There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is rock bottom for Kevin Baggett and the Rider men’s basketball team. The Broncs have now lost nine straight games and are 0-4 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after an 85-67 loss to previously winless Canisius on Friday night at the Koessler Athletic Center. “I don’t know if it can get any lower to be honest with you,” said Baggett, who is enduring the longest skid of his tenure. A season that began with some promise — four road wins from seven — has totally come off the rails as losses have piled up. It’s hard to see it getting any better, either. Certainly not with the way this team plays defense. On Friday night, Canisius, which had been. 0-14, shot 62.3% from the field and made 13 of its 22 tries from beyond the arc for 59.1%. In the second half, the Griffs made 18 of their 23 shots. “We just struggle to guard,” Baggett said. “We struggle to defend the 3-point line and it’s killing us. It’s been killing us all year long. We keep emphasizing and doing things and keep working on it but it hasn’t hit home yet.” The worst example was the final play of the first half when the defense just left a man wide open in the corner for a 3-pointer. It went from bad to worse when the Griffs knocked down three quick treys to start the second half and had themselves a 23-5 run from the time it was a 25-all game. “I’ve never seen this with any of my teams,” Baggett said. “The lack of communication, the lack of awareness. This team lacks awareness like I’ve never seen before coaching any team. “That’s basketball IQ. That’s what you inherit when you deal with this portal and you don’t know what you’re getting until you get those guys in your program. You can try and coach it as much as you can and get it better, but it doesn’t happen overnight.” The message isn’t getting home. It’s the first time in Baggett’s 13 years in charge that has happened. Even the 2020-21 Covid season when the Broncs went 6-17 after having four 1,000-point scorers depart saw the team getting better as the year went on. After dropping the first three MAAC games by a combined nine points — all of which were a one-possession game in the final minute — this was an embarrassment. “It hurts me,” Baggett said. “I’m not sure how many other guys on this team it hurts as much as it hurts me. I’m a passionate person who loves this game and will give anything to play it again. … Every man has to look in the mirror and really dig deep because this is about as low as my program has been.” Can it be fixed before it’s too late? “We have no choice,” Baggett said. “We’re not going to quit. We have to get the message. We’ll keep working on it. We got to find guys who can do it. I’m going to continue to shorten my rotation until I can find the right guys who can do it more often than not.” The Broncs (4-11, 0-4) face Niagara (7-8, 2-2) on Sunday at noon to complete the Western New York trip.