Can Hofstra Get Back on the Track?

I lived on Long Island, New York for forty six years.  If you live or have lived on Long Island, you are no doubt familiar with the LIRR, the much aligned Long Island Railroad that takes thousands of passengers on a daily basis to and from New York City, Brooklyn, Queens and various stops, via various train branches on Long Island.  The last twenty years of my life I lived on the south shore of Long Island, first in Seaford and then in Bellmore when we bought our house.  Those are two stops on the Babylon Line.

I moved to Columbia, South Carolina in August of 2012.   The LIRR trains have been replaced by freight trains which seem to run as often as the LIRR, but probably more reliable and more on time. The one difference is that you don't want to be caught at a railroad crossing with a freight train coming through.  Some of them are really a "Long Train Running".

On Saturday, January 10, I drove to Elon, North Carolina to watch Hofstra take on Elon in a #CAAHoops contest, as us CAA bloggers affectionately term Colonial Athletic Association Conference games.   Elon is about a three hour trip from my home in Columbia, South Carolina.  My friend Tieff would join me, as he drove separately and we met up in a parking lot across from Alumni Gym,



It was our first time ever at Alumni Gym on what looks to be a very pretty campus. Elon's Alumni Gym was built in 1949, which from other than the old style ceiling with the metal lamps hanging from the ceiling, you could not tell it was built in 1949.  That's because the gym was recently renovated for stadium style seating and electronic scoreboard in each of the four corners of the gym.   It's more like an intimate arena, which seats 1,607 fans.   It's one of the nicest venues I have seen in my ten years of covering college basketball for this blog. Well done, Elon, well done.


Elon entered the contest at 2-1 conference play, which included an 85-79 home win over William and Mary Thursday night.    Hofstra entered the game at 3-0 in conference play, after their come from behind win over the College of Charleston on Thursday night, another game Tieff and I attended .   After an absolutely terrific version of the Star Spangled Banner by the all female Elon University a cappella group, Sweet Signatures, the start of the game saw Elon take an early 4-0 lead on baskets by Ryan Winters and Austin Hamilton.  The Pride would finally score their first basket a little more than three and half minutes into the game on a layup by Dion Nesmith.

The Phoenix would maintain the lead for the first nine plus minutes of the half as Tony Sabato led the way with a three point play and two assists.   Elon held Hofstra to five of twenty one shooting during that time span as the Pride simply couldn't get anything going on offense.

Finally Hofstra broke through on Elon and it was their dynamic Niagara duo of  Juan'ya Green and Ameen Tanksley, leading the way. Tanksley and Green buried several threes to help put Hofstra up ten, 25-15.

The Pride would add to their lead as the fouls mounted on the Phoenix, much to the chagrin of the Elon fans, who let the referees know their displeasure with the calls.   A Brian Bernardi three pointer extended the Hofstra lead to sixteen, 36-20.    The Pride would cap their first half with three more free throws to take a 39-25 lead at the halftime.

In the second half, Hofstra was still up fourteen, 51-37 with about thirteen minutes left.  But the Phoenix finally arose, starting a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to seven, 53-46.   Alumni Gym suddenly got very loud as the Elon fans showed how well the intimate arena holds sound.

However, the Pride responded with an 11-0 run, which put Hofstra up 64-46 with 7:45 left in the game.  The run was highlighted by excellent ball movement by the Pride as they did a great job of rotating the ball around to find the open man.  From there, Elon could get no closer than fifteen the rest of the way.  Similar to the way they ended the College of Charleston game, the Pride were very solid from the line down the stretch, hitting seven of their eight free throws for the very impressive 79-61 road win over the Phoenix.   The Pride again showed their three point prowess as they went fourteen of thirty two from beyond the arc.

Hofstra had left North Carolina in first place in the CAA at 4-0 and 13-4 overall.  They were ranked high in KenPom, 72 after the win over Elon, a team that has only won one CAA conference game since.  Everything was going Hofstra's way, especially having won three of their four conference games on the road.  The Pride had a large contingent of fans at the game vs. the Phoenix.  I have no doubt that Hofstra's faithful happily drove home back to New York that night thinking that the Pride would end that fourteen year drought of not making the NCAA Tournament.  The Flying Dutchmen train was riding at full speed down the Colonial Athletic Conference tracks.

