Lizzie and Jorge at Home: episode two—Dartmouth at Columbia (ft. Sports Editor Miles Schachner)

Upper West Side NY

07 February, 2022

2:37 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY ELIZABETH KARPEN, JORGE HERNANDEZ, AND MILES SCHACHNER FEBRUARY 4, 2022, 3:50 PM Welcome back 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 Dartmouth at Columbia, reflecting on Columbia's need for a new defensive model to turn things around moving forward. 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. [Jorge] On this episode of "Lizzie and Jorge at Home," we will be discussing the Columbia-Dartmouth men's game. Joining us today is current sports monarch and editor, Miles Schachner. Welcome, Miles. [Miles] Hi I'm Miles Schachner. I'm on the basketball beat here at Spec along with Matthew Kim. I'm also the sports editor. [Jorge] Thanks for joining us, Miles! [Lizzie] This weekend, the Lions faced off against the Big Green. Both had only notched one win apiece in Ivy play prior to the contest in Levien. The game was characterized by the Light Blue's lack of consistency; Columbia dropped the battle of the Ivy League bottom-feeders 76-63. [Jorge] This game was a big one for the Light Blue's conference standing. Before the game, Dartmouth and Columbia were both tied for last place. However, after the game, Columbia remained in last place, tallying four wins and 14 losses, with one win and five losses within the league, while Dartmouth jumped to sixth place, marking five wins and 12 losses overall, with two wins and four losses in the conference. [Lizzie] Coming into the game, the team received devastating news that longtime supporter of the men's basketball team Jerry Sherwin, a 1955 graduate of Columbia College, had passed away. During his time at the University, Sherwin was the manager for the basketball team and a player on the baseball team. In the decades since, he mentored dozens of athletes and was a consistent presence within the program. [Jorge] Once again, this was a game of two halves where Columbia started with a formidable offense and then slowly lost its lead as the game progressed. Senior captain forward Ike Nweke chipped in 10 points in the first 20 minutes of the game, which offset an overwhelming early deficit, but Dartmouth outmaneuvered Columbia's defense and finished the first half leading by five points. [Lizzie] Columbia's defense was one-track minded, completely centered around stopping the Big Green's leading scorers Brendan Barry and Aaryn Rai. The Lions limited them to seven points, which effectively deterred Dartmouth, but this strategy began to fall apart in the second half. [Jorge] In the first half, Columbia held the top three-point scorer, Barry, to five points. However, they lacked defensive consistency from half to half. And although they limited Dartmouth's top scorers in the first half, Barry and Rai started to get in rhythm throughout the last twenty minutes. Rai completely dominated. He had a game high of 20 points, including 18 in the second half. The Lions are not going to improve until they improve their defense's strength throughout the whole game. [Lizzie] Even if that defensive model was working, which it's not, this team is run so ragged by the second half of the game that they just are too exhausted to do what they need to be doing. There's a huge difference in performance between the first half and the second half in what we've seen for the last two weeks. This is a team that is able to compete pretty well and even pull a lead in the first half, but it just all falls apart as the game continues. Going into the second half, there was still an easy chance for the Lions to kick back in, but the deficits just kept growing as the starters get tired. [Miles] Something that [head coach Jim] Engles has said all year is that they play in spurts. I think that's totally true. That's a problem with this team. And I don't know if it can be attributed to youth, just inexperience, not playing together a lot. But I think another thing to think about too is that they're still not fully healthy yet. Junior guard Eddie Turner is out still. Sophomore forward Joshua Odunowo is also out—he's been out for a long time. Turner specifically provides a lot of playmaking and steadiness on offense. [Jorge] The Big Green possessed an offensive versatility that the Lions have been lacking all season, which allowed them to hold onto the lead and run away with the game. Dartmouth finished with four players in double digits and was able to get its best players going, including Rai and Barry. Barry notched 13 points by the buzzer. [Lizzie] Columbia had turnovers galore, an issue the team has suffered from all season. If the team wants to maintain their lead, they need to keep possession of the ball and begin taking more shots. [Jorge] Where do we think that the team needs to go from here? [Lizzie] The team just needs to start focusing on the defense a little bit more, obviously, this is not a problem that we're just seeing now, it's been endemic the entire season. They need to focus on building a wider defense, zoning in on more than one player, but also making three-pointer attempts. They're effectively shooting and getting it in when they making shot attempts. The consistency has been there traditionally, and if they start pushing harder in the second half and rebuilding their scoring, which they haven't consistently done, they'll be able to hold onto leads. [Miles] Looking ahead, I think it's unlikely that you win the conference with five losses, especially if you lost to Dartmouth. I don't think that the team is expected to compete for the conference this year, just given how strong the teams are at the top. I think if they string together some games where they play well for a full 40 minutes, then it can be built upon next year. [Lizzie] At this point, there's no chance of Columbia winning the Ivy League, which there's nothing wrong with, but they need to take this season as an opportunity to find those issues and sort them out. There's still the opportunity to become competitive, and they need to use this time now to learn how to do that again. [Jorge] That's all from us today! We hope you enjoyed "Lizzie and Jorge at Home" from the comfort of your home. 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.