Following an 81-77 win against St. Bonaventure last weekend, the Fordham Rams finished their short road trip 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 contest.
As Fordham hits the road to take on Davidson Wednesday, they’ll have to reflect on 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 key issue for Fordham in conference play. A problem against any opponent, Fordham’s shallow rotation was further accentuated by Saint Louis, a conference frontrunner that ran 10-deep against the Rams.
“They’ve got depth and they’ve got athleticism,” Rams Coach Mike Magpayo said over the phone on Thursday. “They play two lineups, so it’s basically like [playing] two different defenses.”
Defensively, Saint Louis nullified one of Fordham’s greatest strengths in their efficiency off the offensive glass. Against the Billikens, Fordham scored just 7 points off of 16 offensive rebounds, their least efficient margin in-conference so far. Along with several missed layups, Fordham’s recent inconsistencies under the basket are 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 in 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. On another, 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 was also unsuccessful from both mid-range and beyond the arc. Coach Magpayo was impressed with how his team controlled the tempo against SLU, but matching pace does not matter if you can’t match production.
“We kept it to a 61-possession game, and then it [the focus] becomes making shots or not,” Magpayo said. “We didn’t make enough of them. 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 recorded another stellar performance for Fordham. Reaves, Fordham’s only scorer to average double digits (19.8 PPG as of 1/19) in conference play, has provided a consistent offensive foundation that Coach Magpayo hopes to quickly build upon.
“Now we’ve just got to bring along a couple other guys to be that consistent,” Magpayo said. “but it’s very encouraging when Dae Dae can still do that against a defense that was just picking us up full court and really, really making him and Christian [Henry] work all the way up the court every single possession.”
Against the Billikens, Reaves led all Rams scorers with 18 points off of 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 ahead 18-7 by the under-12 media timeout. Dae Dae Reaves had just two points at this point in the game, as he received extra attention from the Duquesne defense. Following the game, Dukes head coach Dru Joyce III talked about how his team prepared to limit Reaves from the field. When breaking down film, Joyce prepared his guys to stop Reaves’ effectiveness through what he exaggeratedly described as “100-something ball screens.”
“He still got to places,” Joyce said. “We just tried to make it difficult on him. I thought we did a good job of not letting him find teammates.”
Reaves finished the game with 17 points off 8-18 shooting, but also recorded more turnovers (2) than assists (1) for the first time in conference play.
Out of the under-12, Fordham’s offense finally started clicking. Akira Jacobs hit a three from the left side to bring the Rams within 20-10. Rikus Schulte fought through contact to grab a second-chance bucket to make it 22-12. On the ensuing possession, Kingston Price snagged a steal off Jimmie Williams and scored in transition to bring the game to 22-14 and force a Duquesne timeout on the floor. By the under-4, this 7-2 lead quickly ballooned to 16-5 as Duquesne led 25-23.
As the first half wound down, Fordham held Duquesne scoreless for 4 minutes and 52 seconds. Duquesne’s Jake Dimichele broke the drought with a layup to put the Dukes up 27-23 with 3 minutes left before the break. As impressive as Fordham looked defensively, the Rams hadn’t scored a bucket of their own for just as long. Duquesne led 30-27 at halftime.
In his post game presser, Coach Magpayo lamented Fordham’s slow start and how it prevented the Rams from fully closing the gap late in the half.
“It was a little 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 4 turnovers, but strung together enough stops to only trail 33-30 by the under-16. Out of the TO, Jimmie Williams hit an and-1 layup, and Alex Williams sank a three on the following Dukes possession to take a 39-30 lead.
Luckily for Fordham, a returning Abass Bodija led a brief 7-point surge to get the Rams back within a bucket. In his first appearance since December 22nd, Bodija hit two quick jumpers and completed a successful and-1 to get the Rams within 39-37. After the game, Magpayo detailed Bodija’s fearlessness on offense, 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 right now, and Abass came in and did the same [style of play]. I feel like guys are a little tentative out there, and Abass is not.”
Bodija finished with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and a block. Roor Akhuar has not played since December 31st against Dayton.
Despite Bodija’s brief run, Duquesne dictated the tempo of the second half, forcing 15 Rams fouls en route to 19 free throw attempts. Even with a few late threes and an overall improved offensive performance from the first half to the second, Fordham simply could not match Duquesne’s consistency.
“I thought this was our worst fight of the year, and that’s what’s disappointing,” Magpayo said. “Everyone’s going to have to reflect and do some self-evaluating and hold themselves accountable. We’ll stick with our process and chop away at it…we should have been ready for this one.”
The Rams return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Davidson.
