MBB Game 23 at Northeastern on February 2, 2019 (4:30 P.M.)

[EvanJ]

In the first half, we shot twos horribly. In the second half we shot twos 13-for-21 but shot threes 1-for-10. With 1:25 left, JWF made our first three of the second half, and it was our last attempt of the game. We shot three 5-for-22. We shot free throws 12-for-19 (.632), which was the first time this season we made under two-thirds. It was our worst free throw percentage since last year's CAA Tournament loss to UNCW. Pemberton made 2 of 5, and 4 players missed 1.

Buie scored a career-high 22 and made 9 of 12 field goals. He had 4 rebounds, but for the second time this season he didn't have an assist. The previous time was an 78-52 win at Kennesaw State on December 1. JWF scored 15, but he didn't shoot well. He had 3 rebounds, no assists, and 5 turnovers. Pemberton had 9 points and didn't shoot well. He had 5 rebounds, but had no assists and fouled out, making him our first player to 2 foul outs. Last season, Gustys led us with 6 foul outs, and Pemberton never fouled out. Taylor went 14:51 between rebounds (including time he didn't play), before having 9 in the second half to finish with 11. From 5:26 to 0:42 left, he had 5 rebounds. He made 3 of 6 field goals and scored 8, so he increased his average in points and rebounds. He also increased his average in assists and blocks with 2 each. We had 3 assists, with 1 in each half by Taylor, and 1 in the first half by Dwyer. Coburn had 4 point by shooting field goals 1-for-7 and free throws 2-for-2. He was second on us with 8 rebounds. We had 3 bench points, with 2 by Ray and 1 by Dwyer, and no bench points in the second half.

Vasa Pusica had 24 points and 8 rebounds. Jordan Roland, who averaged 15.3, only scored 10, and he didn't score until there was 6:21 left. He missed all 5 of his twos. Donnell Gresham scored 18, made 4 of 9 threes, and had 5 rebounds. Bolden Brace had the only double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, but he didn't shoot well. Anthony Green started, but did not attempt a shot. He had 3 rebounds and 4 fouls. They had 12 bench points. Sub forward Tomas Murphy had 6 points by shooting 3-for-5, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal in 19 minutes. Jeremy Miller scored 4 in 12 minutes, while his +/- was an impressive +13, meaning that Northeastern was +1 in the 28 minutes he didn't play. Jason Strong made his only shot to score 2. Green and Myles Franklin did not score. Franklin did not attempt a field goal, and missed 2 free throws. Pusica made 8 free throws, and Roland, Brace, and Gresham made 4. I wonder how rare it is for at least 4 teammates to make at least 4 free throws, but I don't have a way of finding out.

Nobody on either team had more than 2 assists! It was the first time that happened in one of our games since a 57-46 loss at George Mason on January 19, 2013. That was 201 games ago.

[Cards]

Hope this was not a peek into next years team - who is going to step up when JWF is not bailing them out??

Only bit of leadership today came from DB. EP and JR really disappointed. TC was too quiet, and JT was mediocre.

As we've all said before, anything can happen in CAA games.

As good as HU is, it will certainly not be a lock that they are a championship team until they actually cut the nets.

Need to get back on track on Thursday!

Looking at the box score, I see JT had a double double - better numbers than it seemed watching the game. I guess since he didn't dominate, his performance just got lost.
Also I see in the box the entire team had a total of 3 assists!! Can't win that way!

[Jojogunne]

Boston dominates every single sport so I don’t know why CAA basketball would be any different.

Right about that.

[Jojogunne]

Hope this was not a peek into next years team - who is going to step up when JWF is not bailing them out??

Only bit of leadership today came from DB. EP and JR really disappointed. TC was too quiet, and JT was mediocre.

As we've all said before, anything can happen in CAA games.

As good as HU is, it will certainly not be a lock that they are a championship team until they actually cut the nets.

Need to get back on track on Thursday!

Got the pack the Mack!

[Polito]

Doubt Thur will have a lot of fans, but Sat will be close to a sellout. Hope they come ready to play the game of basketball.

They are still the best team in the conference despite today's stinker.

You know cactus, I don't want to go off the ledge here, no doubt this team is very good and yep they own the best record in the conf, but I actually don't feel this way after tonight. HU beat NU on a prayer when they were not full tilt... NU is better now, but still not fully whole, and NU spanked this team. This wasn't a loss, it was a statement to let HU know what's up. And HU took it like a you know what. And they didn't do it on a prayer shot. Split the series but the wins are very different. I'm going to see how they respond to this obviously, that's the key, but I'm concerned for sure.

