Atlantic Ten Basketball

Tony Reali isn't one to forget his roots.

Reali joined ESPN in 2000, and since 2004, he's been host of Around the Horn, one of the network's most popular shows. Last September, he joined ABC's Good Morning America as a contributor.

Many affectionately know him as "Stat Boy," the title he was given during the 13 years he spent with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

Truth be told, however, Reali got his start at Fordham working at WFUV Radio. There, he did play-by-play announcing for Fordham basketball and football games, hosted One on One—New York's longest-running sports call-in show—and was a beat reporter for the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets.

Reali graduated from Fordham in 2000. Thursday, though it won't be his first time back, he plans on returning to the school as Fordham celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Rose Hill Gym, which first opened in 1925 and is now the oldest Division I basketball facility still in use.

Come out Thurs. to wish the Rose Hill Gym a Happy 90th Birthday & get a FREE maroon t-shirt! http://t.co/UIGeStHXGG pic.twitter.com/AJrapfAc6U

— Fordham Athletics (@FordhamRams) January 20, 2015

In addition to Reali, other prominent sports media figures who graduated from Fordham will be part of the evening's festivities when the Rams host George Washington in an Atlantic 10 matchup.

A video montage of the Rose Hill Gym featuring Michael Kay, the Yankees play-by-play announcer on the YES Network and the host of an afternoon-drive radio show on ESPN New York, and Bob Papa, the radio voice of the New York Giants, will be shown during the game, the school announced Tuesday.

Fordham will wear throwback jerseys, and maroon T-shirts will be given out to the first 2,500 fans in what the school is hoping will be a "Maroon Out."

There's the celebration and there's the game. There's also Reali, who could very easily steal the show, if he hasn't done so already.

Last week, prior to his Around the Horn broadcast, Reali led a group of reporters—the New York Daily News' Frank Isola, ESPN's J.A. Adande, the Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw and longtime Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan—in a Buy-or-Sell discussion regarding the Rose Hill Gym.

Reali described it as "a mock segment we made solely for the tribute, to be played at halftime or pregame" Thursday night.

Of the four on the panel—we'll get to Reali in a second—Isola proved to be the arena's biggest fan.

"I love the old place," Isola said before mentioning two great memories he had of the gym: the Rams' 1990 win over P.J. Carlesimo's Seton Hall Pirates on Jean Prioleau's last-second shot and former Kentucky and NBA star Jamal Mashburn winning the city championship there that same year playing for Cardinal Hayes High School.

Cowlishaw and Adande didn't show much love, voicing a few wise cracks about the building's age. Ryan showed more kindness, saying the place "remembers when Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] wasn't Kareem."

Reali, a Fordham guy through and through, provided the most passionate defense of a gym that is so often under attack. He said his first experience inside Rose Hill was a dunk contest broadcast on ESPN in 1996. Darvin Ham, who went from Texas Tech to the NBA, won the event.

Also that day, Santa Clara's Steve Nash won the three-point shooting contest. Nash went on to become one of the best point guards in the NBA. And there was ESPN commentator Dick Vitale, who knocked down 24 straight free throws.

Reali talked about his memories of Nick Macarchuk, who coached Fordham from 1987 to 1999. And he joked about the VIP seating on press row reserved for WFUV's student broadcasters. Actually, they were stationed upstairs. They've since moved courtside.

The Rose Hill Gym hasn't brought home many accolades of late. There isn't that much about the place that will impress you. Except for its history, of course. That has to count for something.

"Fellows, let's raise a glass to an American original," Reali said in the piece he put together on the gym. "Here's to 90 more years."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand and from ESPN's Around the Horn segment on the Rose Hill Gym.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham's Rose Hill Gym opened in 1925. It's the oldest Division I basketball facility still in use.

Written on the back of the team's media guide is a reminder that the Rams' home arena was labeled a "Cathedral of College Basketball" by ESPN The Magazine and that USA Today deemed it one of the "10 Great College Basketball Arenas."

Last Saturday, the old gym added one more feat to its record book: it became the visiting team's home court.

I'm half-joking, of course, but in the Rams' 76-58 loss to Dayton, the crowd of 2,872 was mostly wearing red (Dayton's colors) and could be seen and heard throughout the night. You had to really look hard to find a Fordham fan.

