Yesterday afternoon, Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson was sitting in his office, his hand grasping the remote control to his flat-screen TV. He had just been named Big West Coach of the Year for the third time and senior star James Ennis had just won Player of the Year honors, but you wouldn’t know that by the look on his face.
That’s because he was watching the tape from Sunday’s blowout loss to Pacific.
The score on the screen read Pacific 55, LBSU 34 with 10 minutes to go. The Tigers were in the middle of a 16-0 run that without a doubt exposed the weaknesses Monson was looking for. The ‘Niners would eventually lose the game 71-51.
Sunday’s defeat was the latest struggle for a 49ers team that has lost three of its last four games. The single win in that stretch clinched the regular season Big West championship for the ‘Niners, but the three losses may better reflect the current state of the team.
That isn’t what The Beach wants going into the Big West tournament.
The 49ers had a hard time winning at home and on the road during their final games. They had to overcome a 33-24 halftime deficit against UC Davis to win their final conference home game and then had an ugly performance in a loss to Stephen F. Austin in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBuster game.
Following the game against SFA, LBSU was out-shot and out-rebounded in a loss to UC Irvine, a team it had beaten by 22 earlier in the year. It then won by one at UC Davis to clinch the Big West title, but the result would have been the opposite if the Aggies hadn’t missed a jumper with the clock winding down.
Then came the 20-point pounding at the hands of Pacific.
At a time of year when things are supposed to be coming together for talented teams, the 49ers are having trouble finding consistency. They haven’t been able to develop the chemistry that last year’s squad had, but in their defense, Casper Ware and company had four years to improve their act. This team has had about three months.
While the late eligibility of transfers Keala King and Tony Freeland is a legitimate excuse for the 49ers’ struggles, nobody is looking for excuses at this time of year. Excuses don’t earn any points on the scoreboard, and they certainly don’t get teams to the NCAA tournament.
The Beach shouldn’t have too much trouble taking care of Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the Big West tournament, but it’s a different story after that. Monson will need his team to be at its best to get past the upper tier of Big West opponents and secure a second straight NCAA tournament bid.
Put simply, the 49ers need to play better than they have been lately to return to the big dance.