ODU men's basketball team sees positives in slow start

NORFOLK

This week, the Old Dominion men's basketball team begins its first extended stay at home since the season opened last month.

That's the good news.

The bad news?

"The teams we play this week may very well be better than the two teams we played last week," coach Blaine Taylor said. "We lost to both of them last year, and so we've got our hands full this week."

The Monarchs (1-3) return home burdened with a three-game losing streak after slim road losses to Bucknell and Marshall. Those setbacks - in double overtime against Bucknell and by four points to the Thundering Herd - have ODU off to its worst start since opening 1-4 in 2002.

Taylor isn't ready to hit the panic button just yet, not with a squad that features 10 underclassmen.

"Last week was just a close-but-no-cigars week," said Taylor, whose team plays Richmond at 7 tonight and hosts Delaware at 4 p.m. Saturday in its Colonial Athletic Association opener.

"We were right there twice and were sick when we got to the locker room that we didn't get the job done. But this is not the most experienced team in the world on the road. We made a lot of good plays but made some plays we'd like to have back. We're living and learning every day, every game."

The Monarchs opened the season with an exhilarating one-point victory at Charlotte. But since then, ODU has fallen to UAB at home by 15 and then at Bucknell and Marshall.

The Monarchs fell behind early in all three losses, only to battle back and fall short.

"If you look at it, you'd say we have had a chance in every game," Taylor said.

Judging from those close games, Taylor added, "You'd say you're probably pretty competitive, you're probably weathering storms, you're probably handling traveling and crowds and some different strategies."

"But we're not getting over the hump."

Junior forward Gerald Lee has led the way for ODU, averaging 15 points per game and shooting 58 percent. Point guard Darius James, a sophomore from Virginia Beach, has committed just four turnovers in the first four games.

Richmond is led by guards David Gonzalvez (16.7 ppg) and Kevin Anderson (16.3 ppg). Picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic 10, the Spiders (4-2) lost at Syracuse and to Bradley by five and 14 points, respectively.

ODU, meanwhile, hopes to avoid its first four-game losing streak since Taylor's first season in 2001.

"We've played four games and if you count the tournament and possibly postseason play we've got 30-plus games to go," Taylor said. "So I wouldn't be drawing too many conclusions to what's happened so far. It's just a matter of how do we get better and how fast can we get better."