Hamilton, ON- Patrick Tatham takes a second to think of the question of why. The head coach of the McMaster Marauders men’s basketball team had just seen his team lose their second game in a row – this following a four-game winning streak.

He had seen his team fight hard at home against the Brock Badgers but struggle to score as they lost 81-66 on Feb. 10. This came after they lost to the Waterloo Warriors the previous night 64-51.

Tatham watched his team not generate good offence on a handful of possessions – digging themselves into a hole early on versus Brock. One they were constantly fighting to get out of. One they ultimately couldn’t as the visitors maintained the lead.

Why did the Marauders struggle to score recently? That may not be such a simple question to answer. For one, they were coming off five straight games where they scored over 80 points – including a season-high 104 against Nipissing – leading into the Brock match. So what changed?

“I don’t know if there’s really one particular thing I can actually point to, other than the fact that we are playing hard defence,” Tatham said.

The players understand how hard they have to play for their style of defence as the season’s gone on. Tatham sees it in their rebounding and their fight off the ball.

He said they need to defend one-on-one in the paint better – a tough thing to do given they’re missing starting forwards Ares Culley-Bremner and Brendan Amoyaw due to injury. Nathan Charles and Riaz Saliu have been among those stepping up – and fighting – in their place.

First-year guard Jeremiah Francis saw them focus on their values – including guarding the paint.

They’ve fought hard despite being a smaller team. They’ve done so by fronting the other teams’ big men in the post, according to Francis. They focus on stopping them from getting easy paint touches.

The Marauders battled in the paint against Brock’s forwards. They made some of those stops against the Badgers. Francis noticed they had some good runs but fell short.

What did he think was behind the team’s offensive performance?

As the year progressed, Francis saw how it’s been harder and harder to score as opponents know their tendencies better from scouting them or playing against them. They’re guarding their first and second looks better. “We just have to find different ways to get to the hole, get to the rim and knock down open shots,” he noted.

Francis saw how they were slow getting to the basket the past couple of games. However, he thinks they can pick things up.

The Surrey, BC native pointed to communication and transition scoring as two of the factors to improve. To pick up momentum as well.

“I feel like if we’re all on the same page defensively and we buy in as a team, as a collective, then we get stops…and then it starts getting in transition to scoring,” he noted.  

Tatham saw all their work done defensively as a factor in their offensive woes. He knows how players need to have the legs to shoot often and effectively from three for instance. McMaster shot four-for-23 from deep against Waterloo and 10-for-32 against Brock.

“I think we’re selling out so much on defence that we don’t have the legs to get the right shots that we do take,” Tatham said.

The head coach said they’ll try and limit how much they’re using their legs in practice – keeping practices sharp and short to give them more rest time in between days before games.

It’s not the only solution though. “Our scorers have to show up night in and night out, especially down the stretch here,” he noted.

Tatham saw Mike Demagus (22 points) and Moody Qasim (23 points) do so at times against the Badgers but he wasn’t sure if that was enough. No other player scored more than seven points. He also saw the team fall into a drought in the second and third quarter that hindered them.

There’s something about scoring depth though. It is built through work. For Tatham, that means building the confidence of the players in the rotation during practices – keeping them engaged and locked in. Maybe it can pay off during games?

That also means sharing the basketball. He pointed out how they only had four assists in their loss to the Warriors. They had 11 assists against the Badgers. “Moving the ball and the confidence comes a long way, especially when you’re talking about depth,” he said.

The good news for the Marauders? They’re still in the middle of a tight OUA Central division race with all six teams separated by only three games – and five of them within two games – heading into the final week of regular season action. They host the Lakehead Thunderwolves for a pair of games on Feb. 16 and 17.

They’ve also won four games in a row before this past weekend. “We found a way,” Tatham noted. It was a confidence boost for them.

Now, comes the matter of finding ways to consistently generate offence all game long.

They’ll watch film. The coaches will show the team as much as they can, according to Tatham. They know what needs to be done to improve. They’ve seen their hard work pay off defensively.  

“So, they’ve essentially said: ‘You know what, we’re going to buy into it,’” Tatham said. “Now we just got to get the offence to catch up with the defence.”

Featured Image: Kevin Lassel/McMaster Athletics