The men’s basketball team is approaching the 10th anniversary of the last time it appeared in the NCAA Tournament. In that contest, the Leopards lost to No. 1 Villanova University 93-52.
The Leopards (0-1 overall) faced the Wildcats (1-0 overall) for the seventh time since 1999 on Monday, falling 75-63 in their season opener. In seven appearances, the Leopards have never prevailed, but this margin was the closest loss since their first matchup in 1999, in which the Wildcats won by four points.
The Maroon and White got off to a slow start, facing a 12-5 deficit in the opening minutes and struggling to find any consistent offense.
“We’ve had a little bit of trouble starting games off good, but we knew, roll with the punches, we knew we were going to get back into it,” senior center Justin Vander Baan said. “Hit a few open shots and just get back into it. Go with the flow.”
The Leopards clawed their way back, finding more of an offensive rhythm to go into halftime down 30-29.
Despite the early deficit, the Leopards and the Wildcats played each other nearly evenly in the opening half, with the teams shooting 12-28 and 12-29 respectively and putting up identical lines of 3-8 from three-point range.
“I thought the energy that we gave to each other was infectious,” junior guard Ryan Pettit said. “I felt that when you give the energy to someone else, it always works out for the team.”
Knotted at 37-37, the Maroon and White ceded an 11-0 run to Villanova, struggling to put together stops or scores to stem the bleeding.
“You got to be locked in for 40 minutes,” Vander Baan said. “I thought we played pretty well for probably 32 minutes. There were a few short stretches where we turn the ball over maybe twice in a row and they get a few scores, and then we have to fight back to make it close.”
Looking to keep the team afloat, senior guard Devin Hines strung together a series of buckets to put pressure back on Villanova.
“I noticed that they were really denying the wings, so I just wanted to backcut,” Hines said. “The backcut was open majority of the time of the game, so once Justin and a few other people on the team started hitting the backcuts, that opened up my jump shot.”
Throughout the second half, the Leopards primarily relied on a 2-3 zone defensive coverage, with Vander Baan noting that the defense “got us back into the game.”
“They were driving us a lot when they were on offense against our man,” Vander Baan said. “We needed to throw a different look at them.”
Despite the fierce effort on both sides of the court, the Leopards could not mount a last-minute comeback, and Villanova pulled away with the win.
“We’re changing up our style a little bit this year,” Pettit said. “We’re trying to play a lot faster. We’re trying to be a little bit more aggressive on the offensive glass, it’s something that we’re going to start taking pride on is out-toughing other teams.”
The Maroon and White return to action with their home opener on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against La Salle University (1-0 overall).
“The Lafayette Leopards are going to shock a lot of people this year,” Hines said. “I feel like we have a great team, and we’re going to put the league on notice for sure.”
