Abdi Bashir Jr. has been the dominant storyline for Monmouth this season, and the redshirt sophomore guard continued his strong early season play with a 30-point performance Friday night.
But once again it didn’t matter, as Monmouth lost to Stephen F. Austin, 72-67, to fall to 0-7, which is quickly becoming the narrative surrounding the Hawks.
Monmouth entered Friday night’s game at SFU’s Axe ‘Em Classic as one of 12 schools nationally still looking for that first win. And while the Hawks’ young rotation has flashed its potential, the ability to turn it into a victory has been frustrating.
The latest example came on Day 2 at Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas, where the Hawks had a 57-56 lead with eight minutes to play on a Jaret Valencia dunk, but were once again unable to close the deal.
It comes a day after the Hawks opened the tournament by losing to Youngstown State, 72-62. Saturday’s finale (noon) against Presbyterian will be Monmouth’s fourth game in six days, including Monday’s 70-66 loss at Wichita State.
“It’s just a process of closing these games out and learning how to win down the stretch. and we’re getting closer, I think,” said Monmouth head coach King Rice in his postgame radio interview.
“This is very, very hard to deal with. But we’re a resilient group We’re resilient as coaches, We’re resilient as kids, and they’re from great families and they came out today and they played for 40 minutes. The thing I hope everybody can understand is a lot of these young men are in new roles and our main guys are sophomores.”
Bashir, last week’s Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, bounced back from a 4-of-16 shooting performance in the opener by hitting going 12-of-19, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range.
Offsetting Bashir’s performance was a 24-point, 9-rebound game by Nana Antwi-Boasiako.
Monmouth trailed 68-63 after Matt Hayman scored off an offensive rebound with 34 seconds left for the Lumberjacks. Jaret Valencia, who finished with 10 points for Monmouth, scored inside with 23 seconds left. But after an SFU turnover, Bashir misses a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 19 seconds left, before Hayman closed the game out at the free throw line.
From Thursday
Winless Monmouth falls to Youngstown State: Takeaways from 72-62 loss as Hawks go to 0-6
After an early-season learning curve that included visits to places like Michigan State’s Breslin Center, Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers and Wichita State’s Charles Koch Arena, the Axe ‘Em Classic at Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas was supposed to provide Monmouth some scheduling relief.
Except the lessons from that November gauntlet, including letting a second-half lead slip away at Wichita State Monday, didn’t amount to much three days later in the opening game against Youngstown State.
Monmouth held a 14-point lead in the first half, and was up 11 points in the second half. But Youngstown State went on a 11-0 run to take the lead at 43-42, before extending the run to 24-5 to take charge of the game, cruising to a 72-62 victory.
Monmouth falls to 0-6, with its next chance to get its first victory coming at 6 p.m. Friday against host Stephen F. Austin. The Hawks close out the tournament at noon Saturday against Presbyterian. The Hawks entered the game as one of 13 winless teams nationally.
Youngstown State (2-2), coming off a double-overtime loss at Syracuse, was led by guard Nico Galette and EJ Farmer, who finished with 16 points, while Ty Harper added 12 points to round out a solid night for the Penguins’ backcourt.
Making his first start of the season, Monmouth forward Jaret Valencia, who missed the first three games after preseason hernia surgery, finished with a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Abdi Bashir Jr. scored 14 points, but was 4-of-16 from the floor, hitting all three of his 3-pointers in the opening 6:26 of the game. Bashir scored 38 points at Rutgers, including a program-record 10 triples, after putting up 25 points against Northern Illinois to become the first Monmouth player ever to win the Oscar Robertson National Player of Week award.
The Hawks also got 11 points from point guard Madison Durr, who also turned it over six times.
Here are three takeaways for Monmouth against Youngstown State:
1. Poor shooting continues
The bottom line is that it’s difficult to win a college basketball game scoring just 62 points and shooting 31 percent from the floor, as the Hawks’ offensive woes continue. Monmouth’s starting five was 16-of-57 from the floor, including 1-of-8 from guard Jack Collins and 1-of-9 from forward Chris Morgan. And Monmouth shot 27 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Hawks came into the game as one of the worst shooting teams in the country, and unless guys start stepping up and making shots it’s going to be tough to beat anyone.
2. Big run crushes Hawks – again
Once again it was a big run by the opposition that did Monmouth in, unable to make stops at one end or hit big shots at the other to stop it.
Against Wichita State Monday it was a 20-7 second half run that erased Monmouth’s six-point lead. This time it was an 11-0 run. And every game there’s a stretch of several minutes where the game gets away from Monmouth.
