Brock Morrison jumps for a basket. (Photo: Sports Information)
When a team is in the midst of a losing streak, the last thing they would want is to play the top two teams in their conference. Yet, that’s exactly what the AU men’s basketball team had to do last week, and unfortunately, the skid continued. On Wednesday the Ravens traveled to Hanover and lost 71-60 before falling to HCAC-leader Transylvania at home, 58-55. Once again, the Ravens couldn’t come up with a win in a close game, and now just eight games remain on the schedule. AU will decide their own fate in the coming weeks and it starts tonight with a home game against Defiance College. Currently the Ravens are sitting at seventh place in the conference and only the top six get into the postseason tournament.
To say that the Ravens are on the outside looking in when it comes to the conference tournament is true – for now. But to say that they have an unattainable task ahead of them is not. AU could easily pick up two wins in conference play this week against teams positioned below them in the standings, and if that happens, they will be right back in the mix. However, when it comes to head coach Tom Slyder and the team, the conference tournament is the last thing on their mind at the moment.
“We can’t even worry about the conference tournament right now. We’ve got to win one game and that’s the next one we play,” Slyder said.
As mentioned before, that next one will be tonight against Defiance, a team AU beat on the road 70-69 earlier in the year. In that game the Ravens trailed at halftime by 12 before roaring back in the second half and eventually winning on a Jake Browne buzzer-beater. The Ravens also did a great job on the defensive end, holding Defiance’s leading scorer Logan Wolfrum to just 12 points in 36 minutes. Going forward, defense remains a top priority for improvement.
“We played good defense in the first half [against Hanover] and that’s where we need to be. That’s a start,” Slyder commented.
Both games this week are winnable, and the Ravens should snap out of their current five game losing streak. If they are able to make the conference tournament, they have the talent to contend with anyone. Slyder and Brock Morrison have both said they are capable of beating anybody in the conference. We will find out this week if that becomes a reality.
