Hofstra Shows Their Pride and Mettle in a Road Win over Elon

Last Thursday evening, I was glued to my computer, watching the live stream of Hofstra vs. William and Mary go not one, not two, but three overtimes.   In the end, the Pride made more shots than the Tribe and held on for a 93-90 victory.   That meant two things to me.

One, Hofstra was now going to Elon Saturday still undefeated in the CAA at 4-0.

Two, I was going to be there at the Schar Center at Elon University to see my alma mater undefeated in conference playing for a chance to be 5-0.

I had decided about a week before the game to go.  All that was left was seeing if my long time color analyst, aka my older son Matthew would go with me.  That took all of a few minutes.  We decided to make it an overnight trip once the forecast came into view; winter storm watch with potential freezing rain.   The Winter Storm Watch for Burlington, North Carolina turned to a Winter Storm Warning on Friday.   Glad we were only staying two miles from the Schar Center.

Saturday was a day full of basketball.  My friend Brad, who held the Wofford all time free throw shooting percentage record until Fletcher Magee destroyed it, is an amazing man.  Not only he is a pediatrician, but someone who loves coaching.  We have coached baseball together for four years.   He coaches FIVE basketball church teams, including his daughter's church team, along with the 10U travel baseball team we coach together.  Brad somehow manages it though he occasionally gets his coaching assistants/friends, including yours truly, to head coach a game when he has a conflict. 

Matt played 6th/7th grade basketball last season with his friends.   When he moved up to 8th grade, many of his travel baseball team friends were only now in 7th grade (Matt's birthday is in July, so he's young for an 8th grader).   And Brad has so many players that he split the players into two teams, one of which has both his sons (one is a 7th grader and one is a 5th grader who's so good he plays with 6th and 7th graders).  So Matt's friends are equally split among the two teams.  Then we have the 8th/9th grade teams that I assistant coach for Brad.   So often on Saturdays, we are watching two 6th/7th grade games, then either watching or coaching the one 8th/9th grade team (I did that the Saturday prior) and Matt is playing in his game while I help coach from the bench.

Matt's game was the final game of the multi church game marathon for us.   And that was after Matt had South Carolina region band tryouts early in the morning (he plays the trombone). Matt's team played another very good team on Saturday.   We were down nine at the half but made some adjustments in the second half and rallied.  But we fell short 39-35.  Matt made two of his three shots from the field, including burying an early first half three pointer.  It was a fun game.

We had already brought our overnight bags with us and after we said goodbye to my wife and my younger son, Jonathan, we headed out for the slightly less than three hour trip to Elon University.  Elon is a private liberal arts college founded in 1889 and is located in Alamance County, North Carolina with about 6700 students. 

The Schar Center is a new 160,000 square foot facility that opened in August 2019.  It houses a practice court, as well as the arena, which seats about 5100.  It's named after two of the school's donors, one of whom is the founder and chair of the fifth largest homebuilding company in the nation.

We got there early and stayed in our car till about 6:00 PM, then headed to our seats.  You have to walk up a flight of stairs to enter the building.   When you walk into the Schar Center, you immediately notice that the arena has a large digital scoreboard on one of the end of the court.  It has a large concourse around the arena where concessions are located on the left and luxury boxes on the right.   The main seating area is the lower bowl.  It's pretty much the standard setup for any new arenas built in the past few decades.   However, Elon did a very nice job with the design. 

After getting some soft pretzels at a pretzel cart, we went over to the main concessions and along with two waters, I got a "Phoenix Dog" , a hot dog topped with barbecue, slaw and fried onions.  It's delicious.  Later, I got a "small" cup of mint chocolate chip from the Smitty's homemade ice cream stand.  As you can see that is not my definition of "small" ( a large is the same amount of ice cream in a large waffle cone) and I was very happy.

We got to our seats and within just a few minutes, Hofstra Head Coach Joe Mihalich came up to say hi.  It turns out besides the small contingent of Hofstra fans behind the Pride bench, Matt and I were likely the only two other Hofstra fans in the building.  And when we came to our seats, you could tell we were Hofstra fans by Matt's gold Hofstra jersey, which he got several years ago.  Coach Mihalich mentioned that he saw Matt's jersey and he wanted to come up to say hi.  He also noted that next time that we were going to go to a road game to contact them so he could leave us tickets.  This was again noted to me when Assistant AD Jay Artinian and Stephen Gorchov when they came by to say hi. 

OK, next time I'll ask for tickets.

Hofstra had entered the game on an eleven game winning streak after the triple overtime thriller and was the only undefeated team in conference at 4-0.  Elon was in last place in the CAA at 1-4 but had just come off a tough overtime loss at the Schar Center to Northeastern.  The Phoenix love shooting the three averaging ten three pointers per game.  And I was in the restroom, the restroom sound system was playing the Elon pre game show.  Elon head coach Matt Matheny was very confident and said he thought his offense would work well against Hofstra's matchup zone, despite Hofstra leading the CAA in three point field goal percentage defense.

Well, anything is possible in the CAA and last Saturday night showed that again.

The Pride jumped out quickly to a 7-0 lead.  Two layups by Jacquil Taylor sandwiched a Justin Wright Foreman three pointer.   But the Phoenix rose from the early seven point deficit and Steven Santa Ana and Tyler Seibring would combine to score Elon's first nine points.  A Seibring free throw would tie the game at nine.   Hofstra would answer and go back up five 16-11 after a Dan Dwyer layup. 

Twice Elon would come back to tie the game only to see Hofstra take the lead.  The Phoenix then finally took the lead 25-23 on a Seibring jumper.  Taylor would tie the game at 25 again with a dunk with 5:24 left in the half.   But the Phoenix would end the half on a 12-4 spurt, hitting five of six shots in that spurt including two three pointers.    The Phoenix had a 37-29 lead at the half.

After the brief 7-0 Hofstra lead, Elon did a very good job of moving the ball around against Hofstra's matchup zone.  I really thought Hofstra should have switched to man to man after halftime given the Phoenix shot 15 of 29 from the field in the first half.  Meanwhile Hofstra was too three point happy in the first half, shooting 4 of 13 from beyond the arc.  Also, they didn't do a very good job of getting Wright-Foreman the ball.  Despite leading the Pride with ten points, he had only seven field goal attempts, making four of them including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc.

