They took a 32-29 lead into the locker room against Butler and had no reason to think it wouldn’t continue — especially since leading scorer Michael Cooper had played just five minutes because of foul woes.
“I was pleased with our first half. We were the aggressors,” Sargent said.
“We got the ball in good spots on the floor. We just missed some layups in the first half — where that could have been a 10-point game at the half. You need that bigger margin since they’re on their own floor and you know they’re going to come out swinging.”
The Bulldogs, who appear to have their best team in years, landed one haymaker after another. And there was no way to stop the barrage.
They scored 65 second-half points in a 94-69 win — against the team that was leading the Horizon League in scoring defense at 62.8 per game.
“We got disjointed and disconnected. And it’s a little bit of a pattern with our second-half field-goal percentage. I don’t like it,” Sargent said.
The Raiders, who fell to 4-4, are defending 3’s well, holding foes to 27.2% shooting, but they’re getting shredded inside the arc, allowing opponents to connect at a 52.1% clip.
In all but one of their four losses, the opposition shot far better in the second half.
Cal hit 33.3% in the opening 20 minutes but 52% after halftime.
The split for Toledo was 50% and 61.3%. And for Butler, it was 44% and 65.8%.
Kent State shot better in the first half (44.4% to 31%) but made 4 of 6 shots in overtime to prevail.
“Our two-point field-goal percentage defense, it’s got to go down. You get spread out, you get disconnected, you just kind of start hugging” instead of staying in a defensive stance, Sargent said.
“We need to get that corrected to beat the best teams in the biggest games. I think once we can get that corrected and hold our ground when teams make run on us, we’ve got a pretty good team. But we’ve got to learn that defensive killer instinct.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Another shortcoming that needs to be addressed is the paltry totals at the foul line.
The Raiders were just 2 of 3 against Butler, which went 15 of 26.
Though it didn’t matter in a 79-62 win last week at Stetson, they had only six attempts in that game, making three.
For the season in D-I games, they’re 59 of 88, while foes are 95 of 132. A gap like that will be hard to overcome against competent league teams.
Asked about a solution, Sargent said: “The guys that can get there need to get there. … It’s just not allowing yourself to get sped up and being relaxed around the rim to draw contact.
“We missed a number of layups in the first half (against Butler) where we were sped up — instead of being calm and relaxed and fluid with your body to make basketball plays and get fouled.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Wright State at Youngstown State
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 1410-AM, 101.5-FM
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