Communication: It’s an issue UNA must address
FLORENCE — Tony Pujol had told his University of North Alabama players Saturday wasn’t going to be easy. Missing a contributor of Corneilous Williams’ caliber rarely makes it so.
A unanimous preseason All-ASUN selection, the redshirt junior forward ranks second on the team in points per game (13.3) and leads in rebounds (10.3). But that’s the predicament the Lions found themselves in against Florida Gulf Coast.
Williams woke up with a 104-degree fever on Friday and was rushed to urgent care. The result of an illness making its rounds. UNA, Pujol said, is monitoring Williams’ situation and is “keeping an eye on him right now.”
It marked the first time since Williams transferred to the Lions ahead of last season he did not start, let alone miss a game. Fortyseven straight outings.
“It’s definitely big,” sophomore guard Kevin de Kovachich said. “C brings a lot — rebounding, points, deflections, everything. His presence is felt every time he steps on the court. So, it’s harder, but I felt like we showed that we can compete.”
That’s what the UNA coach reminded his players — more than once in what ended up being a 72-55 loss to FGCU.
“I told them, ‘Hey, Neil’s not here, right?’” Pujol said “OK.‘Havewebeenthrough that before?’ They looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, we did.’ We played at Clemson, Neil went down with an ankle injury early in the game and you guys beat Clemson in the second half. I told them, ‘You’ve been here already. You can do this, but it’s going to be hard … and you have to be consistent.’” Williams played just 15 minutes against Clemson. The Lions trailed by 23 points at the break. But UNA outscored the Tigers 39-36 over the final 20 minutes. The 81-61 final was unfortunate, yet hardly the main takeaway. That second- half effort was what Pujol was looking for.
And Saturday, he was relatively pleased with what he saw. For the first 35 minutes, anyway.
Yes, the Lions (5-8, 0-2 ASUN) trailed by 10 at halftime and 12 early in the second half. But by the period’s midway point, they had cut their deficit to four on a 3-pointer from sophomore forward DarKaun King, who was filling in most of Williams’ minutes. A minute later, UNA trailed by five.
And then things started to go awry.
FGCU’s Jordan Ellerbee hit a jumper coming out of a timeout with 7:26 to go. The momentum swung in the Eagles’ favor from there and snowballed for the Lions. FGCU bumped its lead to double digits with 6 minutes to play and led by as many as 19 over the final 5.
Rahmir Barno’s 14 points led the Eagles (7-8, 1-1), who had nine of their 10 players to record at least a minute score. Ellerbee added 13, Isaiah Malone 11 and J.R. Konieczny 10.
Canin Jefferson paced UNA with 14 points, while Donte Bacchus chipped in 13, King 11 and de Kovachich 10. The 11 were a career high for King, who also played a career-best 29 minutes, topping the 24 he logged Thursday against Stetson.
“We held our own, cut it down to four,” King said. “But we can’t give up early leads. We need to learn how to maintain and learn how to close games out, even if we don’t have an all-conference player like Corneilous Williams. If we can do that for 40 minutes, we feel like we can put some good basketball together and the rest of the season should handle itself.”
And yet, that’s the issue. It has been for quite some time. It’s the same one that reared itself in a 90-84 win over Division II Lane College and an 87-84 victory against Northwestern State and a 78-74 points loss to East Tennessee State and a 68-60 loss at Alabama A&M.
The same one that showcased itself in Thursday’s loss to Stetson and on Saturday. It’s something UNA must address whether Williams plays or not.
“It’s communication,” de Kovachich said. “I feel like that’s one thing coach has been preaching the whole time and something we’ve been in and out on — doing and not doing. I feel like if we sustain talking on defense, communicating on offense, it’s going to take care of itself.”
Will it, though? Pujol believes so.
“Can they do it? One hundred percent,” Pujol said. “They’ve already proven that they can do it. They’ve shown it, when we went to San Francisco and beat a Top 60 team in the country.”
