MBB Game 16 Charleston Jan 9 (Thu) 7 PM

[Wags]

Once again a mix of encouraging and disappointing. As some of you have said, this team is not built to play from behind. That being said, the defensive effort and result against a high-powered Charleston team was incredible. They looked uncomfortable all night, German had his covers in a straightjacket and save for a few possessions, Graham did a decent job bothering Brzovic.

This team showed they can compete with the very top of the league, just have to keep ironing out what needs to be ironed.

I had the same takeaway. It's encouraging the way they limited Charleston's offense for a good portion of the game and that they played maybe the conference favorite at this point (?) as closely as they did (the Cougars never led by double digits).

I've seen enough by this point that the effort and the defense can be counted on but they have to find some more offense. The shooting just isn't there most of the time. In certain stretches, it is. But there are too many other stretches in too many games when they miss 4 in a row, then later, 6 in a row, then later on, 5 straight. Their D usually keeps them in it. Last night, the rebounding (which they had struggled with) was also pleasant surprise to keep them in it. But even in building the 7-point first half lead in this game, they had one stretch when they shot just 4/22. That was okay because they held Charleston to a 2/17 stretch during the first half. They have to get guys moving without the ball more and move the ball more than they are. There is still a lot of dribbling, trying to beat a defender one on one, with other guys stagnant on the wings and in the corners. That's okay if someone like Jean is able to get in the lane, draw attention and kick to an open shooter and that shooter can knock it down. But usually, it's dribble into a tough situation and no one is cutting or moving without the ball to give a passing target and help out the would-be passer.

[Wags]

In Speedy's presser after the game he was asked about Sanders.

You're welcome.

Speedy said he will be back and back soon; said he's "working out some issues" for what its worth.
If he comes back with the right attitude and can shoot it will make a big difference.

I'm hoping that "soon" means tomorrow. I don't know if it's still the knee tendonitis bothering him or if something else mentally or personally is going on, but he only played 12 minutes and took one shot in the win at Norfolk State, only played two minutes in the win at Northeastern, and then didn't play at all last night. Whatever the case, physically or otherwise, I hope he's okay, can get back to his regular playing time, and become the integral piece of an offense that needs another one of those. The question was posed earlier in this thread: could they have won with Sanders playing last night? I don't know because he has been inconsistent too, but the way they shot overall (aside from Jean - nice to seem rebound from that 1/12 from 3 vs. W&M and go 4/5 from 3, picking his good spots for those on 17 total shots), it couldn't have hurt to have had Sanders give it a try. Hopefully, that will happen against UNCW tomorrow.

[Wags]

The whole game changed with the 3/4 court heave at the end of the half. Within a minute and a half they were down 4 from being up 7 and played catch up the rest of the game, and they can't win games with this personnel playing catch up.

So true, they seem to need a 4-5 point lead late and hold on rather than being down, even if it's only by one possession, because they just don't have a JWF, Thomas, etc. to rely on for buckets down the stretch. What helped with that was their 34 points in the paint and Graham's play in there. although they didn't shoot well again from 3 (6/23), they didn't over rely on that too much as in past games. They made a concerted effort to get into the paint and to score there. I hope they'll continue to do that. It would only open up 3-point shot even more.

I asked Fulton about that heave at the end of the half. He said it was "definitely a big shot" and that it gave them a lot of momentum. He said it was a big difference for them being down 4 instead of 7, especially getting the ball to start the second half. He felt that shot seemed to help fuel the 10-0 run at the start of the second half (making it 13-0 overall), and as Speedy acknowledged, that run really won Charleston the game. Too bad, because 31-24 would've been a nice way to start the second half. Maybe they still lose anyway, but those extra three points also helped change everything in the final minutes.

By the way, Fulton had 12 assists (of Charleston's 15) and no turnovers. That was a big factor as was this (which is something HU needs to clean up):
TOs: Charleston 6, Hofstra 12
Pts of TOs: 14-5, Charleston

[ZMAN3]

Many valid points - I too was wondering about Sanders - obviously there's not enough fire power to catch up. Sanders could help if he gets his shot back. How about a press - everyone seems to pressure us - we don't pressure them until we are out of the game - it could be another way to generate some offense - it's not like we don't have enough guards and quickness. Fortunately my night was not a complete loss as Sparty destroyed Washington. The PAC 4 look like they don't belong in the Big10 - not physical enough.
On another note hope Dubar got a nice chunk of $ cause he's not getting much run - 8th man

[Wags]

Many valid points - I too was wondering about Sanders - obviously there's not enough fire power to catch up. Sanders could help if he gets his shot back. How about a press - everyone seems to pressure us - we don't pressure them until we are out of the game - it could be another way to generate some offense - it's not like we don't have enough guards and quickness.

I was actually thinking about this too. Since they are playing a lot of close, low-scoring games, getting even 3-4 extra buckets off of a press could make all the difference in winning and losing when you're D is keeping you in it but you're struggling to get just enough offense to pull those types of games out. But I question if they're deep enough to be able to do that for too long without the key guys you want in the floor late in the game getting gassed by then. Worth trying at least here or there, especially if it's only in the first half.