Ben Krimmel, a Hatchet columnist, is a senior majoring in international affairs.
The men’s basketball team has racked up its most non-conference in nearly four decades and is sitting pretty going into Atlantic 10 play. But as the temperature plunges in Foggy Bottom, the Colonials still find themselves standing on some thinning ice.
Don’t let their most recent Smith Center 17-point romp over Georgia deceive you. GW basketball is not on as solid footing as head coach Mike Lonergan would like.
Why? Production from the GW bench has been virtually nonexistent.
Aside from GW’s in-form sixth man, Patricio Garino, the other players on the Colonials’ bench have provided just 16 total points in the last three games.
Lonergan doesn’t need all of his team to be hot all at the same time, but he can’t afford to have the bench remain cold as conference play begins against La Salle on Wednesday. Maurice Creek, Joe McDonald and Kethan Savage have carried the offense for the last month.
The three-point shots are no longer falling for forward Nemanja Mikic and neither are the lay-ups for forward John Kopriva. Those second and third players off the GW bench are averaging 17.2 and 13.1 minutes per game, respectively.
Mikic has not scored more than six points since GW’s win over Rutgers on Dec. 4 and failed to score in each of the last two GW contests. During that six-game stretch, the 6-foot-8 forward has shot 3-10 from behind the arc.
For Kopriva the numbers are even worse — he hasn’t made a field goal in a month. On the bright side, Kopriva has only missed four shots during that span.
The cameo appearances from guard Miguel Cartagena, forward Paris Maragkos, guard Nick Griffin and forward Skyler White haven’t been of significant or regular minutes to make too many judgments on their play.
However, Griffin has a very good-looking jump shot and good range. I would like to see the freshman get a five-minute run along side Creek to see if Griffin’s outside shooting can help stretch opponents’ defenses the way Creek’s does. Griffin could provide a change of pace as a shoot first guard as opposed to the slashing of Savage and McDonald.
Is this time for panic at the Smith Center? Of course not. But it is time to be concerned. (Think orange rather than red for any of my fellow Elliott School of International Affairs students who need a national security point of reference.)
The teams that have successful end of season runs have a couple solid contributors off the bench. For the Colonials, it is just a matter of finding the right reinforcements.