HU may have the best record, but they are not truly the best team until they prove the prayer wins were not flukes. Exactly why I said that before this game. So far, HU's win over NU looks like luck. Next chance Sat, although after barely beating Elon I guess this Thursday is the same deal. I'm not sky is falling, but today was a red flag. I said this was a champ game to test their net-cutting chops...solid F. At least if it was close I could make do.

Sigh... it's just so typical of HU and JAM, blow the opps when people are actually watching on TV lol. Prob not the best day to blow the streak. And maybe this works out for the best, it is extremely difficult to beat the same team three times in a season, so this could be a blessing in disguise. We just won't know till March.

The loss I can handle and don't think it's a huge deal in and of itself - it's the WAY they got put to sleep from the tip, played lost and sloppy, didn't distribute well, fouled like junior high kids, and allowed themselves to be knocked right off their game, AND had zero answer - didn't even fight back after halftime. Not ok. Staff and team should be ashamed of this performance. I don't believe in learning experiences this late in the season with a veteran team, but I sure hope it was a wakeup call.

Alas, every team has clunker games, certainly better now than in March, so I guess we'll find out how they respond on Thur. Their response to this L will make or break them and this season. I'll be there both games. Hope the course is corrected in a big way...

[The Shadow]

Polito, very good analysis of the aftermath of the two HU-NU games. I am concerned about JWF's shoulder. The road to the CAAT starts Thursday.

[Wags]

Doubt Thur will have a lot of fans, but Sat will be close to a sellout. Hope they come ready to play the game of basketball.

They are still the best team in the conference despite today's stinker.

You know cactus, I don't want to go off the ledge here, no doubt this team is very good and yep they own the best record in the conf, but I actually don't feel this way after tonight. HU beat NU on a prayer when they were not full tilt... NU is better now, but still not fully whole, and NU spanked this team. This wasn't a loss, it was a statement to let HU know what's up. And HU took it like a you know what. And they didn't do it on a prayer shot. Split the series but the wins are very different. I'm going to see how they respond to this obviously, that's the key, but I'm concerned for sure.

HU may have the best record, but they are not truly the best team until they prove the prayer wins were not flukes. Exactly why I said that before this game. So far, HU's win over NU looks like luck. Next chance Sat, although after barely beating Elon I guess this Thursday is the same deal. I'm not sky is falling, but today was a red flag. I said this was a champ game to test their net-cutting chops...solid F. At least if it was close I could make do.

Sigh... it's just so typical of HU and JAM, blow the opps when people are actually watching on TV lol. Prob not the best day to blow the streak. And maybe this works out for the best, it is extremely difficult to beat the same team three times in a season, so this could be a blessing in disguise. We just won't know till March.

The loss I can handle and don't think it's a huge deal in and of itself - it's the WAY they got put to sleep from the tip, played lost and sloppy, didn't distribute well, fouled like junior high kids, and allowed themselves to be knocked right off their game, AND had zero answer - didn't even fight back after halftime. Not ok. Staff and team should be ashamed of this performance. I don't believe in learning experiences this late in the season with a veteran team, but I sure hope it was a wakeup call.

Alas, every team has clunker games, certainly better now than in March, so I guess we'll find out how they respond on Thur. Their response to this L will make or break them and this season. I'll be there both games. Hope the course is corrected in a big way...

Joe warned of this during the week. Despite the 16-game streak, the perfect 9-0 first half in the CAA and the healthy three-game lead, he said Northeastern was still the best team in the league. And as you allude to, the TWO games against NU this year (not just today) seem to show that (because let's face it, HU won at home on a prayer, but was down 9 with about 4 mins to go after leading in the first half by 10 - so a 19-point stretch in favor of NU over a long period of time during that first game).

Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap. This was a tough road matchup going in. Coen's a good coach and Northeastern did a very good job not letting HU's two best players beat them today. Buie was sensational, but JWF (15 pts on just 5/14, just 2/8 from 3; 5 TOs and no asts) and Eli (just 9 pts on 3/10, just 1/4 from 3) were held in check. Overall, HU was uncharacteristically bad from both 3 (5/22) and the line (12/19).

Hopefully, it's a lesson learned. When opponents are able to contain JWF and Eli, others need to step up. Buie certainly did, Taylor did to an extent. But two points each from Coburn (0/6 fg) and Ray (1/6 fg) hurt tremendously.

