The New York University men's basketball team was defeated 57-54 by Brandeis University in its University Athletic Association (UAA) opener on Saturday afternoon, January 10, at the Red Auerbach Arena in Waltham, MA.
"We want to learn from our miscues and continue to make adjustments where necessary, so there's certain things we'll be working on to execute better," said NYU Head Coach Joe Nesci. "We're still in the midst of our season and we certainly think we're a team that's still improving and we're going to continue to look to get better."NYU (8-3, 0-1 UAA) led by five, 30-25, at the break, but were outscored 32-25 by Brandeis (6-6, 1-0 UAA) in the second half. The battle down low went on all game long between the Judges and Violets. Brandeis held a slight 30-29 rebounding advantage, while NYU outscored the Judges 26-22 in points in the paint.
"I just think that we didn't get enough post touches to begin with, and Brandeis did
a good job of adjusting and swarming us when we got the ball in the post," continued Nesci. "The second half started out and Brandeis was double- and triple-teaming us in the post. We'd kick the ball out to our open shooters but we didn't make as many shots as we needed to throughout the game."With 1:39 remaining in the contest, the score was knotted at 51-51. After a couple of NYU intentional fouls, the Judges hit four free throws to take a four-point lead, 55-51, with 21 seconds left. Then, with 13 seconds remaining,
Hakeem Harris nailed a three from the far corner to trim Brandeis' lead to 55-54. After another pair of free throws by the Judges, NYU called a timeout to draw up the final play of the contest with just eight seconds left. After the Violets set a few screens,
Joe Timmes sprung open for a good look behind the three-point line, but was unable to connect as the buzzer sounded.
"The guys executed the play we talked about during the timeout perfectly and Joe got the good look, but sometimes that shot just doesn't fall," continued Nesci.
HIGHLIGHTS:-
Evan Kupferberg led the Violets with 15 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists.
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Costis Gontikas chipped in 14 points and pulled down a game-high-tying seven rebounds. The sophomore center also had one block and one steal.
- Harris finished with 13 points, two rebounds and two steals. The junior guard also had a highlight block when he ran down a Brandeis player on the fast break and spiked the layup attempt off the backboard with just over five minutes left in the game.
"We've be preaching to the guys not to give up on plays and it's not the first time it's happened in recent games," said Nesci. "It certainly gave us some momentum and some energy. I'm proud of the way we never gave up."
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Max Ralby contributed six rebounds, three points and a game-best three steals.
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Ross Udine led all players with four assists.
NYU will return to the court on Monday night, January 12, when it hosts Hunter College at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan for its final non-conference game of the season.
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