MBB Game 5: at UCLA (Thu 11/21, 11 pm ET)

[ZMAN3]

Wow - Bought the game - fell asleep in H1 down 32-22 - woke about 3AM (it's now 4) - didn't know score so I wound tape to spot and decided to watch balance - am I glad I did - frankly kept waiting for them to fall apart but it was UCLA that played with a lack of poise down the stretch. Although there were many big shots by Buie and Ray - a big defensive play by Kante who hustled back (after fighting for offensive board) and stole a pass under the basket on other end which sealed the deal. Congrats - a well earned and deserved win! A little sleep is now in order - lol

[ProudofPride]

Wasn’t able to watch at all, since I had to be up at 5 for work today. But WOW, that was quite the shock to wake up to!!!

[garyg]

Great win....only 7 turnovers by Pride

[triplec2195]

Obviously a great win and I should have stayed up but did listen to the first few minutes clearly not at all indicative to what was to come. I listened to the post presser from their coach Cronin who had nothing but praise for our guards and how they were the reason we won. He said we had great senior guards who beat their guards off the dribble all night and mentioned Buie several times. He was of an indignant nature though arrogant at times telling the press he would only answer questions nothing more. Clearly he was devastated to a degree losing to us but kept trying to minimize it saying a few times we won 27 games last year. He actually singled out his own players and criticized their play. I don't know how P5 programs roll but this seemed to me to be classless. You would think he would take the high road here but was casting aspersions. Nevertheless a great win for our program and hopefully we can springboard from this game and go on a tear. It's only one game but a very big one at that.

[EvanJ]

You can win by making a lot of threes. That's how San Jose State beat us. For the season, we shoot well and average only 9.6 turnovers. That's a great combination. The CAA's Top 10 requires at least 14 free throws made without a miss, so Buie was 1 short of that. The criteria says a minimum of 13, but the criteria may have been written before as many players had 14 without a miss. Joe Chealey is the most recent player to do that when he made 16, and JWF has the most free throws without a miss by a Hofstra player in the CAA with 15 in an 83-76 loss hosting UNCW on February 18, 2017.

The Area Chart shows that in the area closest to the basket, UCLA attempted 27 field goals, and we attempted 8. In all other areas, they attempted 34 field goals, and we attempted 45. UCLA had 44 of 61 attempts (72.1 percent) facing the backboard, with 17 attempts partially or totally from a side. We had 22 of 53 attempts (41.5 percent) facing the backboard.

The attendance was 4,836, which is 58.5 percent of the 8,269 that UCLA averaged last season.

The CAA climbed from ninth of sixth in the Conference RPI. The Pac-12 fell from first to second. The top ten are Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, Big East, ACC, CAA, Big Ten, West Coast, A10, and Mountain West.

[HUSID74]

.Come on guys close it out!

THIS is why we both said earlier on here that it's a long season and WAY too soon for the doom and gloom we were seeing after only THREE games!

Absolutely Wags. When we hit our threes, take care of the ball and get Buie to the foul line we can beat anyone on our schedule...we DO need to get more out of Kante, a disappointment so far.

[EvanJ]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... =401170591 is the Associated Press recap titled "Buie, Ray lead Hofstra to 88-78 win over UCLA." Teams in the top conferences get much longer articles even when they are ranked. This article had 46 lines excluding the heading "The Takeaway" and who each team plays next. Our win over New York Tech had a 12 line article.

[triplec2195]

So has anyone seen any highlights of this game other then UCLA'S. There's a minute and 8 seconds of highlights on you tube which is all UCLA. If you didn't know who won this game and were just watching these highlights you would think its just another win for a P5 team against a lowly mid-major. I would imagine that you would have to get highlights of this game from SOMEPLACE other then UCLA??

[Wags]

Here's a longer article:

https://www.nysportsday.com/2019/11/22/ ... t-of-ucla/

[Wags]

.Come on guys close it out!

THIS is why we both said earlier on here that it's a long season and WAY too soon for the doom and gloom we were seeing after only THREE games!

Absolutely Wags. When we hit our threes, take care of the ball and get Buie to the foul line we can beat anyone on our schedule...we DO need to get more out of Kante, a disappointment so far.

The 3s have been inconsistent but keeping the TOs down has been consistent (largely a function of Buie doing what he's done his whole career).
It'll be interesting to see if Kante's minutes decrease and Schutte's increase as the season wears on.

[Cards]

All the guys did well last night - it was truly a team effort.

That being said, enough praise cannot be given to DB for being the floor general. He handled the rock, dished, drove, and shot well. But most importantly, he controlled the pace of the game and steadied his team when they needed it most. He played the clock and protected the ball. Whenever UCLA applied ball pressure (backcourt or not), it was DB who jumped in and steadied the ship. He might not look like or be built like the prototypical P5 PG, but he was surely big last night!