 The Pride were on defense on our side of the court Hofstra came out in their matchup zone again in the second half.  Seibring hit the first basket of the second half to put the Phoenix up ten.  From there. Hofstra started chipping away.  First a 9-2 spurt cut the Elon lead to three, 41-38 as Hofstra drove the lane more getting three layups in that spurt.   Then after Elon was up 50-45,  the Pride again answered with a 7-0 run as Jalen Ray nailed a three pointer to put them up 52-50. 

After Federico Poser's three point play gave the Phoenix a 53-52 lead, Jacquil Taylor tied the game with a free throw.  Ray would then again nail a three pointer to put Hofstra up 56-53. Taylor would follow with a three point play of his own and a layup by Eli Pemberton capped a 9-0 Hofstra run to put them up eight 61-53.

The Pride had made the necessary second half adjustments working the ball inside.  Meanwhile on defense, Hofstra did a better job of extending their matchup zone and getting out on Elon's shooters.  The Pride still had an eight point lead 65-57 with a little under five and half minutes left in the game. 

But nothing is ever easy on the #CAAHoops road.   Elon would answer with a 7-0 run capped by a Seibring three pointer to cut the deficit to one, 65-64.  But Wright-Foreman drove the lane and then made a nice dish to Taylor for a dunk to put Hofstra up 67-64.   From there it was basically down to free throws.  And Hofstra, the leading free throw shooting team in the CAA, continued to excel from the line.  They would hit seven of their last eight free throw attempts to seal the hard earned victory 74-71.


Hofstra held Elon to 9 of 28 shooting in the second half, including an ugly 4 of 18 from beyond the arc.  Elon got their ten three pointers on the game, but it came with 28% shooting from beyond the arc, below Hofstra's CAA leading three point field goal percentage defense. Meanwhile Hofstra shot 46 percent from the field in the second half and a ridiculous 19 of 21 from the line after only attempting two free throws in the first half.

After we left the Schar Center, we made the nearly two and a half mile trip to the Best Western Plus in Burlington, North Carolina.  Little did I know until the next morning that the Hofstra team was staying there.   Jay Artinian walked by the breakfast room and said hi again.  We talked about any road win was a good win.   He had to run because they had to make their flight.    As I checked out, I told the hotel clerk that I didn't know Hofstra was staying there.   She said they were so quiet and well behaved, unlike a lot of other teams that stay there.   She said she told the coach as much earlier that morning.

Coach Mihalich had told me Saturday night that his team was a really good bunch of guys.  The hotel clerk confirmed that.   Turns out they are a really good basketball team that knows how to gut out a tough win.   That will serve them well as conference play only gets tougher.

And oh yeah, I hope to ask for tickets for the February 16th game at UNCW.
 

St Bonaventure Rallies Late and Defeats Hofstra 81-75

Last night in Hempstead, St Bonaventure, down four points, 72-68 with 5:15 left, outscored Hofstra 13-3 the rest of the way to win the game 81-75.  The Bonnies' win broke a three game winning streak for the Pride, while the Bonnies won their fifth game in the row.  It also avenged a home loss last season to the Pride up in Oleana, New York.

We're going to do a new segment here breaking down games on the College Hardwood.   It's called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly".

The Good - For St. Bonaventure, the dynamic duo of Jaylen Adams (31 points) and Matt Mobley (23 points) combined for fifty four points, twenty rebounds and shot seven of thirteen from beyond the arc.  This is a nightly occurrence for the two players, who both average over twenty points per game.  The Bonnies also out-rebounded the Pride 32-22.

For Hofstra, it was the return of Rokas Gustys' offensive game.  Gustys just missed a double double with twenty points and nine rebounds on nine of fourteen shooting from the field.  It was the most field goal attempts he had all season and only the third time this season where he had ten or more field goal attempts.   For someone who shot sixty six percent from the field last season and fifty one percent this season, that's just simply not enough field goal attempts for the big man.

Other than Gustys, freshman Eli Pemberton continues to impress, scoring fifteen points, his eighth double figure scoring game of the season.  Deron Powers had six assists and only two turnovers.  Also, Hofstra did a good job in the second half on defense, holding St Bonaventure to thirty three points and forcing sixteen turnovers the whole game.   However, see "The Ugly".

The Bad - For St Bonaventure, sixteen turnovers, compared to Hofstra only having eight, eliminated any advantage they had on the boards.  Consequently the Pride had seven more field goal attempts.  The Bonnies also had significant foul trouble last night with three players having four fouls, including their two starting front court players, Denzel Gregg and Josh Ayeni,  Fortunately, David Andoh gave St. Bonaventure good minutes off the bench, plus eleven points and five rebounds, along with the two starting guards Mobley and Adams combining for twenty boards.

For Hofstra, where to begin.  First, any time your assist-to-turnover ratio is 2-1 on the night, seventeen assists to eight turnovers, you should win the game.  Alas, the Pride went scoreless over the last five minutes and fifteen seconds of the game to negate that.

And it was easy to see why.  Shot selection. After Ty Greer's tip in made it 72-68 Hofstra with 5:15 left, the Pride were one of ten from the field to end the game.   Their next three shots were three point attempts, with Bernardi hitting one of them.  After that, it was either Deron Powers throwing up bad layup attempts (3 of 13 from the field) or the Pride taking three point attempts or outside jumpers.

After Rokas Gustys scored on a tip in with 6:44 left in the game, he touched the ball on offense only once the rest of the game, getting fouled on a put back attempt with less than a minute left in the game.  He missed both free throws, more on that later, but that's not the point.

This was eerily similar to the 2016 CAA Championship Game between Hofstra and UNCW.  In that game, with 12:30 left, Gustys made a layup to put Hofstra up 56-48.  It was his eighth field goal in only ten attempts at the time.  It was also his last field goal attempt of the second half and he didn't even get fouled and go to the foul line those last twelve and half minutes!  To me, that was the main reason why Hofstra lost in overtime to UNCW (Gustys would hit his only field goal attempt in overtime to finish with eighteen points in the championship game).

