PHILADELPHIA – Kevin Baggett was fed up.
As soon as the whistle blew, triggering the timeout that he’d motioned for, Baggett locked eyes with Ife West-Ingram as he walked to the bench. West-Ingram had simply been blown by for a straightforward layup by Ethan Roberts, extending Penn’s result in 15 within the second half. Baggett did a number of defensive slides to specific his issues.
“It was a straightforward swap that he might have switched on that he didn’t,” Baggett mentioned. “Issues that we work on, that he continues to do. The identical breakdowns, after which guys bought to acknowledge once they make errors and issues, and I bought guys who act prefer it didn’t occur. That pisses me off.”
Rider by no means led in its first journey to the Palestra in over a decade, falling 79-66 to Penn on Friday night time. It’s the sixth consecutive loss for the Broncs after a 4-2 begin to the season, with all 4 wins approaching the highway.
Instantly after the timeout, West-Ingram got here off the ground, and he didn’t return for the remainder of the sport.
The sophomore has performed 19.3 minutes per sport this yr, however performed simply 4 in his hometown on Friday. When requested about tips on how to develop his gamers’ accountability, Baggett was terse.
“Sit ’em on the bench,” he mentioned. “The bench, that’s the accountability.”
West-Ingram wasn’t the one one who Baggett sat down for lengthy stretches. After lacking a mid-range soar shot with underneath seven minutes to play within the first half, Flash Burton was benched on the subsequent whistle, and didn’t return till the second half.
As one other Bronc taking part in in his hometown, Burton scored seven factors in 16 minutes of motion, however Baggett thought he wasn’t taking part in good sufficient.
“You’ve bought Flash coming in and taking poor photographs when he’s solely a freshman,” he mentioned.
Burton additionally sat the ultimate seven and a half minutes of the sport after lacking three photographs in a row.
Tariq Ingraham sat the ultimate 11:06, Jay Alvarez sat the ultimate 7:30, Tank Byard performed simply 9 minutes, and the Broncs had no solutions for Penn on both finish.
The Quakers had 40 factors within the paint, principally coming off of straightforward cuts, rolls, and finishes. Large man Nick Spinoso, who scored 19 factors in Penn’s win over the Broncs in Lawrenceville final yr, was unstoppable as soon as once more.
He led the way in which with 22 factors on 11-of-14 capturing, throwing down a number of dunks, and working the Quaker offense out of a number of seems to be. Within the first half, he bought a mismatch on Jay Alvarez on the foul line and backed him all the way in which to the basket for a straightforward layup.
Later, the Quakers began to search out him on the roll, and he threw down dunk after dunk.
“We had been ball watching off the ball,” Baggett mentioned. “When he does what he does, when you enable (the Penn offense) to run by him, you simply watch and see what he’s doing and go to sleep when your primary goes to select you aside.”
Over the previous few years, the Broncs have been capable of depend on sure gamers to dig them out of their most tough stretches.
Dwight Murray Jr. and Mervin James every earned All-MAAC First Staff honors, offering straightforward scoring choices and management, one thing this yr’s Rider workforce lacks.
“I don’t have that man,” Baggett mentioned. “We’re doing it as coaches, that’s why we’re on the sidelines dropping our minds at occasions.”
The workforce’s main scorer, T.J. Weeks, missed the Stony Brook sport however returned to face Penn. He performed 38 minutes and scored 13 factors and grabbed two rebounds as his shoulder gave the impression to be again in good well being. However he is aware of that he has to do extra for this workforce to ensure that it to succeed in its ceiling.
He’s seeking to fill the management vacuum.
“I’ve to do a greater job,” Weeks mentioned. “I bought to to speak to guys extra and assist them come alongside extra. I’ve to assist them perceive why we’re dropping and the way we are able to win once more.”
The Broncs have yet one more sport earlier than Christmas break, a visit to Raleigh to face N.C. State on Sunday. As soon as that’s carried out, Rider will get to hit the reset button, getting a number of weeks off earlier than taking up Manhattan on Jan. 5.
