MBB Game 28 Drexel, Feb. 22 (Thu), 7 PM

[EvanJ]

We went up 8, went down 3, and lead 33-32 at halftime. Drexel has five players with 6 points and one player with 2 points, meaning that they are on pace to have five players score 12, allow 66, and lose. Thomas has 14 points, and is the only player on either team with more than 6. Dubar attempted 3 field goals and 2 free throws both of which he missed. Carlos had 5 points, 6 rebounds to lead all players, and 3 assists to lead all players. He had 4 of our 5 turnovers. Amari Williams shot field goals 2-5 and had only 2 rebounds.

[Wags]

Feels like Drexel has hung in with smoke and mirrors. Didn't shoot well although they did pick it up: close 9/16 after starting 2/13.

The advantage at the line has made this closer than it should be: Drexel 6/6, Hofstra 0/3.

Dubar has been far too quiet. Need to get him going in the second half.

Sunday gave them good minutes. Speedy apparently felt he had to go to him early and more often than usual because of Williams' size, and that has worked out well so far.

[dutchPride86]

Toughness...we've been searching for it all year, need it to find it fast to pull this one off. Lot of lousy offensive possessions to start this 2nd half, and starting to let it affect their defense.

[dutchPride86]

Rhetorical question...but will we ever learn how to properly break a press?

[dutchPride86]

Toughness...we've been searching for it all year, need it to find it fast to pull this one off. Lot of lousy offensive possessions to start this 2nd half, and starting to let it affect their defense.

They sure found it, and great to see Carlos and esp. Dubar step up to lead the way on that big run. Tyler had a couple better make if you're gonna take it shots that he knocked down in that half too. But defense the key... 19-5 Hofstra on pts off turnovers just excellent

And can't forget about Sunday....what tremendous unexpected growth he's showing!

Somehow, someway, back in control of their own destiny for a top 4 seed with 3 to go

[Flying Dutchmen]

Best effort of the year.

[EvanJ]

Drexel had only 5 points off turnovers. They had 2 more points not off turnovers than us. What odds could you have gotten on Carlos getting twice as many rebounds as Amari Williams? I'm not going to type normal statistics. Here are analytics:

In efficiency, Thomas led with 28, Williams had 18, and Dubar had 16.
In game score, Thomas led with 25.2, Williams had 13.2, and Dubar had 10.3
In net points, Thomas led with 17.0, Williams had 7.6, and Yame Butler had 7.3.

Here are the standings without considering tiebreakers:

1. Charleston 12-3
2. UNCW 11-4
Tied 3. Hofstra, Towson, and Drexel 10-5
6. Delaware 9-6
Tied 7. Monmouth and Stony Brook 8-7
Tied 9. Northeastern and Campbell 6-9
Tied 11. Elon and North Carolina A&T 5-10
13. William & Mary 3-12
14. Hampton 2-13 (they won their second consecutive game tonight, and they end at William & Mary)

[triplec2195]

You have Delaware twice here I guess that's supposed to be Drexel. How's the tie breaker with Drexel determined. I know we beat both Towson and Delaware.

[Cards]

Guys played tough tonight. Other than a few lapses, I thought this was a good team defensive effort for all 40 minutes.

Is this the potential in Silas Sunday that Patino saw and Speedy took on. As has been mentioned, his best effort to date. He actually fit in with the flow of the game, used his size against Williams a few times and really clogged up the middle. Happy for him and good for HU!.

[triplec2195]

Amari Williams seems to play this game with no urgency almost like he goes thru the motions.. I'm surprised he doesn't take it to the basket more but truth be told he missed some easy chip shots. If it wasn't for his free throws he would have had 10 points. He hit all his FT's and I remember him as an awful foul shooter.

[EvanJ]

You have Delaware twice here I guess that's supposed to be Drexel. How's the tie breaker with Drexel determined. I know we beat both Towson and Delaware.