Then the train got briefly stopped at a northeast station.   Hofstra suffered a tough eight point loss, 81-73 at Northeastern. The game, which was a battle for first place at the time, was tied at the half and Hofstra was up 69-68 with nine minutes left before the Huskies went on an 11-0 run to win the game. No shame in losing to one of the preseason favorites in the CAA.

Then the Hofstra train came back to Hempstead for the game at home vs. UNC Wilmington, a team they had beat only a few weeks prior.  A little repair work at the Mack Center and the Flying Dutchmen train would be back on a roll.

And for a while, it sure seemed that way.  The Pride were up five at the half, 38-33 and led by six, 69-63 with 5:42 left in the game.   The Seahawks then went on an 11-1 run over the span of four minutes and forty seconds.  The Hofstra D became non-existent, while their offense, which consisted mainly of three point shooting, went ice cold.    The Pride still had a chance to tie late, but Green missed a crucial free throw that would have tied the game at 75 with thirty four seconds left.  Forced to foul, the Pride would go on to lose the game 79-74.

Head Hofstra Train Engineer Joe Mihalich made some adjustments for the next home game vs. Drexel and the Pride responded with possibly their most balanced offensive game of the season, an 86-58 pasting of the Dragons. The Pride made a more conscientious effort to work the ball to their bigs, which resulted in Hofstra shooting twenty six of forty four from two point range.  Combine that with fifteen steals and thus a twenty eight point win.

With the train seemingly back on track, Hofstra had another home game vs. James Madison.  For the first twenty minutes, the Pride offensive locomotive was chugging away at full speed.  The Pride had a 45-33 lead at the half and still led by twelve, 52-40 with 16:30 left in the game.

Then the Dukes made a run, while the Pride, content to chuck shots from beyond the arc, went frigid.   The result was a 14-0 JMU run over nearly five minutes that put them up 54-52.   Moussa Kone would get the Pride back up later 61-59 with four and a half minutes left.  He would also score their final basket to tie the game at 63.  But JMU would score the last six points of the game while Hofstra continued to clank shots from the outside, missing their last six shots, all three point attempts.  The Dukes would win 69-63.

From there, the train would completely derail.  Hofstra would get hammered in Williamsburg by the first place Tribe of William and Mary, 100-79.  From there, the train limped back home to Hempstead.  Perhaps, the Pride locomotive should have stayed in the shop instead of playing the Towson Tigers.   Up one, 38-37 at the break, Hofstra wilted under the dominance of Towson's frontcourt.  The Tigers scored fifty second half points, shot fifty eight percent from the field, including sixty two percent from two point range and outrebounded Hofstra 41-23.   The result was another home loss 86-72.

After a 4-0 start, the Pride had lost five of their last six games to become .500 in conference.  What had been a great beginning to their conference season had now seemingly gone up in flames.  From 13-4 to 14-9 just like that.  The question was, could Hofstra show the mark of a good team and respond to adversity.

Hofstra did rebound to win their next two games, a ten point road win at Delaware and an eleven point win at home over Elon.   Then they had a golden opportunity, a win at home on national TV (NBC Sports Network) vs. Northeastern and they would be in a tied for third with the Huskies and the Dukes of James Madison.

But despite shooting fifty percent from the field, hitting the same number of two point and three point field goals as the Huskies, the Pride lost 79-68.   Despite FIFTEEN steals, Hofstra couldn't stop Northeastern late on Huskies' possessions.  They also got killed again on the boards 33-17, allowing eleven offensive rebounds and numerous second chances for the Huskies.

So after thirteen games, the Hofstra train is stalled at the Hempstead station at 7-6 in conference, sixth in the CAA and 16-10 overall.  Their KenPom ranking had dropped to nearly double of what it was after the Elon game, 142.

So what happened?  Why is such an offensive juggernaut, the Pride, first in CAA scoring, second in three point FG percentage, first in assists per game and first in turnover margin, which includes first in the CAA in steals per game, struggled so much over the past nine games?

When you look under the hood, it's three things.

One, it is clearly the defense, especially the interior defense.   You didn't really see these issues during the non conference season and that was partly due to the non conference schedule the Pride played.   Only North Carolina State (55) and LaSalle (81) have rankings in the Kenpom top 100 in Hofstra's non conference opponents (William and Mary is the only conference opponent in the top 100 in Ken Pom at currently #89).  The Wolfpack defeated the Pride by twelve, 76-64, while the Explorers defeated the Pride 83-74.  Their other two non conference losses came at USF 71-70 after blowing a late second half double digit lead and an 82-77 loss at Columbia where the Lions hit thirteen three pointers.

