Osborn Shema on Rick Pitino’s vaunted full court match up press is a revelation watching live. The 7’0 220 senior is blessed with seemingly limitless length while his quick twitch footwork is a nod to his soccer playing days in his home country of Rwanda.
Faced with injury woes to Iona forwards Quinn Slazinski (out for the year with an ankle injury) and Michael Jefferson (missed last seven games with an undisclosed injury), Pitino’s most recent starting lineup featured four guards and junior big Nelly Junior Joseph, partially to help preserve the energy of Shema, the face of Iona’s press.
Hosting Quinnipiac in their regular season rematch, Pitino’s reluctance to showcase the press was a major factor in Quinnipiac’s 45-28 halftime lead.
In his post-game presser, Pitino, via Jaden Daly, admitted: “I’ve been handcuffed a little bit with all the injuries with pressing, and I had to wait more for the latter stages of the second half to do it, but that was a gutty performance. This was an incredible comeback…I told them, possession by possession wins this game.”
With Slazinski out for the year and Jefferson injured, Pitino is coming to terms with the current identity of Iona: a guard-centric team anchored by bigs Junior Joseph and Shema.
Ideally, however and forced to do so on Sunday, Pitino would likely prefer not to have both bigs on the court for 33 minutes.
At the forward position, there are a trio of young options who could provide regular blow for Iona’s bigs, but none have yet to seize the opportunity.
Freshman forward Sadiku Ibine Ayo has played eight or less minutes in each of the last four games, but showed promising, physical two-way potential playing at Our Savior Lutheran while freshman big Silas Sunday has shown promise on the low block, but needs to develop his footwork on defense. Another freshman forward, Keither Florence, is currently more ready on the offensive end, but needs more tutelage learning Iona’s defensive system.
Until Jefferson returns, that leaves the uber-athletic fifth-year senior Berrick JeanLouis as Iona’s most consistent bet to earn more playing time at the 4, as he started Sunday’s game alongside Junior Joseph in the frontcourt.
Forced to play smaller lineups has allowed freshman guard Cruz Davis to impress in extended duty, starting five of the last eight games and averaging 9.9 points in that span.
Iona’s roster and rotations look quite different today than they did in November. While Iona is lacking healthy veteran frontcourt depth, the Gaels have a wealth of backcourt weapons that redefine Iona’s attack throughout the remainder of the season and, expected by the team and its ravenous fans, in March Madness.
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