It should be noted that the university's students were returning from break the next day, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. This night belonged to the Flyers, on and off the court.

It started with a "Let's Go Flyers" chant. Then encouragement for Dayton on the defensive end. There was also the ever-so-popular "We Are UD." All took place as soon as the game started and carried on well into the night.

If you didn't know any better, you would have thought you were in Ohio, not in the Bronx. Dayton travels well. Fordham stays locked in the basement.

To be fair, so much of that is understandable. Fordham has been a losing program for a long time. In 19 seasons in the A-10, it's finished above .500 just once. More recently, the Rams have won 44 games since the start of the 2008-09 season.

Fans have been beaten down. They're tired of waiting. They no longer believe.

But it's also true that the university as a whole, its basketball coaches and players and the program's true fans, deserve better. You can't let an opposing team come into your building and turn you into the visiting team. I half-expected the Rams to come out after halftime in their road maroon.

Of course, we could also go here: Fordham needs a new arena.

The Rose Hill Gym is a comfy, quaint facility, but it can't compare to the new modern arenas that have sprung up, notably the ones that Atlantic 10 schools have built. It can't compare to most arenas for that matter. It's not going to impress recruits, and it doesn't help attract fans (unless you consider those the opposing teams bring in).

For now, and since there are no plans in place for a new facility, the Rams are forced to deal with what they have.

Fordham athletic director David Roach addressed that reality in an interview with Bleacher Report last July.

"I like to say, 'Focus on what you have, not what you don't have, and be positive and move forward,'" Roach said. "It [Rose Hill Gym] might not be the best venue, but we're in New York City. ... Let's get it going enough to where this place is rocking and packed and you can't get a ticket."

On Saturday, you couldn't get a ticket. Dayton's fans had them all.

In the final seconds of the game, Fordham head coach Tom Pecora stood a few feet away from his team's bench with a quizzical look that said it all. Sure, he was upset that the Rams had lost their third in a row to open A-10 play. A few minutes later he'd express frustration with his veteran players, who all seemed to have off nights at once. Shortly thereafter, he promised there would be changes.

But as Pecora stood there motionless and staring across the court, you know he heard it. How could he not? By then, Dayton didn't just take over the house; it became their house.

"It stinks," was how Pecora responded when asked about the pro-Dayton chants and all the support the Flyers got. "Everyone was saying we were selling a lot of tickets. I said to people here, 'I hope they're all Fordham people,' but I kind of knew what the outcome would be."

Like he always does, Pecora took the high road. He didn't knock Fordham's fans. He didn't question their loyalty or their support. He has too much class to do that.

Instead, he talked about Dayton.

"The University of Dayton is a storied basketball program," Pecora said. "We played Dayton my first year here in a blizzard, and I was silly enough to think people wouldn't come out. I came out of that runway, there were 10,000 people in red sweaters. Snow was coming down sideways, and it was two feet on the ground."

He was exaggerating a bit about the attendance that day, but he made his point: Basketball is a big deal in Dayton, Ohio. In fact, Dayton basketball is a big deal anywhere the Flyers are playing.

Dayton has a winning basketball tradition. This year it's 14-2 overall and 4-0 in Atlantic 10 play. Last year the Flyers made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. In 1967 they lost to UCLA in the NCAA championship game.

Pecora knows the power of the Dayton brand. It was on display Saturday night. It always is, he said.

"The commitment to men's basketball there, the level of history of basketball...you know the deal. You say 'Duke,' it's a basketball school. You say 'Notre Dame,' as good as they are in hoops, it's a football school. You say 'Florida State,' people think football. Dayton is a basketball school."

Fordham is a great school, but it's still trying to find itself on the basketball court. That's what makes this story, a story that's been told many times through the years, so compelling.

The Rams have some really good fans. If you're around the program—off days as well as game days—you see them. Many are proud alums who made it big but would give anything for some wins. Some are New York basketball fans who love the game and would love to see the Jesuit school in the Bronx finally make it one day.

And you have the families of the coaches and parents of the players, who passionately watch the team they've adopted as their own. There's emotional support, and there's financial support. No different here than anywhere else.

