ODU Men's Basketball May Have Played Its Best Game So Far This Season in 88-83 Victory Over William & Mary
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – It took much longer than Mike Jones had wanted, but the Old Dominion men’s basketball team finally played with the kind of intensity, unselfishness and poise on Monday night that he had long ago hoped for.
The Monarchs played good defense and kept their focus throughout as they upended the College of William and Mary, 88-83, before an appreciative Chartway Arena crowd of 4,563.
The Monarchs (3-6) struggled through most of their first eight games and were coming off an 0-3 performance in the Cayman Island Classic.
“We couldn’t wait to get off that island,” said Jones, ODU’s first-year head coach. “Our last game was just a disaster to be honest with you. We can blame it on a lot of things, but obviously we didn’t show up.”
He said the players returned from Thanksgiving break reinvigorated.
“Most of our guys were able to get home and be with family, and they brought that positive energy back with them,” he said. “And for the last few days you could tell that we have been, we’re searching and it’s good to know we were searching because a lot of teams would just be like, ‘this is just the way things are going to be.’
“Our guys aren’t doing that. I’m proud of them. Tonight was very, very helpful in helping to keep us on that path.”
Sean Durugordon, the senior transfer from Siena, led ODU with a season-high 24 points – he made 9-of-12 field goals – and had 13 rebounds. Otherwise, ODU’s scoring was balanced, and that forced the Tribe to defend all over the court.
R.J. Blakney (13), Jaden Johnson (12), and Stephaun Walker, Caelum Swanton-Rodger and Devin Ceaser (10 points apiece) were also in double figures.
Swanton-Rodger, the 7-foot Maryland transfer, usually starts, but came off the bench and had one of his most effective games of the season. He made 5-of-8 shots and had six rebounds and a dunk.
The Monarchs outrebounded the Tribe, 40-28, had a season-high 20 assists and made 32-of-66 shots (48.5 percent).
ODU had averaged just 8.9 assists per game in its first eight outings.
Ceaser hit an off-balance three-pointer to give ODU a 38-36 halftime lead, which the Monarchs expanded to 13 points 8 1/2 minutes into the second half.
The lead was 11 with 5:37 left following a Durugordon steal and layup.
The Tribe trimmed the lead to five but then Durugordon made a layup, on an assist from Jaden Johnson, to build the lead back to 10 with 1:59 left.
ODU led by five with 22 seconds left when a turnover and foul led to two Noah Collier free throws with 16 seconds left that trimmed the lead to three.
Ceaser and Robert Davis Jr. then both made two free throws in the final 14 seconds to hold William and Mary off.
Jones said the team is slowly but surely coming together.
“It’s a process he said. “You know, I’m not a patient person, so I’m internally having to be way more patient than I’ve ever had to before.”
As for his team’s identify, he said “We’re still searching for it.
"We had six guys in double figures tonight. I’m very proud of that. I like the versatility. I like the other team having to worry about where our points are going to come from and who they have to stop.
“I’m hoping that is evolving and that’s who we will be known to be. But it’s still a process and we’re nowhere near establishing our identify.”
The Monarchs have two more home games before the Christmas break. ODU hosts Georga Washington at 4 p.m. Saturday and then Northeastern on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 1 p.m.