MBB vs. Towson, Thursday, 2/3/22, 7 PM

[EvanJ]

We had 21 rebounds, which were our fewest since a 86-72 win hosting Charleston on January 19, 2019. It was our fewest rebounds in a loss since we had 17 in a 79-68 loss hosting Northeastern on February 12, 2015. We made all 4 free throws, which was our fewest attempts since we made 2 of 3 in a 61-43 win over Drexel in the CAA Quarterfinals on March 8, 2020. On a better note, we ended our streak of six games with fewer than ten threes made. Nicolas Timberlake (6), Jason Gibson (4), Charles Thompson (4), and Cameron Holden (4) were four teammates with at least 4 assists. Towson had that in both wins over us this season. No other team has had four players do that against us since William & Mary on January 10, 2019. The Sports Reference College Basketball Play Index goes back to 2010-2011, and those are the only times four teammates had at least 4 assists against us during that time.

[Wags]

I wonder how often a team sweeps an opponent by the same score in both regular-season games. 78-66 loss at Towson last month. Tonight, it was about to be the same until an Estrada jumper in the final seconds made the final 78-68. Then I get home from Hofstra and turn on the end of UCLA at Arizona, and Arizona won that one, 76-66.

Hofstra has to stop kidding itself and admit what it really is as a team and start playing to those strengths.

Offensively, you cannot win games when you don't move the ball and don't move people, and when you're not shooting lights out and when you don't have guys who can score enough on their own. Towson plays together. They're a pleasure to watch. HU looks like its struggles for everything it gets. Way too much 1-on-1.

Only 16 HU assists on 51 buckets over the past two games. In sharp contrast, Towson has 21 assists on 25 baskets tonight. THAT is how you play.

Also can't be drawing only NINE fouls on your home floor, especially when your opponent drew 19.

Is HU capable of hot streaks from the perimeter? Sure. Can they even win some games like that? Yes. But for the most part, they are not this great perimeter shooting team they think they are. Great that Ray shot a good percentage from 3 tonight, going 5/12. But only four 2-point attempts and not a single foul shot from him.

It's a bit disheartening to hear Speedy say they got the looks they want and didn't settle rather than taking a more effective approach. They went 5/15 from 3 in the first half with only four FTs attempted, with the 15 3s being more than half of their 28 FGA. Not terrible from but not that good either. So, do they change the approach in the second half after that? Nope, they take 14 3s out of 31 total shots, going a very similar 5/14 from 3, and not a single FT attempt for just about the entire second half until Silverio took a couple at the end, HU's only FTAs of the half -- at HOME, no less. Again, in sharp contrast, Towson went 17/22 at the line in the second half, and only a small bit of that was HU fouling late to catch up. Most of it was Towson taking a different approach, getting to the line, scoring inside, after going 8/11 from 3 in the first half.

Defensively, you cannot hang your head or let your effort or energy sag because you miss shots at the other end. That HAS to be a constant at all times, every game. And if you're going to take away the 3 (like they did tonight - Towson was 0/4 in the second half after burning HU from there the entire first meeting and in the first half tonight), you have to make sure that you then don't get beat repeatedly inside instead, like they did in the second half tonight. You also have to realize that your defensive possession isn't over until you secure the rebound. This team can be good enough defensively when it avoids all of these things. They can be a pest when they're active and play D with purpose and with energy. But they aren't good enough defensively to get away with not doing those things. That's another admission they have to make about what they really are.

[Hofstra]

Just got home from that ass kicking we got tonight. Sheesh. That was brutal.

Was Hofstra not allowed in the paint tonight? Every missed shot, there seemed to be 3-4 Towson rebounders underneath. Hofstra had a 1, at most, sometimes zero.

This seems like a season where we are just a middle of the pact team. It sucks, but hopefully next season is better. We've somehow regressed it seems. I am unsure how that happens, but our basketball looks like it is behind us.

Timberlake was on fire tonight, and carried a certain swagger with him. He was running around the court as if he owned real estate in our heads. No one on our team seems to step up and lead. I did see Cooks and Iyiola going at it, and after, Cooks was being calmed down by his teammates on the bench when he was arguing with coaches.

Sucks, but this isnt working yet. Hopefully we get it going.

[Wags]

After finishing the first half of the CAA schedule a mediocre 5-4, Hofstra better not miss too many more opportunities in the second half.

The league is really bunched up. Although they're only a half-game out of third-place, only 1 1/2 games separates them from 9th-place.