To be perfectly blunt, if you cannot get the ball to your leading scorer, a fifty percent plus field goal shooter, in the last six plus minutes of a close game, you deserve to lose.

The Ugly -  For the seventh time in ten games, Hofstra gave up eighty or more points.  It looked like it was going to be another ninety points plus allowed, as St. Bonaventure had forty eight at the half. Amazingly in these seven games, they are 3-4.  But given their record, that also means they are undefeated, 3-0, when they give up less than eighty points.  Simply put, you cannot win consistently night in and night out when seventy percent of the time you are giving up eighty plus points per game.

As aforementioned, I've been saying how Hofstra must get the ball in the hands of Gustys more.  Consequently, he needs to shoot MUCH better from the free throw line.   He has been simply awful, shooting eighteen percent from the charity stripe this season compared to forty three percent last season.  Gustys needs to get to at least shooting fifty percent from the line, otherwise he won't get the ball more down the stretch. 

St Bonaventure will give #CAAHoops folks a chance to compare the two teams from the 2016 CAA championship game, as they next host UNCW on Saturday.  As for Hofstra, they get Kentucky in the Barclays Center on Sunday.  

Hofstra Outslugs College of Charleston

Over the past nearly ten years that I have been writing about college basketball, one term occasionally is thrown about, especially in #CAAHoops circles; the term "rockfight".   The term was started by several CAA bloggers and fans, often to denote Drexel basketball.   Rockfight in CAA circles is often a low scoring, often bad shooting knock em down, drag out, physical affair.  There are lots of fouls, but not a lot of points. Basically the kind of game Drexel and Bruiser Flint seemingly loved to play over the years.  The wrestling announcer Jim Ross would call such a game "a slobberknocker".

Thus was the case last night between Hofstra and the College of Charleston at TD Arena on the campus of the College of Charleston.   The two teams were at the opposite ends of the Colonial standings. Hofstra was tied for first at 2-0, while CofC was 0-2.   But as the other games in the CAA last night showed, standings and previous game play didn't matter.

It was nice to be back at TD Arena in one of my favorite cities in the United States and only two hours from where I live in Columbia.  And there's nothing better than a good high school steel drum band, which greeted us in the concourse of the arena.

The game started out slowly from an offensive standpoint.  Neither team was shooting well and the score after eight minutes of play was 8-4 Hofstra.  After nine and a half minutes it was 11-4.  Then in the span of seventy five seconds, CofC scored nearly doubled their point total with a 7-0 run to tie the game at eleven on a Canyon Barry three pointer.

But both teams would continue to struggle, as they shot under thirty percent for most of the first half . With about nine minutes left in the first half, there were as many fouls by both teams, thirteen, as Hofstra had points.  Things didn't get any better as the score was only 17-13 with six minutes left in the half.

This was due in large part to the physical play on the court.   There were several non calls on Hofstra which made the CofC fans irate.  When a foul was finally called on Hofstra, there was a huge howl from the crowd, basically as a sigh of relief from the previous officiating of the game.

The pace would pick up over those final six minutes and The Pride would enter halftime up 28-24.  At the beginning of the halftime, the public address announcer noted that if Charleston wins a game by scoring 71 or more points, the fans would be treated to a meal deal at a local restaurant.   In this case, that would mean the Cougars would have to basically double their output in the first half, an unlikely event given their shooting percentage.

Ameen Tanksley started the second half, doing what he does best, burying a three pointer to put the Pride up seven, 31-24.  But the Cougars came to life and as a result, so did the crowd.  CofC outscored Hofstra 13-5 over the next six and a half minutes.  Anthony Stitt's jumper put the Cougars up 37-36 and the CofC fans in attendance made the most noise they had all night. After a Green free throw tied the game at thirty seven, Baru hit a jumper to put the Cougars up two 39-37.

The Pride responded with a 12-3 spurt of their own, scoring all their points on three pointers. , Green and Dion Nesmith each hit one, then Tanksley hit two in a row.  His second three pointer put Hofstra up 49-42 with a little under nine minutes left.  It looked like the Pride were hitting their stride shooting wise.

However, the Cougars had another run in them.   They outscored Hofstra 13-3 over the span of four minutes.  Barry again did a good part of the damage.   His three pointer tied the game at fifty two.  Then Cameron Johnson banked in a three to put the CofC up 55-52 with 4:51 left and the John Kresse Court was the loudest it had been all night.

For the first thirty five minutes of the game, the Pride had struggled from the line.  They had shot eleven of nineteen going into those last four minutes and fifty one seconds of the game.

Then a strange thing happened.  Brian Bernardi was fouled on a three point attempt.  He calmly sank all three free throws to tie the game at fifty five.  After Donovan Gilmore put the Cougars back up with two free throws, Green tied the game for Hofstra again, making both of his free throws, which made it five three throws in a row for Hofstra.  Green would come up huge again, hitting a jumper to put Hofstra up 59-57 with 2:48 left.

While Hofstra had troubles from the charity stripe for most the game, CofC had been very good, shooting 11 of 13 from the line.  But down the stretch, the Cougars charity stripe shooting failed them.  Johnson first had a chance to tie the game, but only made one of two free throws to cut the lead to one, 59-58.  Then after a terrific drive and layup by Dion Nesmith put the Pride up three, 61-58 with a little over a minute left, Adjehi Baru had a chance to cut the lead to one.  He missed one of two free throws as well.

The Cougars were down two, 61-59 with thirty eight seconds left and had to foul the rest of the game.  But Green and Nesmith were huge down the stretch, hitting all eight of their free throws.  Mix in a great pass from Nesmith to Moussa Kone for a thunderous dunk and Hofstra escaped with the 71-66 win.

After both teams combined for fifty two points in the first half, each team scored over forty points in the second half.  Go figure.  Still, the Pride had more fouls, twenty, than baskets, nineteen.  For CofC, it was close. Twenty two baskets to twenty one fouls.