So I have looked at their ten losses and for the most part, there is a common thread.  In seven of the ten losses, Hofstra has been outscored in points in the paint, often by large margins.  Only in two of the losses, Columbia and Towson, did Hofstra outscore its opponent in the paint, while in Thursday's game, both Hofstra and Northeastern scored forty four points in the paint.

Points in the Paint in Losses

Hofstra	PIP	Opponent	PIP
Pride	18	NC State	30
Pride	16	USF	36
Pride	20	Columbia	18
Pride	28	LaSalle	44
Pride	36	Northeastern	44
Pride	18	UNCW	40
Pride	34	William and Mary	48
Pride	20	James Madison	24
Pride	32	Towson	30
Pride	44	Northeastern	44

Five times Hofstra has been outscored in the paint by ten or more points.  Five times, Hofstra has allowed forty or more points in the paint.  Only once did Hofstra score more than forty points in the paint in their losses (last game vs. Northeastern).

Two, over reliance on the three point shot.   Hofstra is second in the CAA in three point shooting at 37 percent.  But when the Pride goes cold from beyond the arc, their offense struggles.  In their ten losses, outside of the one point loss to USG and their first game against Northeastern, the Pride have not shot their season average from beyond the arc, often times not even close. Often it's very cold second halves that do Hofstra in. Against James Madison, they shot 2 of 15 in the second half from three point range. Against Towson, they shot 1 of 11 in the second half from beyond the arc.

Three Point Shooting Percentage in Losses

Opponent	Three Pt %
NC State	32% (9 of 28)
USF	42% (11 of 26)
Columbia	33% (8 of 24)
LaSalle	29% (6 of 21)
Northeastern	39% (10 of 26)
UNCW	29% (6 of 21)
James Madison	35% (11 of 31)
William and Mary	31% (9 of 29)
Towson	23% (6 of 26)
Northeastern	33% (4 of 12)

In only one game did they shoot less than twenty 3-point attempts.  In seven games they attempted twenty four or more three pointers,  Hofstra has BY FAR attempted the most three pointers in the CAA, with six hundred and thirty one, ninety six more than the next closest, William and Mary with five hundred and thirty five (Hofstra has played one less game in conference).   Hofstra averages twenty four 3-point attempts per game.   It's the old adage, you live by the three, you die by the three.

Three, Size Matchups

The Pride, having so many talented guards, will often play a four guard set of Green, Dion Nesmith or Jamall Robinson, Brian Bernardi and Ameen Tanksley. Tanksley will play the four and one of their forwards, Rokas Gustys, Moussa Kone or Malik Nichols playing the five.  Now while that creates matchup problems for opponents when Hofstra spreads the floor, it also creates problems for the Pride when it comes to, as noted, interior defense but also rebounding.

Opponent	Opponents Offensive Rebounds	Rebounding Margin	Opponents Second Chance Pts
NC State	16	-4	12
USF	6	+2	4
Columbia	13	-6	12
LaSalle	7	-1	12
Northeastern	4	-17	4
UNCW	12	-3	17
James Madison	11	-8	13
William and Mary	4	+7	2
Towson	12	-18	17
Northeastern	11	-16	9

In only three of the games, USF, the road game vs. Northeastern and William and Mary did Hofstra have more second chance points than their opponent. As noted, they had a double digit lead against the Bulls with four minutes left in the game before losing a game they never should have lost. In the road game vs. the Huskies, Northeastern didn't have many second chance points, since they shot nearly sixty four percent from the field. Likewise, William and Mary shot sixty five percent from the field against Hofstra.

Conclusion
There is hope.  Hofstra scored forty four points in the paint in their loss to Northeastern, which was the third most on the season (Hofstra scored forty six points in the paint vs. Jacksonville and fifty points against Drexel).  The Pride made a concerted effort to work the ball inside to Gustys, Kone and Nichols.  Gustys had his best all around game as a member of Hofstra with thirteen points, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks in twenty four minutes of action.  Nichols added twelve points and Kone chipped in with seven points.   They combined to score thirty two points, fourteen more than their season average.