Definitely don't want to fall out of the top six and have to play that extra game in D.C.

4) Hofstra 5-4
5) Drexel 5-5
6) JMU 4-5
7) Charleston 4-5
8) Elon 4-6
9) W&M 4-6

[triplec2195]

A brutal frustrating game to watch. Spot on comments here about Towson and how well they play as a team clearly showing they outplayed us and they're a better team then us. A sad reality at this point in the season. They killed us from 3 in the first half and in the second half when we played tougher D they were getting easier shots in the paint outrebounding us by a large margin. Post game with Speedy now shows a man that's not so confident and cocky about this team. He looked depressed and befuddled talking about how the Wednesday "BAD PRACTICE" set them up for failure in this game. Bad individual games from Dubar 2/10 and Cooks only playing 13 minutes. I'm beginning to get the feeling that Cooks has an attitude problem. Is his only getting 13 minutes because of his lack of D or him being insubordinate the cause or both. Don't really know what's going on here but know they need his scoring and based on the earlier part of the season and his entire career he can provide that. Credit to Burgess in this game who we've beat up for most of the season he gave us tenacious D and some scoring, 2 steals and 3 assists. Both Delaware and UNCW lost last night so we had a golden opportunity to move up in the standings but not playing the way we played. First loss at home also!

[HUSID74]

Don't know how much of a home court advantage we have with a crowd that looked like it was less than 1,000...very disappointing.

[stuball888]

John were fans required to wear masks for the game If so that could contribute to the sparse crowd

[Wags]

Don't know how much of a home court advantage we have with a crowd that looked like it was less than 1,000...very disappointing.

The crowd picked up right before tipoff. It ended up being over 1,300, which wasn't much different than the Delaware and Drexel crowds.
stuball - we know how HU has drawn for years; I highly doubt mask requirements kept the crowd down. Long Island does that on its own. The interest just isn't there in this area.

Ten minutes before tipoff, I was wondering if they'd even get 300 or 400 in the building, but then the Lion's Den behind me filled up pretty well and they were pretty vocal. I thought they helped the team's defensive energy during the 12-2 run to start the second half, which tied the game. But then the team stopped feeding off of that as Towson changed its approach and beat HU up inside and at the foul line (after HU, to its credit, took the 3-ball away from Towson) after torching HU from 3 in the first half, all while HU continued the exact same approach of settling for less-than-mediocre 3-pt. shooting and basically not getting to the line at all. I thought that flexibility from Towson to adapt and change offensively vs. HU banging it head against the wall and failing while stubbornly trying the same thing, was the ballgame.

[HU87]

A look at our Advanced Stats through last night's game, with an emphasis on win share per 40 minutes.

Interesting insights here...

Iyiola seems to be our unsung hero in winning games, which in hindsight, isn't hard to understand. He's handling a lot of the dirty work and anchoring our defense and rebounding.

Estrada is having as great of a season as we thought

Cooks and Ray are not making the impact, either offensively or defensively, in ways the influence us winning basketball games-- especially with those high usage rates.

Screen Shot 2022-02-04 at 11.39.00 AM.png

[HofstraPride1]

John were fans required to wear masks for the game If so that could contribute to the sparse crowd

I highly doubt that is reason. Wearing masks not a big deal at all. Attendance struggles are not a new thing.

[Hofstra]

Don't know how much of a home court advantage we have with a crowd that looked like it was less than 1,000...very disappointing.

So true. Crowd was sparse. I brought 2 friends with me to the game, and they both didnt understand why we drew so few fans. Obviously they arent from LI, but after beating Arkansas, and battling with Houston and Maryland, they were surprised.

They have to run ticket specials. I know they do 10 dollars at times, but pack the arena, do 5 bucks. Fill the seats, sell the concessions

[Wags]

Don't know how much of a home court advantage we have with a crowd that looked like it was less than 1,000...very disappointing.

So true. Crowd was sparse. I brought 2 friends with me to the game, and they both didnt understand why we drew so few fans. Obviously they arent from LI, but after beating Arkansas, and battling with Houston and Maryland, they were surprised.

They have to run ticket specials. I know they do 10 dollars at times, but pack the arena, do 5 bucks. Fill the seats, sell the concessions

To this point, they kept raising their prices over the years, but what has that yielded them? They have sold, it seems, considerably fewer tickets at higher prices. Know the market, sell more tickets, have a better experience for all (and thus have better word-of-mouth advertising for future games) at lower ticket prices, and in the long run, make more money doing that anyway. They still have the courtside seats if they want to sell some higher-priced tickets.

