Nice To Be Here (Recap of UDC vs Hofstra)

Pack all the good wins safe on the shelf
Stuck in an orbit around yourself
Hand over hand and keeping the score
It's just not music anymore 

Shane Nicholson - "Nice to Be Here"

As my marines, aka the few, the proud, the readers of my site know, my life is in a state of flux.  My new home base is Columbia, South Carolina, where I work for the University of South Carolina.  It's down in Columbia, listening to 92.1, "The Palm" that I first heard Shane Nicholson's "Nice to Be Here".  I have adopted that song title as my theme for my life now in Columbia.

Meanwhile, the rest of my immediate family is still up in North Bellmore, New York till the house closes.  It makes for interesting travel plans and as well as basketball trips. Such was the case for this past weekend.

Several weeks ago, after I came back up to Long Island in late October to see my family, I had only been planning to just come home for Thanksgiving.   Then as you know, Hurricane Sandy hit and I had come up in advance for that and stayed that entire week.  But I had also decided to come up this past weekend as well, because it's my younger son Jonathan's fifth birthday this past Saturday.  Turning five is an important milestone for a five year old boy and I wanted to be with him for that milestone.

So, strangely how things work out, instead of either being at the Charleston Classic or at VCU-Winthrop this past Saturday, it ended up being a perfect opportunity to come back to what was my long time home in Hempstead, New York. Hofstra and the Mack Center were hosting DC, Marshall and South Dakota State in the 2K Classic Subregional.  

The Pride were not hospitable to the Jackrabbits on Friday night as Shaquille Stokes buried a three pointer with three seconds left to give Hofstra their first win, 66-63.  It was even more impressive as a friend noted all the scouts that were at the game watching South Dakota State's Nate Wolters, who had led his team to a NCAA berth last season.

Thus I was looking forward in anticipation to the all the new Pride players/transfer such as Jimmy Hall, Taran Buie, Stokes and the development of returning players such as David Imes, Moussa Kone and Steve Mejia. I wanted to see how they all meshed together and how they would respond after an emotional win the night before over the Jackrabbits.

Before the game, we took Jonathan to Laser Bounce in Levittown, where we met up with my sister in law and her son, Michael, along with my in-laws.  There was an open play time in the bounce area from 1:00 - 2:00 PM and it was packed, as we immediately found out from the parking lot, where my sister in law told me a near fist fight broke out over a parking space.  I know that Jonathan and my older son, aka my color analyst, Matthew had a lot of fun.  But as a parent, I personally think that hour of screaming kids throwing themselves onto inflatables was a form of torture to me. When one of the staff people said we had ten minutes left, I said aloud "Thank God!"  And I meant it.

After Laser Bounce, we went back to my in-laws, where Jonathan opened his presents from his grandparents and his Aunt (he had already opened up our presents earlier in the morning).  My younger son was very happy with his gifts, as most five year olds.  Then we set down and had pizza, which is the preferred of choice for most five year olds.  After pizza, Matthew and I left for the Hofstra game.

After I had left for South Carolina in August, I renewed only two of what was four Hofstra season tickets which are in Section 111, Row D, Seats 9-10.  My friends Tieff and Mal sit in those seats now. So I had to purchase two tickets for the game. Fortunately for Matthew and I, the row behind my season tickets, 111 Row E was completely open.

We had actually got to the Mack Center for the start of the second half between Marshall and South Dakota State. As we walked into the arena and made our way down the Lions Den Student Section, I could see Tieff was sitting in his seat already taking in the action.  Before I went to my seats, I ran into my old friend Mary Fair, who works for Hofstra Law School, but also works the basketball games on the weekends.  She gave me a hug and asked how I was and how is South Carolina.  Mary is one of the more engaging people I know and it was great to see her.

I said hi to Tieff and since no one else was in the row, he was kind enough to move over and let Matthew and I sit in our old familiar seats.  Mal and his girlfriend Emily would join us shortly thereafter.  There were no worries about sitting in anyone else's seats.  The entire row was basically free as was the row in front of us.  Non conference games at Hofstra in November have historically not been well attended.  This was no exception.

In front of an attendance of maybe one hundred people, the Thundering Herd and the Jackrabbits put on an exciting last twenty minutes of basketball.  Marshall's size gave them a dominant advantage on the boards.  But South Dakota State, led by guard Nate Wolters, one of the best players in the country, moved the ball around on offense so well.  It was your classic contrast of styles.

The teams went back and forth with several lead changes and ties.  Finally D.D. Scarver buried a three to put the Thundering Herd up five, 77-72 with twenty seconds left.  It looked like Marshall was going to win the game.  But Brayden Carlson responded with a three of his own to cut the lead down to two, 77-75.

The Jackrabbits quickly fouled the Herd's Chris Martin.  Martin missed the front end of an one and one and South Dakota State got the rebound.   Wolters got the ball and Marshall focused on Wolters, perhaps too much.  As Wolters drove the lane, the Herd left Jackrabbits' guard Chad White open at the top of the key.  Wolters fed White, who calmly buried another three pointer to put the Jackrabbits up one.   A desperation half court shot at the buzzer by the Herd's DeAndre Kane went off the back rim and South Dakota State escaped with a 78-77 win.

Between games, I met up with more old friends, like Mike Neely, Director of Ticket Sales at Hofstra and Executive Associate AD Danny McCabe.  Finally I met up with my good friends Greg Sorensen, Defiantly Dutch, Jerry Beach, his much better half Michelle and their absolutely precious baby daughter Molly.   It was good to see all of them, but especially Molly, who it was my first time meeting.   Molly managed the impossible.  She slept through the entire game, which allowed Jerry to tweet at normal pace.

One of the nice things Hofstra basketball does is that several minutes before a game, season ticket holders can meet in the Pride Lounge with an assistant coach who gives a scouting report of the game.  Coach Pat Sellers gave the talk before the game discussing the Pride's opponent, UDC.  The District of Columbia is a Division II school but they have several Division I transfers.  They are also coached by Jeff Ruland, former NBA player and former coach of Iona.   They gave Marshall a lot of trouble in the first half of their game yesterday before losing.  Sellers clued in the audience that they could expect a lot of end to end action with the Firebirds.

After talking with a lot of familiar, friendly faces, we made our way back to our seats for the start of the game.  The Pride came out strong from the gate scoring the first eleven points of the game.  The freshman Hall quickly impressed me with his aggressive play and quickness.  I had seen a few games of Hall's when he was a senior at St. Anthony's High School on ESPN and he seems to have improved by leaps and bounds. Stokes made an equally good impression with his confident play.   Quickly I could see Hofstra has much more talent this season than last season.