For a team with little margin for error right now, it’s impossible to overcome the damage once it’s done.
3. Just win a game
The Youngstown State game and today’s game against host Stephen F. Austin are the toughest games of the three, with Presbyterian looking like the softest assignment on paper.
Except nothing looks like it’s going to be easy for Monmouth at this point. But somehow, some way Monmouth has to come out of this tournament with a win. The longer the winless streak stretches, the more the pressure builds.
Monmouth started 0-8 under coach King Rice in 2011-12, his first season, and 2022-23, part of a 1-20 start. The Hawks started 0-12 in 2018-19.
Pregame
For Monmouth basketball, Texas tourney a big opportunity: 3 keys vs. Youngstown State
It certainly looked like Monmouth’s most complete performance of the season, with the Hawks even at Wichita State with less than two minutes to play. Monmouth led by seven points in the second half before falling, 70-66.
But in the aftermath of five tough season-opening games, which included a pair of high major losses, the Axe ‘Em Classic at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, provides three opportunities to get a win – and maybe more than one.
It begins Thursday when Monmouth (0-5) takes on Youngstown State (1-2) out the Horizon League, with tipoff at 5 p.m. at William R. Johnson Colisum. The game will not be broadcast on any streaming platforms. The audio is available at the Monmouth Digital Network.
The Hawks then take on the host team Friday at 6 p.m., before closing out the tournament’s pre-determined matchups against Presbyterian at noon Saturday.
Picked sixth in the 11-team Horizon League, Youngstown State comes off losses to Ohio State and Syracuse, after winning its season-opener against Chicago State.
Monmouth played in a similar format tournament last season at the Palestra, winning its first two games against Belmont and Lafayette, before losing to Penn.
The Hawks need to win a game in Texas to avoid equaling the 0-8 start they had in 2011-12, head coach King Rice’s first season, and 2021-22, when they started 1-20.
Here are three keys for Monmouth against Youngstown State:
1. Make your free throws
It was painful to watch.
Monmouth was shooting 81.6 percent from the line after its first four games, which was 12th nationally. Yet inexplicably, the Hawks hit just 6-of-18 against Wichita State, and completely collapsed in the final minutes with the game there for the taking.
For a team with Monmouth’s early-season offensive limitations, cashing in on the freebies is so important. Monmouth didn’t even have to shoot well from the line against Wichita State, just not 33 percent, and they’d have won.
It’s worth noting that only five teams out of 355 Division 1 programs foul more than Monmouth. And Youngstown State is top 25 nationally in free throws taken and free throws made.
2. Win in the paint
Monmouth had a 41-34 edge on the glass against Wichita State, limiting them to just five second chance points, while blocking four shots. It was the best showing by the Monmouth frontcourt, as Jaret Valencia, the 6-9 redshirt sophomore who missed the first three games after preseason hernia surgery, saw his minutes expanded, scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds in 23 minutes Monday.
Monmouth is averaging a robust 13.8 offensive rebounds, and adding more second chance points would go a long way toward getting the tournament off to a good start. Forward Jordan Meka has missed two early-season games with an ailing knee, and it’s unclear what his availability will be over the course of three days.
Youngstown State is a guard-driven team. They start four along with 7-3 sophomore center Gabe Dynes, averaging 6.7 points and 3.0 rebounds, with 6-6 Cris Carroll averaging seven points and 5.7 rebounds off the bench. The Penguins got clobbered on the boards by Ohio State and Syracuse, as you’d expect, but hammered Chicago State on the glass in a win.
3. Backcourt strength
Youngstown State presents another formidable backcourt for the Hawks to contend with, beginning with Nico Galette, a fifth-year guard who was a first-team All-NEC performer at Sacred Heart, averaging 15 points-per-game, with the 6-6 former Rutgers Prep standout grabbing a team-best six rebounds as well.
EJ Farmer, a 6-5 senior guard, is averaging 12.3 points and 4.3 rebounds, while 6-3 senior Ty Harper is in double-figures at 12.7 points, to go with 4.0 rebounds. with Juwan Maxey (8.7 ppg., 2.3 rpg.) making a big contribution off the bench.
Monmouth’s Abdi Bashir Jr., the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after hitting for 38 a Rutgers and 25 at Northern Illinois, is averaging 21.6 points, while Madison Durr is averaging 13.0. When Jack Collins breaks out of his early-season scoring slump the Hawks will have a tough trio to deal with.