[EvanJ]

Definitely don't want to fall out of the top six and have to play that extra game in D.C.

JMU is banned, so there will be nine teams with the top seven getting a bye.

[Jojogunne]

Well, then we don’t want to fall out of the top seven.

[Pride97]

New York isn’t the south for fans. They just don’t show up.

However if they putting a consistent winner on the court the people will come.

I’ve gone to almost every home game since 2015 and the crowds haven’t changed much. Yes - they have been consistent winners in that they have had good regular seasons but not much to show after that. When they had the 16 game win streak people showed. In 2006 when they were making noise, people showed. What they need to do is play in the tourney to get the name out there. Local promotions will never bet enough for the crowds we want. I know we got screwed in 2020, but every 20 years isnt going to do it. If they won 2 conference championships in a 5 year period I guarantee the crowds would increase.

It’s nice to do ticket deals and get families to games. That’s works for promotion days but that’s it. If they want a consistent crowd - one like we all saw at uncw recently - then they have to win and make noise way more consistently. There are plenty of people around to go - they need a reason to.


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[triplec2195]

Just got home from that ass kicking we got tonight. Sheesh. That was brutal.

Was Hofstra not allowed in the paint tonight? Every missed shot, there seemed to be 3-4 Towson rebounders underneath. Hofstra had a 1, at most, sometimes zero.

This seems like a season where we are just a middle of the pact team. It sucks, but hopefully next season is better. We've somehow regressed it seems. I am unsure how that happens, but our basketball looks like it is behind us.

Timberlake was on fire tonight, and carried a certain swagger with him. He was running around the court as if he owned real estate in our heads. No one on our team seems to step up and lead. I did see Cooks and Iyiola going at it, and after, Cooks was being calmed down by his teammates on the bench when he was arguing with coaches.

Sucks, but this isnt working yet. Hopefully we get it going.

You mentioned Timberlake and having been at the game and watching this kid just effortlessly scoring at will against us almost single-handedly beating us. I remember him being a pretty good player in past seasons but not like he was in this game. So yesterday winless NE gets their first win and who did they beat of course Towson who owned us on Thursday. When I look at the box score and seeing Mr "walk on water" Timberlake scoring 6 points on 3-15 shooting and 0-9 from three. So what is it that gets guards having career games against us? Was NE's D so much better then ours yesterday to force him into such a bad shooting performance or is it just the nature of the beast in this game. Maybe a bit of both.

[cactus]

A look at our Advanced Stats through last night's game, with an emphasis on win share per 40 minutes.

Interesting insights here...

Iyiola seems to be our unsung hero in winning games, which in hindsight, isn't hard to understand. He's handling a lot of the dirty work and anchoring our defense and rebounding.

Estrada is having as great of a season as we thought

Cooks and Ray are not making the impact, either offensively or defensively, in ways the influence us winning basketball games-- especially with those high usage rates.

Screen Shot 2022-02-04 at 11.39.00 AM.png

I like Cooks as a player but to me he only knows how to operate as the clear cut top dog.

[Wags]

A look at our Advanced Stats through last night's game, with an emphasis on win share per 40 minutes.

Interesting insights here...

Iyiola seems to be our unsung hero in winning games, which in hindsight, isn't hard to understand. He's handling a lot of the dirty work and anchoring our defense and rebounding.

Estrada is having as great of a season as we thought

Cooks and Ray are not making the impact, either offensively or defensively, in ways the influence us winning basketball games-- especially with those high usage rates.

Screen Shot 2022-02-04 at 11.39.00 AM.png

I like Cooks as a player but to me he only knows how to operate as the clear cut top dog.

I've felt that way about him too, but to his credit, not last night against UNCW. Estrada was still the leading scorer and closer for HU, with Cooks playing a very needed supplemental role through the middle of the second half very well.

[stuball888]

If Estrada and Cooks can play like Buie and Pemberton we will be ok

[Cards]

If Estrada and Cooks can play like Buie and Pemberton we will be ok

Agree completely Stu.

I think Estrada might be even more valuable to the team than Pemba was, given that he controls the ball and the flow of the entire offense. Then consider that he still has several years to play and continue to improve..... Glad he's on our roster and not another CAA team!