COLUMN: Guevara's team defense a 'reoccurring nightmare'
“I don’t want to hear one word, not one word about our offense.”
CMU women’s basketball head coach Sue Guevara was not the least bit happy on Wednesday following her team’s 92-89 loss against Buffalo.
Not only was this a conference loss, but it was a loss at home, and a loss during which the team scored 89 points.
Eighty-nine points is more than double what the men’s team scored last Sunday and they still lost. This is something that would certainly boil the blood of an emotional coach like Guevara.
Wednesday’s game was simply a defensive disaster.
CMU struggled in transition, which is supposed to be its strength. Buffalo forward Kourtney Brown absolutely killed the Chippewas all afternoon, beating them up on the scoreboard and on the glass. Brown finished with 33 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks.
The Bulls out-rebounded CMU 52-31 in the game. With that big of a difference how can you expect to win?
You simply can’t.
The Chippewas had four players in double-figures, including senior Shonda Long who scored a season-high 29 points.
Sorry, coach, that is all I have to say about the offense.
On defense nothing worked.
When CMU double teamed Brown down low, the Bulls found open players on the perimeter who hit six 3-pointers throughout the game.
When the Chippewas didn’t focus on Brown, she torched them.
The muscle I have seen when rebounding the ball this year just wasn’t there on Wednesday.
This was a game to forget and every team has games that they wish they could have back. So far this season, the CMU women’s basketball has had two of those games, losses to Ball State and Buffalo.
If those games start to add up, this season could end quicker than it started for the Chippewas. But this is a dedicated and emotional team that knows they have the talent to go far.
After the game, as I exited McGuirk Arena, I walked past freshman Taylor Johnson talking with what looked like to be family members.
Johnson was visibly upset about the game as she took advice from the people around her.
It made me immediately realize how much this freshman, and this team, loves the game of basketball and the amount of work they put in.
If there is any advice I have for this team going forward, I would take it straight from the mouth of the coach.
“Until I get somebody on this team that wants to be a defensive stopper, this will be a reoccurring nightmare.”
