MBB Game 11 - LaSalle - 12/23/14, 4 PM

[HUSID80]

As the Big Apple Buckets story says, Rokas has been nursing a leg injury but we heard last night that he is on his way back. The team hopes to have him available for the last non-con game against CCSU.

Once he and Moussaka are healthy we should have a much better idea of what this team will be like for CAA action

[Dooku25]

Polito, I enjoy your enthusiasm but take a deep breath. I never said LaSalle was amazing. But I am stating facts. They are one of the better teams we have ever hosted in that building. They are a competitive A-10 team, their talent level is a notch above anything the current CAA has to offer. They hit a few long contested 3’s and Dion missed some open 3’s he usually makes. He’s entitled to having an off game and they are capable of having a hot shooting game. They were also +16 in the paint. Moussa picked up 2 early fouls and we are without Gustys. How can we compete down low in that scenario? We also weren’t getting the whistle. These were all major factors in the outcome of this game in particular. If we are at full strength and shoot better than 29% from 3-pt range I think it’s a more competitive game. I didn’t see anything yesterday that changes my mind about the potential of this team in CAA play. They will be fine.

[ProudofPride]

Rokas tweeted a few thoughts after the game that are worth sharing.
Rokas Gustys @gr8tness33 · 10h 10 hours ago
The raw emotion of defeat is tough but seeing the defeat on my teammates faces is even worse... We put so much work together to be where
Rokas Gustys @gr8tness33 · 10h 10 hours ago
We are right now but for one reason or another it wasn't able to come together when it needed to.

As for the next game, only Moussa was there for the last game we played at the Barclay's Center, so hopefully he tells the rest of the team about what happened to help motivate them to beat LIU Brooklyn. I'm pretty sure that was the game where we had a halftime lead, but Tulane went on a 20-0 run to start the second half, and we never recovered. Hopefully a bigger stage won't intimidate us.

[HofstraHockey]

Bigger stage shouldn't mean much- the have played in a huge arena already this year, with a much larger, very one-sided crowd there (compared to the 15k empty seats they'll see this time), and played alright.

[daHUPride]

Injuries are making to many guys play out of position. IF Gustys and Kone aren't hurt - I think that those two playing the 5 and 4 slots and Tanksley and Nicols playing the 3 we have a front court that makes us so much more competitive; as opposed to Nicols and Tanksley playing 4 and 5 and Bernardi playing the 3.

Green hasn't played well lately but I have seen the talent that he is a very very good player. Nesmith is certainly better this year playing with better players. Bernardi has some stroke and range, and a better defender then I would have thought, but needs to be able to get the ball in better shooting spots or create more space for himself. Nicols is an energy guy, better then I thought he was. Tanksley is playing well but needs his side kick to step up. Kone could be a key piece, another energy guy but more size then MN. Gustys is a player, raw yes, but reminds me (passing scoring rebounding) a bit of Kancevic. Walker not sure why his minutes and down to low single digest but we need his size and athletism.

With everyone we have some depth and flexibility but we don't have a lot of wiggle room when are missing anyone (especially the bigs).

We need to jell to win in the conference and we need them to jell fast. I still believe.

[Polito]

Excuses, excuses, excuses

This was a bullsh!t loss. LaSalle is a MID PACK A10 team - mid pack - and this was a must win at home in the OOC, not downplaying it or taking any moral victory - they crapped the bed.

Sure, no real harm if this team actually learned something from the losses - they clearly haven't learned a damn thing - I've seen no improvement from them at all whatsoever against any team with a real pulse. They continue to play sh!t defense and can't hit the side of a barn during the most crucial final minutes of games

Way off the bandwagon - if they continue to play this way, this is a CIT team folks.