Don't let anyone tell you that what was on display Saturday night tells the whole story. But it is part of the plot, part of the last two decades of basketball at Rose Hill. Fans want a winner; I get that. But they have to do their part, too. That means showing up. That means not letting another team's supporters school you on what it means to be a true fan.

"[At] a pregame party they had 250 people," Pecora said about Dayton fans. "They travel well. They did it last year [at the A-10 tournament] at Barclays. I wasn't surprised by it."

Still, there was a part of Pecora that couldn't help but notice that his team was so heavily outdrawn in its own home. Everyone knew Fordham would have a tough time against one of the A-10's elite programs. What we didn't know was that the Rams would be playing a road game on their own campus.

"Obviously it's not a good feeling," Pecora said. "You don't expect that in your home gym."

Which raises the question: If the Rams lose a game and nobody is there to see it—nobody from Fordham, that is—does it still count as a loss?

I checked the standings. It does.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora opened Saturday's press conference after the Rams' 76-58 loss to Dayton explaining how he's seen this all before.

Fordham and Dayton were tied at 25 at halftime. The Rams led by as many as four after the break and were ahead 32-29 three minutes into the second half.

Then, everything changed. The Flyers went on a run and took over the rest of the way. Dayton, which has 13 wins, is now 3-0 in Atlantic 10 play. The Rams, who have five wins, are 0-3.

"I've seen this movie," Pecora said. "We played our tails off for about 30 minutes, and then we just get worn down. We don't have the grit of a veteran team."

That's where it gets interesting. After the loss, Pecora talked up his freshmen while at the same time issuing a challenge to everyone else.

"Obviously, I thought there were some bright spots tonight in a loss," he said. "I thought Manny Suarez did a good job. And the young guys—Eric [Paschall], Antwoine [Anderson] and Christian [Sengfelder]—led the way, and the vets didn't." 

Then, he said changes could be on the way.

"If we have to go with a total youth movement as we move forward, and they start getting more minutes, so be it," Pecora said. "Guys are going to get what they deserve."

This isn't a case of Pecora airing his grievances. It's a message he's delivered to his veterans since day one, privately as well as publicly. Some nights, they've gotten it. On Saturday, they didn't.

Pecora wasn't afraid to let the vets have it after an effort he deemed unacceptable. According to Pecora, a veteran is anyone who is not a freshman. That includes senior Bryan Smith, juniors Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas and sophomore Jon Severe.

"Our defense in the second half was atrocious. It was bad," Pecora said after the loss. "I hold the vets accountable for that. 

"I always take the heat on losses. That's my job. But we will be working on defensive drills." 

He added: "Guys who are not bearing down and giving a little bit more effort will be veteran role players. We have to get more in that category."

Pecora was asked what he can do to get his team to play well for a full 40 minutes instead of just being competitive for a half and fizzling out after that.

"You can get through it with personnel changes and come to the conclusion that there are certain guys that are just not going to answer the bell in the late rounds," he said. "You can put more of a burden and more of a responsibility on some of the guys who have been [answering the bell], some of the younger guys."

Pecora knows what he needs from all his players, especially the aforementioned veterans, on a daily basis in order for the team to be successful.

"It's about grit, it's about toughness, it's about competitive nature, in my opinion" he said. "That's just something I have to put on them every day in practice."

Don't expect excuses. Expect changes.

"The easy thing to say is, 'This is a group that hasn't won yet, this is a program that hasn't won in a long time, losing breeds losing.' I'm not using those as excuses, whether they're the truth or not. My job is to find a way to get them fired up to play for 40 minutes and find a way to win."

If that's going to happen, it will be done with a team of seven freshmen. Paschall is averaging 30.8 minutes per game (16.3 points, 6.2 rebounds), Sengfelder is averaging 34.2 minutes per game (11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds), and Anderson is averaging 25.8 minutes per game (8.4 points, 3.8 assists). Their roles may actually expand. 

"Are our young guys good enough? They're pretty good right now," Pecora said. "I feel real comfortable in time they will be. But I need the vets, and that's everyone who's not a freshman, to step up and have big games. Players make plays."