Green had another stat stuffer game with 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.  Green shot 13 of 14 from the charity stripe.  Tanksley added 17 points and Nesmith had 11 points off the bench for the Pride.  Hofstra went 13 for 13 from the line over the last 4:22 of the game.

Barry led the Cougars with 21 points , 7 rebounds and 3 steals.  He showed a nice all around game as he drove the basket often on Bernardi, who had a hard time covering him. Stitt added 11 points.

On a night where William and Mary and James Madison suffered their first conference defeats, Hofstra managed to squeak out a road win.  The road is often unkind to #CAAHoops teams.  When you get a win after a "rockfight" on your opponents' floor in the Colonial, the bus ride afterwards is a lot sweeter.

There must have been a lot of smiling faces on the Pride players as they headed to Elon for their next game on Saturday.

Finding Our Religion (Recap of Hofstra vs. Appalachian State)

It was about 9:45 AM yesterday, on a crisp Sunday morning in Columbia, South Carolina when Matthew, aka my nine year old color analyst, and I set out on our journey.  As I drove our 2008 Honda CRV down Forest Drive heading towards the ramp for I-77 North to Charlotte, we came up on the intersection of Shandon Baptist Church, where Matthew plays for their Upward Bound 4th grade basketball team.   A Columbia City Police Officer was in the role of crossing guard, stopping traffic to allow the church's congregation members to turn left into the long church entrance for 10:00 AM mass.

After about thirty seconds, she let traffic, which included us, to go through.   For those entering Shandon Baptist Church on a beautiful Sunday, they were about to get their religion.   On this day, two Lutherans, one baptized (Matthew) and one confirmed (me), were going to find our other religion.  Our religion this Sunday was a Hofstra college basketball game, which was three hours away in Boone, North Carolina.

It all started on my birthday on February 15, 2011.  I had been a long time season ticket holder for Hofstra and my blog, the College Hardwood was in the midst of its sixth season.  But until that day, which happened to be my birthday, Matthew had never gone to a Hofstra basketball game.

Finally, as a birthday present to me, Matthew joined me for the game between William and Mary and Hofstra at the Mack Arena.   And what a game it was!  This was the famous game where Charles Jenkins had not one, BUT TWO buzzer beaters; one to force overtime and one to win the game in overtime.   The shots made Sportscenter that night and are permanently, well hopefully permanently, up on a Hofstra video on YouTube.

That day, which I chronicled in one of my favorite all time articles on my blog, forever changed Matthew.  Matthew not only became a die-hard college basketball fan, but a lover of basketball in general.  If Matthew isn't playing baseball, his first love, he often has a basketball in his hand.  And come January, he will play in organized basketball games for the first time in his life.

During the 2011-12 season, where I covered fifty nine Division I games for the Mid Majority as well as my site, Matthew was my frequent companion.   He truly was my color analyst for thirty three games during that season.  Matthew was even the subject of one my articles that season, as I featured the Binghamton-Hofstra game around his view of a college basketball game.

When we finally moved down to Columbia, South Carolina in February 2013 as a family, after I had been in Columbia for sixth months already, one thing that changed was no longer seeing Hofstra on a regular basis.   Matthew and I would see them when we were up in New York to visit, including last season, when they defeated NJIT at the Mack Center.  Yes, the same NJIT team that defeated #17 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

But as the ever observant Matthew pointed out to me, this was the first time we would see Hofstra outside of being in New York.   This was something I took for granted all the years I made road trips to Drexel, Towson, Delaware and of course, to Richmond for the CAA Tournament, among many other places to see Hofstra college basketball games.

Appalachian State, Hofstra's opponent on Sunday, is located in Boone, North Carolina, which is a three hour trip from Columbia.   Boone is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and is about 3300 feet above sea level.   To get to Appalachian State from Columbia, basically you take I-77 North to I-485 West, to I-85 South and then NC Route 321.

Route 321 takes you from Gastonia, through Hickory, Lenoir, scenic Blowing Rock and finally to our destination, Boone.    Along the way you will find a lot of local North Carolina furniture stores, antiques, general stores and trading posts and a huge gem and fossil shop.  Route 321, especially towards Blowing Rock and Boone, is a very windy, scenic road as you cut through the mountains and also leads to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You will also find on Route 321 Tweetsie Railroad and Wild West Theme Park, one of the first theme parks in the United States.   The 200 acre theme park is open between April and October and features two vintage steam locomotives, which you can take on a 3 mile ride.   The park first opened in 1957.

As I noted previously, on the way to Appalachian State, you also pass through Blowing Rock, a very scenic town, which features "The Blowing Rock",   The Blowing Rock is "an immense cliff" that's 4000 feet above sea level and where if you stand on the cliff and throw out a light object over the gorge below, the winds will actually blow the object back to you.  Blowing Rock holds several festivals a year, including Winterfest on January 25 and 26,

We reached Boone around 12:45 PM.   It's a town of about 17,000 people, which about matches the student population of Appalachian State.  Appalachian State University was formed in 1899 and sits on 1300 acres of land.

The impressive Holmes Convocation Center stands at the entrance to the university,   It's an 8500 seat all purpose arena that opened in November, 2000 with a basketball game between North Carolina and Appalachian State.    The school's colors are gold and black and the inside of the arena holds true to their school colors.  If you are a Steelers fan, this is the arena for you.

I parked the CRV in a parking garage on Rivers Street, a five minute walk from the Holmes Dome, as it is affectionately called.  When we got to the Northwest entrance, we found several Hofstra fans had made the trip, including three recent Hofstra alums that worked at WRHU and now live in  Winston Salem and Durham, North Carolina.   They knew me from my tweets with Defiantly Dutch, aka Jerry Beach.

The helpful Mountaineers' staff saw us all congregated and said that the will call tickets were located on the Southeast entrance, which was a short walk from our current location.   We made the walk to the Will Call entrance and picked up our tickets, then said our goodbyes to each other as we hoped the game would be worth the trip.   Matthew and I then made a short walk down to our seats in Lower Section Nine.