You guys are hinging the entire HU season on a TRUE FRESHMAN?? Are you understanding what you're saying? What if HU never landed Gustys? What would be the excuse then? Sorry that doesn't fly with me - Kone was lost and he needs to man up - he was out a couple of weeks - looked like he hadn't touched a ball since 2nd grade

Green I'm extremely disappointed with - he has proven to me he is not the leader he was hoped to be - and that's going to hurt this team - I watched him for 3/4 of the game (all I could stomach) play like a whiney little baby - he looked like his girl just broke up with him - and that was after a sh!t performance against Columbia when he should've been ready to right the ship - not what i want to see from the teams leader - it's sickening

Bernardi plays D? Must've missed that while watching him get torched by everyone he defends from deep - he needs to do SOMETHING TO add value cuz he isn't scoring and he isn't playing D - need just a 'tad' more from a supposed leader

Not getting on Dion, missing all those shots sucks but yes he will have off nights and he is not THE leader so that's not expected from him

Day later and I'm still seething - again it's the WAY they lost - THEY GAVE UP - UNACCEPTABLE - and I hope their ears are still ringing from the verbal beating from the staff (even though I doubt it)

Telling ya, if I didn't already have the tix for my uncle I have no interest in the LIU game - pissed - and haven't felt this way in a looooooong time.

I'm not bailing on the entire season, but my view has most DEF been altered - and it will stay that way until I see this group prove themselves worthy of more respect against some decent teams

[Flying Dutchmen]

Excuses, excuses, excuses

This was a bullsh!t loss. LaSalle is a MID PACK A10 team - mid pack - and this was a must win at home in the OOC, not downplaying it or taking any moral victory - they crapped the bed.

Sure, no real harm if this team actually learned something from the losses - they clearly haven't learned a damn thing - I've seen no improvement from them at all whatsoever against any team with a real pulse. They continue to play sh!t defense and can't hit the side of a barn during the most crucial final minutes of games

Way off the bandwagon - if they continue to play this way, this is a CIT team folks.

You guys are hinging the entire HU season on a TRUE FRESHMAN?? Are you understanding what you're saying? What if HU never landed Gustys? What would be the excuse then? Sorry that doesn't fly with me - Kone was lost and he needs to man up - he was out a couple of weeks - looked like he hadn't touched a ball since 2nd grade

Green I'm extremely disappointed with - he has proven to me he is not the leader he was hoped to be - and that's going to hurt this team - I watched him for 3/4 of the game (all I could stomach) play like a whiney little baby - he looked like his girl just broke up with him - and that was after a sh!t performance against Columbia when he should've been ready to right the ship - not what i want to see from the teams leader - it's sickening

Bernardi plays D? Must've missed that while watching him get torched by everyone he defends from deep - he needs to do SOMETHING TO add value cuz he isn't scoring and he isn't playing D - need just a 'tad' more from a supposed leader

Not getting on Dion, missing all those shots sucks but yes he will have off nights and he is not THE leader so that's not expected from him

Day later and I'm still seething - again it's the WAY they lost - THEY GAVE UP - UNACCEPTABLE - and I hope their ears are still ringing from the verbal beating from the staff (even though I doubt it)

Telling ya, if I didn't already have the tix for my uncle I have no interest in the LIU game - pissed - and haven't felt this way in a looooooong time.

I'm not bailing on the entire season, but my view has most DEF been altered - and it will stay that way until I see this group prove themselves worthy of more respect against some decent teams

I have to say that's just a flat-out incorrect assessment of the game and the team. Re-watch the video.

I was there yesterday as well, from the minute the two teams got out on the court for tip-off, I knew we were in big trouble. We have ZERO size in the frontcourt, and it's crushing our ability to win games against marginally superior opponents, like Columbia or La Salle.

We have to play zone defense against any team that has competent forwards over 6-8, and regardless of the zone, we still have significant mismatches down low all game. This disadvantage has forced the guards to cheat to the inside of the zone too often to try to double the forward. We got burned countless times with bad positioning in the zone because of that, either it left an open shot, or we did not have proper rebounding positioning, which is crucial for a smaller team.

No doubt we had players making mistakes, but for the most part, I thought our defense remained solid for the final 25 minutes of the game. Also, HH alluded to it in a prior post, La Salle flat out hit some clutch contested shots that sealed up the victory.

For the same reason we struggle defensively, we struggle offensively. We do not have a forward who can just post up inside and make something happen, it's killing us against these bigger teams. La Salle was fantastically polished defensively; opened up in man, went to the zone for a bit, we shot them out of the zone (50-49), they went back to man to man, and shut us down. Check the Pomeroy Ratings if you don't believe me, they're one of the best defensive teams in the nation, and it showed.

