MBB Game 18 Hampton, Jan 18 (Thu), 7 PM

[Wags]

How can you score 59 points in the second half and just look totally confused in the first. Mind boggling!

Why would this be a surprise? We've come to expect it as it's been the standard M.O. They come to play in the second half and take the first half off. If they have an identity, that's been it - strictly a second-half team. I don't know why it so often takes halftime to get them right, why the same urgency and focus isn't there going into these games. That's not going to cut it for most of what's left and certainly not in DC. If they don't start getting as serious to start games as they are coming out of halftime, they're going to end up with a mediocre seed at best and get bounced fairly early.

Yes, part of it is just basketball. Teams at every level go on runs and take their foot off the gas with big leads. But it's more than that. They haven't simply cut into big deficits, they've been good enough to completely wipe them out every time in these CAA games (four times in the first five league contests now). But they only have one win to show for it because it was too much to ask in three of those games to close well enough to win after overcoming big deficits. Besides the Delaware game, they've trailed by 12, 21, 15, and 18 in the first half. That's inexcusable. There are no good reasons to trail by THAT much so frequently in the opening half. They are better than that. The only win with those four big deficits was against winless-in-CAA-play Hampton. Something is just not getting through to the players that the game always starts at the opening tip, not after halftime. That should be their top priority in prepping for Stony Brook - "We absolutely cannot start so slowly again or like Charleston, like Northeastern, like Campbell, we'll come up short if do." Whatever it takes for the staff to make sure that message is not only heard but really taken to heart, that's their job to hold their players accountable for that.

[Wags]

The sooner they all come to terms with the fact that Dubar is the team's best player the better

Dubar: 27 pts on 12 shots
Thomas: 14 pts on 14 shots (5/7 from 2, yet 0/7 from 3)

Dubar: 1.42 PPS (332 pts on 233 shots) for the season.
Thomas: 1.15 PPS (401 pts on 349 shots)

We've had plenty of evidence before, but tonight is blatant who is more efficient and how much Thomas relies far too much on the 3.

[Mark19th]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.


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[triplec2195]

What also should be mentioned in terms of the 1st half that it was very evident their starters had a distinct height advantage. Their only starter on the court that was under 6'7 was their one guard Maxwell at 6'3. They were getting O rebounds and second chance points. They had 17 second chance points to our 8 and in the first half they were in the bonus and went to the foul line 10x hitting 9 of those free throws. We had 3 points from the foul line in the first half. In the second half our rebounding was better and Dubar got a lot of those rebounds really playing at another level. No question he's the all around best player on this team right now considering both sides of the ball. As of late we would be worse (if possible) then we're playing right now without his huge contributions.

[triplec2195]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.


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There's an article in Newsday online page A42 "In Brief" covered us and the SB loss. Also a nice picture of Dubar dunk. This perfunctory coverage agreed is sad considering this was a home game.

[stuball888]

This is the second year in a row that one of Hamptons players was ejected from the game. Last year I think one of their players kicked Nelson in the family jewels.
What is this the Tony Skinn effect. Was not able to make the game.
Why was the Hampton player ejected?

[Wags]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.

Newsday's readers frankly care more about Pitino's health condition. Do those readers even know where Hampton is located?

[Wags]

This is the second year in a row that one of Hamptons players was ejected from the game. Last year I think one of their players kicked Nelson in the family jewels.

And we were concerned with "respecting Hampton" and "not wanting to show them up" by benching HU's starters at the start for a few minutes? A benching that was proved warranted yet again because of yet another miserable, unfocused beginning from HU's starters (aside from the Plotnokov-for-Washington swap) last night? Look how Hampton already treats Hofstra anyway, barely being in the league.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.

Newsday's readers frankly care more about Pitino's health condition. Do those readers even know where Hampton is located?

It's out on the east end, right? Westhampton, Hampton Bays, South Hampton, East Hampton...

[danbenjamin888]

What a classy move by Fritz to get the ball from Carlos as he was letting the clock and the 30 second clock go down, to take the turnover, rather than allow the point guard to take the turnover. I don't think I've ever seen that before. To have the awareness to do that is impressive. That's really being a good teammate.

[HUSID80]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.


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It's becoming a joke. The other day Newsday had THREE stories on St. John's. One for the game one Pitino's COVID and the third a feature on two playes...WHO IS PAYING THEM????

[Mark19th]

The sports editor, I heard, is a St John’s grad. Expect a full page next Tuesday covering Pitino’s trip to ShopRite to buy milk, orange juice and cheese snacks.


