MBB Game 30 vs. Towson on 2/27/2020 at 7:00 P.M.

[triplec2195]

Lots of negatives and definitely some positive takeaways. A tough game to watch at one point I believe in the 2nd half a Towson player got his own rebound at least 4 times and finally scored in close with 3 Hofstra players all around him. You talk about toughness and wanting it badly. You could talk about Buie but after the first and only points he made right in the beginning of the game I think they really defended him well. He wasn't getting open looks they stopped his drives to the basket and he had to dish or take poor shots. He did take some poor shots and Ray with no points and three turnovers wasn't helping us on offense. They had a good game plan and they executed it well. Having said all that this game was lost due to our lack of rebounding period. You can't win many games when your opponent has 23 more rebounds and specifically 13 more O rebounds. We probably never won a game where there was such a lopsided advantage in rebounding.

Time to move on and win this Conference on senior day. You couldn't script it better.

[Mikey77]

Without doubt Jalen Ray's worst game in a Hofstra uniform. I don't understand why Joe didn't have True in for him, especially to also help with the rebounding. Joe just won't learn that when the other team is that much bigger than, you need to go with two bigs.

[HUSID74]

Towson did exactly what Mike Farrelly said they would do in the pre game chalk talk. He said they would have one of their bigs jump out a our guys (particularly Buie) to disrupt our offensive and dare us to get the ball down low to Kante. It worked to perfection for them.

He also said that their best offense was a missed shot and then a rebound tap in or score....perfect storm against us.

I always worry about Towson because of their size and physicality...and yes winning the airport walks means they are intimidating as hell when you see them in the airport...us not so much!

[HUSID74]

Without doubt Jalen Ray's worst game in a Hofstra uniform. I don't understand why Joe didn't have True in for him, especially to also help with the rebounding. Joe just won't learn that when the other team is that much bigger than, you need to go with two bigs.

Trueheart played more minutes than usual and did NOTHING...I would have given Silverio more of a run...what do we have to lose at that point. Jalen was not only killing us with poor shooting, he was a turnover machine as well.

[Mikey77]

Jalen has not been playing his best ball of late for sure. Just thought that doubling up with either True or Schutte with Kante would have erased their obvious advantage on the boards. Towson had 23 or more possessions a recipe for an "L."

[HUSID74]

Jalen has not been playing his best ball of late for sure. Just thought that doubling up with either True or Schutte with Kante would have erased their obvious advantage on the boards. Towson had 23 or more possessions a recipe for an "L."

I agree on Jalen, but we need to get something out of this bench. Before the season I thought Silverio could be that spark like Jalen was in past years coming off the bench but he has been forgotten.

As for Trueheart he played 10 minutes last night, 0-0 shooting two rebounds and 2 fouls...NOTHING!

[Wags]

Without doubt Jalen Ray's worst game in a Hofstra uniform. I don't understand why Joe didn't have True in for him, especially to also help with the rebounding. Joe just won't learn that when the other team is that much bigger than, you need to go with two bigs.

You could argue a couple of others were worse:

* His prior game: 1/11 fg, 0/8 from 2, 1/2 ft, 4 pts, 1 reb, 1 stl, 0 ast, 1 to in 34 min. It just wasn't noticed as much because HU beat Delaware on the road by 16 with several others playing well.
* The loss at St. Bonaventure this year: 1/10 fg, 1/7 from 2, 2 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast, 2 stl, 3 to

He was also 1/9 vs. Manhattan this year, but he at least had 6 reb and 4 ast in that one.

So, that's 1/16 over his past two games. Hard to believe that's the same guy who complemented Buie's 29 with 27 of his own in the win at UCLA, but he's got to get it right. They can't have him making 1 shot or no shots in one or two games in D.C. He doesn't have to be great, but they need him to at least shoot and score around his season averages (around 11 pts, 4/10 fg), because you see the stark difference: they can absorb his 1/11 easily when Buie, Coburn, Pemberton and Kante have good games (like the prior game), but 0/5 and no points hurts them badly when merely two of the other four are off (like last night).

[cactus]

Jalen has not been playing his best ball of late for sure. Just thought that doubling up with either True or Schutte with Kante would have erased their obvious advantage on the boards. Towson had 23 or more possessions a recipe for an "L."