Watching the Northeastern game on television, Hofstra at times played very good defense.  They had fifteen steals and were often very active and aggressive against the Huskies.   But as the announcers noted, they would let up towards the end of the possession, not communicate well at times on defense, as defenders failed to step out on ball screens and they didn't play help defense when Scott Eatherton got the ball in the post.  Eatherton was eight of ten from the field.  If they play Northeastern again in the CAA tourney, Hofstra needs to double down on Eatherton when he gets it in the post.

Brian Bernardi is a terrific shooter, but if he is not hitting the three pointer, the Pride are much better off defensively with a rotation of Green, Nesmith at the three, Nichols at the four and Kone or Gustys at the five.  This is due to Nichols being much quicker than Bernardi on defense and having more length than Tanksley at the four.  Nichols was much more of a matchup problem for six foot six Northeastern guard David Walker than Bernardi.  Walker had a field day when Bernardi was guarding him.

The Pride have enough offensive firepower to offset Bernardi being on the bench more.  Plus they showed that Gustys is capable of giving them double digit scoring against a good front line like Northeastern's, which, to be honest, is rare in the CAA.   It gives them better balance and better defense. Keep feeding the paint, Hofstra.

The good thing about the CAA is now there are only ten teams, which means six teams now get a bye in the first round as opposed to a few years ago, when only four teams got a bye.   Hofstra is right now in the sixth spot and can right itself for the CAA tournament.  They will likely have to face both William and Mary and Northeastern in the the tourney to get to the NCAA Tournament anyway.  It's going to be defense that gets them there.

They can start that defensive trend against Drexel today.   Let's see if they can get the train rolling again.

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.

Brooklyn Winter Hoops Festival at Barclays

The Barclays Center opened in September 2012.    It has quickly become a sports and entertainment force in thwe New York City Metro Area.  The Barclays Center is the home of the Brooklyn Nets and the soon to be home of the New York Islanders.   It has also become a major stop for big name music tours, as evidence by Elton John playing at Barclays on New Year's Eve.

The Barclays Center has also quickly become a major venue for college basketball, having hosted many games and tournaments in the past two plus years.   Yesterday, for the third college basketball season in a row, Barclays was hosting its Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival, a triple header of college basketball, featuring local and national teams.   It also happened to be the third season in a row that my good friend Tony Terentieff, aka Tieff, and I attended a event.    In the past, teams such as West Virginia, Michigan, Boston College, VCU and Kansas State among others, have played in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival.

This season's event had more of a local flavor to it, with nationally ranked St John's heading the billing, along with Hofstra, in its second appearance at the Barclays Center and LIU Brooklyn.  The Red Storm, which is the only team to have played in now all three Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festivals, took on the Green Wave of Tulane, which was playing in its second Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival in a row and has also now played in the Barclays Center three years in a row (they took on Hofstra in another Barclays Center tripleheader back in 2012).  The Green Wave have a solid alumni base in New York and again, a contingent of their fans showed up to see their team.   But their fan base paled in comparison to the hometown Johnnies, with their legions of fans in attendance.

I had got my tickets through the Hofstra ticket office, so naturally we were sitting in the Pride section of the arena.   When we got there, you could quickly see that they "evil black curtained" off the upper level seats, so only the lower bowl seats were accessible for the tournament.   It was only fitting that Fairfield would be playing in the third game of the festival.  I am sure the Bridgeport Arena native Stags felt at home at Barclays.

As a sea of red watched on, Tulane, which had won nine of its first eleven games, albeit their best win was over a struggling Mississippi State team, came out strong.  Louis Dabney scored the first five Green Wave points and Tulane took a 9-6 lead.  

But the Red Storm are ranked #17 nationally for a reason and that reason is their defense, which clamped down on the Green Wave.  In the span of less than three minutes, St John's forced four turnovers.  Meanwhile Sir'Dominic Porter was starting to go to town, as he had two baskets and assisted on another on an 8-0 spurt to put St John's up 14-9.  

Tulane called timeout to try to stop the bleeding.  Briefly, it seemed to work, as Payton Henson hit a jumper to bring the Green Wave to within three, 14-11.  However, that's as close as Tulane would get the rest of the way.   That was due in large part to the aforementioned Red Storm defense.

During a 17-5 St John's run that put the Johnies up 31-16 and basically the game out of reach for Tulane, the Red Storm held the Green Wave to 2 of 12 from the field.  St John's swarms to the ball, plays great help defense and they have the ultimate intimidator inside, Chris Obekpa.    If Obekpa is not blocking a shot, he is altering one.  In one instance, his mere presence resulted in Tulane Center Ryan Smith, figuring Obekpa would challenge the shot, chucking a shot high off the backboard so that Obekpa couldn't block it.  Obekpa, who never attempted to block the shot, just watched as the shot banged off the glass and then clanked hard off the rim. Obekpa had four blocks on the game in twenty two minutes of action.

