Siena sophomore forward Brett Bisping remembers the loss to Purdue in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando on Dec. 1 for painful reasons.
Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos views the setback a watershed moment for his young team.
Both men discussed the 68-63 loss to the Boilermakers of the Big Ten with the benefit of hindsight on Wednesday night, after Siena had reached the finals of the College Basketball Invitational.
The Saints (18-17) open the best-of-three series at Fresno State on Monday at 10 p.m., a game to be televised on CBS Sports Network.
?I thought the turning point of our season was when we hung in with Purdue,?? said Patsos, who admitted he wasn?t wild at first about being in the challenging Old Spice field. ?In other words, at least after Purdue, we got back on the plane in Disney World and said, `At least we got a lot of good out of that.? We built from there.?
Asked how much Siena had improved since then, Patsos responded, ?As much as you can.?
Bisping had a more sour memory of that defeat because he missed three shots in the final 4:54, including a 3-point attempt in a tie game with 33 seconds left.
?That was a long time ago,?? Bisping said. ?What I remember most is, that Purdue game I missed like three shots to end the game that, if I would have made one, we probably would have won. So that?s something I?ll never forget. It?s a learning experience and yeah, you?ve got to keep building.?
Playing five freshmen in its rotation, Siena has won 10 of its past 15 games since an 8-12 start.
?You want to be playing your best basketball this time of year and I think that?s what we?re doing,?? Bisping said. ?We were a young team at the start and we knew it would take time to gel. Our freshmen have been phenomenal and we?ve had (sophomore guard) Ryan Oliver playing really well. I think we have a lot of depth, too.?
Sophomore guard Ryan Oliver agreed Siena learned how to execute better in close games because of agonizing losses. In Feburary, they had a stretch of four defeats in five games that including an overtime loss to Quinnipiac, a triple-overtime defeat to Canisius and a one-point setback at Marist.
?We?ve made big strides throughout,?? Oliver said. ?The coaching staff has done a great job in practice getting us prepared for every situation. We learned. We got some tough battles and tough games that we let slip away. I think that helped us mature and realize we have to take care of each possession.?
Siena is 3-0 in games decided by four points or less since Feb. 21.
?Those games early in the year really helped us to win those games late in the year,?? Siena junior guard Rob Poole concurred. ?That?s what we?re doing right now.?
Patsos said his mentor and former boss, Maryland head coach Gary Williams, saw Siena practice in the preseason and felt the Saints were capable of a winning record.
Williams looked at Bisping as a hard-working, versatile power forward in the Maryland tradition and was impressed by Poole and junior guard Evan Hymes. He liked Siena?s freshman, largely because four of them (Marquis Wright, Lavon Long, Michael Wolfe and Maurice White) are from Maryland.
Even Patsos admitted he didn?t think Siena would win 18 games. The overachieving Saints have left him with a pleasant problem.
?Anybody want my Final Four tickets?? Patsos asked. ?Cause now I can?t go.?
Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos views the setback a watershed moment for his young team.
Both men discussed the 68-63 loss to the Boilermakers of the Big Ten with the benefit of hindsight on Wednesday night, after Siena had reached the finals of the College Basketball Invitational.
The Saints (18-17) open the best-of-three series at Fresno State on Monday at 10 p.m., a game to be televised on CBS Sports Network.
?I thought the turning point of our season was when we hung in with Purdue,?? said Patsos, who admitted he wasn?t wild at first about being in the challenging Old Spice field. ?In other words, at least after Purdue, we got back on the plane in Disney World and said, `At least we got a lot of good out of that.? We built from there.?
Asked how much Siena had improved since then, Patsos responded, ?As much as you can.?
Bisping had a more sour memory of that defeat because he missed three shots in the final 4:54, including a 3-point attempt in a tie game with 33 seconds left.
?That was a long time ago,?? Bisping said. ?What I remember most is, that Purdue game I missed like three shots to end the game that, if I would have made one, we probably would have won. So that?s something I?ll never forget. It?s a learning experience and yeah, you?ve got to keep building.?
Playing five freshmen in its rotation, Siena has won 10 of its past 15 games since an 8-12 start.
?You want to be playing your best basketball this time of year and I think that?s what we?re doing,?? Bisping said. ?We were a young team at the start and we knew it would take time to gel. Our freshmen have been phenomenal and we?ve had (sophomore guard) Ryan Oliver playing really well. I think we have a lot of depth, too.?
Sophomore guard Ryan Oliver agreed Siena learned how to execute better in close games because of agonizing losses. In Feburary, they had a stretch of four defeats in five games that including an overtime loss to Quinnipiac, a triple-overtime defeat to Canisius and a one-point setback at Marist.
?We?ve made big strides throughout,?? Oliver said. ?The coaching staff has done a great job in practice getting us prepared for every situation. We learned. We got some tough battles and tough games that we let slip away. I think that helped us mature and realize we have to take care of each possession.?
Siena is 3-0 in games decided by four points or less since Feb. 21.
?Those games early in the year really helped us to win those games late in the year,?? Siena junior guard Rob Poole concurred. ?That?s what we?re doing right now.?
Patsos said his mentor and former boss, Maryland head coach Gary Williams, saw Siena practice in the preseason and felt the Saints were capable of a winning record.
Williams looked at Bisping as a hard-working, versatile power forward in the Maryland tradition and was impressed by Poole and junior guard Evan Hymes. He liked Siena?s freshman, largely because four of them (Marquis Wright, Lavon Long, Michael Wolfe and Maurice White) are from Maryland.
Even Patsos admitted he didn?t think Siena would win 18 games. The overachieving Saints have left him with a pleasant problem.
?Anybody want my Final Four tickets?? Patsos asked. ?Cause now I can?t go.?
