MBB Game 15 - North Carolina A&T, 12/31/22, 1 PM EST

[Jojogunne]

North Carolina A&T, one of four new schools in the CAA, comes to Hempstead on Saturday for an early afternoon game starting at 1:00.

The 5-9 Aggies lost to Northeastern in Boston on Thursday, 76-88. Kam Woods led the Aggies with 23 points and Duncan Powell added 17.

North Carolina A&T and Hampton, another CAA newcomer, are two of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

I'm told that tickets have been selling briskly for this New Year's Eve day contest, so plan to arrive early.

FloHoops has the broadcast.

[triplec2195]

This is one of many games against inferior opponents that r must wins. No let down and we protect our own home court.

[HUSID80]

ESPN gives us an 87.9% chance of winning and we're 12 point favorites.

[triplec2195]

80-68 sound about right.

[EvanJ]

http://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/2022 ... ina-a.html is Jerry Beach's "I'll Be Quirky: North Carolina A&T." The win at Delaware was our first 87-73 win since we beat Merrimack in 1975-1976. It was our first wire-to-wire win since we beat Detroit Mercy 98-84 on November 27, 2021, and both were wins by 14.

North Carolina A&T has five men's teams and eight women's teams. That is not many. They won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament seven consecutive times from 1982 through 1988. They won the 2015 NCAA Women's Bowling championship.

Coach Phillip Shumpert answered Jerry Beach's questions. North Carolina A&T changed conferences for the second consecutive season. After a long time in the MEAC, they were in the Big South last season. They opened CAA play at Northeastern and us, and they last played at home on November 30.

The only previous game between the teams was a 92-72 home win on November 14, 2018.

Hofstra is playing on December 31 for the first time since 2016.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=425817 has statistics. We are starting Estrada, Carlos, Thomas, Dubar, and Boachie-Yiadom. North Carolina A&T is starting Kam Woods (guard, 17.8 ppg), Marcus Watson (guard, 13.9 ppg), Demetric Horton (guard, 12.4 ppg), Jeremy Robinson (forward, 5.1 ppg), and Webster Filmore (forward, 3.0 ppg). Based on that, their frontcourt does not score much. Team statistics with us first are:

Points: 73.4, 71.1
Rebounds: 31.8, 33.9
Assists: 13.7, 11.9
Field goal percentage: .462, .420
Three-point field goal percentage: .370, .348
Free throw percentage: .754 that is 43rd of 363 in Division I, .708
Blocked shots: 3.8, 3.1
Steals: 5.9, 7.8
Turnovers: 11.9, 12.2
Assists/turnovers: 1.16, 0.98

https://www.flohoops.com/live/48100 has video.

[Pride97]

Wow - pathetic pathetic game. They gave it away and showed zero heart of the toughness we always hear about. Lots of talk from the coach about that - zero change!

The rebounding on this team is an absolute joke. They are so reliant on Estrada and have no identity otherwise.

Williams is overrated. He’s got terrible hands and can’t rebound. At this point I’d much rather see NBY in and starting h to thing possibly Tomasco. Dubar is invisible on the defensive end as well.

They are no better than a middle of the pack team this year and I think we should all get used to that. This completely negates the Delaware win.

So disappointed that this team has not come together with any cohesiveness. Thats on the coaching.

Maybe speedy coddles them too much - doesn’t seem to be much accountability. Clearly Parotta hasn’t improved any of the bigs. Where is the D? 80 points today???

Completely frustrated with this “team”


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[EvanJ]

Williams is overrated. He’s got terrible hands and can’t rebound. At this point I’d much rather see NBY in and starting h to thing possibly Tomasco. Dubar is invisible on the defensive end as well.

Williams had 8 rebounds in 23 minutes, which led us. NBY had 4 rebounds in 17 minutes.

North Carolina A&T came back from down 13 to win 81-79 when revies determined that the shot at the buzzer was shot in time. From 2010-2011 to before today, teams were 216-0 (including many wins over non-Division I teams) when having at least 79 points, 8 or fewer fouls, and 9 or fewer turnovers. The 216 wins include us beating John Jay, Old Westbury, and Elon.

[Pride97]

Williams is overrated. He’s got terrible hands and can’t rebound. At this point I’d much rather see NBY in and starting h to thing possibly Tomasco. Dubar is invisible on the defensive end as well.

Williams had 8 rebounds in 23 minutes, which led us. NBY had 4 rebounds in 17 minutes.
.

What you can’t find in the numbers is how many o boards happened over him. He’s not good at boxing out and doesn’t seem to use his size to his advantage. I think I remember someone saying that her had 0 rebounds last game. I really expected him to be more of a presence that he has shown.


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[Cards]

Pathetic. Should have easily won this game by 15+ points.

WW is just a big dude without a lot of talent. NBY is a smart player who has zero offensive game. We can't expect much of anything from the 5 spot this season.

JC is clearly not quick enough to match up against most other PGs. Don't know if he can get "quicker" or if he is what he is. In any case, right now it's a big deficiency.

DD has been disappointing - I was hoping for more this season.

HU will win when ES and/or TT have good games. If they are not shooting well, we are sunk. Still too much one on one. We project to be a middle of the pack team.

An encouraging note -- first time I have seen LM warming up before a game. I know he is out for this season, but I have a good feeling about him. He looks to move pretty well and has a nice smooth "J". Saw him take a three and he was smooth with good form, almost like a TT shot from a 6'10' guy! I know its a year away, and I know that a Speedy team will not have 5 shooting from beyond the foul line, but i'm very encouraged from what I saw. Hope he is adding weight and strength, and that Paratta is helping him (assuming coach knows how to work with him).