On Saturday, the four veterans did not make plays. Rhoomes didn't score a point in 24 minutes. Thomas had seven points on 3-of-9 shooting in 33 minutes. Smith had zero points in 11 minutes. Severe missed the two shots he took in his 10 minutes on the floor. Seven points, seven assists and 11 rebounds in 78 combined minutes.

That lack of production won't be tolerated for much longer.

"The term I use all the time is, 'Hope is not a game plan,'" Pecora said. "You can't hope you're going to make your next shot. That's when you have to just dig in defensively and extend that lead." 

"Whether it's trying to get from four to eight, or eight to 12, or 12 to 16, we've struggled with that," he added. "We don't have a go-to guy. I guess it's becoming Eric, an 18-year-old freshman." 

One week into their Atlantic 10 schedule, the Rams are 0-3 after losses to VCU, Rhode Island and Dayton. Next up is Saint Joseph's on Wednesday and then La Salle on Saturday, both on the road.

Despite the three losses, Pecora said he's pleased with some of the things he's seen.

"I was very proud of their effort up at [Rhode Island]," he said. "We took them to the wire. The thing is getting over the top."

Then, Pecora returned to his vision for how that might happen.

"I'm pleased with the way the young guys are progressing," he said. "But I don't want the vets to think [they] can't get a lot better. There are guys who blossom. We just have to get them to work and get them playing at a higher level."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham athletic director David Roach told Bleacher Report in July that he wants to see "significant improvement" from this year's team.

He wouldn't put a number on how many wins he expects, instead saying it's something he "can feel."

Roach sat down with B/R again on Wednesday, right before the Rams' final nonconference game against South Carolina State. He was asked for his overall assessment of Fordham's season up until that point.

"I would say, first of all, it's a marathon not a sprint when you play 29 games plus the conference tournament and everything," Roach said. "[We have] some really good young talent that we haven't had in a while—probably the best talent we've had.

"Obviously the two losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore were disappointing. You look at some of those games on paper and you kind of go 'well, they're games you should win.' But sometimes what should happen and what actually happens isn't the same.

"You can see the younger guys starting to meld and become more comfortable with each other and kind of understand what [head] Coach [Tom] Pecora and the coaching staff want. I think we've rebounded nicely from those two games."

Roach said it's too early in the season for him to perform a full evaluation.

"With any of our programs, we always sit down with the coach and go over every year and talk about the future and what we're looking for," he said. "As I said this summer, it's kind of a feel for [whether] we're headed in the right direction and [whether] the program's improved."

When discussing the first 10 games of the season (Fordham was 4-6 at the time but picked up its fifth win later that day), Roach acknowledged the Rams' youth, a fact that will be part of the narrative all year.

"We're young. We have seven guys that weren't playing last year. It's going to take time to get them going. There are some really good things that you see from a bunch of those guys," Roach said.

"I think we've grown and learned a lot during the nonconference [games]," he would later add.

Last month, prior to Fordham's game against St. John's at Madison Square Garden, Roach set off a bit of a firestorm with comments he made to the New York Post's Zach Braziller about Pecora's future.

“I’ll evaluate everything at the end of the year and see where we’re at,” Roach said in the article.

“After the last couple of years, we’re looking for significant progress in the program," he added. "That means we’ve got to feel like we’ve improved quite a bit and the program is moving forward.”

Not all that different from what he told B/R last summer, but given the timing—Fordham was 3-4 and had those losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore on its record—and considering that the New York Post is a major New York City newspaper with a large local following, there were plenty of raised eyebrows.

Pecora couldn't have been very pleased. In most cases, an athletic director would either choose not to comment or he or she might go with the vanilla "we support our coach" response. Looking back on it, Roach understands why some may have interpreted his comments as a knock on the head coach.

"In retrospect, I tried to say it in general terms, that we do it in all sports," Roach said. "But it didn't really come out that way. I probably should have said 'it's a marathon, you've got the whole season, we're young, we've got more talent than we've had, Tom's proven in the past he could take young talent and blend them and we fully expect that to happen heading into the A-10 season.'"

Roach was most concerned with the effects his comments may have on recruiting, and didn't think what he said would lead Pecora to have doubts about his future at Rose Hill.

