MBB Game 09 @Saint Louis, Dec 9 (Sat), 3 PM EST

[Jojogunne]

After opening the season with wins over DII and DIII opponents, Saint Louis has found the going tougher against DI teams. The Billikens are 5-5. Tonight, they lost a close one to higher-ranked Drake, 75-69.

In the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, Saint Louis placed 6th of 15 teams . GWU, one of our early opponents, ranked 9th.

Guard Gibson Jimerson was named to the A10 First Team. He's averaging 15.0 ppg this season, behind G Sincere Parker, who's leading Saint Louis with 17.3 ppg.

https://atlantic10.com/documents/2023/1 ... s_Poll.pdf

And if you're wondering what a "Billiken" is, here's the answer:

https://www.slu.edu/about/key-facts/wha ... 0sensation.

This will be another challenging game for us. You can watch on ESPN+.

[The Shadow]

As per ESPN, HU is a 59.1% favorite at SLU.

[stuball888]

men’s team are called the Billikens
I wonder if the women’s team are called the Jillikens

[Wags]

men’s team are called the Billikens
I wonder if the women’s team are called the Jillikens

On the same note, it's a huge disadvantage for the Tribe to play 2 on 5 every game with a guy name William and a girl name Mary.

[Polito]

Really don't like that SLU blew another game losing to Drake before playing us. They are going to be HUNGRY to show up and right their ship at home. They are not a very good squad right now, do not be fooled by their pedigree or A10 affiliation, they are super inconsistent and not yet a cohesive team, hence why they are on a big slide...

Would hate for HU to be their 'get right' game, but can't help but think this is going to be a tougher than it should be game. I think this is a game HU should win for how bad SLU is right now... but the dynamics of the game make me hesitant, and as cactus often says, this is a game of matchups.

On the other hand, as Wags stated to me recently, this could also be the bounce back games for TT and Dubar! Will take that of course!

Ultimately, I really just want to see a team make some improvements from the sloppiness at Iona. Not expecting a win, but that would be a positive if they can show they're ready to play the bigger names now.

Duke is the one I want HU to absolutely show out in - win or lose, they need to come to play on national tv. But I'm getting ahead, let's see some better ball vs the Billikens on a bigger stage!

[HUSID80]

We need to win this game against St. Louis...win this one and let the chips fall vs. Duke...no pressure there, let's have some fun with it. Duke hasn't exactly been world beaters recently so let's hope we help them continue their rough stretch.

[mikey75]

Will tomorrow's game be the first ever men's basketball game played by Hofstra in the State of Missouri? I can't think of any other appearances in the Show Me State off hand.

[The Shadow]

HU is a -3.5 to -4.5-point favorite on the road to SLU.

[triplec2195]

This certainly is indicative of playing a team that's not that good being favored by around 4 points on the road. This is a game we should win by a decent margin but not putting it in the win column just yet.

[triplec2195]

St Louis it should be noted is playing without their leading scorer Sincere Parker who averages 17.3 a big factor in this game and I'm sure in the spread.

[EvanJ]

http://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/2023 ... louis.html is Jerry Beach's "I'll Be Quirky: Hofstra at Saint Louis." The win at Iona was not a unicorn score, but it was our second 62-57 win after one at New Hampshire on December 27, 2008. It was our fewest points in a win since a 61-56 win hosting W&M on January 2, 2021. Because of COVID, teams played on consecutive days at the same site, and we beat W&M 82-73 the next day. "Darlinstone Dubar led the Dutchmen with 12 points Wednesday night. That’s the fewest points the leading scorer has scored in victory for the Dutchmen since way back on Nov. 26, 2011, when Dwan McMillan and Stephen Nwaukoni each scored 12 points in a 63-53 win over Cleveland State. That was 220 wins ago!" Fritz is 6-foot-10, and is our tallest player to make a three in the Defiantly Dutch Era, which started in 1993. The Iona game was the first time that all of our players scored since the NIT win at Rutgers on March 14.

On KenPom, Saint Louis is a little better than average at offense (155th) and bad on defense (267th). KenPom expects us to win 78-75. Our only previous games against Saint Louis were two Softball wins and a Field Hockey win, so this is our first game against Saint Louis in a male sport.

Will tomorrow's game be the first ever men's basketball game played by Hofstra in the State of Missouri? I can't think of any other appearances in the Show Me State off hand.

I checked our media guide, and other than non-Division I schools that I did not know or search for their location, we played two games against Missouri teams. On November 28, 1998, we lost to Kansas City 52-51 at a tournament in Hawaii, where we lost both games by 1. In 1966-1967, we beat Washington University. Our media guide says 89-69, and Washington's media guide says 76-68. It was at a neutral site, but I was unable to find out the date or location. This will be our first home or away game against a Missouri team.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=487605 will have statistics.

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... 7661bbdfe0 will have video.

Edit: We are starting our usual starters. Saint Louis is starting two guards, two forwards, and a center, but the center only averages 3.4 points.

[EvanJ]

We led by 7, and we lead 14-11. Saint Louis have 5 turnovers. I'm watching on TV. I am assuming this is the first time in my life that Hofstra played a game that was on TV where I was, but not where Hofstra is.

Edit: We lead 19-14. Saint Louis has 7 turnovers, and we have 7 fouls. It is a low-scoring game like Iona was.

[triplec2195]

Not guarding the 3 point line and Dubar just cannot get on the board! 29-26 at 3:47

[triplec2195]

We're up 31-29 Tyler 14 points. Sunday playing a lot of minutes Fritz with 2 fouls. Sunday leaves a lot to be desired can't hold on to rebounds. Also every time down chucking threes.

[triplec2195]

We gave up too many threes on wide open shots missed D assignments. Need to clean this up!

[EvanJ]

After I said it was low-scoring, we took our largest lead at 27-16. Saint Louis responded with a 10-0 run, Thomas scored 2, and Saint Louis made a three to tie it at 29 with 2:53 left. The only points after that were 2 free throws by Thomas with 1:24 left to give him 14, but he shot threes 2-7. He and Saint Louis's Gibson Jimerman played the whole half. From 10:53 left to 10:12 left, we committed 3 fouls to make 7. The seventh was not a shooting foul because it was offensive, and we did not commit a foul after that. I wonder when the last time a team committed at least 7 fouls in a half without committing a foul in the last half of the half was. We did not have anybody other than Thomas score more than 5. Washington scored 5; Carlos scored 4; Barrouk, Sunday, Robinson, and Farmer scored 2; and Dubar (4 shots) and Fritz (0 shots) did not score. It is good that we committed only 5 turnovers, but they led to 8 points. Our assist/turnover is bad because Carlos had 4 assists and nobody else had any. Sunday led us with 4 rebounds. Fritz committed 2 fouls in 5:11, and did not have a rebound, as Sunday played most of the half. Both teams attempted more threes than twos. We shot threes 3-15, and shot free throws 6-6. Saint Louis took their only lead at 3-2 from a three-point play, and made 1 of 2 free throws after that. They led for 4 seconds. Terrence Hargrove Jr. led them with 11 points, Tim Dalger scored 7, and Jimerson scored 6. Cian Medley led all players with 6 rebounds. Saint Louis had 1 more rebound. We had more bench points 8 to 2, which is unusual.

Edit: Monmouth hosted Northern Illinois. Monmouth quickly went from up to down 19, and trailed by 12 at halftime. Monmouth took the lead with 5:08. It went back and forth, and Monmouth made 2 free throws with 20 seconds left to tie it. The game ended with Monmouth stealing the ball and making a three at the buzzer to win 74-71. It was a win over the Mid-American Conference, which is near the CAA in the NET.

[EvanJ]

Dubar got going with 6 points in the first 2:34 of the half. Carlos has 2 more assists to make 6. Fritz missed his first shot of the game, committed his third foul, and is on the bench with no rebounds and 3 fouls in 8 minutes. It is a step backward after how he played on Wednesday. We lead 42-37.

[dutchPride86]

The drop off in Hofstra's overall play when Sunday is in for Fritz gets more and more glaring. Not giving up on Sunday by any means, but Fritz getting in foul trouble really hurts Hofstra BAD right now. Could cost them the game here

[Jojogunne]

We are shooting only 26% from the arc. Live by the three, die by the three.

[dutchPride86]

St Louis played like their season depended on it today, credit to them... they're a quality team, tough environment. Don't think this loss will look as bad in 2 months as it does now.

That being said, still obviously really stings and a totally winnable game Hofstra let get away. Gotta clean it up, and find more efficient ways to score against real defenses who contest their 3s.

Dubar MIA for a half again, Carlos some brutal turnovers and poor play down the stretch (really disappointing considering what he showed in those moments last yr), and Fritz HAS to figure out how to stay out of foul trouble.