Friday night at the Arc, it’s Siena vs. Fairfield in the 12th annual Pink Zone game in support of CRAAB, Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer. Wear pink. Visit http://www.sienasaints.com/pinkzone/ for more information.

Coach B was wondering, with all of Siena’s lack of depth and their youth, “why don’t teams press us more”. Coach went on to discuss the Manhattan loss

Our depth issue is obviously a problem, [Manhattan] played Evan physically. The second half of the game, our mental errors and turnovers got us into that 20 point deficit.

When asked how does he plan on keeping the team fresh when only playing 6 players, Coach B. explained…

- Kyle Downey has not practiced in the last 10 days
- Coach B. is worried Evan is wearing down
- OD has a back issue and did not practice yesterday

Confidence on potential game-tying free throw late…

O.D. Anosike – I was pretty confident. The whole game I was hitting the first one missing the second one. I really thought I was going to make it but it came up a little short.

How the Saints handled the pressure of UMass’ up-tempo game…

Mitch Buonaguro – For the most part in the first half we handled it well. I thought we handled it really well most of the game. We knew they were going to press, we worked on it for two days so I didn’t get think the press beat us – they made some really good shots. They’ve got a lot of good guys who can score, they’re a good team.

Could Siena have done a better job at keeping Chaz Williams out of the lane…

Mitch Buonaguro - We did a great job on Williams most of the game, I mean he’s tough. You’ve got a freshman point guard guarding him. I thought Evan Hymes played really well, played him well. Williams is a hell of a point guard who’s eventually going to get into the lane.

On shooting 19-for-29 from the Free Throw line…

Mitch Buonaguro - The one’s we’re missing are either tying the game or they’re putting us up one. This has been now been a recurring theme in the last six losses, other than the Georgia Tech game, if we shot better from the line we’d win four of five of the games.

On playing to the up-tempo style of UMass in the first half…

Mitch Buonaguro - Hymes was great. Hymes had 16 [points], 7 [assists] and 1 [turnover] for a freshman against a very good Atlantic-10 team. To me, Hymes has been unbelievable.

On Hymes’ block of Jesse Morgan from  in the first half…

Mitch Buonaguro - That was an unbelievable play. Morgan is a big time player and he only had 4 points. He didn’t do much.

On depth of front court and O.D. Anosike’s play recently…

Mitch Buonaguro - Anosike the last five games has been phoenomenal. There’s not a big guy in the east playing better than him.

Listen: Roger Wyland Show Tuesday

Watch Siena Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro get pumped up late in the second half as the Saints close out his first Albany Cup win as head coach.

Siena hung with Vermont the entire day in a tough environment in Burlington, VT on Saturday afternoon. The Saints never led in the game, but did tie it on 5 occasions. Siena looked all but out of it at the 4 minute timeout when Brandon Walters fouled out to a standing ovation in the Patrick Gymnasium.

However, it was a game where you couldn’t write off the Saints, as they mounted an absolutely incredible comeback. Trailing 62-54 with 1:33 to go, Evan Hymes stole a lazy pass intended for Sandro Carissimo and scored. Vermont then stepped out of bounds on an inbound play which was followed by a Devonte Beard layup. OD Anosike then scored off a Hymes steal and got the foul call. After missing the free throw to make it a one possesion game, Poole snagged a timely offensive rebound and Siena went back to work on offense, eventually leading to Anosike converting another layup; that tied the game. The final play of the game was a missed jumper by Brendan Bald, followed up by a huge offensive rebound and tip in by Matt Glass.

OD Anosike was absolutely dominant. Anosike scored a career high 24 points, snagged 3 rebounds and blocked 3 shots. Kyle Downey had a nice day from the floor, finishing 6 of 9 for 15 points and Evan Hymes added 10 points and 3 assists, as oddly, his first bucket came with just 3:15 remaining.

While the comeback was the real story of the game, perhaps the final play is a microchosm of the afternoon. The glaring stat from the boxscore shows that the Saints were out rebounded 32-23. Siena has played hard against out of conference teams that are expected to finish near the top of their respective conferences. Tobin Anderson did mention after the game that this team will “build on this”, as they head into conference play on Thursday. Senior Captain Owen Wignot did not make the trip to Vermont.

The Saints have 5 days off and will travel to the home of the defending MAAC Champions, the St. Peter’s Peacocks on Thursday at 7PM.

On late game fouling tonight

“The thing that I got upset about –  it was a couple of things. One was, I thought we were foulng the wrong guy. We wanted to foul [Demitrius] Conger and Da’Quan Cook which we never did. We had a chance to foul Conger once and we didn’t. Davonte [Beard] thought he heard me say ‘foul’ – I didn’t say ‘foul’ – I don’t foul in that situation so that was just a miscommunication and then Evan’s foul was a tough one because that was his fifth… those are things that a young team, it happens but you can’t fault their effort tonight I thought we played as hard as we could for 40 minutes.”

Positives to take out of first loss of season…

“We’ve now played three good games in a row. We’ve played three very good defensive games and that bodes well. If you’re defending like we are you’re going to be in games and we’re going to stay in games I mean we’ve had three unbelievable defensive efforts. Even a team of this caliber to hold [St. Bonaventure's Andrew] Nicholson to 14 I thought was phenomenal.”