After Tulane had come within eleven, 33-22,  the Red Storm would score the final fourteen points of the first half to put the game away.  A Phil Greene IV alley oop pass to Rysheed Jordan for the dunk capped the run, putting St John's up 47-22 at the half.  Pointer was especially dominant in the first half, scoring fifteen points and adding three assists.  

The last twenty minutes of the game basically came down to whether Tulane could keep the losing margin under thirty points.  Tulane managed to hold serve, scoring as many points as St John's did in the second half.   The Green Wave may have found solace in that, but they still lost by twenty five, 82-57.

Pointer and Dominic Harrison were responsible for most of the offense St John's needed on the day.   They would combine for forty five points on a very efficient 16 of 26 shooting from the field and 12 of 13 from the line.  Pointer was a stat sheet stuffer, as he had four assists, four rebounds, seven steals and two blocks to go with his twenty four points.  Jordan added twelve points for the Red Storm, who had fourteen steals on the day.

Dabney and Jonathan Stark were the only double figure scorers for Tulane, scoring twelve and fifteen points respectively on 11 of 26 shooting from the field.  The rest of the Green Wave shot 11 of 32 from the field.

The second game of the tripleheader featured a local battle between Hofstra, my long time home as a student and as an administrator, and LIU Brooklyn.  The Pride came into the game with their first losing streak of the season after winning seven of their first nine games.  They lost at Columbia and followed that up with a loss at home to LaSalle.  Meanwhile, the Blackbirds had won four games in a row after losing their first seven games.  One streak was guaranteed to continue at the end of this game.

The start of this game somewhat mirrored the start of the first game.  LIU Brooklyn came out the aggressor and took a 7-5 lead.  After Dion Nesmith tied the game at seven, both teams went scoreless for the next three minutes.  Finally, Moussa Kone would hit on a layup to put Hofstra in front to stay, 9-7.   Gerrell Martin hit a three pointer to cut the Pride lead to one, 11-10, with a little under twelve minutes left in the half.

From there it was all Hofstra, as the Pride outscored the Blackbirds 34-15 the rest of the half.   Ameen Tanksley did most of the damage, scoring fifteen first half points, thirteen of which came over the final eight minutes and seven seconds of the first half.   His jumper with forty seconds in the half gave Hofstra a 45-25 halftime lead.  For the second game in a row, a team took a twenty point or more lead into the half.

LIU Brooklyn showed more life than Tulane did after halftime, as the Blackbirds outscored the Pride 12-4 over the first three plus minutes of the second half.  Martin Hermannsson, part of LIU Brooklyn's dynamic Iceland freshman duo, along with Elvar Fridriksson, assisted on two straight baskets.  The second of which, a layup by Iverson Fleming, cut the Hofstra lead to twelve, 49-37.

But Hofstra had their dynamic duo of their own in Tanksley and point guard Juan'ya Green.  Green assisted on Tanksley's three pointer to start a 10-0 spurt over the span of about three minutes.  Moussa Kone's layup capped the spurt, which put the Pride up 59-37.  

From there, LIU Brooklyn would only get as close as fifteen, 70-55 with a little over six minutes left.  From there, the dynamic duo of Tanksley and Green would seal the deal, as they led Hofstra on a 14-0 run, capped again by another assist by Green, this time on a three pointer by Bernardi to make the score 84-55.

This resulted in a huge roar from the Hofstra crowd.  But the roar was not a result of Bernardi's three.  The Pride faithful had been keeping track of Green's stats on the scoreboard.  Green easily had over double digits in points by scoring the first two baskets of the second half for Hofstra.   Then he grabbed his tenth rebound with a little over three minutes left.

But what Green is really known for is being an assist machine, as he averages nearly seven assists per game.  When he fed Bernardi for the three, he had a triple double, 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.  It was the first time in Hofstra program history that a player had a triple double in a game.  When you think of all the Hofstra greats including Rich Laurel, Speedy Claxton, Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio and Charles Jenkins, none of them ever had a triple double.  Green is the first.

