Iliadis and Cooper provided twelve and ten, respectively.  Eight different players scored between five and 13 points.

The Tigers could not keep the game as close against ODU as the Pride did.  Still, Towson was able to keep ODU’s lead in single digits much of the first half, and was down 33-24 at halftime.  However, the Monarchs extended its lead to 45-26 four-plus minutes into the second half from the play of the seniors:

•  Iliadis contributed five points on a layup and a three-pointer, along with two steals and an assist.
• Cooper contributed four points, one rebound and one block
• In addition to playing furious defense in the zone, Bazemore contributed one rebound, one assist and on steal.

 Towson failed to recover from the opening of the half, and the rout commenced.  The four seniors scored 34 points combined.

 Strengths Displayed 

• Against Hofstra, the team showed poise and focus to come back from being down by 13 points five minutes into the game.  In fact the team came back from similar early deficits recently at James Madison and Delaware. 
• The deep bench used against Hofstra wore down the Pride’s best scorers.  Seven Monarchs played at least 21 minutes, while freshmen Dimitri Batten and Jason Pimentel played nine and seven, respectively.  (Conversely, the five Pride starters played between 28 and 35 minutes each.)  Guard Mike Moore entered the game as the CAA’s leading scorer at 20.4 points per game.  Although he finished with 21 points, Moore only connected on one of seven field goal attempts in the second half.
• The Monarch bench outscored the Pride’s bench, 32-2; on Wednesday evening, ODU’s bench outscored Towson’s 21-5.  (It is pertinent to note that Cooper has been coming off the bench in recent weeks to prevent foul trouble.)
• Consistent with prior years, Coach Taylor mixed up zone coverages, both between and during defensive possessions.  Following the game Saturday, Taylor discussed the importance of Donte Hill in the zone defenses employed.  He specifically acknowledged that Hill’s presence “relieves Bazemore from having to be an ‘everything guy’” in the defensive schemes used.  The zone defense also gave Towson troubles, particularly early in the second half.

 Areas for Improvement

• While it is a positive that the Monarchs can come back from large deficits at any point in a game, the team must play more evenly throughout the game to avoid having to come back so frequently.  While Coach Taylor’s refusal to have Cooper start games to avoid early foul trouble contributes to early deficits, the players on the floor must improve their early-game performances to prevent being behind early.
• ODU was out-rebounded by both Hofstra (32 rebounds to Hofstra’s 37) and Towson (28-to-31).  Opponents were more than up to the challenge of keeping the Monarchs from dominating the boards; in Hofstra’s case, it kept them in the game until ODU’s defense wore them down.  The Monarchs will need to improve their rebounding efforts for games when they don’t shoot as well as they did these two games.

With their record now at 11-8 (6-1), the Monarchs travel to Richmond Saturday to take on the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth.  If Old Dominion continues to play to its strengths and improves in other areas, the team’s most-accomplished senior believes in what this team can do the rest of the season.

“Definitely, we still have things to work on to get better every game,” Bazemore said following the win over Hofstra.  “But the sky’s the limit for this team.”