Without being in the locker room and being present at all practices, etc., its hard for us to say who really leads this team. BUT, from tipoff to the final buzzer, DB is the guy.

[EvanJ]

So has anyone seen any highlights of this game other then UCLA'S. There's a minute and 8 seconds of highlights on you tube which is all UCLA. If you didn't know who won this game and were just watching these highlights you would think its just another win for a P5 team against a lowly mid-major. I would imagine that would have to get highlights of this game from SOMEPLACE other then UCLA??

Many highlights only show the home team. I don't know if anybody other than the Pac-12 and UCLA can legally post highlights. The Pac-12 has highlights of other games that are longer than 1:08, but under 2 minutes. The ACC is much better. Florida State beat Chattanooga on Wednesday night, and there's 1:58 of highlights, 1:57 of Florida State dunks, and 10:45 of Condensed Game. The Condensed Game of UNC's win over Elon is 7:59. In terms of wanting decent highlights, mid-majors should avoid going to Pac-12 teams.

I would love if the NCAA made a rule that all home teams are required to post free highlights showing at least 10 percent of the points the away team scored.

Here's a longer article:

https://www.nysportsday.com/2019/11/22/ ... t-of-ucla/

You said "Arizona, which was picked fourth in the Pac-12 Conference this season, two spots behind the UCLA Bruins," but UCLA was picked eighth.

[Wags]

So has anyone seen any highlights of this game other then UCLA'S. There's a minute and 8 seconds of highlights on you tube which is all UCLA. If you didn't know who won this game and were just watching these highlights you would think its just another win for a P5 team against a lowly mid-major. I would imagine that would have to get highlights of this game from SOMEPLACE other then UCLA??

Many highlights only show the home team. I don't know if anybody other than the Pac-12 and UCLA can legally post highlights. The Pac-12 has highlights of other games that are longer than 1:08, but under 2 minutes. The ACC is much better. Florida State beat Chattanooga on Wednesday night, and there's 1:58 of highlights, 1:57 of Florida State dunks, and 10:45 of Condensed Game. The Condensed Game of UNC's win over Elon is 7:59. In terms of wanting decent highlights, mid-majors should avoid going to Pac-12 teams.

I would love if the NCAA made a rule that all home teams are required to post free highlights showing at least 10 percent of the points the away team scored.

Here's a longer article:

https://www.nysportsday.com/2019/11/22/ ... t-of-ucla/

You said "Arizona, which was picked fourth in the Pac-12 Conference this season, two spots behind the UCLA Bruins," but UCLA was picked eighth.

My bad, I mistakenly pulled up last year's rankings, which had them 2nd. Thanks, btw. I fixed it. So then, we'll see how good of a win this really is. With UCLA picked 8th and beating Long Beach State by only 4 this year, we may look back in this as a win that was great in terms of brand/program recognition, but maybe not so much in terms of a true marquee win. However, UCLA was still at home and favored by 14, so that alone would suggest it's still a quality win.

These next two games will tell a lot about the team - will they follow this win up with an equally good effort at Fullerton or revert back to bad habits? And with UCLA beating Long Beach State by 4, and Long Beach State beating San Diego by 8 this year, Hofstra should be able to handle San Diego. But, we'll see. This win is only big if they finish the job on this trip with a couple more good efforts and at least one more win if not two more.

[Polito]

I def don’t want to take away from this, and he had a big play to help seal it, but good gracious Kante is a huge disappointment. I was waaaay off on him... even worse, so was the staff. Terrible evaluation, his play is awful - low talent and no size is not a good combo, really hurting this team - destroyed by any big with a pulse, majorly concerning for conf play - CAA bigs gonna eat this kid alive if he doesn’t start manning up his position.

Looks like they’re gonna have to play Schutte more... unfortunately he’s no starter either, and both are fouling risks. Hughes can’t play that position either, the post is scary bad.

The fact HU overcame cringeworthy post play, is a big time testament to the superior guard play in this game.

Problem is, can’t do that every night. These bigs need to step up and start playing D1 ball.

[EvanJ]

I def don’t want to take away from this, and he had a big play to help seal it, but good gracious Kante is a huge disappointment. I was waaaay off on him... even worse, so was the staff. Terrible evaluation, his play is awful - low talent and no size is not a good combo, really hurting this team - destroyed by any big with a pulse, majorly concerning for conf play - CAA bigs gonna eat this kid alive if he doesn’t start manning up his position.

Looks like they’re gonna have to play Schutte more... unfortunately he’s no starter either, and both are fouling risks. Hughes can’t play that position either, the post is scary bad.

The fact HU overcame cringeworthy post play, is a big time testament to the superior guard play in this game.

Problem is, can’t do that every night. These bigs need to step up and start playing D1 ball.

