In a tough back-and-forth contest, the AU Men’s Basketball team fell to the Marist Red Foxes in their season opener on Wednesday.

While much of the game could be considered a draw, the Eagles had a difficulty with their defensive positioning, leading to the Red Foxes shooting 62% eFG%. This included them going 11-21 from three (52.4%), with five of those being wide-open shots. AU shot well in their own right – 44.4% – but it seemed like Marist was far too comfortable on the perimeter. The Eagles need to do a better job of running shooters off the line and communicating better in their defensive rotation to prevent this type of performance in the future.

In the first half, it seemed like the Eagles controlled the game. But a few well-timed jumpers from Marist allowed them to hang around. In the second half, they were able to work through big Patrick Gardner in the post and their perimeter players (like Kam Farris, who finished with 20 pts) to hold AU off.

Junior guard Colin Smalls looked like a star on the verge of a breakout in the first half. His good defensive positioning led to a couple steals, and smart passes put his teammates in positions to succeed. He did force a couple long 2’s, but overall, looked like he could have an exciting season this year.

We also saw strong performances from some freshman. Geoff Sprouse, who led American in scoring with 14 in this game, looked like a three-level scorer. In addition to going 4-9 from three, he had some strong takes to the basket and made some smart passes. While he was inconsistent on D, we can chalk that up to a freshman getting his first college action. Jermaine Ballisager Webb also had a promising debut, with several possessions of good defensive positioning and shot contesting. He also had some good post moves against veteran post Patrick Gardner that led to buckets. Ballisager Webb did go down with an injury in this game, and his quick return would do a lot for AU’s prospects going forward this season.