After Iona defeated Hofstra on the road this past Saturday, hopes were high for the quickly scheduled home opener yesterday against Morgan State. Unfortunately, Morgan State was the better team for most of the game and earned a solid 83-72 win. Morgan State shot an impressive 55% from the 3-point line, while Iona only hit 20% of their 3-pointers. In Coach Rick Pitino’s brief post-game comment, he said, “I don’t think you’re going to win too many games when you let a team shoot 11 for 19 from the 3-point line. And we turned around and panicked and took bad 3s.” Morgan State got 28 points off Iona turnovers in a disjointed performance by the Gaels.
This game reminds us that Iona is still a team in transition as it learns to execute Coach Pitino’s system. Iona was able to use its defensive pressure to battle back to end the 1st Half in a tie after trailing Morgan State 9-0 to start and then 17-4 midway in the half. Unfortunately, Morgan State quickly grabbed the lead again early in 2nd Half and never looked back. Iona’s record is now 1-2.
In watching the game on ESPN3, the Hynes Center looked strange without fans for an opener. Until the Covid vaccine is fully distributed, fans will not be able to attend pro and college sports events in New York.
Iona lost its first game against Seton Hall, which was understandable as it was difficult to play a Big East team only days after the Gaels restarted practice due to the 14-day Covid shutdown. Iona rebounded with the 82-74 win over Hofstra for Coach Rick Pitino’s first win at Iona. Against Hofstra, Isaiah Ross had 33 points and freshman Nelly Junior Joseph showed his complete game with 14 points, 10 Rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 assists. Despite a slow start against Hofstra, Iona only had 4 turnovers in 2nd Half, and the defense improved throughout the game especially against 3-pointers.
We must remember that despite having a Hall of Fame coach in Pitino, this team will be a work in progress for several reasons:
- There are only two true point guards on the roster, seniors Asante Gist and Colton Cashaw, and they missed the first 2 games (although Gist entered the Morgan St game in 2nd Half). Iona will surely benefit from Gist’s leadership and court savvy, but it’s been difficult for this team to develop any chemistry in practice or games without real point guards on the court.
- Practices started later this year for all college basketball teams due to the pandemic, but it can be argued that no team needed the practice more than Iona. Coach Pitino is known for complex offensive and defensive schemes and not one player on Iona had ever played under Pitino. This problem of lack of practice was exacerbated by the 2-week Covid shutdown.
- Not only have Gist and Cashaw been out, but one of Iona’s tops recruits, 7-1 Osborn Shema, is out for another month.