In 2006-2007, we were picked first, and we started four guards. Our starting forward was Mike Davis-Sabb, although he, Chris Gadley, and Arminas Urbutis played a relatively even amount of time. Davis-Sabb and Gadley committed over 3 fouls per game, with Davis-Sabb averaging 20.2 minutes, Gadley averaging 18.1, and Urbutis averaging 14.3. They combined for 319 points and 235 fouls. That's a ratio of 1.36. To compare, Taylor had exactly 3.3 points per foul. Davis-Sabb, Gadley, and Urbutis combined for a field goal percentage of .466, which is bad for guys who didn't attempt any threes. Their foul trouble let Stokes lead us with 5.6 rebounds, with Gadley having 4.8, Davis-Sabb having 4.7, Agudio and Rivera tied with 4.0, and Urbutis having 3.1. We had a rebounding differential per game of -0.7, compared to +2.1 when we had Kieza and Uter in 2005-2006. Our rebounding differential per game is now -1.8. Kante and Schutte have combined for a much higher field goal percentage and more rebounds per minute than the three guys in 2006-2007.
UCLA had only 1 steal, which is tied for the fewest against Hofstra in Hofstra's last 88 games.

None of the remaining nonconference games are against teams who will certainly finish in the Top 100. Can we go 6-2 to be 9-4 (8-4 vs. Division I) or better?

[HUSID74]

I def don’t want to take away from this, and he had a big play to help seal it, but good gracious Kante is a huge disappointment. I was waaaay off on him... even worse, so was the staff. Terrible evaluation, his play is awful - low talent and no size is not a good combo, really hurting this team - destroyed by any big with a pulse, majorly concerning for conf play - CAA bigs gonna eat this kid alive if he doesn’t start manning up his position.

Looks like they’re gonna have to play Schutte more... unfortunately he’s no starter either, and both are fouling risks. Hughes can’t play that position either, the post is scary bad.

The fact HU overcame cringeworthy post play, is a big time testament to the superior guard play in this game.

Problem is, can’t do that every night. These bigs need to step up and start playing D1 ball.

Give the kid some time...this is essentially the first real minutes of his playing career...look at what Taylor did early last season.

[Pride97]

Looks like they’re gonna have to play Schutte more... unfortunately he’s no starter either, and both are fouling risks. Hughes can’t play that position either, the post is scary bad.

I by no means am going to say that Hughes is the answer at the 5, but I though he did play some solid minutes last night. They probably should have tested him more inside, but I thought he was getting pretty good defensive position and was playing hard. Was better than I expected when i saw him go in, and feel he deserves some credit.

Schutte feels very much like Hunter Sabety. He plays with good energy and can throw down a jam to get crowd into it, but needs to stay out of foul trouble. Hunter would come in a rack up three fouls in 5 minutes at times, which is basically what Schutte did last night (albeit against tougher competition)

[triplec2195]

Looks like they’re gonna have to play Schutte more... unfortunately he’s no starter either, and both are fouling risks. Hughes can’t play that position either, the post is scary bad.

I by no means am going to say that Hughes is the answer at the 5, but I though he did play some solid minutes last night. They probably should have tested him more inside, but I thought he was getting pretty good defensive position and was playing hard. Was better than I expected when i saw him go in, and feel he deserves some credit.

Schutte feels very much like Hunter Sabety. He plays with good energy and can throw down a jam to get crowd into it, but needs to stay out of foul trouble. Hunter would come in a rack up three fouls in 5 minutes at times, which is basically what Schutte did last night (albeit against tougher competition)

It's early yet and we haven't seen a lot of Schutte but he's changing my mind about his upside. I believe he played soccer in H.S. and has only been playing basketball since he was 16. He's a work in progress and is athletic and can jump. He bulked up some and just seems to have a feel down in the trenches. Sabety no knock on him had been playing basketball a long time so I give Schutte a lot of credit for bringing his game this far in a short period of time.

[dan10]

Congrats guys. Great win.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Congrats guys. Great win.

Drexel in the house!

Regarding Kante, it's funny Evan brought up Chris Gadley, because I had a Kante/Gadley joke written up when we were down double digits, but I didn't post it because we went on that 10-0 run. I was having flashbacks in that first half though.

Kante's conditioning is not great, anytime the game goes more than 2 minutes without a stoppage he looks gassed. I think that's his biggest problem right now. I don't know if that stemmed from an injury in the off-season, or maybe he bulked up too much for the center role, I don't know.

Zman brought it up, Kante did make some nice plays down the stretch. I thought the last 5 minutes were his best five minutes of the game.

I think the oversell from the staff was on the defensive side, I like his offensive game a lot. We just lose a lot in the rebounding/shot blocking department compared to JT, mainly because Kante is undersized. I don't know why when teams run man against us we can't bring in Schutte with Kante, so we can have two bigs to run pick and rolls, get Kante an iso in the paint, where he can utilize his back to basket moves.