Game 18 at Northeastern on 1/9/2020 at 8:00 P.M.

[HUSID74]

Coburn still with the flu, Trueheart horrible, play Silverio.

[The Shadow]

EP drive for the winner with .5 seconds to go. Kante with a great game. A tale of two halves. I cannot remember the last time HU won a game with only 4 players scoring.

[HUSID74]

Great win, hung on, our guards can close out most games if we have the lead.
Eli CLUTCH!

[triplec2195]

A nice win that we almost let slip away and a big game from Kante seemingly playing better every game. I don't have stats in front of me but we seemed to have rebounded well in this game especially in the first half. A sloppy second half from us filled with turnovers and playing loose D. Roland who had 0 points in the first half got over 20 in the second half and literally kept NE in the game. We let him get too comfortable but he did hit a few tough shots. Buie after 4 in the first half came alive as well playing a very solid second half. Again Trueheart even though he's giving us size an awful offensive player more often then not. Take this win on the road all day!!

[Wags]

What a great win and what an awesome moment for Eli. He's been up and down, maybe not quite what many had hoped for this season. Has also battled through being banged up a bit or illness, but he showed that in a huge spot, he (not just Buie) could be counted on. Very encouraging for the rest of the season and for D.C.

Some good and bad luck were factors down the stretch:

4:07 Strong layup puts NU up 64-63 on a blatant travel (not just a typical travel they let go today, but blatant). Could've hurt Hofstra.
1:24 Buie forces a real tough shot that probably should've missed, but got a high, real lucky bounce to extend HU's lead to 70-67.
0:27 Brace missed a wide open right corner 3, no HU defender in sight, which could've put NU up 72-70, but didn't.
0:13 Roland, off-balance, chucked it at the rim more than he shot it, and somehow got it to go for a game-tying 3, to make it 72-72.

All in all, it canceled each other out... the no travel call on Strong is a wash with Buie's lucky shot in the lane and Brace's missed 3 a wash with Roland's lucky made 3.

Huge win though. Big difference between 4-1 and 3-2 right now. With this win, they can now win possibly at UNCW, afford a loss at Charleston, and still be 5-2, which would be pretty good after starting with 5 of 7 on the road, including games at NU and CofC.

Also, although bench contributions are always welcome, it does show that they can win a big game against a top contender without a bench, and in this case, even without a bench and a fifth starter.

All 74 pts came from four starters: Pemberton 24, Buie 23, Kane 15, Ray 12.

And let's give all four of those guys credit for the way they got their numbers:

In a rare game for them, none of them really shot the 3 much tonight. Instead they all looked for the good 2 and scored efficiently from there:

Ray - not usually like him, but 5/8 from 2, only 1 attempt (a miss) from 3.
Eli - 8/11 from 2, 2/5 from 3
Buie - 6/13 from 2, 2/3 from 3

And, Kante - didn't miss in 7 attempts and rebounded to finish with 15 & 12. They don't win without him tonight. Joe keeps pointing to where Taylor was at earlier points last year and where he ended up, hoping for similar growth with Kante. And lately, Kante is showing that. He may never be Taylor, we'll see, but he's beginning to take the same type of trajectory as the season wears on, which along with Eli having yet another rare game this season in which he scored at least 20 in a win, while also getting a huge game-winner, are two big takeaways tonight.

Great first half, too. You love that the sense of urgency was there and that they treated this game from the start with the urgency it deserved. 40-24 at the half was way better than even they could've hoped for. But I don't harp on blowing that lead nor on allowing twice as many pts in the second half as they did in the first half. You knew at home, NU wouldn't just roll over. Instead, I highlight that at both ends, HU made enough winning plays -- that they didn't make last March against NU with a title on the line -- to pull out the W tonight.

They also managed to win despite only Buie and Pemberton scoring for HU over the final 10 minutes. After Kante scored to make it 53-45, HU, with 10:02 left, only Eli and Buie scored, but they did it evenly... Buie 11 pts, Eli 10 pts for HU's final 21 pts.

HU fans should be very excited about this game and what it might mean going forward.

[EvanJ]

A nice win that we almost let slip away and a big game from Kante seemingly playing better every game. I don't have stats in front of me but we seemed to have rebounded well in this game especially in the first half. A sloppy second half from us filled with turnovers and playing loose D. Roland who had 0 points in the first half got over 20 in the second half and literally kept NE in the game. We let him get too comfortable but he did hit a few tough shots. Buie after 4 in the first half came alive as well playing a very solid second half. Again Trueheart even though he's giving us size an awful offensive player more often then not. Take this win on the road all day!!

