Siena's Patsos gives team inside information

Loudonville

Siena men's basketball players who entered the practice gym on Friday afternoon were greeted by a white sign with black letters taped to the glass window in the door.

If they somehow missed that sign, there was another fastened to the green entrance to the training room.

Both of them screamed the same message: "Where does the ball go? INSIDE!!!!"

Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos elaborated during his weekly meeting with the local media. He said the Saints, who are 2-8 through their first 10 games of the season, don't do enough to get the ball to their big men.

"The ball's going inside,'' Patsos said. "We have good inside players. I think the first step to playing hard is getting to the paint. I'm proud of our guys 50 percent of the games this year, whether you win or lose. But the other 50 percent, at the end, we just didn't play quite hard enough. OK, so you take evaluation after 10 games. We have a lot to work on, but we've done a lot of things good. When the ball goes inside, when we get to the paint, we're a very good team."

The Saints return to action on Sunday, when they play at Bryant University in the Gotham Classic.

Siena freshman center Prince Oduro was pleased when he saw the signs. He's the biggest beneficiary when the Saints get the ball into the low post. He's averaging 9.1 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field.

"He's emphasizing taking the ball inside the paint because we know when we drive into the paint or send the ball into the post, good things happen,'' Oduro said. "You can drive and kick out of that, or lately, I've been getting double-teamed a lot, so I'm going to keep working on finding guys when I get double-teamed."

Patsos also said he's considering making a change in his frontcourt rotation. Sammy Friday, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, could enter the starting lineup at power forward in place of Evan Fisher. Friday would start next to Oduro.

It would be the first start of Friday's career. He's averaging 4.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, including a 15 and 15 night at Lousville.

Patsos portrayed it not as a sign of dissatisfaction with Fisher, who has started eight games and is averaging 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds.

"Evan Fisher quite possibly could come off the bench and Sammy could start because who's better off the bench, Evan or Sammy?" Patsos said. "Evan plays two spots. This is my body of work. Who can play the 4 (power forward) and 5 (center) off the bench? Evan. Not Sammy, not Prince. So maybe he's more valuable off the bench."

Patsos also said he hopes junior guard Nico Clareth gets back in the starting lineup "in the very near future," unless Clareth is happy coming off the bench. Patsos moved Clareth to the bench four games ago because he said he thought Clareth was more productive in a reserve role.

While Clareth leads the Saints with 15.9 points per game, he's a perimeter threat. Patsos reiterated he wants the Saints to do more damage near the rim.

"We're an OK shooting team,'' he said. "We have very good inside players. They shoot high percentages. The ball needs to go inside. The ball's going to go inside and we're going to score in the paint. We're not the Golden State Warriors. We're the Siena Saints."

msingelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais