MBB: Game 21 - vs. Delaware (Thu 1/23, 6:30 pm)

[Wags]

Been saying it all year, but yet again, more evidence of the "good shooting team" myth... they shot just 36.4% (24/66), just 33.3% (12/36) in the 2nd half.

They do have hot stretches here and there, but nothing is consistent. They have to stay focused on the defensive end for 40 minutes, despite some of their defensive limitations, and the have got to play to their biggest strength -- attacking and getting to the line as much as possible, every game -- if they're going to have a successful year. That has to be a consistent formula. The shooting is not going to bail them out this year. We'll see it in good spurts here and there, but there's no JWF anymore and collectively, they're just not any better than mediocre at best shooting the ball over the long run.

And they better not try to rely too much on the 3 on Saturday, because although Drexel got smoked tonight, they lead the CAA in opponents 3pt % at just 29.8%.

[Cards]

Well, what can you say. The mediocre and streaky shooting and play continues.

Unbelievable how many air balls were put up last night - by both teams! Never seen anything like it. And has anyone noticed that this is at least 3 games in a row where EP has thrown up an air ball. Is he healthy? Haven't checked the stats, but seems like his shooting is off from previous years.

And as someone else had mentioned, I recall when we were recruiting Mutts - would have loved to see him playing the 4 spot at HU this year (an he's still only a soph). In fact Painter has time left as well, so we will be seeing that duo next year as well.

Student interest is predictably down - which is what not winning will do. Without the pep band and high school band, student section looked to have only a handful of students. Now don't everyone get on my case about "not winning" - as I am well aware of our record. That being said, we all know LI is a tough place to develop a student fan base. Only high level play, long win streaks, high end fan favorite players, big name opponents, and such will bring out the students - we don't have that this year.

Beyond the players, coaches, and guys like us, there is not a lot to get excited about - and even in this group, its excitement about a particular players development, or a individual great game, or getting into the HU record books.

[Wags]

Anderson's game-winner was SportsCenter's top play last night:

https://twitter.com/DelawareMBB/status/ ... 7469813760

As Joe said, somehow they just let him dribble through the whole defense.

[Mikey77]

Glad Joe took responsibility for the full court run last night. We've seen this two or three times before if I recall, W&M and JMU I think.

[ZMAN3]

Did JM mention why he pulled Kante for last play ? I didn't understand that at all - If he was worrying about him fouling out the game was over anyway. Would rather have him in game than Trueheart (in spite of his incredible +- for the game)

[ZMAN3]

I was going to comment that Trueheart let him penetrate too close before leaving his man but he got left between a rock and a hard place - the others should never have let him go length of court without cutting him off. Buie screwed up twice - first letting him beat him going right and second giving up on play which allowed Anderson to cut back to the middle - Buie keeps running he should be able to bat ball away. Mikey I don't remember specific games but as you mentioned that's not the first time we've been beaten like that.
Then I got home to watch Michigan State lose on last second blown layup to IU - not a fun night. At least "Kyrie" and his leaderless Nets got beat by Lakers (who I'm not a big fan of either) Irving only a -26 lol

[EvanJ]

The only good thing about how wells Mutts did is that hIs dad Jarett became the fourth CAA athlete or family member to like my tweets about a CAA athlete. Unfortunately, none of the four players were on Hofstra. They were Justin Gorham (who transferred from Towson to Houston), UNCW's Kai Toews' dad, UNCW's Mike Okauru's sister, and Justyn's dad.

[triplec2195]

Did JM mention why he pulled Kante for last play ? I didn't understand that at all - If he was worrying about him fouling out the game was over anyway. Would rather have him in game than Trueheart (in spite of his incredible +- for the game)

Look I'm pretty sure that Joe fully expected this game to go into O/T PLUS STAFFORD is taller has a bigger wing span and is more of a shot blocker then Kante. This was a bit of a deja-vu of how we let JMU take us to O/T and lose on senior day last year. A very shocking and disappointing loss. The loss is now a few days old but having been at the game it stills leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Things that stick out in no order uneven officiating I recall at least three loose balls where we were called for 2 fouls and a travel? I'm not using the officiating as any kind of excuse to be clear but it was pathetic. In the 1st half we let their guard Darling wide open for 3 uncontested three's like he was on the court by himself. He had 9 points in the first half and only 2 in the second half total D breakdowns. This was just the tip of the iceberg in this game with Mutts hitting 14-17 shots all close in. Coburn spent some time watching it from the bench after missing good look three's and not being able to defend Mutts. It was lucky Trueheart had a least a halfway decent game or it could of been worse. But as has been mentioned the shooting woes of Eli continue and now it just looks like a mental thing. Although he had 11 points he didn't hit one jump shot in this game NO NOT ONE!! 4of 14 ugh. We so desperately need for him to get back on track and with all of these O deficiencies we now see the clone of Justin emerging in the form of Buie who has to resort to a one on one game. Spread the floor and let Buie takeover. We need to get back to pass first basketball and feeding Kante down low. This seems to be working more and more especially liked the dunk with Painter trying to defend. BTW IDK if anyone agrees but wasn't all that impressed with Painter but if nothing else he appears to be a good FT shooter.

[Cards]

BTW IDK if anyone agrees but wasn't all that impressed with Painter but if nothing else he appears to be a good FT shooter.

He is certainly no Nathan Knight - if he was, he would have been getting playing time at Nova. That being said, he did have a nice double double. And numerous times under the hoop he made our guys rethink the shots they were about to take - looked like a pretty intimidating guy near the hoop (and had some nice blocks). He's got good length, appears pretty athletic, and he's 6'10". No real 10-15 ft shot (at least I did not see it) and I did not think he had great hands (seemed to have a few balls get away from him).

Of all the 5s in the CAA, he's in the upper half. Would have been very happy to have him and IK share the 5 at HU.

[EvanJ]

Here are the CAA eight starters who have under 10 percent of their field goal attempts be threes with their amount of threes attempted in parenthesis: Kante (0), Drexel's James Butler (3), Painter (0), Mutts (15), Towson's Nakye Sanders (5), JMU's Dwight Wilson (0), UNCW's Marten Linssen (0), and UNCW's Shykeim Phillips (12). Phillips is 6 feet 0 inches, and it's really surprising for a guy that short to attempt so few threes. He certainly isn't a 5.