I agree on Jalen, but we need to get something out of this bench. Before the season I thought Silverio could be that spark like Jalen was in past years coming off the bench but he has been forgotten.

As for Trueheart he played 10 minutes last night, 0-0 shooting two rebounds and 2 fouls...NOTHING!

I was hoping Silverio would be able to start to be honest.

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[Wags]

Jalen has not been playing his best ball of late for sure. Just thought that doubling up with either True or Schutte with Kante would have erased their obvious advantage on the boards. Towson had 23 or more possessions a recipe for an "L."

I agree on Jalen, but we need to get something out of this bench. Before the season I thought Silverio could be that spark like Jalen was in past years coming off the bench but he has been forgotten.

As for Trueheart he played 10 minutes last night, 0-0 shooting two rebounds and 2 fouls...NOTHING!

They've played 30 games. They have one game left before the CAA tourney. They've won plenty, some easily, without the bench. The time for this hope was in Nov, Dec, maybe Jan. That ship has seemingly sailed. After 30 games, the chances that the bench (which has had no shot attempts over the past three games and a grand total of four points over the past six games) will do something highly impactful the rest of the way is like hoping for a national title this year. Would be great, but then there's reality. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and we'll talk about Schutte, Trueheart or Silverio (or all of them) contributing some big-time minutes to help them win a CAA tourney game or two, but if you look at most of the season, and especially the past six games, it's trending heavily away from that happening, not toward it.

[Cards]

They've played 30 games. They have one game left before the CAA tourney. They've won plenty, some easily, without the bench. The time for this hope was in Nov, Dec, maybe Jan. That ship has seemingly sailed. After 30 games, the chances that the bench (which has had no shot attempts over the past three games and a grand total of four points over the past six games) will do something highly impactful the rest of the way is like hoping for a national title this year. Would be great, but then there's reality. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and we'll talk about Schutte, Trueheart or Silverio (or all of them) contributing some big-time minutes to help them win a CAA tourney game or two, but if you look at most of the season, and especially the past six games, it's trending heavily away from that happening, not toward it.

Absolutely right Wags. We need at least 3 and maybe 4 of the starting 5 to play well in each game against decent competition to win. Thats a lot to continually expect from such a small group.

[Wags]

They've played 30 games. They have one game left before the CAA tourney. They've won plenty, some easily, without the bench. The time for this hope was in Nov, Dec, maybe Jan. That ship has seemingly sailed. After 30 games, the chances that the bench (which has had no shot attempts over the past three games and a grand total of four points over the past six games) will do something highly impactful the rest of the way is like hoping for a national title this year. Would be great, but then there's reality. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and we'll talk about Schutte, Trueheart or Silverio (or all of them) contributing some big-time minutes to help them win a CAA tourney game or two, but if you look at most of the season, and especially the past six games, it's trending heavily away from that happening, not toward it.

Absolutely right Wags. We need at least 3 and maybe 4 of the starting 5 to play well in each game against decent competition to win. Thats a lot to continually expect from such a small group.

Well, considering their five starters all average in double figures in scoring and have collectively accounted for 90% of the points, 72% of rebounds, 91% of the assists, 83% of the steals and 78% of the blocks this season on a team that's 22-8, 13-4 and poised to clinch the 1 seed, it's really not too much to expect. It's what they are, and they've been pretty successful that way. The starters just need to play their best or close to it on the same day, like we've seen many times this season.

[EvanJ]

People wanted Buie to win POY. If he shoots poorly against JMU, he might not even make the First Team. Brevin Galloway had 4 steals last night to take the steals per game lead from Buie.

