The gold shirts were back. The pep band was back. And so were the packed student sections.

Pretty much everything but offensive rebounds, 3-pointers and successful drives to the basket showed up at the men’s basketball season opener against the Delaware State Hornets.

Only two guys on the floor for the Flashes didn’t seem like they were afraid of the basket. Senior center Nate Gerwig and senior guard Jay Youngblood held the team together and were the only Flashes to attack the rim.

That’s scary. Gerwig and Youngblood were the only two who made more than three attempts inside the 3-point line. The rest of the starting line-up had a dismal performance, led by senior forward Kevin Warzynski, who didn’t come alive until it was too late, scoring eight points.

The fact that the Flashes made 19 out of 42 attempts from inside the 3-point line, combined with a grand total of five offensive rebounds, did not give them a chance last night at the M.A.C. Center. They were unable to play successfully inside the paint. And when the game started getting out of their grip, the Flashes relied on their nonexistent three-point shots.

Gerwig needs to use his muscles inside to get rebounds.Warzynski has no excuse for not pounding the ball to the basket more often. The Flashes looked uncoordinated at best inside the paint.

On a typical drive, the Flashes went inside, got trapped and shot the ball back outside the 3-point arc like a pinball machine. Unfortunately, Delaware State has a reliable perimeter defense.

The Flashes made 7 of 20 3-point attempts during the whole game; they only made 3 of 10 attempts in the second half while they tried to play catch-up.

In past seasons, the Flashes have been known as outside shooters. In the 2004 Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship game, they were contained outside the arc and lost the game 77-66 to Western Michigan because they could not shoot inside.

They need to avoid being known for their 3-pointers, or for now, their 3-point attempts. They need to move the ball inside the arc and make shots in the paint.

The Flashes were lucky to lose by nine points last night. And that is due to their more reliable defense.

In an interview before the season started, the four seniors boasted their offense would always be there, which wasn’t the case last night. But something else they said actually was apparent during their first game of the season: Their defense improved.

If they can’t get that muscle to the other end of the court, their season won’t live up to the NCAA tournament pre-season expectations.

Contact campus editor Sean Joseph at [email protected].