UDC broke Hofstra's run and actually scored the next five points to cut the lead to six.  But the Pride responded as another of the newcomers for Hofstra, Buie made his presence felt by burying a three pointer to put Hofstra back up nine.  From there the Pride would stretch the lead out.  The lead was as many as twenty after another Buie three pointer put Hofstra up 39-19.

It was during this time that Hofstra ran a promotion.  If someone tweeted the hashtag #WeAreHofstra from their Twitter account with their current seat location, a winner would be chosen at random for a seat upgrade to a courtside seat.  I figured what the hell and did exactly that.  A few minutes later in what was a huge surprise for me, a couple of Hofstra Dance Team members came up to me and it was announced over the PA system that @gmoore21566 (my twitter account, which you should be following by the way) won the contest.  They escorted Matthew and I to our court-side seat.  Needless to say I got a lot of flack from my friends Mal and Defiantly Dutch.

I have to admit winning the contest was pretty funny.  My season ticket seats have been for the last several years only four rows from the court.  I always felt pretty fortunate to see Division I basketball games so close up on a regular basis without having to be on press row. But sitting court-side is a completely different experience and it kind of made Matthew feel uncomfortable.  As there were already several plays right in front of us in the first minute, Matthew turned to me and said "This is too close".

 Matthew was not the only one uncomfortable.  Apparently Hofstra was uncomfortable with a twenty point lead. The Pride became sloppy on both of ends of the court.  UDC started hitting some shots and the Hofstra lead at the half was only twelve, 43-31.

At the half, my first boss at Hofstra and long time friend Howard Graves came up to say hi and we talked for a while. He asked about the family and the move to South Carolina. I told him that everything was great in Columbia so far and that I couldn't wait for the family to be down there with me.  I asked him about Hofstra and other things.  It was good to see Howard.  I learned a lot of things from him from a managerial standpoint that I still use today on a daily basis.

The second half picked up right where the first half left off.  Hofstra struggled from the field and UDC continued to cut the lead and got it to down to seven points several times, the last being 60-53 with a little less than eight minutes left.  But the Pride lead by Stephen Nwaukoni, who had a strong second half on his birthday, would not let them get any closer.   Hofstra would eventually win 74-59. The Pride shot forty nine percent from the field on the game (fifty four percent in the first half) and dominated the glass, outrebounding the Firebirds 50-32.

After saying goodbye to Emily and Mal, Tieff, Matthew and I made our way to see Greg, Jerry, Michelle and a still sleeping Molly.  We talked about how impressive the newcomers Hall, Stokes and Buie played for the Pride. We saw improvement in Kone, Nwaukoni and Mejia.  The team basically gelled pretty well, though there were the expected scoring ruts and missed assignments a young team will have during a game.

There is a lot more talent and depth on this Hofstra team now than compared to last season's team.  There is also much more scoring balance now, as six players scored in double figures in the win over the Firebirds. The Pride accomplished this despite Jamal McCombs-Daniel out due to injury and Daquan Brown not being eligible until after finals.  The resiliency, talent and depth that Hofstra has showed up again on Sunday when the Pride outlasted Marshall in double overtime 103-100 to complete a three game sweep of the 2K Classic.

Eventually the UDC players came out from the locker room dressed along with Coach Ruland.  A fan yelled "Hi, Coach Ruland, good to see you!"   Ruland turned and waved with a look of grumpy disdain.  All that was missing was Ruland saying "Get off my lawn!"  Guess he didn't take the loss too well.

After letting Matthew run on the court for a few minutes, we said our goodbyes to Michelle and Greg.  Jerry had already gone down to the locker room.  Tieff and I said goodbye in the parking lot, but it would be a short goodbye with him.  He would be picking me up at my house as we would both fly back to Charlotte, which would then take us to Durham to see an old friend at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That's for my next article. As I started my familiar drive out of the parking lot, I wondered how many times I would be back at the Mack Center in the future. I realized quickly that it won't be often.

Matthew and I went back to my in-laws house where we had birthday cake for Jonathan.  I knew in the back of my mind that this was one of the last times we would be celebrating Jonathan's birthday at my wife's parents house. As I noted, hopefully in a few weeks, my immediate family would be down with me in Columbia.

The things I have taken for granted all these years; the countless number of games at Hofstra, seeing friends on a regular weekly basis for two hours in the winter months at the Mack Center and the time my boys have spent with their grandparents, all that has changed or will change being now seven hundred and fifty or so miles away from all that I have known.

But for one Saturday in November, it was all still the same.  The packed Long Island kids' place, my wife's parents house, the Mack Center and all the familiar faces and friends, even if it was perhaps the last time for a long time.  It was a familiar theme to me.

It was nice to be here.

A Season Is Not Determined By Luck (Recap of Hofstra vs.Northeastern)

Over the years, there is luck involved in college basketball. I have seen several miracle half court shots go in.      Many times have I seen a buzzer beater to win a game.  There are strange bounces and questionable last second calls that have decided games.  And often I have seen as much bad luck as there is good luck.

But from my years experience of watching college basketball live, luck is not the overall determining factor in a team's overall success, whether a team is good or a team is a bad.  There are statistical reasons why teams are successful and why teams are not successful.  And if you watch the game closely, you can often see that play out on the court.  Good teams make their own luck and bad teams make their own luck too.

Case in point - Several basketball experts said Hofstra had a lot of luck going 14-4 in conference last season and 21-12 overall.   Ken Pomeroy's luck metric had  Hofstra as the sixth luckiest team in basketball in the 2011-12 season.  Furthermore, as John Templon of Big Apple Buckets stated on his site, Pomeroy's statistic noted that Hofstra won four more games than they should have last season.

This was noted in an article on this site called "Hofstra's 2010-11 Success Was All About Skill".  In my article, I disputed Pomeroy's statistic based on other statistics, specifically assists to turnover ratio, turnover margin and free throw shooting; three categories that Hofstra excelled in last season.  The Pride excelled in close games as well with a 9-4 record in games decided by seven points or less.  I noted it was because they had more possessions and hit their free throws down the stretch.  Basically, they did the little things right to win a game.

A week ago, the New York Times Quad Blog did a statistical historical analysis of the last ten seasons of teams in the CAA, which Hofstra is of course a member.  The analysis showed "that field-goal percentage defense and assist-to-turnover ratio are the statistics most correlated with teams winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament."

In that same article, Hofstra Coach Mo Cassara stated "The most important statistic to me — that I really value — is assist-to-turnovers.. That’s the thing that I emphasize the most and I think correlates directly with winning.”

Shaka Smart was then quoted later in that same article stating " We look at turnover margin."  He went on further to say,"Sometimes it’s as simple as if we can force around 20 turnovers and have somewhere under 12 turnovers ourselves, then that’s 8, 10 extra possessions, and that’s huge for us."

Needless to say, I was thrilled to read all of those things. You had statistical correlation of why teams are successful.  And two successful coaches who valued ball possession, to me the most important part of a team's success.

But now here we are, one season later.  Hofstra entered their game with Northeastern with as many losses in conference this season than all last season and a losing record overall.  And of course, people have commented that luck has reversed its fate on the Pride this season.

And this season certainly has not been about a lack of heart or lack of talent.  The Pride have beaten Iona, Cleveland State and LIU, three very good teams that all currently lead their conferences.  I personally saw all three of those games and Hofstra played with intensity, grit and showed a lot of skill.

However, I am here to tell you again, it's not luck that Hofstra was 6-10 overall going into this game.  It's in the stats.  And the game against the Huskies sadly proved it again.

When I got to the Mack Center about twenty minutes before tipoff last night, I could tell the energy was lacking in the building.  First, there was no pep band, no cheerleaders and no dance team there.  The Lions' Den student section was barely noticeable due to there being no undergrad classes in session. Being a school night, there weren't a lot of kids there, sans the CYO team playing at the half and my six year old son, aka my color analyst Matthew.  It felt empty in Hempstead, and I wondered how that would affect the home team.

But it was the road team that came out flat.  The Huskies looked horrible at the beginning, missing their first seven shots.  Meanwhile, the Pride came out with energy and scored the game's first nine points as Stephen Nwaukoni continued his recent improved play with two hard earned layups.

But the reason the old, tired cliche of basketball is a game of runs is used so often is that it is so true so often.  And sure enough, Northeastern responded back with a run of their own, scoring the next twelve points as Hofstra forgot how to score, missing four straight shots and turning the ball over twice.  Joel Smith had eight of those twelve Huskies' point as they went up 12-9 with a little over eleven minutes left in the half.

Nathaniel Lester's three point play tied the game at twelve.  And then both teams managed to struggle together as they each scored an additional twelve points over the last ten plus minutes.  The game was tied at twenty four at the half and rightfully so, since their stats were so much similar.  Same number of field goals made, nine.  Same number of three pointers made; two.  Same number of free throws made; four.  Neither team shot well from the field; Hofstra 34 percent, Northeastern 39 percent.

The fans weren't pleased with the first half.  One season ticket holder I know said "This game is hard to watch".  My friend Tieff said "It's bad playing worse."  My color analyst was even harsher with his criticism.  At the start of the second half, I asked him "What do you think of the game so far?"  Matthew covered his eyes and grimaced.

The second half was strange.  At times, Northeastern's 3-2 zone gave Hofstra fits, as the Pride turned the ball over three times in the first four and a half minutes.  Yet when they solved the Huskies' defense, they hit their shots, hitting ten of their first sixteen attempts in the second half, often easy layups in the paint .  With nine minutes left in the game, Hofstra was up 50-43.

In particular, Lester was having a huge second half for the Pride. He would score fourteen of his nineteen points in the second half.  He got help from Nwaukoni, who had seven second half points and David Imes who also had seven second half points. Based on a Newsday report, Mike Moore struggled with a groin injury all night and had only nine points, twelve less than his season average.

But the stats started adding up and were not in Hofstra's favor.  First, the Pride turned the ball over four times in the next five minutes. They would have sixteen turnovers on the game.  Meanwhile, Northeastern, the team that averaged the second most turnovers in the CAA coming into the game at sixteen per game, only had ten turnovers on the night and had only one turnover in the final fifteen minutes of the game.

Also,  the Huskies couldn't miss from the field down the stretch, or perhaps the Pride couldn't stop them.  Coming into the game, Hofstra's two point field goal percentage defense was an unseemly 50 percent.   And Northeastern took advantage over those last nine minutes.  During those final nine minutes, the Huskies would shoot eight of twelve from the field, all two point field goals.

Northeastern would tie the game at fifty six on a jumper by Jonathan Lee.  Lee scored nineteen of his twenty one points in the second half, as he hit big shot after big shot.  And if it wasn't Lee, it was Smith who came through for the Huskies. His old fashioned three point play tied the contest at sixty with a little less than two minutes remaining in the game.

After Quincy Ford put the Huskies up two with two free throws, Lester came back with a strong layup to tie the game at sixty two.  But just like their losses to Florida Atlantic and James Madison,  Hofstra would again feel the sting of a late jumper.  Lee hit one with ten seconds left to put Northeastern up 64-62.

But unlike those two previous games, this time the Pride  had more than enough time left to tie or win the game.  After a timeout, Nathaniel Lester drove up the court against the Huskies' pressure.  But he would dribble the ball off himself out of bounds.  Their last and most crushing turnover of the game. After Hofstra fouled Lee off the inbounds play, Lee missed the front end of an one and one.  The Pride grabbed the rebound, but Lester's half court shot fell way short.  Another close game, another Hofstra loss, 64-62. The Pride were now 0-5 in conference and 6-11 overall.

As DefiantlyDutch, Jerry Beach noted in a tweet, the Huskies would score on seventeen of their last nineteen possessions.  So despite Hofstra shooting sixty percent in the second half, Northeastern shot fifty eight percent.   And when Northeastern didn't hit a field goal down the stretch, they went to the line, hitting five of their seven free throws.

Coming into the game, Northeastern was tenth in the CAA in free throw shooting at 66.5 percent.  Last night, the Huskies shot 71.4 percent from the line, hitting fifteen of their twenty one free throws.  Meanwhile, Hofstra which was third in the CAA in free throw shooting at 71.5 percent, shot only eleven of seventeen last night, 64.7 percent.  Perhaps the free throw shooting was lucky in different ways for Hofstra and Northeastern.

But you couldn't say that about the turnover margin.  As mentioned Northeastern had ten turnovers, Hofstra sixteen. That meant several more possessions for the Huskies than the Pride.  In a two point game, you could definitely say that was the difference.

Hofstra had seventeen assists to sixteen turnovers. Coming into the game, Hofstra was ninth in the CAA in assist to turnover ratio at 0.7.  Last season, the Pride were first in the CAA at 1.3.  And last season Hofstra was third in the CAA in turnover margin at + 2.29 per game.  Entering the game last night, they were fifth at +.69 per game.

This season, the Pride are 1-6 in games decided by seven points or less. And based on the statistics, you can say that most of that has to do with assist to turnover ratio and two point field goal percentage defense.  It doesn't have to do with luck.

The 1,654 fans that were mostly quiet for the entire game left the arena seemingly numb.  They had already seen the last second losses to James Madison and Florida Atlantic.  Perhaps they knew when the game was close, the statistics didn't favor the home team.   It didn't again last night.

VCU Passes the Eye Test (Recap of VCU vs. Hofstra)

"You talk about the eye test. This one doesn't pass the laugh test."

By now, everyone should know the story of the 2010-11 VCU Rams.  Finished fourth in the CAA, lost in the CAA Championship to Old Dominion.  One of the last teams to make it into the NCAA Tournament and were a member of "The First Four".  And of course, the recipient of the above insidious comment by Jay Bilas during ESPN's post NCAA selection show.

Well, as everyone knows VCU got the last laugh last season.  From "First Four" to "Final Four".  Along the way, VCU defeated teams from the PAC-10 (USC), the Big East (Georgetown), the Big Ten (Purdue, the ACC (Florida State) and the Big 12 (Kansas)  before bowing out to fellow mid major Butler in the national semifinals.

The question at the start of this season was what would the 2011-12 VCU Rams do for an encore. The only returning starter was "Big Time" Bradford Burgess.  However, the Rams had several key reserves from the Final Four team such as Rob Brandenberg, Darius Theus, Juvonte Reddic and D.J. Haley who now had to step up into starting roles.

At the beginning of the season, the Rams struggled.  They split their first six games.  Their last loss came at the hands of their former coach, Anthony Davis and his Alabama Crimson Tide. Since then, VCU has been on a roll, winning seven games in a row.  That included their first conference win of the season, a twenty three point win at home over UNCW, which had earlier yesterday beaten Delaware.

The Rams were taking on a Hofstra Pride team on a roll themselves, having won three straight games.  Their latest win was 82-75 over an Iona Gaels team that had received a lot of national publicity due to their once 10-2 record (now 10-3) and their prolific scoring ability.  Hofstra features Mike Moore, the CAA's leading scorer, who averages twenty one points per game and had scored eighty points in his last three games.

The game started out at a very high pace. Hofstra took an early 8-6 lead on a David Imes jumper. But VCU's Troy Daniels hit the first of his five three pointers to put the Rams out in front for the first time 9-8.  Both teams hit their shots early on as Hofstra hit seven of their first ten shots while VCU hit eight of their first twelve shots.  The Rams were up 19-17 with a little over twelve minutes left in the first half.

But VCU started slowly pulling away due to forcing Hofstra to turn the ball over and keeping Moore in check. Over the span of eight minutes, the Pride missed eight of their nine shots and turned the ball over three times. VCU fared only a  little better during that span,  shooting two of eleven from the field but also added a few free throws.  The Rams were up nine with a little over four minutes left thanks to another Daniels' three pointer until a Shemiye McLendon three cut the lead to six, 30-24 with four minutes left.

But the VCU staple of 2010-11, the three point shot, is also alive and well in 2011-12.   Daniels hit his fourth three pointer of the first half to put the Rams up 37-25 with 2:38 left.  VCU would end the half, leading by eleven, 41-30.   The numbers were pretty similar for both teams in field goals made, field goals attempted, rebounds, turnovers etc.

The difference was VCU was 5 of 11 from three, while Hofstra was 1 of 4.  Also, the Rams did a very good job limiting the Pride's two leading scorers, Moore and Lester. Both were struggling as Moore had six points and Lester had none, as the two combined to shoot 2 of 9 from the field.

Any hope that Hofstra fans had for a comeback was quickly dashed in the second half.  VCU came out and scored the first six points while the Pride had two turnovers in a little over thirty seconds.  The Rams were up 47-30 and Hofstra Coach Mo Cassara had no choice but to call timeout.

But the timeout didn't help matters for the Pride.  Hofstra would commit another four turnovers in the span of two and half minutes and a layup by Briante Weber put VCU up 54-34 with a little more than fifteen minutes left.  The game was over for all intensive purposes.

VCU thoroughly dissected Hofstra.  First, the Rams rotation is ten deep.  Coach Shaka Smart can send wave after wave of players at you, using his "Havoc" press system.  During a timeout in the second half, Smart did a hockey line change, taking all out all his starters for reserves.  As was somewhat noted before, they forced six Hofstra turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half.

Second, the Rams also thoroughly frustrated one of the better point guards in the CAA this season, Dwan McMillan, into his worst game of the season.  McMillan, who had nine assists against Iona, had five assists but also six turnovers before fouling out of the game in the second half.   Finally, Moore, who was shooting forty five percent from three this season, was only one of seven from beyond the arc on the night and four of fourteen overall.   Moore had to work very hard to score the fourteen points he had on the night.

Hofstra never got closer than thirteen points the rest of the way.  How good is VCU?  Well, late in the game, VCU fans on Twitter were asking when the Rams seldom used eleventh and twelfth players, scholarship players Reco McCarter and Heath Houston were going to play.  McCarter chose VCU over Wake Forest, Clemson and Virginia Tech, while Houston signed with VCU after originally being with Auburn.  And these are the last two guys on the bench!  This is what you usually see only in Power Six conference teams.  And sure enough, McCarter buried a three pointer for VCU's final points in a convincing 80-63 win over Hofstra.

Hofstra shot forty six percent from the field, which is certainly respectable and had just about the same number of made free throws (VCU was 19 of 24, while Hofstra was 18 of 22).  However, there were three differences; 1) VCU was 9 of 24 from three, while Hofstra was 3 of 12.  2) Points off turnovers - VCU 28, Hofstra 12 and 3) Bench scoring - VCU 44 Hofstra 21.

Even more impressive was that Burgess only had eight points for VCU.  Daniels led the way with fifteen points, all on three pointers.  Theus had fourteen,  Reddick had twelve and freshman Briante Weber had ten points.  Besides Moore, Hofstra was led by McLendon with thirteen, David Imes with ten points and Lester had ten points, all in the second half.

As I left the Mack Center last night with my older son Matthew and my friend Tieff, I really thought I saw in VCU a team capable of going to the Sweet Sixteen.  They are lightning quick, they can shoot, they can drive to the basket, they can defend and they are deep.  This team easily passed the eye test in my book.

Here's the really scary thought for VCU's CAA opponents.  Burgess is the only senior on this team.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served in Hempstead (Recap of Iona vs. Hofstra)

Exactly a year ago, Mo Cassara's Hofstra Pride traveled to New Rochelle to take on Tim Cluess' Iona Gaels.  It was the first season for both as head coaches in Division I Basketball.   On that night, it was all Iona, as they dominated Hofstra, winning 87-62.  It was the second worst loss of the season (next to a forty two point drubbing by eventual Elite Eight member North Carolina) for a Pride team that won twenty one games and finished third in the CAA.  It was also a Pride team that featured three time Haggerty Award winner and two time CAA Player of the year Charles Jenkins, who now plays for the Golden State Warriors.

So when Iona rolled into town last night sporting a 10-2 record, having won six of their seven previous games on an eight game road trip to face a Hofstra team that has struggled this season at 5-7, things did not look too good for Pride fans.  Throw in the fact that starting point guard Steve Mejia was again out due to a hamstring injury against a Gaels team that loves to press and create turnovers, it seemed like a perfect storm.