By blocking 2 shots, Coburn is 14th in the CAA with exactly 0.5 per game. Hughes was among the leaders earlier this season and has 7/11 = 0.64 per game, but nearly enough games to qualify. Buie and Ray have combined for 6 blocks, which is fewer than Hughes, while combining for over 30 times as many minutes. The minutes are 69 for Hughes and 2,083 for Buie and Ray combined. Last season Pemberton and Buie combined to block 5 shots in 2,353 minutes. I don't expect Buie, Pemberton, and Ray to block shots, but it's still something I'm mentioning. If Hughes had the same amount of blocks per minute in the 1,111 minutes Buie has, Hughes would have 113 blocks, and the most in Division I is 109. I'm not saying Hughes could have that rate of blocks per minute in that many minutes, but it's an example of how per game statistics aren't equal opportunity. Even among starters who played over 30 minutes, some players could score a lot more because they shoot a lot more. A player who averages 20 points doesn't do it because he can score twice as much from the same amount of shots as a player who averages 10 points, he averages 20 points because he shoots much more. MLB requires 502 plate appearances (3.1 per game * 162 = 502.2) to qualify for statistics. Nobody has exceeded that by 50 percent since 2010. Last season Taylor was fourth in points and minutes, and JWF attempted 3.63 times as many field goals.

The bench has 9.6 percent of our points this season. In 2015-2016 when Koon (fifth in points) outscored our bench and Gustys (fifth in minutes) played more than our bench, the bench scored 10.1 percent of our points. In 2015-2016, we used nine players, and Nichols was injured for the last 14 games of 34. This season we have used 13 players, and none are injured now.

[Wags]

People wanted Buie to win POY. If he shoots poorly against JMU, he might not even make the First Team. Brevin Galloway had 4 steals last night to take the steals per game lead from Buie.

By blocking 2 shots, Coburn is 14th in the CAA with exactly 0.5 per game. Hughes was among the leaders earlier this season and has 7/11 = 0.64 per game, but nearly enough games to qualify. Buie and Ray have combined for 6 blocks, which is fewer than Hughes, while combining for over 30 times as many minutes. The minutes are 69 for Hughes and 2,083 for Buie and Ray combined. Last season Pemberton and Buie combined to block 5 shots in 2,353 minutes. I don't expect Buie, Pemberton, and Ray to block shots, but it's still something I'm mentioning. If Hughes had the same amount of blocks per minute in the 1,111 minutes Buie has, Hughes would have 113 blocks, and the most in Division I is 109. I'm not saying Hughes could have that rate of blocks per minute in that many minutes, but it's an example of how per game statistics aren't equal opportunity. Even among starters who played over 30 minutes, some players could score a lot more because they shoot a lot more. A player who averages 20 points doesn't do it because he can score twice as much from the same amount of shots as a player who averages 10 points, he averages 20 points because he shoots much more. MLB requires 502 plate appearances (3.1 per game * 162 = 502.2) to qualify for statistics. Nobody has exceeded that by 50 percent since 2010. Last season Taylor was fourth in points and minutes, and JWF attempted 3.63 times as many field goals.

The bench has 9.6 percent of our points this season. In 2015-2016 when Koon (fifth in points) outscored our bench and Gustys (fifth in minutes) played more than our bench, the bench scored 10.1 percent of our points. In 2015-2016, we used nine players, and Nichols was injured for the last 14 games of 34. This season we have used 13 players, and none are injured now.

If POY or First-Team voters are torn with their choices, what's freshest in their minds could sway them, so that could hurt Buie's chances. But it really shouldn't. It should be about the full body of work, and I think that in comparison to others, still makes Buie the top POY choice overall. It may be moot anyway. JMU is bad and I expect Buie (who I saw working on his shot in an empty arena long after the final buzzer last night) to bounce back with a very strong game and lead a championship-clinching blowout win on Senior Day. I could also tell you that although he'd greatly appreciate POY and First-Team awards, Buie cares way more about cutting the nets in D.C. and would glady trade the former for the latter (and a LADDER!).

[EvanJ]

They've played 30 games. They have one game left before the CAA tourney. They've won plenty, some easily, without the bench. The time for this hope was in Nov, Dec, maybe Jan. That ship has seemingly sailed. After 30 games, the chances that the bench (which has had no shot attempts over the past three games and a grand total of four points over the past six games) will do something highly impactful the rest of the way is like hoping for a national title this year. Would be great, but then there's reality. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and we'll talk about Schutte, Trueheart or Silverio (or all of them) contributing some big-time minutes to help them win a CAA tourney game or two, but if you look at most of the season, and especially the past six games, it's trending heavily away from that happening, not toward it.

Absolutely right Wags. We need at least 3 and maybe 4 of the starting 5 to play well in each game against decent competition to win. Thats a lot to continually expect from such a small group.

