The Falcons men’s basketball team traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, Saturday to face off in a nonconference game against the Old Dominion Monarchs, where they received their worst loss of the season so far with a final score of 88 – 46.
With the 42-point loss, Michael Huger didn’t mince words about his team’s performance on the court. To him, it was pretty simple why.
“We actually had a lot of great looks, we just missed, and when you miss and don’t defend, it’s turns into a 40-point game.”
The Falcons leading scorer, Justin Turner, came away with 17 points, but the lack of defense was really Huger’s biggest concern.
“I thought our defense wasn’t good tonight, and they were able to get out and get loose and make shots. We got to get tougher … defensively in order to win games, “he said.
Another problem the Falcons faced that Huger pointed out was turnovers and the points off turnovers.
“19 points that they scored off turnovers, and that’s big. You know, we had 15 turnovers, nine at halftime. We got to do a much better job of taking care of the ball, and they were careless turnovers, too,” he said.
Huger pointed out it wasn’t anything the Monarchs did that made it difficult for the Falcons to handle the ball, it was mainly unforced errors.
“It wasn’t the pressure of their defense, it was just careless turnovers, careless mistakes. It’s the mental mistakes that kill you.”
Nothing really went right for the Falcons, but another key factor was foul trouble, and that had a large effect on the game as a whole. But the reason for that, according to Huger, was effort.
“You got to come ready to play, you can’t turn it on and off when you feel like it,” he said. “Our team thinks they can turn it on and off, and we can’t. You got to be ready to play with that intensity.”
While the Falcons struggled, Huger recognized the overall solid play from the Monarchs in both halves.
“They were tougher, they were definitely tougher than we were tonight, and they imposed their will on us.”
This game leads to an 11-day break for the Falcons before they head to Wisconsin to face off against the Green Bay Phoenix. Huger says this time off should help the team going forward, especially with getting healthy.
“First of all, rest up, and, you know, kind of heal the injuries that we have, kind of recuperate and get finals out of the way.”