Iona is one of the best offensive teams in the country this season. Fourth in points per game at 85.9 points per game. Second in assists in 20.2 per game.  Fifth in field goal percentage at 50.9 percent.  They are ranked eighth in Ken Pomeroy's effective field goal percentage at 56.8 percent , fifth in two point field goal percentage at 56.2 percent and thirty third in the country at offensive turnover percentage at 17.9 percent.  And having seen them in person put up one hundred points twice in home wins over LIU and St. Joseph's in overtime, simply put, they are an offensive juggernaut.

The Gaels were going to be a tall task for a Pride team that had won two in a row after losing their four previous games prior to that.  But Hofstra had faced a similar challenge during this season when they met undefeated Cleveland State, another team highly talked about as potentially getting an at large NCAA bid due to their non conference wins. The Pride handed the Vikings their first loss of the season in Rhode Island, so the potential was there to pull off another upset.

This was the second game of a doubleheader.  The first game was a women's basketball game, where a fundamentally sound Princeton team held off a Hofstra team that had won nine of its first eleven games.   My older son and I had been there for the entire first game, so we were now entering hour three of our hoops festival.

Due to Iona receiving a lot of publicity on the local and national levels because of their high octane offense and their 10-2 record, a large late arriving crowd started filling the Mack Center.  Included in the crowd was New York radio show host Mike Francesca, who sat in the first row of the section next to me.  He was there just like everyone else, wanting to see two of the better New York City metro area college basketball programs square off in the final scheduled non conference game for both teams this season.

Hofstra came right out and made a statement to the crowd of 4,200 plus in attendance. David Imes and Nathaniel Lester combined to score the first eight points as the Pride took an early 8-4 lead.  But Michael Glover had three monster dunks and Kyle Smyth's three pointer gave Iona its first lead at 13-12 with about twelve minutes left in the first half.

Over the next couple of minutes, the teams exchanged leads back and forth.  The game was tied at twenty two with eight and half minutes remaining in the first half.   Hofstra fans had to be pleased that the Pride were going toe to toe with the Gaels, unlike their matchup last season.  What they were about to see in the next fifteen minutes of game action was stunning and completely unexpected.

The warning signs were already there for Iona.  In the first eleven and a half minutes, the Gaels had committed an uncharacteristic eight turnovers for one of the better teams that statistically holds onto the ball.  A lot of credit goes to the Pride defense for their inspired play.  But for the rest of the first half, Iona would actually top that total.  Over the last eight and a half minutes, Iona would commit another ten turnovers.

And Hofstra took full advantage of that.  The Pride would outscore the Gaels 21-6 in that span.  That was due in large part to Imes and Mike Moore, who combined for fifteen of the twenty one Hofstra points.  Imes was particularly impressive as he was very aggressive on the boards, with eight rebounds, three on the offensive end, as Hofstra had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.  

The Pride entered the half up 43-28 much to the delight of the Pride faithful in the crowd. Statistically, it was as if the world had turned on its axis.  The team that prides itself on ball possession, Iona, had turned the ball over eighteen times.  That allowed Hofstra twelve more shot attempts and seven more baskets.than Iona.   Plus Hofstra was outscoring Iona on second chance points nine to one, as a result of Hofstra's nine offensive rebounds.

You could tell Coach Tim Cluess was not happy with his team at the half, because the Gaels came out of the locker room several minutes early.  The team anxiously awaited on the sidelines for several minutes as the halftime CYO game was still being played.  It seemed like Iona was ready to make a run at the start of the second half.

However, inline with the last part of the first half, the Pride continued their onslaught on the Gaels.  The lead actually swelled to nineteen, 57-38, with fourteen and a half minutes left in the game.  Iona had no answer for Moore, who scored eight of the first fourteen Hofstra points in the second half.

But a team doesn't win twelve out of its first twelve games without the ability to rally.  Sure enough, the Gaels finally made their run.  First it was Glover, Momo Jones, and Rashad James who combined for a 11-1 spurt to cut the lead down to nine, 58-49 with a little more than ten minutes left.  The large Iona fan contingent in the arena had finally come to life in support of their Gaels.

Then came the three point barrage.  First it was Nathaniel Lester, who had a huge second half for Hofstra, trading three pointers with Iona's Smyth.  Even Moore got in on the act with Smyth, hitting his own shot beyond the arc.  But Smyth got the final long range shot in, as his third three pointer in the span of two and a half minutes cut the deficit to seven, 67-60 with less than six and a half minutes left.

But Iona would never get any closer than seven points the rest of the way.  Try as the Gaels might, Imes, Lester and Dwan McMillan would combine to score thirteen of the last sixteen points Hofstra would score on the night.  As John Templon, the author of the terrific Big Apple Buckets website noted to me at halftime, fifteen points is a large hole to dig out of as far as comebacks.   Hofstra came away with a hard earned, well deserved 83-75 victory.

The Pride had a balanced attack with four scorers in double digits.  Moore again lead the way with twenty four points, but he had a lot of help.   Lester had a double double with twenty one points and ten rebounds.  Imes had his own double double with sixteen points and fifteen rebounds.  And McMillan nearly made it three double doubles on the night with ten points and nine assists.  He outplayed his more highly touted high school teammate, Iona's Scott Machado, who had ten assists, but only six points before fouling out.

Glover led the way for Iona with his usual double double, twenty points and thirteen rebounds. Jones added twenty points as well.  Finally Smyth added twelve points, all on three pointers.  But the Gaels shot 42.6 percent from the field, well under their season average.  The turnovers killed them, as Hofstra had an eight point advantage on points off turnovers, which was the margin of victory.

So one year later, the tides were turned.  It was Hofstra that dominated most of the game last night, similar to what Iona did to them the year before.  Just like last year,  many fans shook their heads in disbelief as they headed for the exits not expecting the outcome they just witnessed.  The Pride will be ringing in the New Year on a high note. A three game winning streak should fill them with confidence for the battle with VCU on Monday.  Meanwhile the Gaels will have to regroup for conference play on Tuesday at MSG vs. Siena.

That's the wonderful thing about college basketball.  Expect the unexpected.

Hofstra Gives Hope for the Holidays (Recap of Colgate vs. Hofstra)

Several days after their twenty point win over Binghamton, Hofstra was looking to make it two wins in a row against Colgate.  The Pride needed to get on a roll going into next week's important game against Iona, a team that many think is the best team in the local New York City area (with all apologies to Seton Hall fans).