Well, considering their five starters all average in double figures in scoring and have collectively accounted for 90% of the points, 72% of rebounds, 91% of the assists, 83% of the steals and 78% of the blocks this season on a team that's 22-8, 13-4 and poised to clinch the 1 seed, it's really not too much to expect. It's what they are, and they've been pretty successful that way. The starters just need to play their best or close to it on the same day, like we've seen many times this season.

It's different to have to do it three days in a row. People say that the human body isn't meant to throw 100 pitches in a game, and people do it anyway. I don't know if the human body is meant to play 100 or more minutes in three days. The fact that we've won easily without the bench shows that in some games we should have used the bench more to prepare them for when they are needed, whether it's in the CAA Tournament or next season. We should have used the bench more late in the wins at W&M and Elon. Why are final exams stressful? It's not just because of how important they are, it's because every class has a final and/or paper in one week. Even if classes have midterms at about the same time, students are not going to have finals and/or due dates as packed together any time other than finals week.

I may do a statistical project comparing the top players after the weekend.

[Cards]

Thanks EvanJ - good expansion on the point I was alluding to.

[Wags]

It's different to have to do it three days in a row. People say that the human body isn't meant to throw 100 pitches in a game, and people do it anyway. I don't know if the human body is meant to play 100 or more minutes in three days. The fact that we've won easily without the bench shows that in some games we should have used the bench more to prepare them for when they are needed, whether it's in the CAA Tournament or next season. We should have used the bench more late in the wins at W&M and Elon. Why are final exams stressful? It's not just because of how important they are, it's because every class has a final and/or paper in one week. Even if classes have midterms at about the same time, students are not going to have finals and/or due dates as packed together any time other than finals week.

I may do a statistical project comparing the top players after the weekend.

Teams across the nation do it every year. We talk about these guys like they're 35-year-old NBA vets. They're in college. They're young. I don't think some realize just how many hours, how many days in a row, AAU players play. College players are often not that far removed from that. Gustys and Tanksley came up huge in the CAA finals playing a third straight day in Baltimore. Juan'ya Green had a terrible game and later said he felt fine and that he simply had a bad game, nothing to do with fatigue. A bench helps. But it's not always entirely necessary. There's a reason this year's HU bench doesn't play much. They can't be relied upon heavily at all. They're only good for very short streches, at most. The best players play. Others watch. Playing the bench garbage minutes at the ends of a couple of blowouts was what, going to accomplish what, make them major factors in the CAA tourney? Not buying that at ALL.

[cactus]

It's different to have to do it three days in a row. People say that the human body isn't meant to throw 100 pitches in a game, and people do it anyway. I don't know if the human body is meant to play 100 or more minutes in three days. The fact that we've won easily without the bench shows that in some games we should have used the bench more to prepare them for when they are needed, whether it's in the CAA Tournament or next season. We should have used the bench more late in the wins at W&M and Elon. Why are final exams stressful? It's not just because of how important they are, it's because every class has a final and/or paper in one week. Even if classes have midterms at about the same time, students are not going to have finals and/or due dates as packed together any time other than finals week.

I may do a statistical project comparing the top players after the weekend.

Teams across the nation do it every year. We talk about these guys like they're 35-year-old NBA vets. They're in college. They're young. I don't think some realize just how many hours, how many days in a row, AAU players play. College players are often not that far removed from that. Gustys and Tanksley came up huge in the CAA finals playing a third straight day in Baltimore. Juan'ya Green had a terrible game and later said he felt fine and that he simply had a bad game, nothing to do with fatigue. A bench helps. But it's not always entirely necessary. There's a reason this year's HU bench doesn't play much. They can't be relied upon heavily at all. They're only good for very short streches, at most. The best players play. Others watch. Playing the bench garbage minutes at the ends of a couple of blowouts was what, going to accomplish what, make them major factors in the CAA tourney? Not buying that at ALL.

don't need them to be major factors, it makes them possibly able to contribute - not just to give the guys a blow, and forget injury, but what if someone gets in foul trouble and they need 10-15 minutes out of Burgess or Silverio in the CAA final? You don't think some more court time would have been extremely valuable?