Also, just THREE assists on Hofstra's 22 made FGs today. THREE!!! And they were from Taylor (two) and Dwyer (one). Very tough way to win. How do you play an entire men's D-I college basketball game and not have a single assist from ANY of your guards?!?!?!?!?!!!! Other than NC State somehow losing 47-24 (not a typo, that's twenty-four) to Virginia Tech at home today, that might be one of the most mindboggling stats I've seen a very long time. Just too stagnant, not sharing the ball enough. Gotta do better than that.

Now we'll see what they're made of. Can they keep the other streak going (at home) and run the table there, and win the rest of their road games other than maybe at Charleston (or win that if they lose another on the road)? I think this definitely got their attention that there is still a lot more work to do to be the team to beat when it counts, in Charleston, in March.

Now it's about trying to still get that one seed (which they still control) and hopefully seeing NU and Charleston finish 2-3 so one can knock the other off in the semis. Everyone expected those three to be the top three, and now it's shaping up that way, with Delaware falling back to earth in 4th place (at 6-5, after two straight losses), and everyone else after them with a losing conference record. What wasn't expected by this point though, was HU leading that three team-pack. And that's what the winning streak did. So we'll gladly take that. Now it's about finishing strong and getting that top seed and a second CAA regular season title. Still an opportunity to do that. Gotta bust through and take advantage of that.

[triplec2195]

I'm not looking to make excuses as to why they lost or even to point fingers but JAM'S M.O. always to bench players after they pick up their 2nd foul in the 1st half. He may have had second thoughts after this game benching Justin. He just has to be on the floor and it almost seems silly. When is the last time Justin fouled out? When is the last time Justin even came close to fouling out? Pusica picked up 2 fouls got benched and went back into the game in the first half. How many points do you think Justin would have scored in the 8 minutes he sat if he were playing? I just think instead of going into the locker room down 8 maybe they're tied maybe even up. If this game was a crucial win Justin should have been playing with 2 fouls in the first half. In so many ways and not just scoring he creates havoc for the other team. Clearly his health couldn't have been that much of an issue because he played all 20 minutes of the second half!!

[The Shadow]

Wags, Also another very good analysis of the CAA. If this HU team has the makeup we all hope they have, the next streak starts on Thursday. Roll Pride!

[HUSID74]

Wags, well said as usual...also agree with the Shadow that we gambled by taking our Best players off the floor in the first half and it burned us, giving up what, seven straight points?

All and all a bad performance all around but I'm confident we'll bounce back, starting Thursday.

[Wags]

Wags, well said as usual...also agree with the Shadow that we gambled by taking our Best players off the floor in the first half and it burned us, giving up what, seven straight points?

All and all a bad performance all around but I'm confident we'll bounce back, starting Thursday.

Very much like within a game when an opponent goes on a run and you have to respond, that's what the two games at home are next week after this loss at NU. Nothing wrong with 11-1 going into the final third of the CAA schedule, especially when you know everyone else has at least three conference losses. Still in the driver's seat. These next couple games and then the next several to follow are about staying there.

[HUclassof19]

Tonight happened cause of three factors to me.

1 - poor shooting
2 - poor officials
3 - off nights by everyone except for buie

if you are getting on your high horse about tonight or thinking the sky is falling it probably is bc you almost wanted this to happen or you were saving the post in your draft for after any of the following games might have been losses:
siena
kennesaw
monmouth
rider
manhattan
stonybrook
rosemont
delaware
drexel
northeastern
wm
elon
uncw
charleston
jmu
towson

this is an all-time great hofstra team and one that my opinion hasnt changed about at all. never once did i think we were going undefeated in league play. do you realize how difficult that would have been. we werent just the first place team. we became a national team that got even more than everyones best shot.

i could go on and on but im sure others on the board who are smarter than the rest of us will tell me how i am wrong so im good.

cant wait to be in the student section on thursday and saturday.

[cactus]

They are still the best team in the conference despite today's stinker.

You know cactus, I don't want to go off the ledge here, no doubt this team is very good and yep they own the best record in the conf, but I actually don't feel this way after tonight. HU beat NU on a prayer when they were not full tilt... NU is better now, but still not fully whole, and NU spanked this team. This wasn't a loss, it was a statement to let HU know what's up. And HU took it like a you know what. And they didn't do it on a prayer shot. Split the series but the wins are very different. I'm going to see how they respond to this obviously, that's the key, but I'm concerned for sure.

