That loss, 58-54 to Seton Hall, was the knock on the young season. The second half of the game against the University of Virginia had paralyzed the team, but a road win against the Cavaliers was not expected. Falling to the Pirates was, in head coach Mike Lonergan’s words, “disappointing.”
The Colonials pulled their season record against the Big East to .500 with the A-10’s first win over a member of the other basketball-centric conference, defeating DePaul 81-68. Is Lonergan happier with the team’s performance relative to the game at Seton Hall? “Oh, yeah,” he said, exhaling. He seemed satisfied.
Sitting to his right was junior Kevin Larsen, who scored 18 points against the Blue Demons. After a tough start, Larsen has improved his game since Seton Hall, and the Colonials have won three straight.
“Just me being more focused and more aggressive and not taking plays off, which is one of my biggest weaknesses. Just me playing hard every possession,” Larsen said.
The day after the Seton Hall game, Larsen hit the gym with an assistant coach at 8 a.m. Since then, he’s averaged 14 points per game.
That number is second to just one player in the same time frame: Patricio Garino. Garino scored 23 against UMBC, 21 against Charlotte and 19 against DePaul. The slashing playmaker is shooting nearly 70 percent in his last three games.
Drive after drive, Garino sliced his way to the rim for an easy layup. His right-handed moves dazzled the crowd, but they were surgical. Garino only missed once in open play: The basket was an afterthought by the time he’d snaked past the last DePaul defender.
So is his hot stretch the reason GW has been winning games? Not according to Garino.
“I think Kevin is the key to our success,” he said.
Larsen has been stronger inside, posting up to create driving lanes for classmates Garino and Kethan Savage.
“Sometimes he’s very skilled. Sometimes [Kevin] posts up on the block and ends up on the short corner, but he’s so much more effective inside, where he can score and do a lot of things,” Lonergan said. “I think it’s one of the reasons Patricio is shooting an unbelievable percentage in the last three games.”
GW’s last couple opponents – DePaul and Charlotte – have had the defensive fortitude of a stick of butter. The Blue Demons are tied for the No. 253 scoring defense in Division I and the 49ers are ranked No. 322 out of 345. Both allow 70 points or more per game.
On offense, though, both are much better. Charlotte is tied for the No. 71 scoring offense and DePaul is ranked No. 32. GW needed consistency to outpace both.
With its consistency, the team is in a good position as it heads into a tough game at Penn State and then to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic. The core four has accomplished Lonergan’s preseason goal of having four double-digit scorers, from Garino’s 15.1 points per game to Joe McDonald’s even 10.
“I just felt that our juniors, they all can score,” Lonergan said. “And we’re best, like Charlotte, when they’re all in double figures.”
There’s one big caveat in the team’s 13 missed free throws against DePaul. GW went 14-27. The Colonials can’t expect to lead every game by 20 at halftime and have cushion to use if an opponent starts pressing and fouling wildly like DePaul did.
Those numbers are uncomfortably similar to the 14-24 mark GW hit against Memphis in the NCAA Tournament last year. Shooting freebies like that will put a damper on the Colonials’ chances to pull out tough wins against even better opponents. GW could face Wichita State in Hawaii.
But trouble from the line or not, now is a good time for the Colonials to know themselves. GW won’t be back to the Smith Center – where the team has won 19 of the last 20 games – until Dec. 30. Conference play starts four days later.
“I think we’re more focused now. We’ve picked it out, our defense. We’ve been focusing,” Garino said. “We’re passing the ball much more.”
It’s worth remembering that the Wooden Legacy tournament was where last year’s team beat Creighton to build its NCAA case, and GW still doesn’t have a true, signature win. Larsen’s improvement could be helping the Colonials hit their stride at just the right time.
