take aways from a terrific weekend

patrick tape was, appropriately, named the ivy league player of the week after leading the columbia lions to consecutive road wins in providence and new haven.  the big guy averaged 16 points per game and grabbed 6.5 rebounds per contest.  he now moves smoothly and confidently down on the blocks and can score over anyone in the league.  when fouled he is making his free throws and thus has added an important weapon to late game situations.  most happily, he now passes efficiently – the ball doesn’t stop when it gets to the center of the lion attack – and finds open teammates for the layups that seem regularly available to this suddenly dangerous team.  of course, messr tape was not without help over that terrific weekend.  quinton adlesh has emerged as the lions floor leader and focused catalyst.  of late, the senior from California has been only sporadically dangerous with the three point shot that has largely defined his ivy career.  he relies more now on his compact strength and regularly sinks short jumpers in the paint, outmuscling defenders and squaring up for many of his buckets.  alternatively he is getting to the basket and receiving passes from the increasingly alert lion rotation for easy lay ins.  and, opportunely, he has hit some very big treys.  (see his close out dagger vs yale below at the 1:28 mark).

this aspect of his game can be quantified.  his leadership can be inferred from every floor huddle as he reinforces defensive or offensive responsibilities to his associates or in the heat of battle when he eagerly places his solid 195 lb frame in between an opponent and his crew.  a perfect illustration of this last habit occurred in the first half of the brown fray.  a pat tape layup brought the lions to with two, 18 – 20, with nine and half minutes to go in the period.  in the ensuing transition, tai bibbs tangled briefly, and not entirely innocently, with brown star desmond cambridge who quickly stepped toward the offending columbian, loudly asserting his indignation.  adlesh immediately intervened.  he bellowed down the yapping bruin before moving bibbs off to a huddle that clarified assignments.  a still riled cambridge came out of the stoppage and quickly hoisted an errant trey.  that sequence doesn’t show up in the stats but is emblematic of a still young columbia squad learning from a senior what it takes to win.

on saturday, the lions went to new haven.  james jones’s charges had beaten columbia seven straight coming into the game, most recently at  levien three weeks ago when the lions fell behind by fifteen, rallied furiously to tie it late and then stalled before losing by six.  this time out, columbia led wire to wire and it was 12 – 0 before the elis managed a bucket.  the engagement featured an efficient lion offense led by adlesh’s 19 and tape’s 16 points.  maka ellis, ike nweke, and tai bibbs combined for another 24 points.  those details provided, i’ll dwell for a moment on columbia’s defense.  it has been my opinion for most of this season that jake killingworth has emerged as the lions’ best on ball defender.  in this regard, he occupies the same role as grant mullins did on the 2011-2015 squads.  killingworth was at his very best late in the first period on saturday.  he entered the game with 8:27 on the clock, just after an azar swain trey had pulled the yalies within two at 22 – 20.  over the next eight minutes, he pitched a shutout against miye oni, yale’s best player.  oni finally scored with a mere 29 seconds left in the period and columbia’s lead back to fifteen.  on consecutive possessions with about four minutes to go in this stretch, killingworth utterly stymied the bulldog star by himself.  first, jake chested up with oni, cut off two moves to the basket and forced the Eli into an ugly missed trey.  next time down, he stayed in front of oni the whole way on a drive to the basket resulting in a feeble layup attempt.  killingworth flat out owned an nba prospect. besides those two nifty examples of one on one defense, my favorite lion moment of the brawl came during this same stretch of play when randy brumant rotated over from the weak side to smash trey phills’s layup into the first level of the john j. lee amphitheater stands.  a glowering brumant made it clear that there would be no easy takes against the lions.

we have neglected mention of gabe steffanini, the staunch romagnuolo by way of bergen catholic who has run point for the lions since mike smith’s december injury.  he was in the thick of it on friday, nearly giving the game away (literally) with two straight turnovers before effectively winning the game with consecutive, gut check, treys – the second of which was a dagger from beyond the nba arc.  I’d happily rhapsodize about ike nweke’s sweet reverse lay ups or tai bibbs suddenly apparent athleticism or even pete barba’s bestubbled enthusiasm on both the floor and the bench, but you get the idea.  i have been proud of this team’s combative nature all season and now thrill to see them winning a bit.  the next opportunity for that pleasure comes friday against dartmouth which shot the lions out of the gym in hanover back in February.  an exhausted lion squad made it a game for ten minutes until a brendan barry trey was followed by a chris knight triple which preceded a barry layup and two more barry three pointers.  a two point game was suddenly a fourteen point game and the rout was on.  these two hanoverians, 6’3″ junior guard brendan barry (13.4 ppg and 3.4 assists) and 6’7″ sophomore forward chris knight (15.4 ppg, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists) will lead their dartmouth mates onto morningside heights  and columbia’s defenders will have to close out quickly against them to ensure a win. that happy result would make saturday’s visit from harvard the most important game of the regular season as well as the last.  bryce aiken broke our hearts in cambridge three weeks ago in what some talking heads are calling the most exciting college game of the year, a triple overtime 98 – 96 barn burner.  pay back time has arrived.  the lions are rolling – beat dartmouth! beat harvard!

peace out and d’ up,

paulie b