Denim Millward
Sports Editor
After only one game for the ISU men’s basketball team, one thing is already crystal clear.
For head coach Bill Evans, simply winning a game is not enough.
Despite a dominant 99-62 victory over Evergreen last Saturday night, Evans eschewed effusive praise for his players in favor of a blunt take on the various missteps and inefficiencies committed by his squad.
“Our process to get where we wanted to be at the end of the game was not good,” Evans said. “I don’t think our energy and focus [were] very good. We turned the ball over too much. That was not good.”
Coming off the heels of a dismal 2012-13 in which the Bengals finished dead-last in the Big Sky Conference standings and only amassed 6 wins the entire season, Evans’ focus on what he apparently deemed substandard play may come as a surprise.
Evans’ comments following the season opener appear to outline an interesting take on judging performance. The events that lead to the end result, an ISU victory, are as important, if not more so, than the result itself. Some fans may disapprove of the tactic and feel it did nothing more than snuff out any momentum or excitement that was a byproduct of the victory. While this is an understandable stance to take, Evans’ focus on problem areas will better serve his team long-term.
There were certainly a number of bright spots in the box score that may have Bengal fans justifiably optimistic going forward. The Bengals shot just over 50 percent from the field and held Evergreen to 37 percent . The Bengals dominated Evergreen on the glass, totaling a 50-28 rebounding advantage, and the Bengal defense forced 19 turnovers. Junior college transfer Jeffrey Solarin tallied an impressive double-double, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Hansen also had a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 10 boards. There’s certainly not much to complain about there.
However, hidden among the impressive stat lines were two gaping holes in the Bengal armor. The Bengals committed 17 turnovers and only compiled a meager 12 assists in the game. Against a lower level of competition such as Evergreen, the impressive box score has to be taken with a grain of salt, if not an entire shaker. In that same vein of logic, the high turnovers and low assist totals have to be seen as even more alarming. If the Bengals have the same lack of efficient execution against conference opponents, the turnovers will climb even higher, and they pay will pay dearly for it. If the ball isn’t shared better and easier shots found, superior defenses will have an exponentially easier time stifling a Bengal offense that was particularly bad last season.
Against a team like Evergreen, you might be able to get away with 17 turnovers and 12 assists and still cruise to a comfortable victory.
Against a Big-Sky-caliber opponent, those totals are a near-certain death knell.
The significance of these totals considered, it makes all the sense in the world for Evans to forego the rah-rah shtick after defeating Evergreen (which was all but a foregone conclusion, frankly speaking) and instead immediately turn his attention to two large problems that need to be eradicated for ISU to have the type of successful season they aim to have. Yes, the poor job the Bengals did sharing and protecting the ball may simply be as a result of early-season inexperience and the largely-new team still in the early stages of learning to play together as a cohesive unit. But why take that chance? If there is an ongoing reason for the assist and turnover woes that will plague the Bengals beyond this game, Evans has already clearly identified them to his players and begun to remedy them.
If Evans has to withhold a few extra pats on the back to start correcting the problem, so be it.
