On Saturday night, ODU men’s basketball hosted the University of Louisiana Monroe Warhawks. ODU’s squad was riding the momentum of a 91-66 win over Marshall on Thursday, tallying the most points against a team since 2018, when they tallied a 100-62 win against UTSA. Unfortunately, the Monarchs were not able to overpower the Warhawks and fell 80-73.
The first half of play for the Monarchs was rough as they were outrebounded 28-9, giving way to an 11-point deficit at halftime. In addition to the large rebound deficit, the team shot under 30% from both the field and behind the arch.
The lacking performance of the first half didn’t improve, as the Monarchs trailed by 16 in the second half. This lead was cut multiple times during the late portions of the half, but not enough to bring the contest even. The final score of 80-73 was the closest the Monarchs got to the Warhawks in the game after about midway through the first half.
From a scoring standpoint, the Monarchs had three starters in double figures. Chauncey Jenkins led with 20 points; Vasean Allette had 17; and R.J. Blakney scored 13 points. In a vacuum, this stat line would seem positive — however, under closer scrutiny, this was not the case. Jenkins, despite having 20 on the night, struggled from the field, going 8-21 and 2-10 from beyond the arch. Allette suffered a similar fate, going 7-19 from the floor.
Three of Warhawk’s starters also tallied double figures. Tyreke Locure led the attack with 20, gaining eight at the charity stripe. To add, Makai Willis, with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Jalen Bolden, with 11 points and 13 rebounds, outrebounded the entire Monarch squad 25-21.
When asked about the game, guard Imo Essien stated, “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”
“That was obviously a very disappointing result, but even more so, it was a very disappointing performance,” interim head coach Kieran Donohue said when asked about the performance, “We were not able to play with enough intensity, effort, focus or competitiveness to put ourselves in a position to perform better tonight.”
Moving forward, Donohue commented on the need to go back to the “drawing board” and needing “take a look in the mirror”. He also stressed the near-identical nature of his locker room post-game comments and what was said in the press conference.
The Monarchs ( 5-14, 1-6 Sun Belt) look to move on from the loss against bottom-of-the-table Warhawks ( 5-12, 1-6 Sun Belt). In their next contest, they seek to upset JMU (17-2, 5-2 Sun Belt) who have spent stints in the Top 25 and currently sit at No. 60 —the highest among Sun Belt teams —in the NCAA Net rankings.
