Hofstra vs W&M 1/10/19

[EvanJ]

My CAA team of the day includes Knight and Pierce but nobody on Hofstra. JWF didn't shoot well and had 7 turnovers. Ray scored 19 and shot well, but he needed more than 3 rebounds or more than 2 assists to make my team of the night. After I made my team of the day, I saw that Ray was +21, which led all CAA players. I may include that in my team of the day starting on Saturday. Through 5 days, Knight and Pierce are the only teammates who made my team of the day twice each. Two of the four winning teams, us and Northeastern, didn't have anybody on my team of the day. The players I honored more than once are JWF and Cacok 3 times, and Knight, Pierce, and Brantley twice.

[Hof_Judge99]

Glad to see they pulled it out but Joe coached teams never can put a team away end of games. This is what they need to improve on to win in March.

Pemberton at the line ??

I can’t stand when we are shooting free throws with a lead late Joe ALWAYS takes our guys off the line. Why not try to get the rebound? Especially up 3 where a foul doesn’t really hurt you. Eli intentionally missing that last second free throw up 3 make less than zero sense. Also did anyone else notice we inbounded with 1.3 and after the play they put 1.5 on the clock? WM announcers were hysterical as they said “we need a stop” (ya think?) on virtually every possesion.

Also seemed like Jalen was highly motivated playing so close to home, haven’t seen a game like that from him all year. I feel like TC is good when he focuses but sometimes he plays like he doesn’t care. Also played virtually only 7 guys in a 55 minute game (ST was in for like a minute). Have mixed feelings about that since I want guys to get rest but we probably lose if that happens. I also called Francesa today to mention our winning streak. Hopefully that brings some more people to the Mack. Roll Pride

[Wags]

Glad to see they pulled it out but Joe coached teams never can put a team away end of games. This is what they need to improve on to win in March.

Pemberton at the line ??

I can’t stand when we are shooting free throws with a lead late Joe ALWAYS takes our guys off the line. Why not try to get the rebound? Especially up 3 where a foul doesn’t really hurt you. Eli intentionally missing that last second free throw up 3 make less than zero sense. Also did anyone else notice we inbounded with 1.3 and after the play they put 1.5 on the clock? WM announcers were hysterical as they said “we need a stop” (ya think?) on virtually every possesion.

Also seemed like Jalen was highly motivated playing so close to home, haven’t seen a game like that from him all year. I feel like TC is good when he focuses but sometimes he plays like he doesn’t care. Also played virtually only 7 guys in a 55 minute game (ST was in for like a minute). Have mixed feelings about that since I want guys to get rest but we probably lose if that happens. As far as JWF words can’t describe....he belongs in a power conference but thank god he’s ours. I also called Francesa today to mention our winning streak. Hopefully that brings some more people to the Mack. Roll Pride

Couldn't understand missing the free throw intentionally. They have to know what to do there. Clearly didn't.

I thought they inbounded with 1.6 (not 1.3), but even still, I was like... that foul had to take more than just 0.1

Jalen only had 3 pts on 1/4 fg in 22 min at W&M last year, where they lost a tough one by a similar score, 90-87. This year, he has a big game and they pull it out. So yeah, another point for the Different Team thread.

What did Francesa say about the winning streak? Was he even aware that college hoops season had started yet?

[EvanJ]

I also called Francesa today to mention our winning streak. Hopefully that brings some more people to the Mack. Roll Pride

Thank you.

Courtesy of Jerry Beach, JWF is the first Hofstra player to have 3 consecutive 30+ point games in the CAA. The last Hofstra player to do that was Claxton on January 14, 16, and 21, 2000. Claxton scored 40 in the last two of those, and the box scores are at:

January 14: https://americaeast_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/mensbasketball/stats/9900/mb115.htm
January 16: https://americaeast_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/mensbasketball/stats/9900/mb120.htm
January 21: https://americaeast_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/mensbasketball/stats/9900/mb124.htm

Edit: Francesa knows it's NCAA Basketball season. He talked about St. John's on Tuesday. Rutgers beat ranked Ohio State last night.

[Sctvman]

A very nice highlight on Justin Wright-Foreman and tonight’s game just now on SportsCenter right after UCLA-Oregon. Over a minute.

[Wags]

https://twitter.com/JonathanJWagner/sta ... 7965593600

The excitement is starting to build. Hopefully, it leads to better crowds at The Mack for UNCW and Charleston next week.