The tickets were left to me by Appalachian State Head Coach Jim Fox.   Jim's brother, Jeff played on the last two Hofstra basketball teams to make the NCAA Tournament in 2000 and 2001.   I am friends with Jeff from his student days at Hofstra Law School, where I used to work.  

Jim Fox is in his first season as Head Coach of the Mountaineers.  Previously, Coach Fox was the Associate Head Coach for Davidson College under Head Coach Bob McKillop.   He was on the coaching staff of Davidson since 2001 and was responsible for recruiting and player development, including one Stephen Curry.  Prior to that, Fox was the associate head coach of St Dominic's in Oyster Bay and the head coach of the AAU Long Island Lightning team.  One of his players was Matt McKillop, Bob's son, who went on to play at Davidson and is now an assistant coach.

After losing their first two games, the Mountaineers had won three straight games in a row, including an upset win at Virginia Tech.   I figured I would see the classic Davidson offense, which prides itself on player and  ball movement.  Having seen several Davidson games in the past two years, I truly appreciate their style of play.

I was also looking forward to seeing the Hofstra team for the first time live this season.  I had followed the Pride on the live streams from the Hofstra Website, including their most recent fourteen point win over Norfolk State, as well as their two games on WatchESPN.   They have an exciting brand of offense and between Coach Fox's style of play and Coach Joe Mihalich's style of play,  Matthew and I expected a high scoring game.

Well, what we got was somewhat different, but nevertheless fun.

Due to injuries to Rokas Gustys and Moussa Kone, the Pride were down to only two big men, Andre Walker and Malik Nichols.   And with the Mountaineers having at least five players that were six foot seven or taller, Hofstra was going to have to work really hard at keeping Appalachian State off the glass.

And the game started right out with one of the Mountaineers big men, Tommy Spagnolo grabbing an offensive rebound and getting fouled on the putback attempt by Walker.  Spagnolo hit one of two free throws to give Appalachian State the early lead.   The Pride would score seven of the next ten points however, as Juan'ya Green nailed a three pointer to give the Pride a 7-3 lead.

The Mountaineers would score the next five straight points as Tab Hamilton's three gave App State an 8-7 lead.  But the Pride would reel off a 12-2 run over the next four plus minutes.  Jamall Robinson's three pointer gave the Pride a 19-10 lead with about ten minutes left in the half.

What was impressing me about Hofstra was not the offense, though the Pride were fine on that end for the first ten minutes.  But it was their defense that was very solid throughout the game.  Appalachian State, with their Davidson style, constant ball and player movement offense, made the Hofstra players really work on defense.  But the Pride were equal to the challenge, forcing three turnovers in that span.

Basketball is a game of runs and it stood to reason that the Mountaineers would respond.  And they did with an 8-0 spurt.  Frank Eaves, Appalachian State's leading scorer on the season, would hit one of two free throws to cut the deficit to one, 19-18.

Hofstra would have a spurt of their own, First, Matthew called Brian Bernardi's three pointer to put the Pride up four.   Hofstra would end up outscoring App State 8-2 as Ameen Tanksley continued his torrid three point shooting on the season with another bomb from beyond the arc to make it 27-20.  The Pride had several chances to extend the lead but failed for the most part.   As a result, the Mountaineers behind Eaves, chipped away at the lead and were only down 29-26 at the half.

After Bernardi nailed another three to put Hofstra up six, 32-26, Appalachian State made a concerted effort to use their size to their advantage. Spagnolo and Griffin Kinney dominated the smaller Pride lineup over the next three minutes, either scoring or grabbing offensive rebounds at will.  They combined for all nine of the Mountaineers' points in that span, with Spagnolo putting Appalachian State ahead 35-34.

Neither team would score for the next three minutes in what became a defensive struggle.  Finally, Nichols, who is a very explosive player, scored on a layup to give Hofstra the lead back at 36-35. Jacob Lawson would give Appalachian State the lead back on a dunk, 37-36.

The Pride would regain the lead, but they would be hampered by their one negative constant on the season; free throw shooting.   Over the next two minutes, Tanksley and Nichols would combine to miss on all four of their free throw attempts.   What could have been a nine point lead, was only a five point lead, 42-37, after Nichols hit another layup.

The Mountaineers took advantage and trimmed the lead back to two, 44-42 on a Jake Babic three pointer.   Off a Bernardi missed three point attempt, Appalachian State had a chance to tie but missed a layup with 7:32 left.  That would be as close as the Mountaineers would get the rest of the game.

Over the next three and a half minutes, Hofstra would outscore Appalachian State 10-2.  They did this by attacking the basket, either by scoring layups or getting fouled.  This time, the Pride would hit four of their five free throws; two by Tanksley, two by Green.  Tanksley's layup and one gave Hofstra a 54-44 lead with just under four minutes left in the game. Tanksley would miss on the free throw for the three point play, but the damage was done.

From there, the Mountaineers would only score seven more points in the game, five of which came on free throws as the Pride clamped down on them.  With a little over three minutes left, Green did a three sixty spin move in the lane for a layup.  Words could not do that layup justice.  The Pride would also hit ten straight free throws in a row and went on to win 68-51, in a game that was closer than the final score appeared.

The Pride showed nice balance on offense, with five players in double figures scoring.   Green led the way with seventeen points, while Tanksley added thirteen.  Dion Nesmith came off the bench to score eleven points while Bernardi and Nichols each had ten.  What was really impressive was the Pride had twelve assists and only four turnovers, while forcing fifteen Mountaineers' turnovers.

Eaves was the only double figure scorer for Appalachian State, scoring thirteen points, including seven of eight from three free throw line.  Eaves is 47 of 56 from the line on the season, shooting 84 percent from the line.  Over his last five games, Eaves has had fifty four free throw attempts, over ten a game.

What hurt Appalachian State was the Mountaineers shooting 3 of 17 from beyond the arc.  For a Davidson type offense to succeed, there must be solid three point shooting.   Coach Fox didn't get it from his team on Sunday and thus struggled offensively.   But I am confident over time, his team will succeed as they get used to that style of play.