I definitely was questioning some of the shot selection, but we were not getting good looks when La Salle was in man to man, and I just think our team tries to keep the pace too fast at times. No question on the effort, especially from Green, who played every minute against La Salle, and every important minute this team has played this season. We were pressing until the buzzer, this was not your Tom Pecora, give up when the going gets tough, kind of efforts.

Ultimately, the coaching staff should look to make some minor lineup changes. Bernardi has shown himself to be a below average defender and only a role player offensively. Bernardi has played a lot more like a Ziggy Sestokas compared to an Antoine Agudio, he looks so uncomfortable with the ball, it makes me want to cringe. Our frontcourt deficiencies have forced Bernardi into more minutes than he should see. Nichols is a superior player and should see more minutes (as a swingman though), Nesmith should be a starter no-doubt as well. I would like to see Green-Tanksley-Nesmith-Nichols-Gustys our starting lineup in CAA play.

I'm not an apologist for this team by any means, but if we're being objective, this team is significantly flawed, and has done well to hang with the likes of La Salle, Columbia, and USF this year. Have to hope health is on our side for CAA play, and we can get more out of the freshmen forwards.

[bobe13]

Polito, I agree with you 100%. We played like crap. Defensively we let their players drive to the basket to score. Our lack of height was a factor but no excuse to the way we played. Look up LaSalle record to date they played mediocre teams in the area and won by a few points in each case..I hope having four days of practice will help for the next outing.

[ZMAN3]

Have to agree with Flying Dutchman - except having watched and read about LaSalle before they walked out on court I knew we were in trouble. Their size and physicality
was a real issue and it played throughout the game. Their 2 "bigs" totaled 21 and 21, 4 assists and 3 blocks. and intimated others. They cleared space for numerous drives for their guards and when we double and triple teamed the post they were able to swing the ball to open men on the perimeter. The fact they knocked down 50% 3's was a killer. To say we played like "crap" totally unfair. We didn't shoot the ball well, no question. That's a product of no inside game and very few fast break points. However we committed only 6 TO's - that's excellent. Green forced too many shots (as he did vs Columbia) but he had 11 assists to only 2 TO's. Tanksley kept us in the game with 23 pts and 6 rebounds - battling guys 4 and 5" taller. Let's face it Coach's teams have never played good D and this one no different. We should still reserve judgment until Gusty's returns and Kone is at full strength.

[doug]

The most obvious explanation for the loss to LaSalle is that we just didn't shoot very well. Their field goal percentage for the game was approximately 58% while ours was 41%. Their 3pt shooting was approximately 54% and ours was 29%. While it's not that simple, it does explain a lot.

Our shooters had open looks, they just weren't going in. We also missed a lot of lay ups and one dunk around the rim.

Our defense was not very good, but they were making their shots, regardless of the intensity of our defense. I agree, we need to tighten up on our defense on the perimeter. We did about as well as we could down low considering the bigs that were available to us. We do miss Rokas.

I was impressed with their defense throughout most of the game. They were up in our face most of the time. We have to play defense more like they played against us. But the bottom line, we had many good looks at the basket and the shots were not falling. I don't think our shooting is reflective of the percentages I noted above.

I'm not ready to jump off the bandwagon.

[Polito]

Flying Dutchman, appreciate your thoughts and insight - some good stuff I can and do agree with

One thing I def agree, it was very clear that HU was in trouble within the first 5 min of the game - yes, La Salle had a size advantage - but this game wasn't lost in the post, it was lost in the 3 %'s and the D

To me HU displayed zero defensive intensity - they looked completely lost, and their "leader" was acting dejected from the start - THAT Is why I'm annoyed - it was a WEAK display across the board

I understand sometimes shooting happens, but for heavens sake you best man up on the fundamentals when you need to resort to your plan B - there is NO excuse for lazy D, not E V E R

And sorry, but LaSalle is a MID-PACK A10 team - good yes, but far from great - and I'm watching all kinds of small teams pulling off big time upsets on the ROAD with way less talent than HU, and this team crapped the bed in all 3 major opps to produce a quality win (not even messing with NC State as that wasn't close, and it was game 2) - in each if the 3 games they played the same or worse - that obviously should not be the case - there needs to be SOME kind of visual proof the team is learning and improving

Again, THAT is why I'm annoyed.