The men's basketball season ended abruptly last Tuesday, as the Jumbos fell to the Williams Ephs 81-57. Despite leading by 11 points in the first half, Tufts shot an abysmal 30 percent from the field in the second half and were eliminated in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. The team finished the season with a disappointing 12-13 record, 3-6 in the NESCAC.
"It's definitely disappointing to finish under 500, especially with some of the talent we had," junior Brian Shapiro said. "Losing our last three games was also a big disappointment."
Though the Jumbos lost several key players to graduation last year, including co-captain and leading scorer Dan Flaherty, and co-captain Bobby Mpuku, the team had high expectations beginning the year. With junior transfer student Mike McGlynn joining Shapiro and sophomore point guard Phil Barlow, Tufts looked to be a high-powered, run-and-gun team.
The game plan at the beginning of the season was fairly simple for Bob Sheldon's team - shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. The team's goal early in the season was to have upwards of 30 attempts from behind the arc. The plan implemented from the start, as the Jumbos averaged 25.6 three-point attempts through the first five games of the season.
The plan appeared to be a good one, as the Jumbos headed into winter break sporting a 5-3 record. McGlynn established himself as a top-scoring threat for the Jumbos during the opening games of the season, particularly in a 100-96 overtime win against Salem State, in which McGlynn poured in 26 points.
However, while Tufts' sharpshooters were effective during this opening stretch, a surprising inside threat was also developing for the Jumbos. Craig Coupe, 6'7", established himself as a force down low, starting in the first game of the season, in which he scored ten points. Despite this newly discovered inside game, however, the Jumbos remained focused on the outside shot.
The Jumbos experienced a season-altering loss during the winter recess, however, as Barlow went down with a foot injury. Barlow re-aggravated a foot originally broken during the summer, and required season-ending surgery.
"Losing Phil was the biggest thing that happened to us," Shapiro said. "The point guard controls everything on the floor - especially Phil because he's so quick and smart."
With Barlow out, it left junior Lee Neugebauer and sophomore Eric Mack with the bulk of the ball handling duties. Neither Neugebauer nor Mack proved to be the same scoring threat as Barlow, forcing the offense to focus more inside, as well as the perimeter game.
"It was kind of a sudden thing to not have (Barlow)," Coupe said. "But I think Eric and Lee stepped up and played to the best of their abilities."
The loss of one of their top scorers put more pressure on McGlynn, Shapiro, and Coupe to carry the team's offense. All three responded well, but particularly McGlynn. After Barlow's injury, McGlynn went on to average 18 points per game, including 23.6 points in NESCAC contests. He also led the NESCAC in three-point percentage, shooting 48.3 percent from downtown, en route to breaking Tufts single-season record for three pointers with 99.
"Losing Phil probably affected Mike the most, because he had to become a more complete player," Coupe said. "He couldn't just be a pure shooter."
In the second half of the season, the Jumbos found another presence down low in the form of freshman Reggie Stovell. Stovell proved to be a good compliment to Coupe inside, and went on to average 9.3 points in conference games.
Combined with the loss of Barlow and inconsistent shooting from many players, this seemed to switch the game plan to include the newfound inside presence.
"We didn't realize the impact Coupe would make at the beginning of the season," Shapiro said. "But once we saw what he could do we realized it would be better to go inside to him more. Plus McGlynn was really the only one shooting consistently all season from outside, so we had to go inside more."
Also emerging in the second half of the season for the Jumbos was junior Jim Wilson. Wilson took over the majority of the point guard duties, and averaged 11.4 points in NESCAC games.
Barlow's injury came at a particularly inopportune time for the Jumbos, as Tufts began its NESCAC schedule just four games later. The team began it's conference schedule with an overtime victory against Bates College on Jan. 19, 111-104. The Jumbos would go on to struggle in their conference, however, and finished with a 3-6 NESCAC record.
Though the team finished three games below 500 in their conference, it was still able to nab the seventh and final spot in the conference tournament. The postseason proved to be very short-lived for the Jumbos, after last Tuesday's loss to Williams.
The season was the last for senior co-captains Bobby MacMannis and Bruce Reese and senior Kevin Reade. Though the trio did not play a significant amount during the season, the seniors proved to be emotional leaders.
"It did affect the team a little, that they didn't play very much, because sometimes you just need that one guy on the court when things are tough," Coupe said. "But they were both solid leaders in practice. Bobby led more by example, diving around and hustling after balls."
Though the loss of the team's seniors will not hurt the team a great deal in terms of scoring, their work ethic and leadership will be sorely missed.
"We'll miss the attitude they brought, more than anything," Shapiro said. "They always played really hard."
As the team is not losing significant scoring, and this year's freshmen now have a full season under their belt, the Jumbos are hopeful for next season.
"We're looking forward to it," Shapiro said. "We're only losing a few guys, and if we can stay healthy we should be at the top of the NESCAC."
McGlynn will look to repeat his impressive offensive performance this year, and Coupe and Stovell will likely only be stronger with experience. This, combined with freshmen recruits, could spell success for the Jumbos.
"I think it could be a really special season where we go really far," Coupe said. "We have a lot of guys coming back. If we all focus on one common goal and make sacrifices we can be very successful."