[The Shadow]

Thanks to everyone for the great links. It is nice for HU to get a triple OT win on the road. Maybe the basketball luck is starting to go HU's way. There is the old athletic statement that you make your own luck, but on to EU. Roll Pride!!!

[EvanJ]

JWF became the third player since 2010-2011 to have consecutive games with at least 37 points and at least 40 minutes. Central Michigan's Marcus Keene did it on March 3 and 6, 2017. Murray State's Jonathan Stark did it on March 1 and 2, 2017. The March 1, 2, and 6 games were in conference tournaments.

[Hof_Judge99]

Glad to see they pulled it out but Joe coached teams never can put a team away end of games. This is what they need to improve on to win in March.

Pemberton at the line ??

What did Francesa say about the winning streak? Was he even aware that college hoops season had started yet?

He said “I heard they were playing well” When I mentioned JWF he was like “yeah they have a good scorer” and spoke highly of Mihalich. Hopefully in February when there is nothing going on in NY sports he’ll get coach on.

[HofstraMathew]

https://twitter.com/JonathanJWagner/sta ... 7965593600

The excitement is starting to build. Hopefully, it leads to better crowds at The Mack for UNCW and Charleston next week.

I was shocked at how early in sports center and how long they covered the game. As I think Polito said in another thread; just keep winning and the coverage will come.

[EvanJ]

Here's another contribution from Jerry Beach. Since joining the CAA, Hofstra is 4-0 in triple overtime games, and has never played more than three overtimes.

[Jojogunne]

Glad to see they pulled it out but Joe coached teams never can put a team away end of games. This is what they need to improve on to win in March.

Pemberton at the line ??

I can’t stand when we are shooting free throws with a lead late Joe ALWAYS takes our guys off the line. Why not try to get the rebound? Especially up 3 where a foul doesn’t really hurt you. Eli intentionally missing that last second free throw up 3 make less than zero sense. Also did anyone else notice we inbounded with 1.3 and after the play they put 1.5 on the clock? WM announcers were hysterical as they said “we need a stop” (ya think?) on virtually every possesion.

Also seemed like Jalen was highly motivated playing so close to home, haven’t seen a game like that from him all year. I feel like TC is good when he focuses but sometimes he plays like he doesn’t care. Also played virtually only 7 guys in a 55 minute game (ST was in for like a minute). Have mixed feelings about that since I want guys to get rest but we probably lose if that happens. I also called Francesa today to mention our winning streak. Hopefully that brings some more people to the Mack. Roll Pride

I heard that call! Glad you got through, but Big Mike has no clue about the CAA. He still thinks that the CAA is a "Virginia dominated" league. Must think that VCU and GMU are still in the conference.

[Polito]

Very happy to have the W - these games are brutal lol

So two sides:
A). Really annoying to see the team reverting back to typical JM ways of not closing teams out - where is the killer instinct we saw earlier? Two games in a row now it’s been frustrating - get it back guys and start finishing the kill. Had plenty of opps to do so in regulation and the first OT - gotta get that done.

Again all this is nice but put teams away when you are clearly better and up by 10ish with a few min to go - this crap is what gets you bounced in your first game of the conf tourney for 2 yrs straight - stop it and put the damn games away.

B). To pull out the W when they didn’t play that great against an always tough opponent on the road is still big - every champ team has games that seem lucky but they are always end on the winning end - that has been HU this yr - and these kind of games can be very beneficial in the conf tourney and the NCAAT

Glad to see the Ray I know and love lol

Pemba showed some strong flashes, which was exciting, but this young man needs to step it up mentally - two straight games where we need to see more from him esp leadership and high level play - if he’s going to lead next yr, this improvement needs to start to show - it’s piece to relieving JWF pressure and this team winning it all

Anyhoo, as others stated, take it AND RUN!

11 straight, press picking up, and it’s just the beginning with more positive outcomes trust me, so on to Elon!

[Wags]

https://twitter.com/JonathanJWagner/sta ... 7965593600

The excitement is starting to build. Hopefully, it leads to better crowds at The Mack for UNCW and Charleston next week.

Here's the SportsCenter coverage from last night:
https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 0924015616

[Wags]

Really annoying to see the team reverting back to typical JM ways of not closing teams out - where is the killer instinct we saw earlier? Two games in a row now it’s been frustrating - get it back guys and start finishing the kill. Had plenty of opps to do so in regulation and the first OT - gotta get that done.

