With six and a half minutes left to play, I was already plotting a glowing post about the elecric reboot of Arkansas State men’s basketball. After enduring a stretch of losing five of six games, the Red Wolves had magically reclaimed their winning ways, besting Coastal Carolina on a thrilling comeback in Conway, destroying Bowling Green in Part 2 of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, and putting up 103 points in a victory over ULM. A-State was back! More than back! The offense was as prolific as the defense was stifling. Three-point maestro Christian Harmon and seven-foot-something center AlyΒ Tounkara were playing their best ball of the season, and everybody on Ryan Pannone’s roster seemed to understand the assignment.
When the Red Wolves were up 18 points on pesky South Alabama on Saturday, it appeared we were witnessing the continued maturation of a raw team that had met for the first time during the college basketball off season. when new head coach Coach Pannone scoured the globe for a roster to his liking. Now the entire team was feeling the moment, drilling threes, forcing turnovers and giving the home crowd what it wanted β humiliation of the Jaguars and their dastardly zone, a once impregnable defense that seemed broken and defeated by a constant rain of Harmon three-balls.
Of the apocalypse, there were signs. When the Jaguars 6’8″ forward Adam Olsen started drilling threes, it raised a goodnatured chuckle at best. When South Alabama’s bulk-scoring 6’6″ guard Chaze Harris refused to cool off, we exchanged nervous glances. When the Red Wolves three point attempts suddenly started falling short, and the free throws bounced off the rim, we recognized that we were bearing witness to an epic collapse.
“Emotional decisions and panic decisions cost us the game,” admitted Coach Pannone, who was also quick to give South Alabama the credit due. What were the emotional and panic decisions Coach Pannone was referencing? There are likely several to ponder, but one does stand out. With about nine seconds left on the game clock, the Jaguars were down four but with possession. The common strategy is to defend softly and do not foul, especially beyond the three point line (an issue that has haunted Arkansas State this season more than once).
Chaze Harris sprinted down the court to meet what some might call a surprisingly tight defense from guard Matt Hayman. Harris, not a three-point shooter, sensed that Hayman’s close proximity might be to his advantage, and with a dramatic lunge of his body, the guard hurled the ball into the sky β and seemed to draw contact with Hayman. Somehow, all laws of probability and physics were ignored as the ball rattled home for three. Harris, cool as ice, hit the game-tying free throw.
Hayman’s defensive lapse didn’t cost A-State the game β what cost A-State the game was what Coach Pannone called an “avalanche of mistakes,” like missed free throws, unforced turnovers, and ill advised shot selection. Also, you have to credit South Alabama coach Ritchie Riley who took a pickaxe to the cracks that had formed in Arkansas State’s lead. The Jaguars are a good team.
Mistakes are only mistakes if you don’t learn from them (which is something I learned from an internet meme). In Tuesday’s presser, Coanh Pannone acknowledged that the wisdom offered by Saturday’s loss to South Alabama would be applied to the team’s upcoming game against Louisiana. “There is a difference between playing with passion and playing with emotion,”
In the meantime, we’d probably all do well to be less emotional about the loss to South Alabama, which isn’t easy but I’ll try nonetheless.
MAIN IMAGE: an AI bastardization from my own original photograph
Howlraiser 