Roland scored 3 in the first half and Buie scored 9 in the first half. As The Shadow pointed out, we had only four scorers, and Roland scored 25 in the second half, which is more than we had anyone score in the game as Pemberton led us with 24. We shot twos 26-41 (.634), which is over twice as well as we shot threes.

Kante became the eighth player from 2010-2011 to the present to score at least 15 points, make every field goal, have at least 12 rebounds, and commit at least 5 turnovers. The CAA is now the only conference/league/association that had two players do that. JMU's Denzel Bowles did it on December 1, 2010 at Longwood. Bowles spent two seasons at Texas A&M followed by two at JMU, and edged Jenkins 20.8 to 20.6 to lead the CAA in scoring in 2009-2010 when both of them were juniors.

[Wags]

Second year in a row Hofstra broke a 72-72 tie to beat Northeastern on a last-second shot (tonight and 369 days earlier, on JWF's 3-point buzzer-beater against the Huskies at home last year).

[Wags]

Pemberton moved into 10th place on the all-time Hofstra scoring list. He now has 1,679 points, passing Norman RicNorman Richardson (1,655 points, 1997-2001).

[EvanJ]

1,655 was what Pemberton had before. Richardson had 1,677, so Pemberton's winner broke a tie with Richardson. Pemberton is 139 behind ninth place David Taylor and 336 behind Claxton. If we play three CAA Tournament games and one after that, we have 17 games left, and 336/17 = 19.76, so passing Claxton will be hard.

[Wags]

1,655 was what Pemberton had before. Richardson had 1,677, so Pemberton's winner broke a tie with Richardson. Pemberton is 139 behind ninth place David Taylor and 336 behind Claxton. If we play three CAA Tournament games and one after that, we have 17 games left, and 336/17 = 19.76, so passing Claxton will be hard.

Yeah, was 1,677 for Norm - was going by this tweet (which said 1,655 for Norm) without looking it up:
https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 3236498432

So, Eli's last bucket broke two ties simultaneously - one with Northeastern and another with Richardson.

Another way this is a big win is that HU doesn't play this Saturday. So, big difference psychologically to come home and rest after a big road win and continue to work in practice and get better over the next week before going back on the road for the Thu/Sat trip to the Carolinas than having to come home and stew over a tough loss for a week before taking that trip next week. They also keep pace with CofC and W&M, staying within just a game of first place and within a half-game of second place while pushing Northeastern two games in the loss column behind both CofC and W&M. It kind of creates a three-team separation at the top of the league with CofC, W&M and HU, and drops NU (3-2) more into that next tier down, with Drexel (2-2), Delaware (3-2) and Towson (2-3). That could've obviously been the other way around with a loss, with NU at the top of an early three-team race and HU in the among a four-team middle-of-the-pack group had HU lost tonight. It's early, and a lot can and will happen through the end of February, but at this early juncture, you start to see those top, middle and lower-end groupings, and it's nice to be part of that top group instead of where NU now is at this point -- especially when you already lost to one of the top teams by 27 on your own floor. That's also now 0-2 for NU vs. that top tier (with two home losses), so although the Huskies are still the defending champs until someone takes that away from them, it's a bad early attempt by them to keep staking a claim at that because of tonight's win by HU. So, a lot of good positives to take from how this win positions HU right now vs. what a loss could've meant. Big game, big win.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Seniors on both teams stepped up big in the second half. Buie saved us again, Eli with perhaps the biggest shot of his career to date, proud of those guys.

We teetered on the brink of destruction in the second half, Roland almost brought Northeastern all the way back, and I thought they executed their defensive gameplan well against us, as we were only 1-7 from the perimeter.

Nice game from Kante, the 5 TO hurt, but he's looking better inside though. Northeastern's lack of size helped, UNCW and CoC aren't big teams either, so IK has a few more favorable matchups in the near future.

7 assists on 30 field goals. Not great. We have to find ways to efficiently move the ball against man to man defenses, it hurt us badly tonight, we were very lucky to get a win shooting 5-13 from the perimeter. 4 scorers as mentioned above, obviously a goose from the bench. Like the defense, I'm done commenting on the bench, I reluctantly admit it will play no role in any successes we have in the remainder of this season, just our inevitable failures.