[HUSID80]

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. We let them hang around too long and then our isolated Estrada offense was horrible.
Thought the Delaware win was big, now it looks like an aberration.
Very disappointed in this team so far.

[triplec2195]

SAID half jokingly to my b/i/l in the second half of the game do u think we will cover the spread then I quickly said to him we'll probably be lucky to win this game. I liked the way we shared the ball in the first half with N.C. A&T doing everything they could to stop Estrada but Thomas carried us to an extent and we got easy baskets because of the double teams of Aaron. The second half especially down the stretch we still had a decent size lead but we went into the Estrada show. Too much one on one no ball movement. We missed important free throws Estrada a front end Williams a few FT's and those things can determine the outcome of a close game. Of course with the lead we had it shouldn't come down to a few FT's .

Post presser you could see how frustrated Speedy was and used his usual talking points about toughness and getting pissed when your man beats you but what I thought was interesting was how he thru Aaron under the bus and said he let his missed shots effect his defense and got beat a few times because of his missed shots. I don't ever remember him speaking negatively about Estrada. Anyway I agreed with his opening statement I was saying that very same thing as I left the Mack "We got what we deserved". That sums up this game with giving up rebounds and not always hustling back on defense. Also giving up crucial 3's letting them get back in this game.

[triplec2195]

Just another take on what I saw and didn't have too many issues with JC thought he was working his butt off on D and handling the rock but didn't give us much of a boost on offense. Speedy gave Williams more minutes in this game I think because #31 Duncan Powell was hurting us inside and we gave up chip shots in the paint. Say what you will about Williams and yes I think he needs better hands but his size helps us in the post. He's a big body and can score in close in a variety of ways. He also has a big wingspan which makes it harder to score over him. He was awful against U Mass but I think his game is coming around. D-Stone was playing much better today and hit a big three down the stretch. His last game wasn't good but he has been good for the most part. He played 26 minutes had 16 points and seven rebounds. I mean if he plays like that every game we should be elated. Just my take.

[triplec2195]

And yes we may very well be a middle of the pack team. Note today Charleston beating Towson in O/T. They may be the best teams in the league with UNCW thrown into the mix.

[Wags]

From 2010-2011 to before today, teams were 216-0 (including many wins over non-Division I teams) when having at least 79 points, 8 or fewer fouls, and 9 or fewer turnovers. The 216 wins include us beating John Jay, Old Westbury, and Elon.

Wow.

Inexcusable loss. At this point, this is not a serious team, at least not one that has serious aspirations of contending. Much to do to get their act together in 2023.

The only thing is the CAA often makes no sense and it wouldn't completely shock me if we later say: "They beat Towson, UNCW, and Charleston after losing to NC A&T at home?" Can certainly happen as we've seen that kind of thing in this conference many times over the years with Hofstra and other teams. But at this point, we can only go by what we've seen to date, and that as of now, does not inspire a lot of confidence, especially after what was a very strong showing at Delaware. Turn the page as they turn the calendar at midnight and hopefully 2023 is a lot better for them. Happy rest of 2022 and a very happy & healthy 2023 when it gets hear, everyone!

[Jojogunne]

The headline in Newsday says it all: "Hofstra blows 13-point second-half lead, falls to North Carolina A&T at buzzer"

https://www.newsday.com/beta/sports/col ... t-ajei4lvw

I hope they post that headline in the locker room.

Quotes from Speedy:

“I think we got what we deserved,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said after his team fell to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play. “We had a great emotional win, a great road win. Sometimes you have a letdown, and that’s what happened.”

“He’s [Estrada's] a good player, but I think he let his offense affect his defense,” Claxton said. “He had a couple of miscues defensively because he wasn’t totally dialed in, because he was missing shots on the offensive end. That can’t happen.”

Speedy is quick to compliment his players when they perform well, and he is justified in criticizing them when they do not.

[Wags]

I'm told that tickets have been selling briskly for this New Year's Eve day contest, so plan to arrive early.

And yet attendance was only 1,667 and NC A&T certainly made itself feel right at home, even down 13 with under 10 minutes left. So, what happened here?

[Wags]

“He’s [Estrada's] a good player, but I think he let his offense affect his defense,” Claxton said. “He had a couple of miscues defensively because he wasn’t totally dialed in, because he was missing shots on the offensive end. That can’t happen.”

But it shouldn't, not if a coaching staff is holding its players accountable ALL the time. The best defensive teams have an identity that they are known for - that they ALWAYS bring it defensively and don't take plays off on that end of the floor, regardless of whether the team is making shots at the other end. So what kind of defensive team does HU want to be? One that merely gets by when its shots are falling or one that can always win, and which can win a title in D.C. (like three years ago), even when the offense goes cold at times? Rooting hard for Speedy. I think he CAN coach, and hoping this team can find itself this year but "That can happen" is not the mindset of CHAMPIONSHIP teams. That mindset needs to change.

[HUSID80]

Charleston blowing out A&T by 30 midway in second half.
We have work to do!

[triplec2195]

Only watched a little of this game that Charleston won 92-79. I guess Charleston had their bench players in this one early. Charleston is a very good looking team constantly attacking the basket putting pressure on the defense and kicking out for three's apparently their shot of choice. It will be tough beating this team.

[Wags]

Only watched a little of this game that Charleston won 92-79. I guess Charleston had their bench players in this one early. Charleston is a very good looking team constantly attacking the basket putting pressure on the defense and kicking out for three's apparently their shot of choice. It will be tough beating this team.

Charleston (14) and UNCW (12) are on a combined 26-game winning streak.