Again all this is nice but put teams away when you are clearly better and up by 10ish with a few min to go - this crap is what gets you bounced in your first game of the conf tourney for 2 yrs straight - stop it and put the damn games away.

You're not wrong about this at all, and I think the players and coaches would be the first to admit this. They know it and will work on it.

But, when you've won 9, 10 in a row, you're bound to see a streak like that end, especially in the types of games they've played in the past two (see Houston starting 15-0 and losing by two at Temple this week). Instead, they found ways to get that streak to 10 and 11.

These last two games were also the types of games when they would have been right there in the past, only to lose.

Last year: They lost a very winnable 90-87 game in their CAA opener at W&M.
This year: They have many ways they could've lost in the second half and in each OT, yet find a way to win it by 3 instead of lose by 3 like last year.

Last year: They trail through most of the first half, play uphill all game, so when they make a run, they only get within 5. Not enough for NU's 2nd-half run, lose by 14.
This year: They build a 10-point first half lead, so after NU's 2nd-half run, they stay within 9 and remain close enough to pull it out at the buzzer.

[triplec2195]

Walking a very slippery slope here and a anxiety provoking game or should I say games to watch. Lots of valid points made in the threads but playing the Devil's advocate who would we be pointing fingers at if we had lost this game. There were plenty of people having off games here and with 55 minutes of basketball a lot of plays to put under the microscope. Would it be Buie with his 1-8 shooting but wait he had 8 assists and hit big free throws and let me not forget his 4 steals. Could it possibly be Justin who only shot 2-14 from beyond the arc and had 7 turnovers but again he had 37 points 7 rebounds and 7/7 from the FT line and hit huge shots when it counted. Was it Eli who missed important shots from the foul line but who finished with 14 points and gave us 50 minutes. Dwyer who was over matched down low but still contributed with some key blocks. Taylor who we were all hoping was going to contain Knight but did do a good job in the first half and after all he had 12 rebounds and two blocks. Coburn could have played better but 13 points and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes. The hot hand played by Jalen diminished Coburns minutes in this game and clearly he was the player of the game if you had to pick one 19 points 42 minutes 5/10 from beyond the arc playing near home bringing out the best in him. In summation here I think on the one hand we tried our best to lose this game and prolong what should have been accomplished in regulation but our resolve was evident and I think the positives outweigh the negatives but by only 3 points.In the post game by Joe he actually stated that he made numerous "bone-head" decisions so I think this was somewhat precedent setting. I don't recall him ever coming out and saying he made bad coaching mistakes.Like everyone else I have to agree though a huge win and another nail biter between us and Bill & Mary full of last second heroics.

[HUSID74]

Really annoying to see the team reverting back to typical JM ways of not closing teams out - where is the killer instinct we saw earlier? Two games in a row now it’s been frustrating - get it back guys and start finishing the kill. Had plenty of opps to do so in regulation and the first OT - gotta get that done.

Again all this is nice but put teams away when you are clearly better and up by 10ish with a few min to go - this crap is what gets you bounced in your first game of the conf tourney for 2 yrs straight - stop it and put the damn games away.

You're not wrong about this at all, and I think the players and coaches would be the first to admit this. They know it and will work on it.

But, when you've won 9, 10 in a row, you're bound to see a streak like that end, especially in the types of games they've played in the past two (see Houston starting 15-0 and losing by two at Temple this week). Instead, they found ways to get that streak to 10 and 11.

These last two games were also the types of games when they would have been right there in the past, only to lose.

Last year: They lost a very winnable 90-87 game in their CAA opener at W&M.
This year: They have many ways they could've lost in the second half and in each OT, yet find a way to win it by 3 instead of lose by 3 like last year.

Last year: They trail through most of the first half, play uphill all game, so when they make a run, they only get within 5. Not enough for NU's 2nd-half run, lose by 14.
This year: They build a 10-point first half lead, so after NU's 2nd-half run, they stay within 9 and remain close enough to pull it out at the buzzer.

Totally agree with you Wags that's what makes this team different than in the past...Agree with Polito on Pemba though...he shied away from the big moment, passing up shots and then those free throws?????

Hope this team is not totally gassed for Elon although they too went to OT.


Joe tried ?Trueheart at the five for a minute and right away he plays "Matador D" to Knight for a layup....Sheesh, but great win!


Teams are coming after us HARD...TO BE THE ONES TO BREAK THE STREAK...It will only get tougher.