Bottom line it was a great win, a sloppy performance, but an efficient shooting night and senior leadership pulled us through, happy to be 4-1!

[The Shadow]

I really liked that Coach Joe did not call a time out to set up the last shot. We have all seen that a time out to set up an offensive play play also allows the defense to set up as well. It also allows a defensive sub to check into the game. If you have players that have been together for so many games as the HU guards have been, just let them go get the win. Great left handed drive for EP with the aid of the backboard. I hope the team, coaches, and the support staff get safely home to LI. There is a much needed break in the CAA schedule until next Thursday in Wilmington. I believe the break comes at a very good time.

[daHUPride]

What a great win and what an awesome moment for Eli. He's been up and down, maybe not quite what many had hoped for this season. Has also battled through being banged up a bit or illness, but he showed that in a huge spot, he (not just Buie) could be counted on. Very encouraging for the rest of the season and for D.C.

Some good and bad luck were factors down the stretch:

4:07 Strong layup puts NU up 64-63 on a blatant travel (not just a typical travel they let go today, but blatant). Could've hurt Hofstra.
1:24 Buie forces a real tough shot that probably should've missed, but got a high, real lucky bounce to extend HU's lead to 70-67.
0:27 Brace missed a wide open right corner 3, no HU defender in sight, which could've put NU up 72-70, but didn't.
0:13 Roland, off-balance, chucked it at the rim more than he shot it, and somehow got it to go for a game-tying 3, to make it 72-72.

All in all, it canceled each other out... the no travel call on Strong is a wash with Buie's lucky shot in the lane and Brace's missed 3 a wash with Roland's lucky made 3.

Huge win though. Big difference between 4-1 and 3-2 right now. With this win, they can now win possibly at UNCW, afford a loss at Charleston, and still be 5-2, which would be pretty good after starting with 5 of 7 on the road, including games at NU and CofC.

Also, although bench contributions are always welcome, it does show that they can win a big game against a top contender without a bench, and in this case, even without a bench and a fifth starter.

All 74 pts came from four starters: Pemberton 24, Buie 23, Kane 15, Ray 12.

And let's give all four of those guys credit for the way they got their numbers:

In a rare game for them, none of them really shot the 3 much tonight. Instead they all looked for the good 2 and scored efficiently from there:

Ray - not usually like him, but 5/8 from 2, only 1 attempt (a miss) from 3.
Eli - 8/11 from 2, 2/5 from 3
Buie - 6/13 from 2, 2/3 from 3

And, Kante - didn't miss in 7 attempts and rebounded to finish with 15 & 12. They don't win without him tonight. Joe keeps pointing to where Taylor was at earlier points last year and where he ended up, hoping for similar growth with Kante. And lately, Kante is showing that. He may never be Taylor, we'll see, but he's beginning to take the same type of trajectory as the season wears on, which along with Eli having yet another rare game this season in which he scored at least 20 in a win, while also getting a huge game-winner, are two big takeaways tonight.

Great first half, too. You love that the sense of urgency was there and that they treated this game from the start with the urgency it deserved. 40-24 at the half was way better than even they could've hoped for. But I don't harp on blowing that lead nor on allowing twice as many pts in the second half as they did in the first half. You knew at home, NU wouldn't just roll over. Instead, I highlight that at both ends, HU made enough winning plays -- that they didn't make last March against NU with a title on the line -- to pull out the W tonight.

They also managed to win despite only Buie and Pemberton scoring for HU over the final 10 minutes. After Kante scored to make it 53-45, HU, with 10:02 left, only Eli and Buie scored, but they did it evenly... Buie 11 pts, Eli 10 pts for HU's final 21 pts.

HU fans should be very excited about this game and what it might mean going forward.

Thanks for the detailed update - I watched 3/4 of the game.
Great 1st half - rough start to the 2nd half and then I was out cold.
JAM predicted that NE would come out strong in the 2nd half - knew his opponent and knows his own team.
What I saw while awake -
ELI - is tough, again going down and needing to be assisted off the court only to come back and play.
KANTE - is getting more comfortable - he is moving better - playing within the system - stay tough big man, your all we got down low.
RAY - looked better tonight (at least wha I saw)
COBURN - "and they call him the STREAK" - nothing tonight (Hear he is still sick)
BUIE -Buie is what Buie does - he is so good
BENCH - Bench? Whats that? Ah-Bench? Don't talk about Bench? You kidding me? Bench? JIM MORA response to using our bench.