It was the second Hofstra basketball game that I would be attending yesterday.  I took a half day off yesterday to watch the women's team rally and win an exciting contest over Marist 71-69 to take the championship of the New York Life Holiday Invitational.  Shante Evans dominated the court with a twenty nine point, eighteen rebound performance for the Lady Pride.   Now it was up to the men's team to provide a suitable encore in the nightcap.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year.  But they are also a detriment to the attendance of college basketball games.  The fall undergraduate session ended a few days earlier and there was barely any students in the Lions' Den Section last night.  The overall announced crowd was a little over 1,400, but it felt less to me, especially without rowdy students to harass the Colgate free throw shooters.

The game started out with Hofstra's number one gunslinger, Mike Moore shooting away at the Raiders. Moore buried three shots from beyond the arc and the Pride jumped out to a 17-7 lead with 15:13 left in the first half.   At the time, they were five of nine from the field and it looked like Hofstra, especially Moore, would shoot Colgate out of the Mack Center.

But as has happened many times over the course of this season so far, the Pride would suffer one of their extended shooting slumps.  Over the last fifteen plus minutes of the first half, Hofstra would shoot four of twenty one from the field, including missing their last six shots in the half.  This allowed Colgate to slowly work their way back into the game.  Over the last five plus minutes of the first half, the Raiders outscored the Pride 16-7 to cut the deficit to one, 35-34 at the half.  

Moore had nineteen of Hofstra's thirty five points in the first half.  The problem was the rest of the team combined for sixteen. On top of that, the Pride were shooting thirty percent from the field and no other player had more than five points.  

The halftime event was another CYO basketball game where the teams' colors were actually the same as the Colgate colors.  I had to check to see if we were at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, New York (home of Colgate University).  And actually, the Raiders brought a decent rooting section with them behind their bench.

At the start of the second half, Colgate had a chance to take their first lead of the game, but Mitch Rolls would miss a jumper.  It was the last chance the Raiders would have to take the lead the rest of the game. How the Pride would secure the win in the second half was possibly the most interesting dynamic so far this  season.

Before the game, Bryant Crowder left the Hofstra men's team for personal reasons.  He had been suspended most of the season and I happen to see in person two of the three games he played in for the Pride.  Combine that with starting point guard Steve Mejia out due to a lingering hamstring problem and Hofstra had only an eight men available to play last night.   It meant everyone had to step up for Coach Mo Cassara last night and they did so in the second half.

 But before they did so, a play occurred early in the second half with an interesting subplot, well perhaps interesting to only yours truly.  Colgate's Pat Moore committed a hard foul on Hofstra's Mike Moore, sending him crashing to the floor.  A flagrant foul was called resulting in free throws, Hofstra retaining the ball and Pat Moore being public enemy number one for the Hofstra fans the rest of the night.   There should be a law against "Moore on Moore Violence", especially when the author shares the same last name as the two players involved.  Also it should be noted that Pat is probably short for Patrick, which happens to be my older son Matthew's middle name as well as mine.  After the play, I publicly disavowed to my fellow season ticket holders around me of any relation to the Raiders' Moore.

After the "Moore on Moore Violence" occurred, Hofstra started to slowly pull away from Colgate.  What was once a one point lead was now, 54-43 with twelve and a half minutes remaining in the game.  There were encouraging signs.  Nat Lester had scored the most recent basket to put Hofstra up eleven.  It was his third field goal of the second half.  Also during this 19-9 run, Dwan McMillan had four points and three assists.  

The Raiders would continue to hang around for the next few minutes.  They actually were only down nine, 59-50 with about nine and half minutes left.  It seemed the Pride wouldn't be able to shake them.

But then Hofstra would seal the deal with a 14-3 spurt over the next five minutes.  And every one on the Pride contributed, as you can see pictured.  David Imes hit several shots. Shemiye McLendon buried jumper after jumper.  Dwan McMillan drove the lane, hit layups and had several more assists.  Moore ended the spurt with a layup and Hofstra was up 73-53 with a little more than four and half minutes left.  

The Pride would go onto win the game 82-57.  Hofstra would shoot nearly sixty eight percent from the field in the second half, outscoring Colgate 47-25 over the last twenty minutes.  The most amazing stat was that Mike Moore only contributed five of the forty seven points scored in the second half.  It was everyone else who "Put one foot in front of the other", to coin a famous holiday song, that gave the Pride their twenty five point win.

McLendon, the second coming of Vinnie Johnson, had seventeen points for the Pride, while McMillan had a double double with thirteen points and ten assists (with only two turnovers).  Imes added ten points and seven rebounds, while Lester also had ten points and nine rebounds.  And of course, Moore led the way with twenty four points.

The Pride gave the crowd a nice encore to the earlier Women's Basketball team's victory - a start to finish win.  And the Pride did it as a team, despite being shorthanded.  They gave their fans a nice early present before Christmas.  More importantly, Hofstra gave their fans hope that they can compete in the CAA when everyone on the team plays up to their skill level.  

And hope is what people, especially college basketball fans, need in the holiday season.

Humpty Causes Hofstra a Great Fall

Sometimes, there are long stretches where one team has another team's number.  When Hofstra first joined the CAA in 2001, they lost their first three games in conference with James Madison and had lost four in a row overall to JMU.  But starting in 2004, the Pride have gone on a twelve game winning streak vs. the Dukes.

Though the series record indicates one team's dominance over another, the results have been quite close.  During Hofstra's streak vs. JMU, nine of the twelve games were decided by seven points or less.  Three of the games went into overtime; a 92-90 win in January of this year, a 99-96 double overtime game in February 2009 and the all time gem, a 95-88 triple overtime game in February 2005.

So when the Dukes made the all familiar trip to Hempstead yesterday to face the Pride in the conference season opening game for both teams, it seemed one thing would be certain. It would be a close game.  And sure enough, the game lived up to that billing.

My older son Matthew was looking forward to yesterday.   For not only was there a basketball game, but Saturday was the long awaited day for putting up the Christmas decorations outside our house.  Now for me, I actually enjoy decorating for Halloween, not so much for Christmas.  But to placate a six year old boy and his four year old brother, I took down the decorations from the garage and spent the better part of the late morning and afternoon hanging Christmas lights and getting out several decorative inflatables.  Needless to say I was happy to leave for the basketball game when it was time.

The game started out with JMU's leading scorer on the season, A.J. Davis picking up two quick fouls in the first five minutes. But Madison hung in there, thanks in large part to their offensive rebounding. In the first half, the Dukes had eleven offensive rebounds which led to eleven second chance points.  JMU took a 22-17 lead with 7:45 left in the first half on a three pointer by Armon Marks, which was their only successful three point shot at that time.  The Dukes, the best three point shooting team in the CAA, would be only two of eleven from beyond the arc in the first half.