[RIP_HOFUSA]

Overall, pleased we came out with a tough road wind. Remember that we’re only now 4-3 on the road so we’ve still got a lot to prove! But road wins are always impressive and especially this W&M team that played a pretty brutal OOC schedule. Still waiting to see how legit Delaware is this season. We’re definitely not going to beat them again like we did before so we gotta be aware of them. I was more concerned about the FT shooting. That’s what has given us the ability to finish our games and we got a look at would happen if it just wasn’t quite on point. Some games we just shoot bad from the 3, everyone does I’m not too worried.

My biggest concern tho is that JWF just played 55 minutes and we had a bunch of other players in 40+ zone. I’ve said this for years, mid-major teams are just not good enough to play 7 or 8 man rotations. You need some depth, or you might find JWF with no pop to attack the basket late in games and just launching up wonky 3s...and he’s never been a dead eye shooter. Hopefully they can find one more guy to soak up some quality minutes, everyone expects it to be ST, I still favor MR, but regardless we need someone. Especially now because we have one day of recovery as we drive over to Elon to play them. I hate to say it but if I was going to have to bet on when the streak ends....nevertheless go Pride!

[Hof_Judge99]

I heard that call! Glad you got through, but Big Mike has no clue about the CAA. He still thinks that the CAA is a "Virginia dominated" league. Must think that VCU and GMU are still in the conference.

Yes, and ODU, but since the Virginia teams were replaced by Carolina teams (Elon amd CoC) that makes the travel even worse so I wasn’t gonna argue with him. He knew nothing but since it’s the heart of the NFL playoffs/Jets new coach I expected that. And the CAA tourney being in Charleston is ridiculous. Maybe they could put it in Philly one year to switch it up? In a perfect world our conference tournament would be at campus sites and there would be 2-3 days minimum between games.

Also wanted to ask this, does anyone know why Hofstra isn’t on TV anymore? I remember the painful to watch Cassara teams being pn SNY frequently.

[EvanJ]

Again all this is nice but put teams away when you are clearly better and up by 10ish with a few min to go - this crap is what gets you bounced in your first game of the conf tourney for 2 yrs straight - stop it and put the damn games away.

Our largest lead in the last 5 minutes was 6. That's not 10ish.

I heard that call! Glad you got through, but Big Mike has no clue about the CAA. He still thinks that the CAA is a "Virginia dominated" league. Must think that VCU and GMU are still in the conference.

Yes, and ODU, but since the Virginia teams were replaced by Carolina teams (Elon amd CoC) that makes the travel even worse so I wasn’t gonna argue with him. He knew nothing but since it’s the heart of the NFL playoffs/Jets new coach I expected that. And the CAA tourney being in Charleston is ridiculous. Maybe they could put it in Philly one year to switch it up? In a perfect world our conference tournament would be at campus sites and there would be 2-3 days minimum between games.

Also wanted to ask this, does anyone know why Hofstra isn’t on TV anymore? I remember the painful to watch Cassara teams being pn SNY frequently.

The CAA has 5 out of 10 teams in Virginia and farther south compared to 6 of 10 when we joined. According to Google Maps, the average travel time via land to the three teams who joined after us is 8:28, which is longer than 6:11 for the average of VCU, ODU, and GMU. That does not factor in busing to some teams and flying to some teams.

https://caasports.com/news/2018/6/18/ca ... ath=mbball says that next season starts three years of the CAA Tournament being at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in D.C. It's a small building in a bad neighborhood. In terms of the locations of the team, D.C. is fair with 5 teams north of it and 5 teams south of it. Of course if we're much worse without JWF, the CAA Tournament being closer in 2020 won't help enough.

The CAA no longer has a TV contract. Three teams have local contracts, with Northeastern having every home game except one on NESN or NESN Plus, William & Mary having a little on YurView, and Delaware having some games in both genders on channels including SNY. James Madison at Delaware on Thursday and Towson at Delaware 2 days later will be on SNY at 7:00 P.M. Before that, Drexel at Delaware in Women's Basketball will be on SNY on Sunday at 2:00 P.M.

Edit: Taylor, Ray, and Coburn have all played 383 minutes. In our 17 complete seasons in the CAA, the smallest range of minutes that included three players with a minimum of 10 minutes per team game was in 2002-2003 when Anthony Noble played 362, Lars Grubler played 332, and Wendell Gibson played 327. With no minimum amount of minutes, the smallest gap was in 2012-2013 and included two thieves when Jimmy Hall played 224, Daquan Brown played 217, and Shaquille Stokes played 198.