Matthew and I headed home.  We wished we had more time to explore the Blowing Rock/Boone area. But it was a Sunday evening and Matthew had school on Monday.   As a result, our dinner was an Arby's along the way on Route 301, not the local establishment I was hoping we would dine at in Boone.

But Hofstra won and it turned out to be another successful road trip and now I know a little more about western North Carolina.    Our next opportunity to see Hofstra is back in New York on December 23 when we are visiting family on Long Island for the holidays starting that prior weekend.  The Pride play the Explorers of LaSalle at the Mack Center in what should be another fun contest.

This time we will have a much shorter trip from Levittown to Hempstead to find our religion.

Celebrating 12/12/12 The Charles Jenkins Way

I was trying to find a college basketball way of celebrating 12/12/12, the last time we will see the same numbers for a month, day and year EVER.

Well, I decided to celebrate by remembering one of my most favorite moments in college basketball ever, Charles Jenkins game tying and game winning shots on my 45th birthday against William and Mary.  It was made even more special by the presence of my seven year old son, Matthew.  It was during this game that he got hooked on college basketball and became "my color analyst".

My seventh year of writing this blog has been in some parts my most difficult one.  Having been away for the better part of four months in Columbia, South Carolina, I miss my family very much.  I have season tickets to South Carolina games now.  Watching games without my son sitting next to me is just not the same.

I will be back up in New York for eleven days starting next Thursday night.  But hopefully it's the next to last time I have to fly up there.   With a little luck, the house in New York will close soon and my family will finally be down here with me.  Then I will be permanently reunited with "my color analyst" and our new basketball adventures below the Mason-Dixon line can begin.

Also, I think celebrating Charles Jenkins' heroics in a conference game is appropriate given the news that the CAA Tournament is moving to Baltimore, one of my favorite cities, starting in 2013-14.  Plain and simple, as much as enjoyed my memories of the tournament in Richmond, Baltimore is a better venue all around.

Finally, this also goes out to the basketball folks at Hofstra.  I know it's been a rough few weeks.  Hang in there and hopefully this will bring some good fortune your way.

Without further ado, "The Wolf", Charles Jenkins. Happy 12/12/12 everyone!

The CAA - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The events of yesterday beckoned the title of my article.  And I needed to add the above clip to feel better. You had good news for the CAA, bad news (the recent play of CAA teams in general) and you all by now know what The Ugly is as far as the CAA.

The Good

The College of Charleston Board of Trustees vote unanimously yesterday to join the CAA.  The Cougars are a nice get for the Colonial, having had a solid basketball program for years under John Kresse and Bobby Cremins.  Doug Wojcik, a proven winner at Tulsa, is a very solid addition to a good group of CAA coaches   His team is fresh off a big upset win at Baylor and looks to contend with Davidson for a NCAA berth in their last year in the Southern Conference.

Not only that, but already Charleston will be hosting the CAA baseball championships in 2015 and 2016.  It's also a wonderful city having been there just recently for CofC's win over Towson.  Schools will enjoy visiting Charleston and there is even talk of having the CAA Men's Basketball Tournament in the the TD Arena in the near future.

The Bad

With a fifth of the season gone by, CAA men's basketball could be described as best as mediocre, somewhat chaotic and a little disappointing (which might be kind).  The supposed top two teams in the Colonial coming into the season, Drexel and Delaware,  are a combined 4-9.  Only two of the eleven teams in the conference are currently above .500.  Four teams are at .500 and the rest of the conference is below .500.

Let's look at a few teams that are struggling.  I have already briefly talked about Drexel in my new weekly "Four on the Floor" segment on Thursday.

In their last season in the conference, Old Dominion is 1-5.  ODU hasn't had a losing record since the 2002-03 season.  They are still a great rebounding team as they are 33rd in the country averaging
41.3 rebounds per game and 11th in the country in offensive rebound percentage at 42.8 percent.

The Monarchs problem is they can't shoot.  They are 328th in the country in three point field goal percentage at 24.5 percent and 280th in the country in effective field goal percentage at 44 percent.  ODU is also struggling with turnovers, as they are 250th in the country in turnover percentage at 22.8 percent.

Delaware looked to be on the cusp of being a very good team entering the season.  They enhanced their stature by making into the Preseason NIT Tipoff semifinals after upsetting Virginia on their home court.  Then they gave Kansas State all they could handle in the Tipoff semis before losing 66-63.  But they have unraveled since then losing to Pitt by twenty six points, then losing a close game at Temple.  Finally, the Blue Hens lost at Lafayette, a team that had lost five straight and just had won one game on the season entering the contest.

For the Blue Hens, it comes down to a lack of defense.  Delaware's opponents outshoot them from the field 48.4% to 47.9%.  Also, the Blue Hens have a problem forcing teams to turn the ball over.  Delaware is ranked #300 in defensive turnover percentage at 17.4 percent.  And unfortunately for the Blue Hens, they turn the ball over too much, 295th in the country in offensive steal percentage at 12.7 percent.   Devon Saddler is averaging more turnovers per game, 3.7, than assists, 3.0

Finally there is James Madison, the perennial CAA Enigma.  They are 1-5 on the season, with that one win being a one point win over Youngstown State.  This team has a lot of talent, but never seems to put it together.

This season, the Dukes are struggling on the defensive end.  They are 320th in the country in rebounding average.  But that's not even their worst defensive statistic.  They are 339th in effective field goal percentage, at 57.1 percent.  They are 335th in three point field goal percentage defense at 41.7 percent and 310th in two point field goal percentage defense at 54.1 percent.  They give up nearly seventy six points per game.

The Ugly

Unless you have been under a rock or you're not a die hard college basketball nut, you should know by now of what happened at Hofstra yesterday.  Four members of the men's basketball team; Jimmy Hall, Shaquille Stokes, Dallas Anglin and Kentrell Washington were arrested on multiple counts of burglary.  Newsday reports that court papers show that they admitted stealing over $10,000 in laptop computers. The four players have been immediately suspended from the team, classes, residence halls and facilities.  All four players have also been removed from the team roster.   Three of the four are still in jail as of last night.  Anglin was released on $2,000 bail.