HU may have the best record, but they are not truly the best team until they prove the prayer wins were not flukes. Exactly why I said that before this game. So far, HU's win over NU looks like luck. Next chance Sat, although after barely beating Elon I guess this Thursday is the same deal. I'm not sky is falling, but today was a red flag. I said this was a champ game to test their net-cutting chops...solid F. At least if it was close I could make do.

Sigh... it's just so typical of HU and JAM, blow the opps when people are actually watching on TV lol. Prob not the best day to blow the streak. And maybe this works out for the best, it is extremely difficult to beat the same team three times in a season, so this could be a blessing in disguise. We just won't know till March.

The loss I can handle and don't think it's a huge deal in and of itself - it's the WAY they got put to sleep from the tip, played lost and sloppy, didn't distribute well, fouled like junior high kids, and allowed themselves to be knocked right off their game, AND had zero answer - didn't even fight back after halftime. Not ok. Staff and team should be ashamed of this performance. I don't believe in learning experiences this late in the season with a veteran team, but I sure hope it was a wakeup call.

Alas, every team has clunker games, certainly better now than in March, so I guess we'll find out how they respond on Thur. Their response to this L will make or break them and this season. I'll be there both games. Hope the course is corrected in a big way...

Nah, they're still the best team. The defense is so much better than years past and they have more offensive options than anyone else in the league. Coen is a very good coach, they defend well and move the ball well, they're a good team that's tough to beat. Hofstra isn't going to win them all.

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[HofstraUSA]

Doubt Thur will have a lot of fans, but Sat will be close to a sellout. Hope they come ready to play the game of basketball.

They are still the best team in the conference despite today's stinker.

You know cactus, I don't want to go off the ledge here, no doubt this team is very good and yep they own the best record in the conf, but I actually don't feel this way after tonight. HU beat NU on a prayer when they were not full tilt... NU is better now, but still not fully whole, and NU spanked this team. This wasn't a loss, it was a statement to let HU know what's up. And HU took it like a you know what. And they didn't do it on a prayer shot. Split the series but the wins are very different. I'm going to see how they respond to this obviously, that's the key, but I'm concerned for sure.

HU may have the best record, but they are not truly the best team until they prove the prayer wins were not flukes. Exactly why I said that before this game. So far, HU's win over NU looks like luck. Next chance Sat, although after barely beating Elon I guess this Thursday is the same deal. I'm not sky is falling, but today was a red flag. I said this was a champ game to test their net-cutting chops...solid F. At least if it was close I could make do.

Sigh... it's just so typical of HU and JAM, blow the opps when people are actually watching on TV lol. Prob not the best day to blow the streak. And maybe this works out for the best, it is extremely difficult to beat the same team three times in a season, so this could be a blessing in disguise. We just won't know till March.

The loss I can handle and don't think it's a huge deal in and of itself - it's the WAY they got put to sleep from the tip, played lost and sloppy, didn't distribute well, fouled like junior high kids, and allowed themselves to be knocked right off their game, AND had zero answer - didn't even fight back after halftime. Not ok. Staff and team should be ashamed of this performance. I don't believe in learning experiences this late in the season with a veteran team, but I sure hope it was a wakeup call.

Alas, every team has clunker games, certainly better now than in March, so I guess we'll find out how they respond on Thur. Their response to this L will make or break them and this season. I'll be there both games. Hope the course is corrected in a big way...

They didn't lose a game for 10 weeks. This is absurd even for you.

[Flying Dutchmen]

They didn't lose a game for 10 weeks. This is absurd even for you.

Yeah, it's a classic hyperbolic contrarian post from Polito, just gotta ignore those.

Listen, it was a dud tonight, no way around it. I thought the effort was there, the execution was bad, and we lost our composure in the second half. Tough lost opportunity with Occeus out.

First off, the refs sucked, they called some of the worst fouls I can remember in the first half, for both teams, but we handled it worse than Northeastern. Our failure was in the last 3 minutes, keeping JWF and Pemberton on the bench, while Northeastern gambled with putting Puscia back out there, they finished the half on a 7-0 run, which ended up being game-defining. Hindsight's 20/20 and we would have been in trouble if JWF picked up his 3rd, but you have to bring the killer instinct on the road, even in a dead gym like Matthews.

Now I can't remember a game where we missed so many point-blank shots, but the shooting was poor all over the court, that combined with the foul trouble put us in uncharted waters in the second half, and we sunk.