I edited to correct it. If we tie with Drexel and Towson like we are now, we have the best three-way head-to-head, and we also win two-way or three-way with Delaware and/or Towson. Two-way with Drexel would be determined by record against the top team, second place team, and so on. Drexel has a win over UNCW, so they will have the tiebreaker over us if we lose at UNCW and Charleston, but in that case the tiebreaker would not matter because as long as Drexel wins their two easy games, they would be above us in that scenario. Towson has to play UNCW and Charleston like we do. If we beat Elon, and Towson and us lose to UNCW and Charleston, we will finish tied with Towson and win the tiebreaker, or ahead of them if they lose North Carolina A&T. Delaware hosts Drexel on Monday on CBS Sports Network, hosts Northeastern, and ends at Stony Brook. If we beat Elon and Delaware loses to Drexel, we will finish with ahead of Delaware, or tied and win the tiebreaker. Monmouth and/or Stony Brook could tie us with three wins. We have the tiebreaker over Stony Brook, and lose it to Monmouth. Monmouth hosts North Carolina A&T and goes to Hampton and Elon, so we cannot rule out them winning all three. To summarize, we will get a double bye if we beat Elon, Towson loses at least twice, Delaware loses at least once, and Monmouth loses at least once.

[Wags]

Toughness...we've been searching for it all year, need it to find it fast to pull this one off. Lot of lousy offensive possessions to start this 2nd half, and starting to let it affect their defense.

defense the key... 19-5 Hofstra on pts off turnovers just excellent

Hofstra had 11 points off of five Drexel turnovers during the decisive 16-0 run that turned a Drexel 43-41 lead into a 57-43 Hofstra lead.

Want to mention Fritz (who was a +13) too in addition to what has already been mentioned about Sunday (who was a -5). Together, they outplayed Williams outside of the box score and neutralized him box score-wise:

Williams; 15 pts, 5 reb, 3 blk in 26 min
Sunday/Fritz: 16 pts, 7 reb, 4 blk

[Wags]

https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 0456791539

[dan10]

Amari Williams seems to play this game with no urgency almost like he goes thru the motions.. I'm surprised he doesn't take it to the basket more but truth be told he missed some easy chip shots. If it wasn't for his free throws he would have had 10 points. He hit all his FT's and I remember him as an awful foul shooter.

He has always struggled with bunnies. He has made drastic improvements from the FT line this season, but he still has random games were he is really bad. But Spiker's refuses to run the offense through him (unsure why). He could dominate this league if given the chance to do so, instead we rather have him passing and let our shooters shoot the ball in Spiker's 5 out offense.

This game came down to turnovers as noted. Without Justin Moore (and almost no real point guard) when you put some pressure on the ball we gave the ball away like candy (and the game). They were sloppy turnovers too and you took advantage of every single one. Against all of the top teams we manage to turn a good game south in a blink of an eye. You still have a tough schedule (comparatively), but the top 4 just got real murky now.

[Wags]

Spiker refuses to run the offense through him (unsure why). He could dominate this league if given the chance to do so, instead we rather have him passing and let our shooters shoot the ball in Spiker's 5 out offense.

I don't get this but it played right into Hofstra's hands last night. It's the only time I've seen Drexel in person this year and I was wondering why they weren't just using his size, allowing Williams to fulfill those preseason POY expectations. Late in the second half he was right in front of me along the baseline. The guy next to me and I both said, "He's a big guy." Even compared to Sunday's size, he just looks powerful and like he could as you say, dominate, if allowed to. Sometimes coaches outsmart themselves and don't simply play to their strengths. Maybe Spiker's playing that way all regular season to throw people off and then unexpectedly unleashes that in DC?

I can see why he sometimes struggles at the line. He has big hands and the ball looks like a grapefruit in his hands as he's preparing to shoot FTs.

This game came down to turnovers as noted. Without Justin Moore (and almost no real point guard) when you put some pressure on the ball we gave the ball away like candy (and the game). They were sloppy turnovers too and you took advantage of every single one. Against all of the top teams we manage to turn a good game south in a blink of an eye.

Outside of that 16-0 run that changed the whole game (going from 43-41, Drexel to 57-43, Hofstra), the turnovers were even (8-8) and points off of those were only 8-5, Hofstra. But during that run, when Hofstra turned up the D, it was 5-1, Drexel in TOs and 11-0 in points off TOs with Dubar scoring nine of the 16 in that run.

