Fordham point guard Nick Honor — (Image Credit: Fordham University)
In their fourth straight loss, Fordham’s freshman point guard Nick Honor finally got out of his scoring slump. Against St. Bonaventure, Honor finished the game with 23 points, it’s the most he’s scored in the last six games. Last time he scored over 20 was in a win over Rutgers where he dropped 30 points.
So what’s happened to Nick Honor? Two things, playing against better defenses and second guessing himself when his shot doesn’t fall.
Watching Nick Honor earlier in the year was exciting. He was slicing through defenses and not playing tentative. In those games when Fordham needed a big basket they’d look to Honor and he delivered. His production has slowed down since playing against NJIT, scoring only 13 points. In the next five games Honor didn’t score more than 14 points. In one of those games he had an atrocious performance against VCU, scoring eight points on 2-16 shooting. When VCU went into their full court press you could tell the pressure had gotten to Honor, his aggressiveness was gone and his decision making off the dribble wasn’t as precise as it was before.
Against St. Bonaventure, Honor went scoreless in the first half, attempting only three shots. In the second half he finally woke up. He shot 6-for-7 from three and went 8-for-12 from the field. At one point during the second half, Honor went on an 8-0 run to cut St. Bonaventure’s double-digit lead in half. Despite Honor’s scoring splurge, it wasn’t enough for the Rams to complete a comeback.
Although Fordham has lost four games in a row they can lean on one positive thing.
Honor has hit a road block, but he’s been able to find his way through adversity with his scoring ability. Sometimes, freshmen that start out hot may look like nothing can stop them, then they struggle, defenses start figuring them out, and it may take a while for them to overcome it. It’s the ups and downs you go through with a freshmen. As long as Honor stays aggressive and plays smart there will be more ups.
Fordham is going to need Honor to be sharp the rest of the season. If they have any chance of winning anything this year he is going to have to stay consistent. Fordham’s schedule doesn’t get any easier with Saint Louis coming up. Fordham is 7-1 when Honor scores 15 points or more, and those numbers are probably the most important for Fordham.