Hofstra would go for the 88-62 win over LIU Brooklyn.   The Pride shot over fifty percent from the field, including a smoldering 14 of 27 from beyond the arc.  Tanskley led the long range assault as he scored a career high 32 points on 12 of 20 shooting from the field.  He also added eight rebounds, as the Pride outrebounded the Blackbirds 45-33.  Nesmith added thirteen points off the bench, while Bernardi added twelve points, all from beyond the arc.

For LIU Brooklyn, Nura Zanna led the way with fourteen points and nine rebounds.  Fleming added thirteen points off the bench and Joel Hernandez added another ten off the pine for the Blackbirds.  LIU Brooklyn was held to thirty five percent shooting, including 7 of 24 from three point land.

After the Hofstra game ended, Tieff and I headed out of Barclays.  There was still the third game between Loyola-Maryland and Fairfield.  But the Stags would be left to deal with the Evil Black Curtain on their own.  It was time to head back to Long Island for our traditional Dairy Queen Victory Blizzard at the newest DQ franchise in Levittown.    Nothing like a DQ Blizzard, especially after a win for the alma mater.

Columbia Outlasts Hofstra in Shootout

My family and I traveled up from South Carolina to Long Island starting Friday afternoon.   We got to Levittown, New York yesterday evening at 6:30 pm, just in time for me to spend a few bucks on a monthly Columbia Athletics - Ivy League Digital Network online streaming pass for my iPad.   I was looking forward to seeing Hofstra take on Columbia.

Columbia recently received a lot of well earned press for their showing at #1 Kentucky.   The Lions led a good part of that game until the Wildcats rallied in the second half for the 56-46 win.   But the game showed how good a team Columbia was, especially defensively.   The Lions held the Wildcats to thirty seven percent shooting from the field, including stifling Kentucky from beyond the arc, as Kentucky hit on only two of seventeen three point attempts.   The Kentucky game was typical of Columbia's defensive play, as they had only allowed one team to score more than sixty points in a game on the season, Loyola, heading into their game with Hofstra.

The Pride on the other hand, have been an offensive juggernaut this season.  They are averaging eighty one points per game, seventeenth in the nation.   Hofstra is especially deadly from three, with two players, Ameen Tanksley and Brian Bernardi, each shooting over forty nine percent from three.  The Pride shoot forty three percent from beyond the arc on the season.    

So it was the irresistible force meeting the immovable object at Francis Leven Gymnasium last evening, or so it seemed.   What happened was Columbia was willing to play along with Hofstra, especially one Lions' guard in particular.

From the start, the pace favored Hofstra. With not even five minutes gone by, both teams put up a lot of points quickly, with Dion Nesmith tying the game at nine by hitting all three free throws after he was fouled on a three point attempt.

As they did all night, Columbia moved the ball well on the Hofstra zone, especially early on as the Lions hit on six of their first eight three point attempts.  Steve Frankoski would hit three of those and Maodo Lo added two three pointers in the first eight minutes of the game.  Jeff Coby's three pointer made it 20-14 Columbia with a little over eleven minutes left in the half.

The Pride did a better job guarding the Lions on the three over the last ten minutes of the half as Columbia would miss on their last ten three point attempts in the half.   This allowed Hofstra to make a late 12-5 spurt in the half.  Brian Bernardi's three pointer put the Pride up 38-34 at the half.

Considering the Pride put up almost as many points in the first half as Bucknell did in an entire game in a loss against the Lions earlier this season (thirty nine), you would figure coach Kyle Smith told his team to slow down the pace in the second half.    

Nope, the pace was just fine for Columbia, especially for Lo in the second half.  

Lo came out gunning in the start of the second half, first burying a three, then hitting on a layup to give Columbia a 39-38 lead.    The Pride would take the lead back, as Juan'ya Green scored four straight points to give Hofstra a 44-41 lead. 

Columbia would respond with a 8-2 spurt.   Lo again led the way, getting an old fashioned three point play to put the Lions back in front 49-46.   But Tanksley, who is shooting fifty six percent from beyond the arc this season, would nail his only three pointer of the game to tie the contest at forty nine.

With the game tied at fifty one, the Lions went ahead on a Luke Petrasek layup.  Then Lo buried another three to extend the lead to five, 56-51.   The Pride would hang around over the next few minutes.  Niesmith's  layup cut the Columbia lead to three, 61-58 with a little less than eight and a half minutes left in the game.

