Many times this season, I have watched college games on streaming video. The quality of them vary Obviously you have ESPN3 which is national TV production quality video. You also have the Horizon League feeds, which are free and are generally local TV feeds that are also obviously production quality (by the way, if you don't watch Horizon games online, you don't know what you're missing).
Then there are the feeds that are the team's own video feed piped in with their radio station's audio feed. Old Dominion does a very good job with their streaming video. Many of the sites are pay sites, but you can find a lot of streamed games on Pixelvision. However, sometimes the feeds are not very good. Rhode Island's streaming video feed pipes in the audio from the PA system. Silence then public announcer overspeak. Quite annoying. Then when Hofstra was at William and Mary, there was the Tribe feed which had very low audio, so you strained to hear the PA announcer. And the only way you know the score is when there is a timeout and the video briefly pans up to show the scoreboard. Until last night, it was the worst video feed I had experienced this season.
Then last night I was subjected to the Georgia State video feed. Again low audio. The only saving grace was that it had a giant 70's graphic scoreboard on the bottom that it would show every so often. Not wanting to have another William and Mary video feed issue, I played the Hofstra audio feed as well. The first problem was that the Hofstra audio feed was slightly behind the Georgia State feed. But I was glad I had the Hofstra audio feed, because the second problem was the Georgia State feed kept cutting out every so often. It was as if the camcorder had an automatic timer and kept powering off.
As for the game, it was another important game for Hofstra. They entered the game 9-4 in the CAA tied for third with Old Dominion. They faced a Georgia State team that had defeated James Madison and VCU on their home court and nearly knocked off ODU there as well. And early on in the contest, the Hofstra radio announcers pointed out that there were twenty seven NBA scouts in attendance. And they were there to see one man, Charles Jenkins. And Jenkins didn't disappoint.
The Pride quickly came out using good ball movement and accurate three point shooting to jump on the host Panthers. Before you had time to settle into your chair, the score was 19-6 Hofstra with barely seven and a half minutes into the game. During that span, Hofstra hit five threes, including two by Jenkins.
The rest of the half saw Hofstra continue to have torrid shooting from beyond the arc, as the Pride hit another three three pointers. But Georgia State made the obligatory run and cut the Hofstra deficit to six, 30-24. The Panthers accomplished a lot of that by taking advantage of the Pride's weakness, rebounding. Georgia State had eight offensive rebounds in the first half alone, eighteen on the game, as they outrebounded Hofstra 39-28 for the game.
But Hofstra extended the lead back to twelve by halftime, 38-26. Despite being outrebounded, the Pride only had two less FG attempts in the first half than the Panthers. That was due to Hofstra only having four turnovers while Georgia State had nine. The Pride also had twelve assists in the first half. For the first time in a while, Hofstra had a lead. The question was, could they hold it?
The Pride seemingly answered the question by saying "Hold the lead? Hell, we're going to extend it!" Hofstra outscored Georgia State 18-12 in the first six minutes of the second half to go up by eighteen, 56-38 with 14:04 left in the game. Jenkins had 10 of those 18 points and hit on his first six shots of the second half.
The game looked pretty much over with Hofstra up fifteen, 64-49 with less than nine minutes left in the game. But Georgia State had one last push in them. The Panthers outscored the Pride 14-5 over the next nearly five minutes. An Eric Buckner layup made the score 69-63 with 4:03 left. But during the next crucial possession, Hofstra grabbed two offensive rebounds and then David Imes was fouled. He hit both free throws to put Hofstra up 71-63 and Georgia State could never get back within six points the rest of the way as Hofstra won 79-68.
Jenkins put on a show for the NBA scouts with 28 points on 10 of 15 shooting, 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists. But "The Flyer" had help as three other Hofstra players scored in double figures. Greg Washington had 13 points and 5 blocks while Mike Moore had 12 points. Brad Kelleher had another great game for Hofstra with 10 points, 8 assists and only 1 turnover. Hofstra is now 14-1 when they have three or more players score in double figures. The Pride shot 51 percent from the field including 9 of 18 from beyond the arc.
For Georgia State, Jihad Ali led four scorers in double figures with 19 points. Javonte Maynor had 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc. Josh Micheaux had 10 points and 9 rebounds while Eric Buckner had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Washington did a good job to holding Buckner, a 54 percent shooter to 3 of 11 shooting.
It turned out to be a very good night overall for Hofstra, which is still tied for third with Old Dominion (who won easily at William and Mary). Thanks to James Madison coming back from a sixteen point first half deficit and winning at Drexel 68-54, the Pride have a two game lead over the Dukes and the Dragons for fourth place. With four conference games left to play, there is now clear separation between the top four teams in the CAA and the rest of the CAA. VCU and George Mason are tied for first at 12-2. Then Hofstra and ODU are tied for third at 10-4. The top four teams in the CAA get first round byes in the tournament.
Jenkins, "The Flyer", was dominant in front of the scouts, that based on the video feed, made up most of the attendance at last night's game. As I stated on a post on the Charles Jenkins Facts Facebook group, "Jenkins had one point for every NBA scout that showed up for last night's win over Georgia St with one left over... for David Stern." No doubt the scouts were impressed.
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