Fordham Basketball: Changing of Guard as Mandell Thomas Takes over at the Point

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said this was coming. Right after the Rams lost to Dayton on Jan. 10, he said personnel changes could be on the way.

Pecora proved to be true to his word four days later, when the Rams visited Saint Joseph's. Junior forward Ryan Rhoomes didn't start for the first and only time this year. Manny Suarez, a redshirt freshman, started in his place. In the Rams' next game at La Salle, senior Bryan Smith got his first start since Nov. 20.

But no move may have been more significant than the one that occurred Wednesday night, when Mandell Thomas moved from shooting guard to point guard. He's the third different player to start at point guard for Fordham this season.

Thomas, a starter in 13 games prior to Wednesday, has been one of the Rams' most productive players this season. Going into last night's game, he was averaging 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest.

Pecora compared the transition Thomas was making to the one made by Branden Frazier, who wrapped up his Fordham career in 2013-14 by averaging a team-high 18.2 points and 4.3 assists per game.

This time around, however, there might be a bit more desperation involved.

Nemanja Zarkovic, a freshman, began the season as Fordham's starting point guard. After five games, Antwoine Anderson, a redshirt freshman, took over.

Wednesday night might not be a permanent changing of the guard, but it was change nonetheless, and certainly worth a try after Fordham dropped its first five Atlantic 10 Conference games.

The odds still appeared to be stacked against the Rams, and they may be for the foreseeable future.

George Washington came in with a 14-4 record. Fordham started the night 5-11. The Rams found themselves down 8-0 two minutes and 22 seconds into the game and they trailed by as many as 22 later in the half.

In the second half they trailed by as many as 25 before closing the gap to 10 with just over four minutes left to play. But the Colonials would go on a 10-0 run to end the game, leaving the Rose Hill Gym with a 79-59 win and handing the Rams their sixth straight loss.

After the game, Pecora didn't hide his frustration.

"I'm not going to talk to you the way I just talked to them," he said at the start of his postgame press conference. "We have some growing up to do. We've lost the last three games in the first five minutes. We haven't come out and played with the passion and intensity that we need to."

"We just have to get better," he added.

Pecora talked about the need to change things beyond the lineup.

"Whatever they do when they're away from us with their pregame preparation has to change," he said.

"I don't know the answer," he added later. "If I did, I would change it immediately."

He did offer some ideas as to how he plans on approaching things going forward.

"I'm going to change the way we go about our pregame and I'm going to get their attention and make sure they understand it's game day and things are going to be a little bit different," he said, later adding, "You can't be afraid to change."

This is a young team—seven freshmen and only three upperclassmen—and right now things aren't clicking. Nobody knows that better than Pecora, who isn't trying to hide the fact that things aren't going well.

"I'm trying to allow them to learn a little bit on the go, and it's not working," Pecora said. "I have to change the way I'm approaching this as well."

Thomas played 38 minutes against George Washington and finished with 15 points, five assists and eight rebounds. Pecora said he made "a couple bad decisions," but he did offer a tepid endorsement of his play.

"I didn't think Mandell did a horrible job," Pecora said. "He filled up a box score for a guy playing with the ball in his hands. Overall I don't think it was horrible."

Pecora said the plan right now is to keep Thomas at the point.

"Antwoine (Anderson) will come off the bench and back him up for now, and we'll see how things progress," he said. "Hopefully we can get everybody back at their normal positions in time."

It won't get any easier for Fordham. Rhode Island is next, followed by Dayton and UMass. Welcome to the Atlantic 10.

"The schedule's been brutal, but what are you going to do?" Pecora said. "This is who we play.

"I said to them, 'If you don't change your ways and start competing for 40 minutes, it's not going to just happen.'"

He added: "I think there are guys that are taking possessions off and getting a little too comfortable in their spots. It doesn't matter what year you are, you're going to compete for minutes here."

Then it all came back to the biggest news of the night, which broke before the game even started: Thomas moving to the point.

"Right now Mandell's our starting point guard," Pecora said.

He then offered his assessment of Anderson and Zarkovic, not counting either out, but admitting that both needed to improve in certain areas.

"I think Antwoine (Anderson)'s performance over the two games prior to this was not very good," Pecora said. "I think he was overwhelmed by game-planning and all of the things that go into a game and running a team at this level. I think the best thing for his development and for ours as a team was to put Mandell into that spot.

"Nemanja (Zarkovic)'s been shooting the ball well," he continued. "He gets more shots when we play him off the ball. Obviously he was struggling with double-teams and things of that nature early on. Everyone sees film. When people see film they were jumping him. By moving him off the ball, we're getting him a couple more looks and allowing him some time to develop."

The team has proven it needs time to develop as well.

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