Pemba's gotta keep it together better in these big games. I think he kind of spiraled out of control when the shots weren't falling early, and it really hurt us. JWF had a bad game too, his 5 turnovers were mainly due to him forcing the point, Northeastern's defense feeds off of that. Buie was the man though, great performance tonight, he did everything he could to keep it together for us.

I thought Northeastern had a pedestrian game, their style of play just begs you to take wins away from them, and we just missed a ridiculous amount of good shots early in the second half. We got frustrated and started to try to force the point, we got the techs from Pemba and Coach, goodnight.

All the pressure of this season bottle-necked on this game. We had a huge win streak, national recognition, local media attention, and some big home crowds in the future with the students coming back. We failed miserably. The lesson tonight was keep your composure even when the shots aren't falling, and the calls are going against you. Joe took a late tech because the refs did a horrible job, but the team can't let it get to that point. This team has been resilient, if we take it to Elon and W&M next week, then this loss was just a minor blip on the radar.

Northeastern is always a bad matchup for us, but we're just a better team this year, we have more talent and more heart. If we get to the CAA Final, we're going to see them, that's the reality. We did a lot of good things tonight, we got Roland chucking bad shots, their bigs played like the stiffs they are. Our offense got humbled though, and I hope this loss ruminates with the playoffs and coaches the rest of the season, because we're going to see them again.

[daHUPride]

Hmmmm - bad ugly loss.
Bad reffing - yep. Bad shooting - blind man can see that. Terrible overall showing by HU - for sure.
It's over - its behind us now.
Now it is all about getting off the mat and reestablishing ourselves. That will be the tell tale sign of what this team i made of and how good we are - really are.

[triplec2195]

I'm not looking to make excuses as to why they lost or even to point fingers but JAM'S M.O. always to bench players after they pick up their 2nd foul in the 1st half. He may have had second thoughts after this game benching Justin. He just has to be on the floor and it almost seems silly. When is the last time Justin fouled out? When is the last time Justin even came close to fouling out? Pusica picked up 2 fouls got benched and went back into the game in the first half. How many points do you think Justin would have scored in the 8 minutes he sat if he were playing? I just think instead of going into the locker room down 8 maybe they're tied maybe even up. If this game was a crucial win Justin should have been playing with 2 fouls in the first half. In so many ways and not just scoring he creates havoc for the other team. Clearly his health couldn't have been that much of an issue because he played all 20 minutes of the second half!!

I posted this before I listened to Joe post game and even he spent time talking about this philosophy about benching players and how this may be a philosophy that needs to be changed and he inferred it hurt us in this game. If JWF has ever fouled out it hasn't been in recent memory and no FD we wouldn't have been in big trouble if Justin picked up his 3rd foul after all he finished with only 3 fouls. Again I will repeat myself what kind of upside would we have gotten from Justin if he played a lot of those 8 minutes?? C'mon this was a big coaching mistake just because this freakin policy is etched in stone. Lets start playing with some creativity and gamble a bit. Would this have made the difference in the outcome of this game who knows!

[stuball888]

I will finally chime in after sleeping on this. If I could sum it up in one sentence it would be this. Hofstra lost their composure. We were down by only 8 at the half. WE were unable to make a dent in their lead. To Nus credit they never let us make a run at them. While the officiating was spotty at best Pemberton got frustrated and those 4 free throws were the dagger. This team needs to regroup and learn from their mistakes in this game.

[Pride97]

It’s a frustrating loss because the played very poorly to their standards. It was an uncharacteristic bad shooting night. Missed a ton of looks they don’t normally do - more about that than NU D to me.

Listen NU is a good team - we all knew that. They are also not without their warts. They do have 3 league losses including one to a Towson team that we crushed in the road. I’m not ready to say the sky is falling off one bad game - they happen. If they come back and win the next two I will still have the confidence I had prior to the NU game. If they don’t - different story.


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[Wags]

I don't understand the responses toward for Polito here, who is simply throwing out the same words of caution that Mihalich said himself during the winning streak about Northeastern still being the best team in the CAA.

It's possible for both to be true - that Hofstra played great since Thanksgiving weekend, except for the two games against Northeastern. And if it comes down Hofstra vs. Northeastern, those two games clearly show that Hofstra still has work to do in order to cut down the nets. On February 3rd, that's a GOOD admission, so you can fix those things between now and March, and you don't go into a possible HU-NU title game overconfident because you beat up on everyone else not named Northeastern. No shame in admitting weaknesses, even when you're having a great season overall. It's what champions do. It's how you get to BE a champion when you've been on the cusp but haven't quite done it yet.