Struggling Bulldogs remain tangled in the Ivy

By Robert Huelin

The in-bounds pass was sloppy, slowly bouncing up toward the hand of point guard Gabe Hunterton, JE '98. Hunterton checked the ball, and then started to look up court, his gaze a mixture of weariness and frustration. Hunterton only half-saw the blurring hand of Michael Jordan as Jordan reached in and knocked the ball away, recovered himself, and hit his streaking teammate for an easy lay-up. Yale again in-bounded the ball, this time with more care, as the clock ticked away the minutes of the second-half, leaving Yale's chances of recovering from Penn's knock-out, 16-2 run more remote with every passing second.

The Elis never did make a serious run at the Quakers in a lethargic, 70-54 loss last Fri., Jan. 10. Ivy-leader Princeton came to New Haven the next night, and the Bulldogs played the defending champion Tigers tough, using their trademark tight defensive switches to eliminate the vaunted back-door, and a well-spaced, fluid offense to take the lead. Dan Okonkwo's, BR '97, last second three-pointer from around 24 feet gave Yale a stunning lead as the buzzer sounded; a lead that evaporated quickly in the second half. Princeton continued its recent league dominance with a crushing 58-45 victory, a game that was far less competitive than the final score indicated. The loss to the boys from Jersey capped off a five-game losing streak which included two blow-outs, two tough losses, and one game that should be remembered as a microcosm of the Elis' season.

The Bulldogs went home for Christmas sporting a 5-2 record, and brimming with the confidence that comes with being competitive. Eli-watchers were holding out hope that the Blue might have finally gotten over the hump and returned to the upper-echelons of the league. Unfortunately, recent events seem to have proved otherwise. Despite increased scoring from both Hunterton and Okonkwo, the Elis' strength, the defense, deserted them against an Army team that posted a 75-72 win over the Bulldogs, the most points Yale had allowed to that point in the season. Another disappointing loss, this time to Vermont, 80-72 in double overtime, dropped the Blue closer to .500. Along with a less stingy defense, the Elis were faced with a critical loss of their outside touch. During its losing streak the team made fewer three-point shots than the opposition in every game, and shot under 30 percent in three of those contests, including both games last weekend. "We shot the ball terribly that weekend," Matt Ricketts, TD '98, said, "You can't shoot the ball like that and expect to win."

The inability to hit a jump-shot compounded Yale's other glaring problem, a total lack of cohesion on offense. Throughout the crucial Ivy contests, Yale sputtered, scoring in slow, painful streaks that keyed off the team's defense, but never turned into a steady rhythm. Instead, the squad seemed to deflate at the end of each run, allowing Penn to follow an Eli 12-2 run with a 16-2 response. The Quakers also turned up the heat on the opposite end of the floor, using the shot-blocking skills of 6'11" freshman Geoff Owens to anchor a tight 2-3 zone that the cold-shooting Bulldogs could not penetrate. The quickness of the Quaker backcourt, led by another frosh, Michael Jordan, had seven steals and effectively neutralized Hunterton, Ricketts and sharpshooter Charlie Pettit, DC '99, who combined for only four points, almost 20 below their season average.

Princeton faced a 26-23 half-time deficit, but the Tigers made adjustments, much like the Quakers had, which were never adequately answered by Yale. The Eli defense, which had so effectively doused the Tiger offense in the first half, was bewildered by the offensive sets Princeton ran in the second half. This puzzlement translated into a 27-4 Tiger spurt that put the game firmly out of reach at 50-30 with around nine minutes to play in the second half. "They ran two looks we hadn't seen, and it threw us out of our defense," Ricketts said. The most devastating part of the loss to Princeton might not have been the score, however. Team captain Jim Rosneck, ES '97, the team's most consistent performer thus far, injured his knee early in the first half and did not return to the game. Rosneck is out for this weekend, and the concerned captain does not know when he will return.

Without their leader, the Bulldogs will need to develop their missing chemistry, and fast. "I think you will see us run two basic line-ups, one big, with Whitley [Emerson, SY '98] and Lanigan [Chris,
SY '98] in at the same time, and our usual three-guard set, with either Teddy Miller, SM '99, or Charlie Petit in alongside Gabe and Matt," Rosnek said. "I have been getting a lot of minutes, and we are going to need the whole team to step-up. Gabe, Matt, and Emerson have shown some great things, and it's time for them to become consistent. It really becomes a matter of the guys getting a feel for each other, but that is hard when you aren't used to the guys playing along with you."

Waiting for the Blue to slip up will be the Brown Bears, who play their annual home-and-home with Yale over the next two weekends. The Bears will mostly look to junior center Paul Krasinski and sophomore guard Aaron Butler for offense. Butler has already been the Ivy Player of the Week, and is averaging a team-high 13.4 ppg. Yale will try to establish Okonkwo inside, something that will not be easy if the Elis don't hit the open jumpers created when opponents double-team Okonkwo. Brown has a formidable defense as well, proving their tenacity by holding Princeton to only four free throws over the last 8:30 of their loss to the Tigers. Sandwiched between the Brown games is a non-league home conteast against Siena, a team that the Elis should beat. Yale needs a three game winning streak to regain some momentum before the Ivy portion of the schedule reaches its peak intensity.

If the Bulldogs can summon 40 minutes of consistent offense, and combine it with a stifiling defense that held Princeton scoreless for almost six minutes to open the game last weekend, the Blue should pick up wins over the Bears, a dangerous team despite their 1-12 record.

Yale faces its ultimate challenge this weekend when it tries to overcome both weariness and frustration and vault itself back into the Ivy League race.

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