While JMU's leading scorer was on the bench with as many fouls as points, two, Hofstra's leading scorer for the season, Mike Moore, was basically unstoppable.  Moore hit four three pointers in the first half  (Hofstra was 5 of 10 from beyond the arc in the first half) and scored twenty of Hofstra's thirty one points.  After the Dukes had taken that five point lead, the Pride would go on a 14-2 run, with Moore scoring half those points.

However, JMU coach Matt Brady made a critical decision with a minute left in the half.  He went for a two for one possession.  The Dukes would miss two three pointers on their first possession and a Moore jumper would be the final points for Hofstra in the first half.  But due to the two for one possession, the Dukes got the ball back and called timeout.  Off the timeout, Humpty Hitchens, another transfer from Akron, hoisted a sixty foot prayer right before the buzzer.

As the buzzer sounded...nothing...but...net.

The officials reviewed the play to make sure the shot came before the buzzer, which it clearly did from our vantage point.  The officials confirmed that it was good.  And due to the Dukes second only successful three pointer in the half, instead of Hofstra going into the half up seven, they were only up four, 31-27.  Hofstra coach Mo Cassara was none too pleased, as if he knew that shot might come back to haunt the Pride.

At half time, there was your classic youth basketball game for entertainment.  But Matthew was pleading for me to get him a pretzel.  And since I can't say no to my cute six year old son, we waited on a long concession line while I tweeted updates on the game.

It was clear at the start of the second half that Coach Matt Brady told his team "Whatever you do, don't let Mike Moore beat us."  And the Dukes took him out of the game.  For the better part of the last twenty minutes, Moore barely touched the ball.  He would only have five shot attempts in the second half, hitting only one of those.

But early on, it didn't seem to affect the Pride.  Hofstra actually extended it's lead using a 10-2 run.  After Nathaniel Lester hit his first three pointer since the first game of this season, the Pride were up 43-33.   The lead was still ten, 47-37 after a Stephen Nwaukoni layup with a little more than eleven minutes remaining in the game.  JMU looked off in their shot selection and the rest of the Hofstra players were chipping in despite Moore being held scoreless.

But twice already in this early season, Hofstra had similar leads, only to see them evaporate and lose the game.  Against Florida Atlantic, the Pride were up 36-27 before going on a three for eighteen shooting drought and lost 62-60.  Against Boston University, the Pride were up 42-35 before shooting two of fifteen for the rest of the game and lost 68-61.  

Unfortunately for Hofstra, history would repeat itself yesterday.   With Moore being held scoreless, the Pride would shoot one of eight from the field over the next seven minutes. Meanwhile, JMU's vaunted three point shooting came to life.  Hitchens nailed two three pointers and Julius Wells added one as well.  The Dukes went on a 13-3 run and tied the game at fifty on Alioune Diouf jumper with six and half minutes left.

The Pride would retake the lead in large part to guard Shemiye McLendon.  First McLendon gave a pretty feed to forward Moussa Kone for a resounding dunk.  Then McLendon channeled his inner Vinnie Johnson (they wear the same jersey number, 15), and buried a slightly off balance eighteen foot jumper.  Hofstra was back up 56-52 with three minutes left.

After the teams traded turnovers and Hofstra's Dwan McMillan missed an open jumper, Davis came alive for James Madison.  First, he buried a three pointer to cut the lead to one, 56-55.  Then after a turnover by McLendon, the Dukes called timeout.  My friend Mal predicted that they would call a play for Davis.  Sure enough, off the inbounds play, they got it to Davis, who hit a layup and was fouled by Kone.   He would hit the free throw for the three point play. James Madison was up for the first time since four minutes remaining in the first half, 58-56 with a minute left in the game.

But Hofstra finally got Moore involved after JMU's imposed nineteen minute sabbatical.  Moore hit two free throws for his first points of the second half and the game was tied at fifty eight.  But Hitchens, the proverbial thorn in the Pride's side, nailed a jumper to put Madison up two, 60-58 with thirty nine seconds left.

To Hofstra's credit, they didn't waste time with the ball and went after a good shot immediately. That good shot was a Moore layup that tied the game at sixty with twenty six seconds left.   JMU wound down the clock and with about three seconds left, Hitchens hit another jumper over McMillan's outstretched hand.  The Dukes were up 62-60, but Moore had one last chance.  He hoisted a sixty footer from almost the same exact location Hitchens hit his three pointer at the end of the first half.

As the buzzer sounded...nothing...but...backboard.

James Madison had won 62-60.  Hitchens' sixty footer at the end of the half did come back to haunt Hofstra.  He led JMU with twenty points, while Davis had ten of his twelve points in the second half.  Moore had twenty four to lead all scorers, but the Dukes holding him in check in the second half was huge.  David Imes was the only other double figure scorer for Hofstra with ten points.

For once, a Humpty caused someone else's great fall.  All the Hofstra players and all the Hofstra fans couldn't keep the streak alive again.   After twelve straight losses, the Dukes finally had a win against the Pride.

Pride Hold Off Pesky Terriers

Hofstra started their season with a convincing win at home over LIU.  Then on Wednesday, they traveled to Corvalis, Oregon to play Oregon State. The game was close throughout.  But in the end, the Beavers prevailed 82-72 over the Pride.   Hofstra came back home for a chance to rebound against another NEC team, Saint Francis.

Even though Saint Francis was 0-2, both games were close losses.  The Terriers had Seton Hall on the ropes, leading most of the game before eventually falling to the Pirates at the Prudential Center in overtime 75-71.  Then Saint Francis traveled to Lafayette.  They had a six point lead midway in the second half before losing to the Leopards 79-73.  This was their third of nine straight games on the road for the "Rise and Fire" Terriers, who had forty nine 3 point attempts in their first two games (St Francis had made nineteen of those attempts).  I noted in a tweet earlier today (@gmoore21566) that their motto should be the Intellivision B-17 Bomber game's cry "Bombs Away!".

After a birthday party for my younger son Jonathan at Chuckie Cheese in Hicksville, my older son Matthew and I made our way to the Mack Center at Hofstra University in Hempstead.  After we entered the arena, we found out it was a free Hofstra team poster day.   Matthew gladly took his poster along with his pretzel and we made our way to our seats.

It was clear early on that, offensively, this was going to be a contrast of styles.  Saint Francis was content to look for the open three on the Hofstra two-three zone, while the Pride looked to drive to the basket on the smaller Terriers.   And the end result was going to be a close game.  Saint Francis' largest lead of the first half was four, 17-13, after, what else, a P.J.Santavenere three pointer.

In the first half, the Pride behind Mike Moore and Nathaniel Lester were taking their defenders to the hole.  In particular, Moore was having success, often by being fouled.  He went to the line eight times, hitting seven of his free throws, on his way to scoring fourteen points in the first half.  Lester was also effective, scoring seven points before having to sit part of the half due to two fouls.  Hofstra's biggest lead of the first half was six, 28-22, after a David Imes three pointer.  The Pride only had three 3 point attempts in the first half.