The Lions would then go on a 12-5 spurt over the next nearly four minutes, with Lo leading the charge.  Lo would score the first eight points during that run, the final points coming on his seventh three pointer of the game to put the Lions up 69-61.   Petrasek would score the final four points of the spurt on a free throw and a three pointer to put Columbia up ten 73-63 with about four and a half minutes left.

Hofstra would rally, scoring the next eight straight points, the last six coming from Green on a three pointer and an old fashioned three pointer.  Green's foul shot on the three point play cut the Lions lead to two, 73-71 with 2:15 left.  

The Pride played terrific half court defense on the next Columbia possession forcing Lo in the corner to put up an errant three pointer off the side of the backboard as the shot clock expired.   But Hofstra failed to put a a body on Columbia's Kyle Castlin on the rebound.  The ball deflected off the backboard directly to Castlin who put back the rebound for an easy layup and the likely dagger in Hofstra's heart.  

Hofstra had three chances on their next possession to cut Columbia's lead to two or one, but failed to capitalize on the offensive rebounds,  which was a microcosm of the whole game.  On second chance points, Columbia outscored Hofstra 12-3 for the game.    

The Lions finally got the rebound and Castlin was fouled by Green, which was his fifth foul in the game. Castlin  hit both free throws to put Columbia up 77-71 with thirty eight seconds left.  A few seconds later, Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich, tired of the questionable officiating for both sides all night, finally had enough after a Bernardi foul, and got a technical.  Lo for one of the rare times all night, missed the free throw shot.  

The Pride did their best to keep it close, but in the end the Lions had the hard fought 82-77 win in which was a very entertaining game.

Lo was a thorn in the Pride's side all night.   After putting sixteen on Kentucky, the Lions' leading scorer on the season went off on Hofstra, scoring 29 points on 10 of 21 from the field, including 7 of 15 from beyond the arc.   The Lions went 13 for 35 on three point attempts. Frankoski added fourteen, including shooting four of nine from beyond the arc and Castlin added 13 points.

As they have all season, the  Pride again had balanced scoring, as four players scored in double figures.  Green led Hofstra with 19 points but he only shot 5 of 19 from the field.  Nesmith and Tanskley each had 18 and Malik Nichols added 10 points.  Bernardi added 8 points for Hofstra, who got 73 of their 77 points from their starters.  The Lions' bench outscored the Pride's bench 33-4.

What I got out of the game was the following;  As for the Lions, Columbia does a great job of guarding the three.  They held Hofstra to 8 of 24 from beyond the arc.   Green and Tanksley were a combined 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.    It does leave them susceptible to drives to the basket as Green and Tanskley did several times.   The Lions moved the ball very well on offense and Lo is a handful to guard.   

Columbia really misses though their leading scorer from last season,  Alex Rosenberg, out for the season due to injury.  They don't have an inside scoring presence to make up for him.   Even with their small lineup, Hofstra outscored Columbia 20-18 in the paint.   

Still, Kyle Smith has done a very nice job with this team, which definitely has talent, despite what some "basketball experts" say (https://twitter.com/jonrothstein/status/546486314838011904).   The Lions could not have played such a good game against Kentucky without having talented players.   Imagine if Smith had a healthy Rosenberg.

As for the Pride, they showed their offense is legit.  After holding Kentucky to 56 points, the Lions gave up 77 to Hofstra.  Their entire starting lineup nearly all scored in double figures.   They remind me of the 2006-07 Pride, in that they have outstanding guards in Green, Tanksley, Bernardi and Nesmith, all who started with Nichols being the lone forward.    What was also encouraging is, that after struggling for most of the year from the free throw line, the Pride shot 21 of 25 from the charity stripe.

What Hofstra needs to work on is their quickness in getting to shooters on zone defense.   Unlike the App State game, where Hofstra did a good job getting out to defend the three,  the Pride seemed to be a step slow guarding the three yesterday.   It seemed too packed in at times.    Also, Hofstra desperately needs to get an inside scoring presence.  It was great to see Moussa Kone back for the Pride yesterday.  But Rokas Gustys is still hurt and Andre Walker was nowhere to be found yesterday.  The Pride need some frontcourt presence on both defense and offense when they play the likes of Northeastern's Scott Eatherton later in the season in conference play.  

The next Hofstra game, I will get to see in person, on Tuesday vs. LaSalle.  It will be nice to be back at the Mack Center for what should be another good college basketball game.

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.