"In retrospect, you might say if I had of said it differently it wouldn't be perceived by potential recruits the way it might have been," Roach said. "That's really what I'm concerned about."

To his supporters, the idea that Pecora could be on the hot seat is troubling. It's true that he's 39-91 since taking over the program prior to the 2010 season. But it's also true that up until this season he hasn't had much to work with, that he's shown he can recruit talent and, perhaps most importantly, that he's trying to rebuild a program that's finished above .500 only once in its 19 seasons in the Atlantic 10. The fact that he runs a clean operation where student-athletes are held accountable in the classroom and on the court is something that must be recognized in this day and age. It also happens to be the Fordham way.

When Pecora was at Hofstra, he won 155 games and got to three National Invitation Tournaments in nine seasons. He won there and, given time, he can win here. But if you go back and look at it, Fordham basketball has had a complicated relationship with time.

Nick Macarchuk, who took the Rams to the NCAA tournament in 1992, lasted four seasons once Fordham made its move to the Atlantic 10. Bob Hill took over and was out the door after four years. And Dereck Whittenburg stayed for six-plus seasons before he was let go. This is Pecora's fifth year. The school can ill afford to start over yet again.

In response to that, Roach insisted there are things in place now that weren't in place in the past, essentially saying that Pecora has more to work with than his predecessors did.

"I think when you look back as an institution, we wanted to be good in basketball but we may not have done the things necessary to be good," Roach said. "Maybe we should have been doing those things 15 years ago, but as an institution we weren't quite there yet. Now we are. I think things are in place and things are different. We expect to be competitive."

Roach understands what the Rams are up against beginning Sunday when VCU comes to town in what will be the first of 18 games against conference opponents. Last year, the A-10 sent six teams to the NCAA tournament. That may not happen this year, but this is still one of the top basketball conferences in the country.

"The A-10 might not be quite as strong as it's been from top to bottom," Roach said. "I think there's some optimism heading in, but it's obviously a tough league."

"I think when you look at it realistically, we're more talented, there's no question, with all the guys," he added. "I think it's very doable to get a bunch of A-10 wins especially at home, [but] tough on the road."

Then, when the season ends, he says he'll be able to evaluate how things went.

"You always look at every season in its full entirety," Roach said.

Unless otherwise noted, quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham's Jon Severe will return to the program Friday after a one-month leave of absence, Rams head coach Tom Pecora told Bleacher Report Thursday night.

"Having Jon Severe back with us at 100 percent will obviously raise our talent level and make us a better basketball team," Pecora said. "The key to the process is Jon feeling comfortable enough to come back and compete on a daily basis."

It's been a turbulent start to the 2014-15 season for Severe, a sophomore, who last year averaged 17.3 points per game. 

On Nov. 8, six days before Fordham opened its season, Severe was suspended for one week due to a violation of team rules. He missed the Rams' first game, and when he returned, he scored five points and played a combined 39 minutes in three games.

Then, on Nov. 29, the school announced that Severe was taking a leave of absence and would be out indefinitely. He's missed the Rams' last seven games as a result.

Pecora said Severe will practice Friday after the two meet earlier in the morning, and he'll be available Sunday when Fordham opens Atlantic 10 play with a home game against VCU. He said the fact that Fordham is about to begin what will be a very difficult conference schedule had no bearing on Severe's return.

"The timing of it wasn't dictated by our schedule," Pecora said. "It was dictated by how he was feeling.

"It was a group decision. I'm not rushing him back because we're getting into A-10 play. Unless he's right, he's not going to help us anyways."

Severe's return could have a major impact on the Rams' season.

He has the potential to be an elite scorer. With three players—Eric Paschall (15.8 points per game), Mandell Thomas (13.3 PPG) and Christian Sengfelder (12.3 PPG)—averaging in double figures, adding a fourth scorer, a guy as capable as Severe, will add depth to a rotation that's increased its production of late.

Furthermore, his return comes at what would appear to be the perfect time for Fordham, though, it's merely a coincidence that it's happening now. The nonconference schedule is over, and as tough as those 11 games were for the 5-6 Rams, these next 18 will be even tougher, starting Sunday when VCU comes to town.