[triplec2195]

A nice win that we almost let slip away and a big game from Kante seemingly playing better every game. I don't have stats in front of me but we seemed to have rebounded well in this game especially in the first half. A sloppy second half from us filled with turnovers and playing loose D. Roland who had 0 points in the first half got over 20 in the second half and literally kept NE in the game. We let him get too comfortable but he did hit a few tough shots. Buie after 4 in the first half came alive as well playing a very solid second half. Again Trueheart even though he's giving us size an awful offensive player more often then not. Take this win on the road all day!!

Roland scored 3 in the first half and Buie scored 9 in the first half. As The Shadow pointed out, we had only four scorers, and Roland scored 25 in the second half, which is more than we had anyone score in the game as Pemberton led us with 24. We shot twos 26-41 (.634), which is over twice as well as we shot threes.

Kante became the eighth player from 2010-2011 to the present to score at least 15 points, make every field goal, have at least 12 rebounds, and commit at least 5 turnovers. The CAA is now the only conference/league/association that had two players do that. JMU's Denzel Bowles did it on December 1, 2010 at Longwood. Bowles spent two seasons at Texas A&M followed by two at JMU, and edged Jenkins 20.8 to 20.6 to lead the CAA in scoring in 2009-2010 when both of them were juniors.

Thanks for correcting my numbers Evan I think I was listening to the broadcasters on the TV BUT just a sobering(ugly) stat from our bench Silverio, Schutte and Trueheart playing 29 minutes 0 points a PF and 1 rebound. Those numbers speak volumes pathetic ones. Probably lucky that this game didn't go into O/T.

[EvanJ]

https://gohofstra.com/news/2020/1/9/men ... econd.aspx is Hofstra's recap titled "MBB: Pemberton Wins It For Hofstra In Final Second."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fkfLZovUY is highlights from the CAA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iEI4Ozew7M is longer highlights from Hofstra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh1XKycTOBA is shorter highlights from Northeastern. When there are multiple highlight videos from a game, you don't know how much will be repeated if you watch all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm3EXJMxJe4 is Mihalich and Pemberton's press conference.

we were very lucky to get a win shooting 5-13 from the perimeter[/u].

It was actually 4-13, but the good thing is that it wasn't many attempts. In our last 12 games, we only made a third of our threes 4 times, never in consecutive games, and we're shooting threes 78-263 (.297) in that time. That starts with our loss at San Diego, who lost 94-50 hosting Gonzaga last night.

Probably lucky that this game didn't go into O/T.

I said when we were winning that I wanted the game to end without overtime but that we could blow the lead and need to make a shot on our last possession to force overtime. I meant that in general, but not just about us.

Northeastern led for 1:29, and it was tied for 1:25.

Buie moved up two spots to 36th in points, and he played in his 125th game with help from playing 8 games in an injury redshirt 2016-2017. The team record is 128, so he's on pace to tie the record on TV hosting Delaware on January 23 and break it hosting Drexel on January 25. Northeastern got a 39th player to 1,000 before we did as Bolden Brace reach 1,000 last night, but they are in their 100th season, and we're in our 84th. Jordan Roland has over 1,000 career points and needs 134 to reach 1,000 for Northeastern.

Kante is up to exactly 10 points per game and has scored only 6 (1/3rd per game) fewer than Coburn. He's averaging 8.22 field goal attempts. Last season Taylor shot better but averaged only 5.09 attempts.

[cactus]

Anyone else bothered by the fact that the game clock operator after Pemberton hit the big last second shot did not start the clock for a good 2 seconds after the inbounds pass??

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[EvanJ]

I didn't notice, and Northeastern shot immediately anyway because they didn't expect the clock to be started late.

[Mikey77]

Yeah, the NE player caught the inbound and took two dribbles before he shot. If it had gone in it would no doubt have been a big "to do."

[Wags]

Yeah, the NE player caught the inbound and took two dribbles before he shot. If it had gone in it would no doubt have been a big "to do."

Not really. The refs would've reviewed it, saw the clock started late and disallowed the basket.

[Mikey77]

Wags, in a perfect world you're right. The world, including NCAA referees, is rarely perfect.