Web exclusive: JMU continues to slide
Posted on January 31, 2008
Going into Wednesday’s home game against William & Mary, JMU men’s basketball denied that its recent slide had been the result of any trends.
After losing the game 70-67, it is apparent one problem is considerably hurting the Dukes. Perimeter defense has beset JMU more often than not.
The Tribe shot 10-for-15 from beyond-the-arc with senior guard Nathan Mann hitting on five of his eight attempts. Mann has had a knack for lighting-it-up against JMU during his career which includes his game-high 18 points in the two teams first meeting this year – a 69-66 overtime win for the W&M in Williamsburg.
“I feel like at this point its expected of me,” Mann said of his prowess over JMU. “I can’t do anything less than shoot the ball well.”
JMU threw a number of guards at Mann, but he showed he could put it on the floor and create enough space to elevate over defenders.
With 2 minutes and five seconds left in the game, JMU freshman Ben Louis was frozen by Mann’s cross-over dribble just long enough for the 6-foot-2 guard to square his body to the basket and swish the shot.
JMU took a two-point lead into the half but allowed W&M to shoot an impressive 64.7 percent from the field. Tribe coach Tony Shaver cited his team’s ball protection as the key to the game as W&M turned it over 6:45.
“We did a real good job offensively of getting the ball in the hands of our shooters,” Shaver said.
After Mann’s three-pointer with just over two minutes, JMU would face two more five-point deficits. JMU junior guard Abdulai Jalloh — who shared the game-high 19 points with Mann — was fouled on a made three-pointer with 23 seconds left. He completed the four-point play with the free-throw to get JMU within three points at 66-63.
With so little time on the clock JMU was forced to play foul-and-catch-up. W&M sophomore Danny Sumner connected on the back-end of a double-bonus foul to put the Tribe up three again at 70-67.
Both Jalloh and JMU freshman Stephen Kendall got game tying looks from three-point range, but neither player found net.
“It just kind of came down to one or two possessions there at the end,” JMU coach Dean Keener said. “Credit them. They’re playing really relaxed right now and that’s a byproduct of winning six of your last seven.
The Dukes had lost six of their last seven going into the game and looked anything but relaxed for stretches of the game. JMU turned the ball over 21 times and nine of those came from Jalloh.
The 6-foot-2, transfer from St. Josephs got caught in the air throughout the game after penetrating and not having a clear shot or an easy passing lane. He had five turnovers in the first half alone and William & Mary continued to double-team him through a mixture of zone defenses and man-to-man pressure.
“[Jalloh’s] a great penetrater,” Mann said. “He gets in the paint pretty easily and credit to him on that, but we did a pretty good job of kind of helping early and recovering to our men, forcing him to make a tough decision.”
Junior forward Juwann James left the game with a head injury after hitting it on the floor on a charge-attempt with 56 seconds left. He is expected to play Saturday when the Dukes travel to Fairfax, Va. to face George Mason.