Credit to Thomas defensively. He told me last night that he has been trying to be a leader defensively, not just offensively. That's a big reason that Hofstra has allowed just 56.6 ppg (and no more than 62 in any game) over its last five wins. Besides Thomas' 28 point last night, he had a game-high five steals (of Hofstra's nine, one more than Drexel's four).

You still have a tough schedule (comparatively), but the top 4 just got real murky now.

I think whether or not Hofstra stays in front of Drexel will depend on if Hofstra can steal one of two in that last road trip. If they lose both, Drexel, with the schedule it has, could move back in front by a game, although their game, at Delaware, won't be easy at all. Towson could help itself a lot (standings-wise and confidence-wise) with a home win against Charleston on national TV on Saturday. Otherwise, that three-team race with Hofstra and Drexel for the last two top-four spots is going to be interesting.

[dan10]

I don't get this but it played right into Hofstra's hands last night. It's the only time I've seen Drexel in person this year and I was wondering why they weren't just using his size, allowing Williams to fulfill those preseason POY expectations. Late in the second half he was right in front of me along the baseline. The guy next to me and I both said, "He's a big guy." Even compared to Sunday's size, he just looks powerful and like he could as you say, dominate, if allowed to. Sometimes coaches outsmart themselves and don't simply play to their strengths. Maybe Spiker's playing that way all regular season to throw people off and then unexpectedly unleashes that in DC?

If only. If he does, I think we could magically look like a powerhouse and not sure there is a team in this conference that would be able to do a damn thing about it. Amari's 40 minute splits are quite good and would look like a POY. But he is only averaging like 22 minutes a game so its not super impressive (especially offensively). But if we parked him down low and let him work, I bet he would pull a lot of double teams that would open up our shooters (who have shown can hit shots). Inside out game with some pick and roll for Amari would make this team potentially lethal. Instead we play outside in and have bad lulls. Its maddening. As much as I would be excited to see the above happen in DC, it would shock me even more if actually did happen. Spiker is all about small adjustments, no way he would overhaul on a dime like that.

And yes when you see him in person versus any other 6'9" guy, he is massive. And has the look of an imposing force.

[dutchPride86]

that three-team race with Hofstra and Drexel for the last two top-four spots is going to be interesting.

Watch out for Monmouth too. I know they've been bad on the road, but their final 3 games are home NC A&T, at Hampton and Elon. They could very easily sneak up at 11-7 and would hold tiebreaker over us if we lose both on the road

[dan10]

Guards win in March. Dont count Rice out too early. Keep in mind tournament is neutral not officially the road. They wont be an easy out in the CAAT

[Wags]

I don't get this but it played right into Hofstra's hands last night. It's the only time I've seen Drexel in person this year and I was wondering why they weren't just using his size, allowing Williams to fulfill those preseason POY expectations. Late in the second half he was right in front of me along the baseline. The guy next to me and I both said, "He's a big guy." Even compared to Sunday's size, he just looks powerful and like he could as you say, dominate, if allowed to. Sometimes coaches outsmart themselves and don't simply play to their strengths. Maybe Spiker's playing that way all regular season to throw people off and then unexpectedly unleashes that in DC?

Amari's 40 minute splits are quite good and would look like a POY. But he is only averaging like 22 minutes a game so its not super impressive (especially offensively).

I was wondering about this too. He had about the same production in 27 minutes last night as Fritz and Sunday in 39 combined minutes and he only had one foul. It looks like he hasn't been in foul trouble all year. Is he not in good enough shape to play more from a conditioning standpoint? Or Spiker is just insistent on doing things his own way and completely ignoring what Williams could do for Drexel if he played 35 minutes a game? It's otherwise just self-sabotage. Why would any coach place self-imposed limits on such a big (figuratively and literally) weapon?

[Wags]

that three-team race with Hofstra and Drexel for the last two top-four spots is going to be interesting.

Watch out for Monmouth too. I know they've been bad on the road, but their final 3 games are home NC A&T, at Hampton and Elon. They could very easily sneak up at 11-7 and would hold tiebreaker over us if we lose both on the road

True, but not just bad on the road, as Jekyll & Hyde as a team can get: 12-1 at home, 1-12 away. So although it's easy on paper, they have to prove it in those last two games. Very possible that they could end up in the mix though.