The Quinnipiac Bobcats’ first half shooting woes and lax defense proved to be too much to overcome in an 86-78 loss to the Columbia Lions at the TD Bank Sports Center on Monday night.
Junior guard Nate Hickman scored a career-high 23 points for the Lions while senior forward Luke Petrasek added a double-double with 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Playing in just his second game at the Division I level, freshman Mikey Dixon led the Bobcats with 17 points off the bench.
Four other Bobcats including forward Abdulai Bundu who added 13 points and nine rebounds scored in double figures as Quinnipiac dropped to 0-2 to start the year for the second straight season.
Despite more than a week off since its last game, the Bobcats led by as many as six in the early going. However, a Hickman three-pointer gave Columbia the lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half and the Lions maintained the lead the rest of the way.
Columbia assisted 14 of its 19 made field goals in the first stanza while shooting 61.3 percent from the field against a Quinnipiac defense that’s giving up nearly 20 more points per game than it did a year ago.
“Our man-to-man half-court [defense] is not where it needs to be right now,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “I don’t think our man-to-man is good right now. I know it isn’t.”
Quinnipiac switched between a man-to-man defense and a two-three zone and added a three-quarters court press into the mix to try some different looks, but Moore says it’s a work in progress.
“We’re trying to be more of a multiple defensive team…I don’t know that we’re going to be great any one thing yet,” he said.
Down 18 points at halftime, Quinnipiac managed to cut the deficit within eight or nine points on multiple separate occasions in the second frame, but missed free throws and costly turnovers prevented the Bobcats from getting any closer. Quinnipiac missed 14 free throws as a team, including 11 in the second half.
Down 74-66 with less than three minutes remaining, Quinnipiac guard Reggie Oliver had a chance to bring the Bobcats within five, but his three-point attempt was off the mark and Petrasek nailed a three on the ensuing possession to seal the game.
Quinnipiac scored eight points in the closing minute to make the final score respectable, but Columbia was never in danger of dropping the game.
“This is a long journey. It’s obviously not how we wanted the first two games to go,” Moore said.
Up next for Moore’s squad is a matchup against nationally-ranked No. 11 Gonzaga in the opening round of the ESPN Advocare Invitational in Orlando, Florida on Thanksgiving Day. The Bulldogs are 3-0 this season and boast an offense ranked in the top-20 in efficiency and a defense in the top-30 all while beating opponents by an average or 27.6 points per game.
The Bobcats will then play the winner of Seton Hall and Florida on Friday night and either Indiana State, Iowa State, Miami or Stanford on Sunday. All games will air on an ESPN network channel.
The Bobcats then begin MAAC play with a Dec. 1 matchup against reigning regular season MAAC champion Monmouth in Hamden.
