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Assistant coach Shaun Belbey called Matt Morgan the most underrated player in The Basketball Tournament. The new addition to Boeheim’s Army would prove his worth throughout the course of the tournament and prove everyone wrong. He came off the bench against India Rising and showed his offensive skill set was worth paying attention to. On Saturday, with Tyler Ennis out with back spasms, Morgan filled in on the starting lineup.

He started off slow, garnering just four points and showing an inability to connect from long range, but so did the rest of Boeheim’s Army. Early on, however, Morgan stole an errand pass away from The Nerd Team on BA’s side of the court. He quickly looked forward to his left and saw C.J. Fair had read the turnover perfectly and was set up for a dish off. He shoved the ball over to Fair, threading a needle between defenders and pumped his fist as he watched Fair go up and under for the score.

Coming off a dominating victory against No. 8 India Rising, Boeheim’s Army lost Tyler Ennis to back spasms. Following warmups and a few minutes to start the game, D.J. Kennedy and Deandre Kane bowed out to undisclosed injuries as well. That left the defending champions with a void on defense, one they tended not to fill.

“No Tyler, no Kane, no Kennedy, everybody hurt, we ended up playing 40 minutes, the whole game,” Dee Bost said.

Through 32 minutes, Morgan collected 19 points, three rebounds and three assists. Even when Morgan couldn’t find an open shot or was shut down after an aggressive drive to the hole, he acted as an intermediary between scores. Toward the end of the third quarter, when Morgan really settled in, Marek Dolezaj tipped a rebound out to Morgan. He then looked around to chart a path to a layup, nothing of which developed quickly. So, he swung the ball across the top of the outer arc to Bost, watching once again as Bost slung through a 3-pointer in the midst of Boeheim’s Army’s comeback attempt.

But early on, nothing worked for Morgan. Head coach Jeremy Pope tinkered with Andrew White to see if any spark could be created. While Morgan did collect a block, a rebound and six points in the first half, there was still a gap in production. As the game progressed, however, Morgan settled in enough to ensure Ennis’s presence wasn’t missed. He couldn’t connect from deep, but neither could Ennis on Friday night. 

Kennedy said BA knew The Nerd Team was full of sharp shooters, players like Tyler Nelson that were much better from long range than anyone on India Rising. Ennis frequently trapped IR players in the corners, a tactic Boeheim’s Army used to shut down anyone on the perimeter Friday night. Morgan and White tried, and Bost tended to find success stopping 3-point attempts as the game grew long, but a gap in defensive production existed on Saturday. 

“We started off too slow,” Bost said. “That got hot and everybody on the team got confident. When you give a team confidence, it’s easy for you to lose.”

Ennis found himself down low more often than not, crouching low and calculating a jolt toward the basket for one of his four rebounds. White and Morgan combined for six rebounds, while Bost continued to showcase his multifaceted game with six boards, but White saw his window slam shut frequently by players like Bruner. Forward Kyle Casey, who ate up Boeheim’s Army in the paint, closed nearly every opportunity BA had to grab a rebound. The No. 1 team only recorded nine second chance points, exactly half of what they garnered on Friday.

Ennis got around hard screens that India Rising head coach Ajay Sharma said they tried to set. Morgan and White found themselves stuffed, just like when Brandon Sherrod stood tall against Morgan in the first half. That opened a gaping hole in which Nelson calmly banged in an uncontested 3. Rakeem Christmas had to overcompensate away from the basket, continually allowing his men to open up down low.

Despite the absence of Ennis, Kennedy said that some of the shots they simply couldn’t do anything about. The final 3-point shot, an off-balance attempt by Nelson using mostly his right arm, happened to swirl around and fall in to win the game for The Nerd Team. Bost circled his finger around, signaling for the referees to see whether or not the shot clock had expired. The rest of Boeheim’s Army’s bench agreed.

Not even Ennis could have stopped that shot, an off-kilter prayer attempt, from going in. Kennedy and Kane couldn’t have either. Some shots, Kennedy said, just went in. “You can’t play better defense than that,” Kennedy added. Players like Bruner, who BA scouted as someone to give space on long attempts, went 4-for-4 on 3s, a success rate that surprised even Ennis.

“Some of the threes you couldn’t even do nothing about, especially the last one,” Kennedy said. “I mean, that pretty much sums up the whole game.”

Published on July 23, 2022 at 6:25 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt