MBB Game 29 Hampton, 2/16/23 (Thurs), 7 PM

[Wags]

Another 10 boards from Carlos (along with 8 assists). He continues to sneak in there and get rebounds when HU's bigs are boxing out.

A regular occurrence of late which may be extremely helpful in a close CAA tourney game if needed.

[Hofstra]

Great game tonight. Loved seeing them stay in the zone. They are locked in.

[Jojogunne]

This was a very physical game, with both teams fighting for rebounds and crashing to the floor. There was a Tony Skinn moment at 7:32 in the first half (for those who want to check out the FloHoops replay). Quinton Livingston (#12) appeared to punch Nelson Boachie-Yiadom in the gut. The refs stopped the game to check the replay and assessed Livingston with a flagrant 2 foul, which also meant he was ejected from the game. Boachie-Yiadom made both of his FTs, and after Hofstra inbounded the ball, Tyler Thomas nailed a three, giving Hofstra five more points and increasing the lead to 30-11.

[EvanJ]

https://gohofstra.com/news/2023/2/16/me ... ctory.aspx is titled "Blackjack!; Pride Picks up 21st Win With Ninth Consecutive Victory." We went 8-0 on Thursdays, and have off next Thursday.

https://gohofstra.com/sports/mens-baske ... core/12126 is the box score. The attendance was 1,833.

It was the first time from 2010-2011 to now that we had at least 45 rebounds and at least 9 blocks against a Division I team. We did it against Medaille and Farmingdale State. The bench had 5 blocks and 4 steals.

We lead the CAA in field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, blocked shots, assists, and assist/turnover ratio. We are first or second in 11 of 21 categories, which is a majority, and it is even more impressive when you consider the fact that 7 of the categories are about rebounding, which is our weakness. We are second in defensive rebounds because our opponents miss a lot, and tenth or worse in the other six rebounding categories. Charleston leads the CAA in eight categories. Towson's Cameron Holden passed Carlos for the assists lead. Estrada dropped out of the free throw percentage leaders because it requires 2.5 made per game, and he is down to 2.44. That is too high a requirement, and fifteenth in free throw percentage is .564, which is very bad, and certainly not deserving of statistical leaders.

[daHUPride]

This is an interesting team -

Our Point Guard (JC) and our starting Center (NBY) - dont shot - our Point Guard is one of our top rebounders - our Center is one of our best passers - go figure.

Our Centers - NBY and WW - are so complementary to the position and each other at there position - between them - little foul trouble, 10 boards 10 points per night - and block shots - a pleasant surprise for me.

We play damn good D - Speedy talked about needing to play D when he was hired - and we are NOT just an Offensive Team anymore - Plotnikov for example - is a nice sized strong kid that moves well and seems to be able to guard aggressively on the perimeter.

Speedy - is a much different coach then a year ago - seems confident/vocal (last two games I saw vs Mounmoth and Hampton-was warned by refs and "T'd" up vs Hampton) - and players seemed to embrace and respond to this staff, its style.

Nothing more I will add that has hasnt been said
Estrada and Thomas are slayers that make a dynamic duo
Dubar always one my favorites - and when he goes (with AE and TT) we are tough.

This team is different then most other years - balanced (on both ends of the court), confident (and beating the teams they should), calm (on fazed in most situations), know their roles ("do YOUR job"), playing our best ball towards the end - winning it all in DC is going to be tough - but we should be able to favorably compete again any of the top teams in the CAA (CofC, WNCW or Towson) -

Go Pride

[triplec2195]

This was a very physical game, with both teams fighting for rebounds and crashing to the floor. There was a Tony Skinn moment at 7:32 in the first half (for those who want to check out the FloHoops replay). Quinton Livingston (#12) appeared to punch Nelson Boachie-Yiadom in the gut. The refs stopped the game to check the replay and assessed Livingston with a flagrant 2 foul, which also meant he was ejected from the game. Boachie-Yiadom made both of his FTs, and after Hofstra inbounded the ball, Tyler Thomas nailed a three, giving Hofstra five more points and increasing the lead to 30-11.

Hard to see what went on and being at the Mack I wondered what the refs were looking at. It took them a long time to make a decision but seeing Nelson hit the floor right away you had the feeling he was flagrantly fouled. I don't remember seeing any players thrown out of a game recently that we played in.

[triplec2195]

Quote daHUPride; Our Point Guard (JC) and our starting Center (NBY) - dont shot - our Point Guard is one of our top rebounders - our Center is one of our best passers - go figure.
They don't shoot that much but both are capable scorers when they need to be. Both sneaky and put opposing teams to sleep. We know JC can score and he has showed it in some games this year. Like to see him utilize and perfect the floater that could be a strong move for him. Nelson if you're not paying attention will burn u with a dunk.

QuotedaHUPride; We play damn good D - Speedy talked about needing to play D when he was hired - and we are NOT just an Offensive Team anymore - Plotnikov for example - is a nice sized strong kid that moves well and seems to be able to guard aggressively on the perimeter.
Seeing him up close yesterday you can really appreciate what a hard nosed intelligent kid he's. I would love to know how many strips he has had this year according to our stats he has been credited with 15 steals and 11 blocked shots playing 15 minutes a game. This kid is an X factor type player that could make a huge difference in a big moment and if you sleep on him he'll shoot a three or score on a drive. A big get for Speedy and company.

[HUSID80]

Agree with all that is being said about this because I beleive it is truly special and the lumps we took early in out of conference and without Estrada are paying dividends now.
What befuddles me is the LACK OF FAN SUPPORT FOR THIS TEAM. Announced crowd of 1,800 looked like less on the Flo coverage and where are the students?
Why don'r we give them t shirts EVERY game or something as that appears its the only way they will show up.
Hope they have something special planned for Senior Day...these days who knows who's a senior?????

[HUSID80]

More love from Newsday...do we call this jumping on the bandwagon????

https://www.newsday.com/beta/sports/col ... a-mqqev6cg

[Cards]

Agree with all that has been stated already. However, lets be sure to remember the quality of the competition. Other than Nesbitt (who is extremely quick and athletic, and would be a star if he was on HU), Hampton played more like a good D2 squad than a team that belongs in the CAA (at least the old CAA ). Also recall that 4 of our last 5 games were against bottom dwellers who should have been easily defeated (and decisively were).

So I am as optimistic about this team going forward as is the rest of the board (but lets not forget the weak conf schedule we have had). In the end, I'm hoping for another matchup with CoC in the conf finals, yielding a sound HU victory.

[EvanJ]

Our Point Guard (JC) and our starting Center (NBY) - dont shot - our Point Guard is one of our top rebounders - our Center is one of our best passers - go figure.

JC has been getting a lot of rebounds recently, but for the season he is tied with Thomas for fifth. NBY's 1.83 assists while playing about half the times and 1.77 assist/turnover ratio are great for a center.

Our Point Guard (JC) and our starting Center (NBY) - dont shot - our Point Guard is one of our top rebounders - our Center is one of our best passers - go figure.

JC has been getting a lot of rebounds recently, but for the season he is tied with Thomas for fifth. NBY's 1.83 assists while playing about half the times and 1.77 assist/turnover ratio are great for a center.

More love from Newsday...do we call this jumping on the bandwagon????

https://www.newsday.com/beta/sports/col ... a-mqqev6cg

That pointed out that Thomas was an average shooter while scoring 16.4 in a worse conference last season.

Of 363 teams, we are 12th in field goal percentage differential, 24th in three-point field goal percentage differential, 52nd in free throw percentage differential, and 46th in blocked shots differential.

[Wags]

Agree with all that is being said about this because I beleive it is truly special and the lumps we took early in out of conference and without Estrada are paying dividends now.

It's far more likely that people don't even know who Hofstra played OOC than the games Hofstra lost OOC. It's just this area. This is not a surprise. We've seen this since The Mack opened more than 23 years ago - unless there's some buzz with a Top 25 team coming in, something big at stake like a conference championship (which of course we no longer have at home, post-AE) or hosting an NIT game, or unless they're giving away free stuff to draw parents and their kids, or giving free stuff to students, people just don't care. Nassau County is simply not a good area for college basketball. Even when on most of the rare occasions when more people do show up, they are quiet. They cheer more for free t-shirts than anything HU does on the floor. It's just not that kind of area.

[HUSID80]

Wags its worse than ever now...even during the jenkins era we averaged more than 3,000 per home game, not so long age...we have the Met area's best player who no one knows about, great facilities, good game expereince, etc...you would think we could get 2,500 in the building just opening our doors.
Me thinks we need to work the community harder...it seems we just communicate with the Hofstra family via social media and little else.

[Wags]

Wags its worse than ever now...even during the jenkins era we averaged more than 3,000 per home game, not so long age...we have the Met area's best player who no one knows about, great facilities, good game expereince, etc...you would think we could get 2,500 in the building just opening our doors.
Me thinks we need to work the community harder...it seems we just communicate with the Hofstra family via social media and little else.

It's also a different climate now. People have reevaluated what they want to spend their time and money on, post-Covid (still in Covid?), with inflation, etc., it's harder than ever to draw. Plus, the Knicks are better now too, and those tickets are of course, as expensive as ever (even more so), the Islanders have their new arena, so maybe people figure if they spend their time and money on those and other things, that's their new limit, I don't know. There are a lot of varied factors, but despite everything you're saying that I fully agree with, this area isn't like others for college hoops. There could be more that HU can do to market a good product, but I still really think a lot more people in the area would rather go to Roosevelt Field than take in a good fan experience to watch a first-place team practically steps away. It's sad, but I think, just how it's been and how it still seems to be.

[Wags]

https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 5953076225

[Hofstra]

Agree with all that is being said about this because I beleive it is truly special and the lumps we took early in out of conference and without Estrada are paying dividends now.
What befuddles me is the LACK OF FAN SUPPORT FOR THIS TEAM. Announced crowd of 1,800 looked like less on the Flo coverage and where are the students?
Why don'r we give them t shirts EVERY game or something as that appears its the only way they will show up.
Hope they have something special planned for Senior Day...these days who knows who's a senior?????

Downright pathetic at this point. It was my first time at The Macka this year, and it looked awesome. They did such a great job inside the Arena. My buddy and I could not believe the lack of support from the students. It was pathetic to see. What more can this team do to earn their support?

[cactus]

The bottom of this league is barely division 1. Most of the new teams are awful.

If Charleston loses a close championship game, they finish what, 30-4? With a couple of really good wins? Still think they'd be on the bubble.

[triplec2195]

I myself have to wonder where the students were awful and to just address the stoic nature of some of these fans I sit near who I have seen for sometime not making a peep no matter what happens in the game. Few people trying to rattle the opposing team when they're on the foul line. I'm just at a loss. I like to yell especially at the refs but I'm clearly the exception.

[Jojogunne]

Maybe the students were getting an early start on the long Presidents Day weekend? Hofstra is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Even the pep band was not at full strength.

[triplec2195]

Yeah good point probably the holiday.