Following that game, Fordham will travel to Rhode Island, come back home for Dayton and hit the road again for Saint Joseph's. You get the point: Nothing will be easy over the next two months. Fordham will need all the help it can get, and Severe is a player capable of providing just that.

Finally, with Paschall leading the Rams in scoring, Sengfelder getting better every game, Thomas emerging as a go-to guy and strong play down low from Ryan Rhoomes—among some other notable developments so far this season—it's easy to see why Pecora remains confident that the Rams can turn it around.

"If you look at the youth of this team," Pecora said after Fordham's win over Howard on Sunday night, "it would be foolish to think that we're not going to grow and become a better team as we move forward."

Pecora said he expects to win games against A-10 teams. Severe could play a big part in how many the Rams get.

Of course, we've been here before with Severe. He'll have to stay focused, earn his playing time and give the effort it will take to become part of the team again.

But it's important to remember that Severe was supposed to be a huge part of Fordham's plan for this year and into the future. It seems only right that he's back and will have the opportunity to contribute. When he's on—and that means mentally just as much as physically—he has the potential to be one of the top players in the conference.

Now we'll see if he can turn that promise into a reality.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora reiterates the Rams' formula for success every time he speaks to the media after a game.

Win or lose, Pecora talks about the need for his veterans to step up and lead the way.

In Sunday's 74-59 win over Howard in front of 1,568 at the Rose Hill Gym, it was the play of two juniors and three freshmen that secured Fordham's fourth win of the season and its first since Dec. 10.

Junior Mandell Thomas had his best game of the season, scoring 17 points and adding seven assists and six rebounds. Ryan Rhoomes, also a junior, had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, freshman Christian Sengfelder scored a team-high 19 points, all in the second half, while fellow rookies Eric Paschall (15 points) and Antwoine Anderson (nine assists) had strong games.

Fordham will need that type of production going forward in its final nonconference game Wednesday and when conference play gets underway Sunday.

"I think we have good balance," Pecora said after last night's win. "Good teams have four or five guys in double digits. It's a brush fire and you can't put it out—somebody is always picking somebody else up. Balance is a good thing."

Thomas' performance stands out. He didn't have the thunderous dunk that Rhoomes had in the second half, which gave the Rams a 63-45 lead, nor did he have the acrobatic slam that Paschall turned in that sent Fordham into the break ahead by two.

What he did was knock down shots, distribute the ball and rebound. There were no highlight-reel dunks, but Thomas consistently made plays that teams need players to make in order to win games.

"It's important for me to get the freshmen going and get them comfortable," Thomas said, recalling that he was a freshman not too long ago. "I also have to stay aggressive. That's what I did tonight."

It may be unfair, and perhaps premature, to say this was his coming-out party. Thomas is in his third year, and he's had big games before. But it was by far his best game of the season, a reminder that, while the Rams are young and building for the future, he's going to play a big part in what happens over the next couple of years at Rose Hill.

"We need to have that veteran leadership," Pecora said. "That will lift up these young guys tremendously, and it will allow them to play with less pressure."

Sengfelder, who is coming on strong as conference play approaches, said the three upperclassmen—Rhoomes, Thomas, and senior Bryan Smith—have helped out a lot.

"[They] give us advice and make us feel more comfortable to make the right decisions," he said.

Against Howard, Fordham led 28-26 at halftime but went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a commanding 40-30 lead. The Rams led by as many as 20, and for the first time this year, they could breathe easy—or easier—down the stretch.

"We have to play back-to-back halves like we did in the second half tonight to beat South Carolina State [Wednesday] and to build off of that and go into A-10 play and get some wins, which I anticipate us doing," Pecora said.

"I expect us to continue to get better. We just have to keep working on the little things, and we're going to be OK."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Last month, Fordham was shocked in its own gym in consecutive games against what were thought to be inferior opponents.

On Nov. 23, UMass Lowell came into the Rose Hill Gym and dealt the Rams one of their most bitter defeats in recent memory. Six days later, Maryland Eastern Shore arrived and did the same.

To some extent, Fordham has rebounded from the early setbacks, though last night's 71-57 loss to Manhattan at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, was its second in a row.

Fordham led 16-4 six minutes and 16 seconds into the game, but Manhattan proceeded to outscore the Rams, 26-9, to take a five-point lead into the break.

