NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack beat Sacred Heart on Saturday to improve to 2-0 in NEC play this season (and the Warriors got back to 8-8 overall).
Below are my takeaways from Saturday’s game, including thoughts on:
NEC success should be no surprised after how the Warriors performed (for the most part) in non-conference games.
Momentum is a real thing. Defense powers shooting, and shooting powers defense.
The Warriors had two of their best rebounding games to open NEC play.
— You could see this coming, couldn’t you? In the non-conference schedule, the Warriors played several Tier A and Tier B teams tough. The Warriors were 0-5 in those games but had led Florida (Tier A) at halftime and were close against Ohio State and Cincinnati at the half.
— The Warriors made it look easy against Sacred Heart on Saturday, mainly due to a lights-out day from the floor. The Warriors shot better than 50 percent and shot 52 percent from three.
Without a doubt, some of that shooting success energized the Warriors defensively, and vice versa, some of their success defensively helped them shoot better. Joe Gallo talked about that last week after the loss against BU (he thought poor shooting led to poor energy on defense), and Derkack spoke about it after today’s game (saying the better they shoot, the better they defend).
Momentum is a real thing.
— The Warriors had one of their best rebounding games of the season. The Warriors have 50 defensive rebounds through two NEC games, which is more than they combined in their last three non-conference games. It’s the first time the Warriors have had 24 or more defensive rebounds in back-to-back games all season.
Size is one of the most significant mismatches the Warriors will have in non-conference games, especially in games against traditional power programs. But what’s been most significant about these last two games is that the Warriors were coming off their two worst rebounding games of the season against Bucknell and BU last week.
The Warriors had a combined 10 offense and 36 defensive rebounds in those two games (46 total). In the first two NEC games, the Warriors have 12 offense and 50 defensive rebounds (62 total).
Jacob O’Connell and Bryan Etumnu have been excellent down low, and Derkack — for as much praise as he’s received for his ability to score — is also one of the top rebounders in the NEC. Sama Diallo has size down low as well, and has been a factor for the Warriors on the glass.
— Derkack is making a case to be the NEC Player of the Year, and Clark is making a case to be the league’s Rookie of the Year.
The coaches vote on those awards. I hope it’s not held against those players that Merrimack is leaving the conference at the end of this season.