Was Evan Hymes forcing shots in the second half (1 for 9)?

“I thought some of his shots were good shots. He was agressive. I think those are shots that he can make, I had no problem with them.”

On how to get O.D. Anosike going…

“They were really physical. He was trying, I thought O.D. played well. Those guys are big. This is a big Atlantic-10 team that is physical. He missed a couple, I thought he played well, I think he’ll be fine, some of those shots wil start dropping but this was a tough team to score on inside because of their length and how big they were.”

On Brandon Walters so far this season

“Brandon Walters is in terrific shape. I thought he had a couple of tough misses too but he was battling. I thought Brandon in these three games has played really consistently and played well and that bodes well for us. We need him.”

Update on Owen Wignot

“It’s day to day. I think we’re going to get him evaluated once more for sure, day-to-day and see what happens. We’re going to get a picture, an MRI, later.”

Update on Owen Wignot’s Injury

“Well they were concerned with Owen Wignot having a concussion, I think that’s why he didn’t return. I think what happened was, when he went back out in the second half he was a little ‘woozy’ so our trainer didn’t think it was good for him to play in the second half which was fine. Hopefully it’s not a concussion, I don’t think it is. He has a contusion though in his head.”

On Evan Hymes Injury

“Hymes had a cramp. Hymes just cramped up I mean the poor kid was, just lack of fluids, and even when he tried to come back in he couldn’t do it, so luckily we had [Davonte] Beard.”

On Kyle Downey’s performance

“Someone said to me ‘why did you put him back in with ten minutes [to go]?’ It was a no-brainer. The game was starting to get out of hand and he was the best player out there in my mind. He played the best, he looked the best , he was in the best condition. I had to have him out there and he hung in there. Without him we don’t win the game, not even close.”

Siena Saints Blog: So you’re the new Director of Basketball Operations for the Siena Saints– is it everything you thought it would be?

Tyler Simms/Siena Saints: It’s very exciting, very exciting. For a while in the summer, I was very eager for the season to start– but now that it’s here, it’s come pretty fast. This past summer at Siena was great, I had the opportunity to develop relationships with all the players, and that’s helped me get adjusted smoothly.

SSB: So with full practices underway, how has that affected your day-to-day? What keeps you in the office late into the night?

Simms: Well now that we’re in full swing, things are a lot more structured. Everyday we wake up and have breakfast as a team. After breakfast, we as a staff will meet and discuss the practice schedule, review charts, pretty much discuss anything that we need to go over as a staff.

As per NCAA mandates, we’re practicing 6 days a week, with Tuesdays as our off-day. Generally the players will lift for about 45 minutes 3 times a week. As far as staying late, I’m usually in the office in the late hours doing film breakdown. We film all of our practices and one of the things I’m tasked with is cutting the film, charting it– charting the players’ shots, tabling out the charts in various ways and other general scouting techniques.

SSB: What’s been the feeling around the locker room this preseason?

Simms: The feeling in the whole community is that this past season was a disappointment by Siena standards. You know, you have people here who were a big part of winning 2 MAAC titles, 2 trips to the NCAA tournament– last year was something of the past. The approach has been less about the past, and more about, okay this is what we have to do to get siena back to where it belongs.

Largely it’s been all four seniors leading that charge. They are quick to point out that 13-18 is something that Siena Basketball shouldn’t be a part of, and the team gets it– it should be that every year we’re in contention for a MAAC title. Conor Fenlon has been a big vocal leader as well.

SSB: You’re in the practices– tell us what’s going to be something that will shock Siena fans this season?

Simms: Well, Brandon Walters is in tremendous shape– he and Kyle Downey have both worked extremely hard in the offseason. I think, if I could take you inside the practices a bit, I would tell you that there is never a lack of effort or energy. Everyone has been working hard all the way through, and that’s a good sign.

SSB: How do you like working Coach B?

Simms: He’s great– very personable– he cares so much about everybody around him. I met him a few times before on the road at the Final Four through common friends, but now that I’m here it’s just amazing to see how much he cares about the Siena community. He was out instructing and helping kids in drills during this summer’s camps, it’s really great to see.

SSB: You’ve done quite a number of Summer Camps, tell us a little more about the work you did.

Simms: Teen camp and day camp at Siena this summer helped me develop close relationships with the players. Brandon Walters was an absolute camp junkie this summer, he helped out at Men’s and Women’s Hoops camp, he was all over the soccer fields with the kids– he was just a true contributor, all of the upper classmen were. They really helped me feel welcome in the Siena community.

In the past I had worked with Tony Bergeron, Chris Sparks, and Colin Tabb running 13-15 camps over the summers in New England. They are all heavily involved in the New England AAU scene as well. Runnign the camps were challenging, but fun. Tony, Chris, and Colin have done a lot to help me get to where I am today.

Follow Coach Tyler Simms on twitter at @CoachTSimms.

Read his full bio of Tyler Simms on SienaSaints.com.