Meanwhile, St Francis was living up to their B-17 Bomber reputation.  Of their twenty seven first half field goal attempts, fifteen of them were three pointers, connecting on five.  Leading scorer Travis Nichols buried two of those five three pointers, scoring eight points.

The Terriers three pointers offset the Pride's advantage in free throw attempts in the first half, nineteen to six.  What made things closer was the Pride only made twelve of those three point attempts.   And the Pride didn't help themselves on the boards, managing not even one offensive rebound in the first half.

So it was no surprise to anyone that the score was 32-30 Hofstra at the half.  During halftime, the crowd's attention was drawn to an interesting contest where students competed in a rapid fire free throw shooting contest for a round trip JetBlue ticket.

At the start of the second half, the Pride picked up where they left off on offense.  Nathaniel Lester scored the first four points for Hofstra, as the Pride continued to work inside for layups.  However, the Terriers changed their offense at the start of the second half.   They worked the ball inside to Akeem Johnson, who scored seven points in a little over three minutes and Saint Francis was up 42-39 with a little over sixteen and a half minutes left.

Over the next twelve minutes, the lead changed back and forth often in the second half (eight times overall in the game). The Terriers had a three point lead, 57-54 with 6:24 left.  But the Pride went on a 7-0 spurt, culminated by who else, Mike Moore with a turnaround jumper to put the Pride up to stay 61-57 with a little more than two and a half minutes left..

It was during this time that the Pride's most improved player, Dwan McMillan was directing the team.  McMillan was supposed to be the backup point guard for Hofstra this season now that Rhode Island transfer Steve Mejia was eligible to play after sitting out a year.  But Mejia has struggled early on in the season and McMillan's inspired and tenacious play, along with his ability to hold onto the ball and create opportunities, has resulted in a significant amount of playing time.  During the last six minutes of the game, McMillan, not Mejia, was on the court.

The Terriers would not quit.  Nichols would hit a jumper off a set timeout play to cut the lead to 61-59.  Then after a few empty possessions by both teams, Saint Francis' Dre Calloway was fouled on a layup attempt.   The Lions Den student section, hungry for a chance to make a difference, screamed as loud as they possibly could on the free throw attempts.   To them, Calloway was fresh meat.   And Calloway obliged, missing both free throws badly and the Pride had another chance to put the game away.

But last season's second best free throw shooter in the CAA, Moore, missed both of his free throw attempts.  Again, the Terriers had a chance again to tie or take the lead.  But Calloway again played the goat, turning the ball over.  Shemiye McLendon stole the ball from Calloway and immediately was fouled.  The man nicknamed "Ice" by Hofstra Blogger Jerry Beach, aka Defiantly Dutch, calmly buried his two free throws.  Hofstra held on for a hard fought 63-59 win.

Moore led the way for Hofstra with a double double, twenty three points and ten rebounds.  Lester nearly had a double double of his own, thirteen points and nine rebounds.  Nichols had twelve points to lead Saint Francis, while Johnson added eleven points.  The big difference in the game was free throw attempts.  Hofstra had thirty six attempts, though they only made twenty three.  Saint Francis only had thirteen, making ten. And of course, the Terriers matched their season average on three point attempts, attempting twenty five three pointers on the night, hitting only seven.

For Saint Francis, their long November road doesn't get any easier with a Tuesday night game vs. St John's. As for Hofstra, they are home again to Florida Atlantic, also a Tuesday night game.  Another night at the Mack Center, another recap for the 800 Games Project.

I wonder how the Lions Den feels about Owls.

(This article is also posted on the 800 Games Project on the MidMajority Site)

Post Game Thoughts From Hofstra - Oregon State

It actually seemed like a hot summer night in November in Corvalis, Oregon as Oregon State hosted Hofstra  in a regional round TicketCity Legends Classic game.   The game was close throughout, but the Beavers held off the Pride 82-72 in a game that ended early after midnight New York time.  As I followed the game on the WRHU and Oregon State TV feeds, a lot of things stood out, both good and bad.

• Hofstra had good balance.  Four players scored in double figures with Mike Moore leading the way with sixteen points, David Imes had fifteen and seven rebounds and Nathaniel Lester and Shemiye McLendon each had twelve points.  Steve Mejia added nine points.
• The Pride shot well from the field, shooting 48 percent and were 5 of 10 from beyond the arc.  
• McLendon was particularly huge off the bench. With Lester in foul trouble in the first half, McLendon kept them in the game. 
• Despite scoring nine points, Mejia again struggled.  He had five turnovers with no assists and was 0 for 3 from the foul line.  The air ball on an one and one attempt with 6:52 left with Hofstra down 62-60 was a crucial moment in the game.
• Dwan McMillan again had a good game off the bench, playing twenty five minutes and managing to anger the Corvalis faithful with his tenacious play.
• The best team in free throw shooting in the CAA last season again struggled from the line.  The Pride shot 19 of 30 from the line.  Lester and Mejia were a combined 0 for 5 and Mike Moore, the second best FT shooter in the CAA last season was 5 for 8.  Definite room for improvement.
• A bigger concern though is the assists to turnover ratio.  The team that led the CAA last season in assists to turnover ratio had fifteen turnovers and seven assists.  It starts with Mejia, who needs to play like he did at Rhode Island.
• The Pride held their own on the boards vs. Oregon State.  The Beavers barely out rebounded the Pride 31-30.  Definitely an improvement so far from last season.
• Hofstra's bench outscored Oregon State's 20-9.  
• Still, Lester and Moussa Kone fouled out for the Pride and the bench got a little thin at the end.  I am hoping we might see Bryant Crowder soon.  
• Oregon State has a pretty good team.  They have a stud in Jared Cunningham.  He put in thirty five points against the Pride.  He went to the free throw line SEVENTEEN times.  That's Jenkinsesque.  
• But it's not a solo act for the Beavers.  Devon Collier gave the Pride fits, scoring twenty five points. Also, Jared Burton had an unusual double double with eleven assists and ten rebounds.  
• However, Oregon State could work on their free throw shooting as well.  26 of 40 is nothing to write home about. 
• As noted, the game was close throughout.  The lead changed five times. Oregon State's largest lead was ten points and that was with 1:10 left in the game (and of course the final score).  There was no shame in this loss for the Pride.

It was a good test for the Pride and though the final score doesn't indicate they passed the test, they played well.  As noted, there are things to improve on and the next chance for improvement is Saturday vs. Saint Francis.   The only way to find out if they improve is to Pack the Mack and see the game live for yourselves.