The Jaspers started the second half with a 22-5 run and led by 22. Though the Rams got it down to nine with 1:33 to play, this really wasn't much of a game in the second half.

Fordham turned the ball over 18 times. It shot 42.6 percent from the floor, 48 percent from the free-throw line and 31.3 percent from three-point range. Only one Ram—Mandell Thomas—scored in double digits (14 points). From a statistical standpoint and pretty much across the board, it was not a good night for Fordham, which dropped to 3-6 on the year.

This wasn't just your normal game on a Monday night in December. For Fordham, it was much bigger than that.

For starters, though nobody will mistake this rivalry for Duke-North Carolina, Fordham and Manhattan have been playing basketball against each other for over 100 years. The schools, both located in the Bronx, New York, are close geographically. Monday night was the 107th time the schools have met, but only the second time they've played outside of the Bronx. With the win, the Jaspers hold a 56-51 advantage in the series.

Also, the game presented the Rams with a chance to get a win against a rival under the bright lights of one of New York City's biggest and best venues—a showcase game, if you will. That, of course, didn't happen.

Finally, the Rams are two weeks away from beginning what is sure to be a grueling 18-game Atlantic 10 schedule. They have to compile as many nonconference wins as they can. After the devastating losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore, Fordham has had some ground to make up. That made last night's game even more important. With Manhattan entering the game with a 3-7 record, it was one Fordham needed and one it looked like it could get. There aren't too many of those left.

Looking ahead, Howard and South Carolina State will make their way to the Rose Hill Gym on Dec. 28 and Dec. 31, respectively. Both teams are under .500. The Rams need to win both games.

If they do, they'll be 5-6 heading into league play. Maybe not what they envisioned at the start of the season but at this point, in what has been an up-and-down year to date, they'll have to take it.

Game information and statistics courtesy of FordhamSports.com.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter @CFCostello.

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora has been saying all along that the Rams' three upperclassmen—senior Bryan Smith and juniors Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas—have to "lead the way."

When they do, Fordham has a shot, as evidenced by the wins over the New York Institute of Technology, Siena and Monmouth.

But it's also true that, at least to some degree, the Rams will only go as far as the current freshmen take them—this year and beyond.

The rookie class of Eric Paschall, Christian Sengfelder, Antwoine Anderson, Nemanja Zarkovic, Manny Suarez, Dekeba Battee-Aston and Zaire Thompson arrived with expectations. When you've completed 19 seasons in the Atlantic 10 and finished below .500 in 17 of them, expectations are a good thing.

If you're looking for hope—for an ounce of optimism about a program that's lost 90 games in four-plus seasons under Pecora—look no further than Paschall and Sengfelder.

Paschall, last year's New England Prep Player of the Year and the Rams' biggest recruit in recent memory, was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week following his 31-point, 10-rebound performance in Fordham's opening-night win over NYIT.

Through the first seven games—Paschall did not play at Maryland due to an irregular heartbeat—he's averaging 18.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

He's had highlight dunks and knocked down some big shots, but his best play to date is one that happened on the defensive end of the floor.

In desperate need of a win against Siena following crushing defeats to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore, Paschall blocked a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime. The freshman saved the day.

Earlier this week, after leading the Rams to a 68-58 overtime win over Monmouth, Sengfelder was also named A-10 Rookie of the Week. In the game against the Hawks, he had a season-high 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Two other freshmen could end up playing huge roles as well.

Anderson and Zarkovic have both started games at the point and both are part of the long-term plan. Anderson has started the last three games and shown some promise.

It hasn't been smooth sailing for Fordham this year. The losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore were as bad as losses can be.

Jon Severe, the team's leading returning scorer, was suspended for a week and missed the Rams' opener, then took a leave of absence a week later. He has yet to return to the team.

Fordham hasn't even gotten to the starting line of the most difficult part of its race: the Atlantic 10 schedule.

So, yes, the veterans are important. Two of them, Rhoomes and Thomas, will be around next year and have been instrumental in the team's wins this year.

But it's the Paschalls and the Sengfelders who are here for the next few years—building blocks on a team that's got a whole lot of building to do.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter @CFCostello.