Many expected San-En to come out like a house on fire when it faced Ibaraki on Saturday in the 2021-22 B.League season.
After all, NeoPhoenix was coming off back-to-back losses against Hiroshima last weekend. Then they were facing an Ibaraki team that has yet to find a win.
“We focused on defense heading into the match,” said second-year San-En winger Thirdy Ravena, who averaged just 9.5 points on a combined 8-of-26 shooting during Week Three.
However, what they practiced was not executed well. Even Ravena admitted it.
The Robots – a team that only cracked 80 or more points once in their first six games – put up a whopping 95 points at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena on Saturday.
San-En allowed Ibaraki to shoot 52.1-percent from the field. More painful was that they let the Robots out-rebound them 44-30. That led to a lot of easy buckets for the likes of Eric Jacobsen, Marc Trasolini, and Chehales Tapscott.
Yes, NeoPhoenix missed the services of Robert Carter. But both Justin Knox and even Thirdy Ravena were unable to support Elias Harris on the boards.
“I struggled in rebounding, especially on the defensive end. And it’s going to be an issue if I don’t improve on it,” lamented Ravena, who only had two rebounds in the contest after averaging 4.3 prior.
Down with a 2-5 slate, Ravena stressed that the NeoPhoenix has to do better on all ends.
And it has to start with him.
“I want to do better tomorrow, especially on defense,” said Ravena.
“Tomorrow will be a whole new match, another chance to win. We are looking to give a good fight.”