[Wags]

It's different to have to do it three days in a row. People say that the human body isn't meant to throw 100 pitches in a game, and people do it anyway. I don't know if the human body is meant to play 100 or more minutes in three days. The fact that we've won easily without the bench shows that in some games we should have used the bench more to prepare them for when they are needed, whether it's in the CAA Tournament or next season. We should have used the bench more late in the wins at W&M and Elon. Why are final exams stressful? It's not just because of how important they are, it's because every class has a final and/or paper in one week. Even if classes have midterms at about the same time, students are not going to have finals and/or due dates as packed together any time other than finals week.

I may do a statistical project comparing the top players after the weekend.

Teams across the nation do it every year. We talk about these guys like they're 35-year-old NBA vets. They're in college. They're young. I don't think some realize just how many hours, how many days in a row, AAU players play. College players are often not that far removed from that. Gustys and Tanksley came up huge in the CAA finals playing a third straight day in Baltimore. Juan'ya Green had a terrible game and later said he felt fine and that he simply had a bad game, nothing to do with fatigue. A bench helps. But it's not always entirely necessary. There's a reason this year's HU bench doesn't play much. They can't be relied upon heavily at all. They're only good for very short streches, at most. The best players play. Others watch. Playing the bench garbage minutes at the ends of a couple of blowouts was what, going to accomplish what, make them major factors in the CAA tourney? Not buying that at ALL.

It makes them possibly able to contribute - forget injury, what if someone gets in foul trouble and they need 10-15 minutes out of Burgess or Silverio in the CAA final? You don't think some more court time would have been extremely valuable?

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In a couple of 20-point blowouts, against other teams' rarely-used players? Not really, no. Not enough to make them much better, not remotely enough to make an impact in the CAA tourney.

If Hofstra gets in enough foul trouble to have to rely on guys like Burgess or Silverio (who seems to have as many airballs as anything else this year) for as much as 15 minutes in a CAA tourney game, their title hopes will be in serious trouble.

And again, they have managed to be 22-8, 13-4 and likely 23-8, 14-4 and the 1 seed after tomorrow doing it without the bench all season long, often playing twice in three days. Playing the extra day in between won't matter as much as some believe. Regardless, they have no choice. I like Schutte's energy, Burgess seems quick at least. Silverio might be better in a bigger role. I'm rooting for them all to succeed in time. But that's all for next year and beyond. There IS no real bench this year. Or have the past six games in particular (winning five of those without the bench much at all) not made that abundantly clear? Why is this even up for debate now, after THIRTY games? We've watched the season. We know what the team is. The team is really just the starters. It's obvious.

[Polito]

Blah... is what it is, crappy game from HU and solid plan by Towson - I oddly felt this might be a weird game / potential L - no big insight, just felt like it was time for HU to lose one lol - mostly just disappointed they couldn't lock in the 1 seed w/the opp to do so.

I'm going to keep a positive perspective - we all know this team isn't perfect by any means, they can be beat, and played bad enough to earn the loss in this game. But they are still the best team in this league again IMO, and hopefully this gets the L out of their system! I don't feel good about HU on big win streaks going into the CAAT, too much pressure to keep winning running the same 5 dudes into the dirt like they do every yr.

This will be the same - again is what it is. Depending on the bench now is useless - whatever we get we get, take it and run. The tourney will be won or lost by the starting 5 as always.

Every team in this conf is flawed, so my hopes remain up for the most part. But make no mistake, it's 'show me' time for Mihalich.

I will be there ready to root on big for the final regular season / sr day on Sat!

[triplec2195]

I thought Silverio should have gotten minutes in this game and I was getting frustrated watching Ray especially when he tries to take the ball to the basket. He often gets stripped because he's not a great one on one player. He doesn't have really good ball handling skills. Joe who has stated ad nauseum he's going with the guys that got him there and the flip side to Ray is while he's not scoring lately he plays good D and that's important. I don't want to make the case for Silverio again but everyone knows he can contribute. He has been in the proverbial DOGHOUSE since he missed the game with an illness. He has had some good games with limited minutes so he should remain ready.

Trueheart got 10 minutes yesterday so I don't know why we bring him up like he didn't get in the game. He was on the floor with Kante but he wasn't much of a factor helping us on the rebounding side. Our bench won't be a deciding factor in the tourney I believe that the starters will either win or lose it for us. That seems to be etched in stone.