The Ravens men’s basketball team went 2-0 in weekend competition after beating the Queen’s University Gaels 95-65 on Jan. 18 and the York University Lions 100-54 the following night.
Although the Ravens won both games by large margins, the team continued to struggle defensively as a big weekend double header looms large.
The Ravens’ first game of the weekend against Queen’s started with a sputtering offense. The game remained close until the Ravens went on a long run in the beginning of the second quarter.
The Lions game had a similar margin as the team found its offensive rhythm through the first quarter. Once the play settled, the Ravens took advantage of a mismatch at guard with Yasiin Joseph on isolation plays to pull ahead.
The Ravens’ offensive talent was on full display–getting significant contributions across the board.
The Ravens had eight 10 plus point performances from six different players in the two games. Despite TJ Lall, the team’s leading scorer heading into the weekend, who failed to score over 10 points in both games.
The Ravens this season have been using their most efficient scorer and offensive key piece Eddie Ekiyor off the bench. The team recently elected to start with a three-guard set with forward Marcus Anderson, and guards Joseph and Munis Tutu.
Switching Ekiyor on early in the first quarter allowed him to play against a centre already with one or two fouls against them.
The Ravens employed this strategy on both games as Ekiyor’s presence inside was a large factor in both games. He was the Ravens’ leading scorer in both contests. Ekiyor also averaged only 21 minutes a game and 9.5 shots during the two weekend games but scored 16.5 points in both games.
The Ravens’ offensive production fueled their margin of victories but the defence continues to need work, especially as the end of the regular season approaches.
Anderson, the 2018 U Sports Defensive Player of the Year and a vocal leader on the team, voiced his concerns about the defence after the game against York.
“Our defensive rotations aren’t as tight as they needed to be—we need to trust our teammates and lock in,” Anderson said.
While the Ravens had a weekend with an average of 42-point margin in their favour, Ekiyor and the team at large said they aren’t concerned with in-regular season victories.
“We still have lots and lots of work to do,” Ekiyor said. “We have guys, myself included who need to be listening to what coaches are saying and changing and making sure they trying to learn and get better.”
Tightening up will be paramount as the Ravens have two critical games next weekend. The Ravens host the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Jan. 25 and the Ryerson University Rams on Jan. 26.
The Ryerson game will be a meeting of Canada’s top two men’s basketball teams.
A rivalry sparked from many playoff meetings in the last few years. Notably Ryerson beat Carleton and knocked them down to the bronze medal game in the 2018 national championships.
Carleton won their last game together earlier this month 76-69.
This weekend also marks a rematch with the Varsity Blues against whom Carleton experienced their closest game of the season, winning 70-68 on Jan. 6.
The U of T game is at the forefront of head coach Dave Smart’s mind.
“We almost lost to U of T—we’re going to focus on what they did to cause us problems,” Smart said. “I think it’s a team defence thing, so we’re gonna watch some tape and figure out where they gave us problems.”
The Ravens struggled particularly against first-year guard Iñaki Alvarez, who had a career high 22 points on 7-14 shooting. Anderson said he and his team are ready to face Alvarez again.
“I just focus on every game as it comes, but I definitely think we got to focus on him because he’s going to be searching again,” Anderson said on the match-up. “But, we got to focus on all of them because they have a lot of guys that can go off.”
While the team continues to win, the focus for the team is another thing, at least to Ekiyor.
“We got long strides to make before we get to nationals. Winning these games doesn’t mean anything—we saw that last year,” he said.
—With files from Michael Sun
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Photo by Tim Austen