Hall said in a court paper "I did something real stupid".

You think?

Simply put, these students not only robbed students of their possessions, they robbed those students of their trust,  robbed the trust of their teammates, robbed their teammates of an improving season, robbed their coaches of their trust in giving scholarships to and robbed their fans of chance to see a young and upcoming team. They put a major black eye on a program that only two years ago was improving thanks in large part to Charles Jenkins, a man of utmost character, who I am sure is quite saddened about all of this.

But most importantly, they robbed themselves.  They robbed themselves of an athletic scholarship, robbed of a chance to better themselves, robbed themselves a chance of getting a degree for basically free and perhaps playing professional basketball overseas.  All that for several laptops.

Instead, three of the four sit in a Nassau County jail in East Meadow wondering what is in store next.  It's certainly not coming back to Hofstra. They are done there.   They may not get a second chance anywhere.

Ultimately, they robbed themselves of a future. They only have themselves to blame. That is truly ugly.

Get Ready For VCU Today

As VCU prepares to play Wichita State tonight in a second round NCAA Tournament game/BracketBuster rematch from last season, prepare yourself with a little bit of background on the Rams.  Here are links to four of my game stories on VCU, including two games from the exciting CAA Tournament.  Enjoy and good luck to VCU.

• George Mason - VCU CAA Tournament Semifinal
• Northeastern - VCU CAA Tournament Quarterfinal
• Recap of VCU vs. Delaware
• Recap of VCU vs. Hofstra 

Mason's Valiant Comeback Falls Short (Recap of George Mason-VCU CAA Semifinal)

The George Mason-VCU semifinal was the fifty sixth Division I game I had covered live this season.  It perhaps might be the most memorable one from start to finish.  I can probably say beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one expected the first nine minutes of the game.  But given the first nine minutes of the game, I can also say that likely no one expected the last thirty one minutes of the game either.

After Drexel had soundly defeated ODU in the warmup act, the headliner was a matchup between two CAA rivals with a long rivalry.  The Rams had knocked the Patriots out of the CAA Tournament the last two years.  Last year was the most memorable as VCU upset George Mason, the regular season champion, in the semifinals.  It's quite likely that win helped the Rams make the First Four. We all know what happened from there.

Now with a sold out crowd made up mostly of VCU fans, but with a large contingent of Mason fans as well, there was this third act. The Richmond Coliseum was loud.  And to add the cherry on top of an amazing atmosphere, the two best pep bands in the Colonial were taking turns getting their fans in a frenzy.

Mason won the tip, but immediately turned the ball over as Darius Theus stole the ball and hit a layup to put VCU up 2-0. This would become the common theme for the first nine minutes.  Another steal, another layup. 4-0 Rams. Then Troy Daniels buried a three to make it 7-0.  Another steal by Rob Brandenberg leads to his dunk. 9-0.  Burgess with three straight three pointers, the third resulting in him shaking his head down the court.  18-0 VCU.

After Mike Morrison turned the ball over again, which was George Mason's seventh turnover in not even six minutes, Daniels buried another three pointer.  Six minutes gone by, Rams up 21-0.  Timeout, Patriots.

The VCU fans in attendance that had been loud already, were now at the point of reaching all time record decibal levels of noise.  It was deafening.  Those of us that were sitting on press row, we were stunned.  VCU hit all five of their three point attempts.  Mason couldn't even get the ball down the court.

After the timeout, Brandenberg hit one of two free throws to put the Rams up 22-0.  The Patriots finally got their first two points on free throws by Sherrod Wright.  The twenty two point run had ended.  But VCU wasn't quite finished yet.

A Reddic layup was followed by another three pointer by Brandenberg.  Jonathan Arledge finally got Mason's first basket on a dunk. However, Treveon Graham followed with a three pointer for the Rams.  Two Theus free throws made the score 32-4 with a little more than nine minutes left.

That wasn't a misprint.  VCU was leading a twenty four win George Mason team 32-4 after nine minutes of action.  To put that in perspective, I had seen Iona score thirty one straight points against St Peter's exactly seven days before that.  As impressive as that was, this was more impressive. St Peter's was the ninth place team in the MAAC.  George Mason was the third place team in the CAA and basically the same team that made it to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Only one word described how I felt sitting in my seat: Surreal.

It looked quite likely that VCU was going to break Georgia State's tournament setting record from Friday night for largest margin of victory in a CAA Tournament game, thirty five points (Georgia State defeated Hofstra 85-50 in the first round of the CAA Tournament that Friday).  The situation was desperate for George Mason and Patriots' coach Paul Hewitt desperately tried hockey line substitution changes to get his team into a groove.  It looked like the story had been set by the first nine minutes.

But someone forgot to tell George Mason that.

The Patriots' comeback started slowly.  Though they still committed a few more turnovers, Mason for the most part was able to get the ball up the court finally and hit some shots.  VCU though kept pace with them for the next six minutes and the lead was still twenty six, 46-20 with five minutes left in the half.

Then the Rams went cold from beyond the arc, missing their last five three point attempts.  This allowed the Patriots, led by Morrison and Arledge, to go on a 12-2 run to end the half.   It was now a "respectable" sixteen point deficit at the half, 48-32.

If George Mason was going to cut the lead further, they had to cut out the turnovers.  They had twelve turnovers in the first half, which led to seventeen points for VCU, which had only one turnover.  Thus the points off turnovers was in favor of the Rams 17-0.

The second half started out with Mason and VCU basically holding serve.  After six minutes, the Rams' lead was fifteen, 55-40.  The Patriots had not helped themselves, committing three more turnovers in that span.

But Hewitt made a change that ultimately helped Mason.  He had Andre Cornelius now lead the point, which brought them needed quickness against VCU.  Cornelius and Morrison combined to score all of Mason's points during their 12-4 run which cut the VCU deficit into half, 59-52 with about seven a half minutes left.  The George Mason fans roared in approval.