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[Captain]

Well that's a relief!
Did we make Hampton (or Northeastern or Campbell) look good? They all looked awesome in the 1st half vs Hofstra. I think the fact is that all D1 programs have really good players. Hampton rebounded the ball well and if they had open looks they were hitting them. The 1st half was only a s..t show for Hofstra. Hampton looked really good in the 1st half as did Northeastern and Campbell. We clearly have to compete better in both halves or we can lose to anyone. We say it all the time. We need to get in the paint in the 1st half, we need to get to the foul line in the 1st half.
By the way the pick and roll has been missing in action a bit.
Beat Stony Brook on Monday night and life will look a bit better.

[Wags]

Newsday non-coverage of the game, but made sure to report on Rick Pitino’s medical condition.

Newsday's readers frankly care more about Pitino's health condition. Do those readers even know where Hampton is located?

It's out on the east end, right? Westhampton, Hampton Bays, South Hampton, East Hampton...

"Hmm, I had heard that Stony Brook joined Hofstra's conference but I didn't even know there was a college out in the Hamptons. And they joined too?"

[Wags]

The sports editor, I heard, is a St John’s grad. Expect a full page next Tuesday covering Pitino’s trip to ShopRite to buy milk, orange juice and cheese snacks.

Ha! I think there will be a step-by-step on exactly how he ties his shoelaces too, no?

[Wags]

Well that's a relief!
Did we make Hampton (or Northeastern or Campbell) look good? They all looked awesome in the 1st half vs Hofstra. I think the fact is that all D1 programs have really good players.

These teams are ready to play from the start. Hofstra has somehow not yet learned that they are not good enough to simply show up and win. They have to match the intensity, focus, and energy that these other supposed inferior teams are bringing right at the start instead of coasting until the decide to wake up in the second half. When they don't, we've seen the results over and over, and over with these big first-half deficits that HU should never have. You can live with a team that may not be that great but leaves it all on the floor every game. But the hardest team to root for is a team that should be performing better than it is and doesn't because it doesn't always come ready to play - that seems to be this year's Hofstra team in the first half of too many games. You want more fans at The Mack? You want more coverage in Newsday? Then THEY need to change that attitude ASAP.

Beat Stony Brook on Monday night and life will look a bit better.

Easier said than done, especially at their place. I would not have expected to say this when the season started, but at this point right now, I think Stony Brook is a bit better and it's mainly because they've played harder than HU has not necessarily because they're more talented. It's going to take a real concerted effort for 40 minutes to win there, especially with a nationally televised "Monday Night Football" kind of tip at 9 pm and the home crowd likely into it.

[cactus]

The team is well aware of the slow starts and needing to play a full 40 minutes.
DiPaolo mentioned it a few times in a short chalk-talk before the game in the pride lounge.
For what it's worth, I don't think they played that bad to start the game.
Hampton is a raw team with good athleticism, they struggled with that defensively, and their shots just didn't fall early on.

[dutchPride86]

This is the second year in a row that one of Hamptons players was ejected from the game. Last year I think one of their players kicked Nelson in the family jewels.
What is this the Tony Skinn effect. Was not able to make the game.
Why was the Hampton player ejected?

The ejection was the first time I felt confident Hofstra was actually going to hold on and win last night...

Hamptons big fouled out with around 5 min left when he caught Dubar with an elbow battling for a rebound. I believe it got upgraded to a flagrant after review, and the kid also then got a tech arguing about it with the refs, so he was ejected from watching rest of the game on the bench.

Hofstra made all 4 FTs, then scored off the inbounds... 6 point possession stretched the lead to 8.

[Wags]

The team is well aware of the slow starts and needing to play a full 40 minutes.
DiPaolo mentioned it a few times in a short chalk-talk before the game in the pride lounge.
For what it's worth, I don't think they played that bad to start the game.
Hampton is a raw team with good athleticism, they struggled with that defensively, and their shots just didn't fall early on.

It's been mentioned repeatedly by the staff. But when does that message actually sink in to the point it translates ON THE COURT? Anyone with a pair of functioning eyes can see the difference in intensity in the second halves of these games compared to the first halves.

We're crediting Hampton instead of looking in the mirror now? Hampton? The only winless team in the CAA? This is what we're doing now? Hofstra beat Delaware (the one time they bothered to play the entire first half in a CAA game this year) and yet Delaware didn't get down 18 at home against Hampton like Hofstra did last night. They jumped on them 15-4 and 26-7 and coasted to a 27-point win. They didn't need a 59-point second half just to win by single digits.

[Jojogunne]

This is the second year in a row that one of Hamptons players was ejected from the game. Last year I think one of their players kicked Nelson in the family jewels.
What is this the Tony Skinn effect. Was not able to make the game.
Why was the Hampton player ejected?

With about 5:00 minutes left in the game, Dubar ran downcourt to grab an offensive rebound, but bumped into #3 from Hampton, who boxed him out. Dubar fell awkwardly, but It did not look like a foul to me, especially a flagrant 2. I think the Hampton player already had four fouls, so he simply fouled out:

https://www.flohoops.com/events/1133019 ... g=11905708