Lizzie and Jorge at Home: episode One—Brown at Columbia

Upper West Side NY

28 January, 2022

4:24 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY ELIZABETH KARPEN AND JORGE HERNANDEZ • JANUARY 28, 2022, 2:16 PM Welcome to "Lizzie and Jorge at Home," a podcast series where Deputy Sports Editor Jorge Hernandez and former Sports and Managing Editor Elizabeth Karpen go to Columbia home basketball games so you don't have to! They bring the games to you—along with some added commentary. In this episode, they discuss Brown at Columbia, reflecting on Columbia's weak offensive game and poor fundamentals that ultimately led to the Lions' loss. Transcript [Lizzie]: Welcome to "Lizzie and Jorge at Home," a series covering men and women's home basketball games! With attendance still limited due to COVID-19, we bring the games to you—along with some added commentary from the two most qualified people to speak on the state of basketball at Columbia. [Lizzie]: Today, we're going to be talking about the Columbia men's basketball game against Brown. [Jorge]: This weekend the Lions, who have tallied four wins and 13 losses thus far, faced off against Brown, which has a record of 10 wins and 11 losses. Columbia sits in last place within the Ivy League, recording one win and four losses, while Brown stands in sixth place, recording two wins and four losses. Even with the return of senior forward Ike Nweke, a Columbia captain, the Bears still put a beatdown on the Lions, resulting in a record-breaking loss. Nweke was previously out due to a shoulder injury and has also missed time this year after an ankle injury. [Lizzie]: This 22-point loss marks the largest margin of defeat for Columbia men's basketball so far this season. It's also the largest margin of defeat since 2017. [Lizzie]: The Light Blue was done in by numerous turnovers and an overall sloppy offense. [Lizzie]: So it's only the first minute and a half of the game and Brown's offense is already so much more seamless than Columbia's. [Lizzie]: At the beginning of the first half, the Lions attempted to turn the tide in their favor by converting on turnovers, playing an aggressive defense, and entering with a competitive attitude. Eight minutes into the first half, Columbia led the game 16-13. [Jorge]: The Lions' lead was short-lived, however, as Brown really started to fire on all cylinders. Columbia let Brown score nine unanswered points, bringing the score to 22-16. With this nine-point run, Brown took the lead and never looked back. The Bears' strong offensive game—taking advantage of turnovers, well-timed fastbreaks, and great ball-handling—largely contributed to the change in momentum. Assisted by Tamenang Choh, the sixth-leading scorer in the Ivy League, the Bears completely dominated the rest of the first half. COVID-19 policies have enabled Choh to play as part of the Bears even though he is a graduate student. [Lizzie]: At the end of the first half, the Lions entered the locker room trailing Brown 52-31. Despite Brown's large lead, Columbia outperformed Brown in terms of field goal shooting percentage, with Columbia making 54.2 percent of shots from within the arc as compared to Brown's 52.8 percent. [Jorge]: At the end of the first half, the Lions are down 21 points. [Lizzie]: Offensively, Columbia is really being outplayed. [Jorge]: It's a combination of not being able to capitalize on the looks they're getting and get stops on the defensive end. [Lizzie]: Columbia is shooting well on two-pointers but they are just not making it to Brown's side of the court enough. [Jorge]: But what really dragged the Light Blue down in the first half was their lack of ability to score easy points and their careless offensive game. [Jorge]: Columbia made three free throws as opposed to Brown's eight. [Lizzie]: In the first half alone, Columbia accumulated a total of 10 fouls. Coupled with an abysmal 37.5 percent free-throw shooting average, the Lions were clearly lacking in the first half. [Lizzie]: Coming into the second half, what do you think that the Lions need to do to close up some of that deficit? [Jorge]: I think they need to have better control of the ball definitely. Actually, on a more fundamental level, it's rebounds. They need to get Brown out of the paint. They are just controlling the paint. They need to get Brown out of there and then start capitalizing on those two-point plays they can make. [Jorge]: The Light Blue entered the second half hoping to turn things around. Looking to recreate some of the early momentum that gave Columbia its brief lead, head coach Jim Engles decided to return to using the same starters he did in the first half—sophomore foward Liam Murphy, first-year guard Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, junior guard Eddie Turner III, junior guard Patrick Harding, and Nweke. [Lizzie]: However, that plan failed as the Lions were unable to keep up with the Bears from the start. After two consecutive turnovers in the paint, Brown leapt to their largest lead in the game at 25 points. [Jorge]: The Lions were quick to respond. Rubio De La Rosa retaliated with a bucket from downtown. Turner followed with a lay-up, capitalizing on a turnover in the paint that turned into a fastbreak. [Lizzie]: Though the Lions showed newfound energy, it proved to not be enough against the best defense in the Ivy League. [Lizzie]: When the final buzzer rang, the score was 93-74 with Brown claiming victory. [Jorge]: Contributing to this large margin of defeat were Columbia's 22 turnovers. Brown made a whopping 34 points from turnovers this game. If the Lions want to cut down on their opponents scoring, the first thing they have to do is cut down on the number of times they are giving the opponent the ball. [Lizzie]: This is not a new problem for the Lions either—it's something that they have struggled with all season. They are averaging around 15 turnovers per game, the most in the conference. [Jorge]: Moreover, they need to get more "easy" points. Though Columbia outshot Brown in the paint, getting 42 points as compared to Brown's 40, and improved its free-throw shooting percentage in the second half to about 53 percent, it still underperformed from the foul stripe—missing eight of the 17 free throws it attempted. That's all from us today! We hope you enjoyed "Lizzie and Jorge at Home" from the comfort of your home. Join us next week when we cover the men's Columbia-Dartmouth game. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.