The Patriots' cut the lead a little further. After Morrison, who was dominant the last twenty five minutes of the game, hit two free throws, the Rams were now only ahead 64-58 with three minutes left. What had been a twenty eight point lead had whittled down to six. A lot of credit was due to the Patriots' second half defense, which held the Rams to twenty six percent shooting in the second half.

Mason had a chance to cut the lead further, but they missed four consecutive shots over two possessions. They couldn't cut the lead any further.  VCU scored eight of their last ten points on free throws.   The Rams would hold onto a 74-64 win.

Big Shot Burgess led VCU with twenty points, whild Daniels added seventeen.  They combined to shoot nine of seventeen from beyond the arc.  Brandenberg added fourteen points while Juvonte Reddic scored twelve points.  Morrison and Arledge each had doubles for George Mason.  Morrison had twenty points and eleven rebounds while Arledge had ten points and eleve rebounds. Cornelius added fifteen points.

After watching two terrific games in front of a raucous, sold out crowd over eleven thousand people, I was convinced that there would be a great championship game with what I thought was two definite NCAA tournament teams.   I wasn't able to stay for the championship game, because I had to get back to New York.  But I got to see it the next night.  It lived up to the billing.

Drexel Dominates ODU (Recap of ODU - Drexel CAA Semifinal)

When Drexel stepped on the Richmond Coliseum court to face Old Dominion right before tipoff of the first CAA Semifinal, the Drexel Band played the theme from "Rocky".  Though they were the #1 seed in the CAA Tournament, Drexel was truly David.  Outside of their DACPack faithful, several fans behind their bench and a few fans left from the other former America East schools that were gone by Saturday night, the Dragons were clearly in the minority.  Richmond Coliseum was mostly a sea of fans from the three Virginia schools that made up the other three semifinalists.

Standing in the Dragons' way were the Monarchs, a team that had won the CAA championship the last two seasons.  Blaine Taylor and several of his veteran players; Kent Bazemore and Chris Cooper were eager to end the Dragons' eighteen game winning streak.  ODU had scored eighty eight points in their quarterfinal win over Delaware and barely lost at home by a point to Drexel at the end of the regular season.

One of the most wonderful things about the CAA Tournament is all the great pep bands.  Not only did Drexel shine with "Rocky" but ODU's band had a great version of Aha's "Take on Me".  However, the musical highlight of the day was hearing Chris "VCUPav" Crowley clear as day, belting out the national anthem in a beautiful, operatic voice.  Now I know where he got the horns he wears; it must have been a production at the New York Metropolitan Opera House.

When you have two of the better defensive teams in the CAA playing each other, chances are you're going to get a low scoring, physical slugfest.  Sure enough, neither team could score a basket in the first two and half minutes of the game.  It had all the makings of a "First to fifty wins" game, just like Drexel's win over UNCW the day before.

The Dragons broke through the scoreless drought with a 9-0 run. The Monarchs missed on their first six shot attempts as the shots that fell against the Blue Hens the day before were now hitting off the rims with clanks and thuds.  Two Chris Fouch three pointers extended Drexel's lead to 15-3.

ODU responded with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 15-10 with a little less than seven minutes left in the half.  But the Monarchs missed their last four shots in the half, all three point attempts.  The Dragons would go into halftime up ten, 27-17.

Drexel only shot thirty three percent in the first half.  But they held ODU to twenty seven percent from the field, including two of nine from beyond the arc.  Bazemore, who lit up Delaware the day before for fifteen first half points, was held to four points, shooting one of six from the field.

Any hope that the Monarchs' fans had for a comeback quickly evaporated in the first four minutes of the second half.  The Dragons outscored the Monarchs 14-8 to build their lead to sixteen, 41-25.  During this span, Frantz Massenat, Drexel's star sophomore point guard, buried a three pointer and then later would hit three free throws after being fouled by Bazemore.  In that span of four minutes, Bazemore committed two turnovers and picked up three quick fouls, as he seemed completely thrown off by Massenat on both sides of the court.

ODU never really threatened again, though they cut the lead in half, 46-38, with Cooper scoring on a three point play.  But in the span of ninety seconds, Drexel had the lead back up to fifteen, 55-40, after Damion Lee hit his own three point play. From there, the Monarchs never got closer than ten points.  The Dragons, the best three point defensive team in the CAA held the Monarchs to one of nine shooting from beyond the arc in the second half.

Drexel extended the lead to as much as nineteen before settling for a very convincing 68-51 win over ODU in a front of a very hostile crowd. How convincing was it?  The team that had played #1 Kentucky tough before losing by ten and the team that battled #5 Missouri at home before losing by seven had been drubbed by seventeen points.  It was the largest margin of loss for the Monarchs this season.

The Dragons had four scorers in double figures as Massenat had twenty points, Lee added seventeen, Fouch had sixteen points and Givens had twelve points to go with twelve rebounds. Drexel shot forty eight percent from the field in the second half and thirteen of sixteen from the line.  Massenat made nine of ten free throws from the line.

Bazemore and Cooper were the only ODU players in double figures, as each scored twelve points. Bazemore was six of twenty from the field, including missing all five of his three point attempts.  Drexel Head Coach Bruiser Flint noted in his post game news conference that his players "stepped out a lot harder" on Bazemore in this game than they did in the regular season finale.  In that regular season finale, Bazemore had scored thirty seven points.

In his post game news conference, Taylor was thoroughly convinced that Drexel was a NCAA Tournament team.  He mentioned how his team played tough against Kentucky and Missouri. Then Taylor stated that "I really think for instance a Drexel-Missouri matchup would be a very entertaining game and I give Drexel every opportunity to have success in that game."

I had seen both the ODU-Kentucky and ODU-Missouri games on television.  Drexel's performance against Old Dominion was as good or even better than Kentucky's and Missouri's performances.   I hadn't seen a Blaine Taylor team dominated like that in a very long time. The Dragons gave the Monarchs their worst loss in the CAA tournament since 2004 (VCU also defeated them in the CAA Semifinals by seventeen points). Taylor was right. Drexel deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately for Taylor and Drexel, a week later the NCAA Committee wrongly thought otherwise.