Bryan Smith attempts to get past George Mason’s defense at the A-10 Tournament. Christian Wiloejo/The Fordham Ram
By Max Prinz
The Fordham men’s basketball team began its 2014-15 season surrounded by question marks. Could this young team begin to turn the program around? Could it get out of last place in the conference?
The Rams ended their season at the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament nearly two weeks ago and are now, somehow, faced with even more unknowns.
The University relieved head coach Tom Pecora of his duties last Wednesday [see page 1] after the team fell to VCU, 63-57, in the second round of the A-10 Tournament to close out its season.
The Rams finished the season with a 10-21 record, going 4-14 in the A-10 Conference. The early part of the conference schedule was brutal, and Pecora’s team lost its first nine games in conference play.
Fordham started to turn things around near the end of the year. The flashes of hope provided by freshmen Eric Paschall and Christian Sengfelder began to turn into glimpses of spectacular play. The Rams finished the season winning five of their final 11 games, a stretch that included the team’s first road win in conference since 2013.
Those spectacular glimpses continued in the A-10 tournament, held at the Barclays Center. The Rams took down George Mason in the first contest of the tournament.
The Rams defeated George Mason 71-65 on a Wednesday night to advance to the second round of the tournament. Fordham got a sparkling performance from Sengfelder, who scored a career-high 27 points.
“I’m not following [stats] at all during the game,” Sengfelder said. “I just want to make some baskets and help the team win.”
“To win the first game in the tournament in the Barclays Center, an NBA stadium, it’s a great feeling,” Sengfelder added.
Pecora’s team started slow in the first half, but managed to take a 34-28 lead into the break. Only one Ram scored more than 10 points in the first, but it was Sengfelder, who tallied 15 first half points and kept the Rams in front.
“He just keeps getting better and better,” Pecora said of Sengfelder. “He pays attention to detail, his work ethic.”
The Rams failed to distance themselves from George Mason in the second half. The teams were separated by just two points in the final minute.
“It was one of those games where we couldn’t get that separation,” Pecora said. “One of our game goals is always to win the battle of the boards, and we did.”
Sengfelder’s stellar effort became even more necessary when Eric Paschall struggled to fight through his ankle injury. Paschall injured his ankle in practice almost three weeks ago and sat out the Rams’ final two regular season games.
“We knew Eric wasn’t going to be 100 percent, that’s 18 points a game, so other guys had to step up,” Pecora said.
Senior Bryan Smith, a Brooklyn native, was another key contributor. Smith finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.
“We played the same team two years in a row, and to get them both times is a great feeling,” Smith said.
Pecora also praised Smith’s leadership.
“The job that he has done has really allowed Christian and Eric to mature a lot quicker than some of our freshmen in the past,” Pecora said.
Fordham knocked George Mason out of the tournament for the second consecutive year. It sent the Rams on to a second round contest against a skilled VCU team, but Pecora said he was undaunted.
“It’s March,” Pecora said. “We know what we have to do.”
Unfortunately, the Rams failed to do everything necessary to beat the talented VCU team.
In the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Fordham fell to VCU 63-57. The team battled valiantly without Paschall, who missed the game because of his ankle. To even hang in against VCU, a team ranked in the Top 25 during the regular season, was quite an accomplishment.
“They always say if you lose by less than five it’s the coach’s fault, but I’ll take it,” Pecora said. “I can see the talent, I can see them moving in that direction.”
Fordham did everything it could against a superior VCU team. It was a tie game, 30-30, at halftime thanks to Fordham’s brilliant three-point shooting. Fordham made six of eight attempts from behind the arc in the first half to overcome turning the ball over 12 times.
“Gotta give a lot of credit to Fordham,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “They’ve gotten better and better over the course of the year.”
“Every time we play Fordham they play us real tough,” Smart added.
Fordham simply failed to keep pace in the second half. VCU dominated on the offensive glass, racking up 20 offensive rebounds and getting the better of Fordham inside. Fordham’s hot shooting disappeared and Pecora’s team struggled to handle VCU’s rebounding ability.
Junior guard Mandell Thomas (left) connects with A-10 Rookie of the Year Eric Paschall (right) at the Barclays Center. Christian Wiloejo/ The Fordham Ram
The Rams played stellar defense the entire game, holding VCU to just 30 percent shooting, but struggled on the glass. In total, VCU missed 41 shots, but got 20 of those misses back and scored 18 second-chance points.
“If you said to me ‘Hey, you’re going to hold VCU to 30 percent from the floor and you’re only gonna have 16 turnovers,’ I’d have said we’re going to win the basketball game,” Pecora said. “The difference maker was them on the boards.”
“Their 20 offensive rebounds hurt us a great deal,” Pecora added.
The loss marks the end of senior Bryan Smith’s career. Smith, a Brooklyn native, finished with 14 points, including a trio of huge three-pointers, playing his final game just 10 minutes from his home.
“Like I said before, I’m indebted to him for coming to Fordham,” Pecora said of Smith. “There were a lot of other options and we weren’t the flavor of the month. But, it’s a bit easier for guys to come now because they see that the future is bright.”
A little more than two weeks after that loss, the future is considerably more clouded. Fordham let Pecora go last Wednesday and is now in the midst of a national search for his replacement.
There will definitely be a new coach next season, and the roster could look very different as well.
Paschall received his release from the university on Monday and announced that he was looking at other schools. However, he did say returning for next season was still an option.
The status of sophomore Jon Severe is also unknown. After breaking the freshman scoring record his first season on Rose Hill, Severe took an extended leave of absence from the team this year. The departure of the coach who recruited him likely increases the possibility that he will transfer.
Athletic Director David Roach, who met with Pecora last week to inform him of the university’s decision to go in a different direction, did not respond to inquiries for this article.
The dominant storyline for the Rams this past season was how young they were. With seven freshmen on the roster and two in the starting lineup, things were going to be difficult.
Now, however, it is possible that next season could get even harder. The questions are many: Who will be the head coach? Is Paschall staying? Can Mandell Thomas and Ryan Rhoomes be great senior leaders? Who will help Thomas continue to improve as a point guard? Can senior Ryan Canty return to full health? What will the team get out of Severe?
Repeatedly labeled as “a young team,” the Rams began to grow as the season wore on. Now, with Pecora gone and Paschall possibly joining him, next year’s Rams must find a way to come up with more answers.