MBB Game 26 @ Drexel, Feb. 15 (Thu), 7 PM

[Jojogunne]

We head to Philly next Thursday to face Drexel for the first time this season.

Remember when the Dragons were 7-0 in the CAA? They have since dropped 4 of 5 and are now just 8-4, losing to Towson, Monmouth, UNCW, and Charleston.

After we host Northeastern next Saturday, Drexel will visit the Mack on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Justin Moore and Amari Williams lead the Dragons in scoring with 12 ppg. PG Moore was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team last year and Williams is the reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Year.

FloHoops will carry our game @ Drexel.

[HUSID80]

This is a HUGE game for us. We need to win at least one vs Drexel and one vs UNCW/Charleton trip...not easy but we are playing better, despite what Polito says...wonder what the injury is to Washington...we NEED another body desperately.

[joeg1]

Definitely a show-me game. This contest will speak volumes. Are we championship material or pretenders?

[EvanJ]

Dubar (.632), Fritz (.667), and Plotnikov (.651) are shooting twos extremely well. Washington shoots twos .640, and we will see if he plays again. I do not have a way of finding out, but I doubt there are many teams with four players averaging at least 5 points and shooting twos .632 or higher.

https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/si ... f/cume.pdf has Drexel's statistics. They shoot okay, defend very well, and rebound very well. They have depth with ten regulars, and their tenth most minutes is 53 percent of their most minutes. Justin Moore leads them in minutes with 28.0. It is amazing that Amari Williams has 204 rebounds and 42 blocks with only 31 fouls. His combination of over 8 rebounds, over 1.5 blocks, and under 1.5 fouls is something nobody has done from 2009-2010 to now.

[Mikey77]

Any word on Washington?

[dan10]

Definitely a show-me game. This contest will speak volumes. Are we championship material or pretenders?

I think this is true of both teams. We stink on the road and have under Spiker. This is at home, can we just turn a switch and win at home or lull and continue our pedestrian ways? Assuming Towson wins tonight against Elon we are looking at a 4 way tie for 3rd. We face you twice and still at Delaware so massive game for the quest for top 4 for both squads

[stuball888]

Welcome Dan dont be a stranger
For those that dont know Dan is a long time Dragon fan but has always respected Hofstras BB program.
He is one of the more knowledgeable fans
A question for you Dan
Were you ever a member of the Dak pack?

[EvanJ]

The CAA Weekly Report says "Hofstra won back-to-back games while scoring less than 70 points in both games for the first time since wins over UNCW (66) and William & Mary (67) on Jan. 19 & 22, 2011." That team had senior Charles Jenkins.

[EvanJ]

https://gohofstra.com/news/2024/2/11/me ... rsday.aspx is our preview titled "Huge Showdown In Philadelphia Awaits Hofstra and Drexel On Thursday."

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... game26.pdf is our Game Notes.

https://drexeldragons.com/news/2024/2/1 ... at-the-dac is Drexel's preview.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... 0213075028 is Drexel's Game Notes.

KenPom expects us to lose 68-63 with a 33 percent chance of winning. The game is on NBC Sports Philadelphia or NBC Sports Philadelphia+. Here are the other six CAA games with their KenPom predictions:

Hampton at Stony Brook at 6:31 P.M. on SNY
KenPom predicts Stony Brook to win 80-66 with a 91 percent chance of winning.

North Carolina A&T at UNCW at 7:00 P.M. on Bounce (WECT 6.2)
KenPom predicts UNCW to win 84-64 with a 97 percent chance of winning. I wonder when the last time a CAA game had a probability that high was.

Charleston at Northeastern at 7:00 P.M. on NESN+
KenPom predicts Charleston to win 80-77 with a 61 percent chance of winning.

Campbell at Monmouth at 7:00 P.M.
KenPom predicts Monmouth to win 75-66 with a 79 percent chance of winning.
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=485922 will have statistics.

Towson at William & Mary at 7:00 P.M.
KenPom predicts Towson to win 68-62 with a 72 percent chance of winning.

[triplec2195]

We're a 3.5 point underdog from ESPN, YAHOO AND NEWSDAY. This would be a huge win for us as all games are of paramount importance.

[Wags]

This one starts the final third of CAA play. Now is the time to make that last push going into the conference tourney with four very tough games (on paper) in that final third. Drexel twice within three games, closing with a trip to UNCW and Charleston, and Northeastern & Elon mixed in. Getting this first one tonight, assuring themselves at least a split against Drexel, would help a lot. Let's see what this team is made of. They are right in the mix and everyone in the league can see the finish line now.

[dutchPride86]

Nice to actually be a legitimate underdog for a change. With Drexel slumping, it makes it even for critical for Hofstra to get off to a good start tonight... make Drexel feel the pressure and don't let them regain their confidence.

Could honestly see this being a first to 60 wins type of game, not expecting a pretty game from Hofstra on the offensive end. Besides not letting Amari Williams wreck the game and limiting turnovers against Drexel's defense, sneaky x-factor will be keeping Drexels role players like Okros and House from getting hot from 3. Justin Moore also shooting just 8-38 during Drexel's 3 game losing streak, he's way too good a player for that, let's not let him find it tonight!

[EvanJ]

Moore is a sophomore, and in both seasons he did not shoot well. His 3.4 assists and 2.4 turnovers are not a good ratio for a point guard. Thomas averages 3.4 assists and 2.2 turnovers without being a point guard.

Considering importance and competitiveness, this is one of the best of tonight's 67 games. UNCW is favored by 22.5, which is the biggest line of the day. They are bigger favorites than Number 22 Florida Atlantic favored by 19.5 hosting 8-16 Temple, 22-2 Grand Canyon favored by 19.5 hosting 10-14 Utah Tech, and Number 18 Saint Mary's favored by 19.5 hosting 10-16 Pepperdine.

Edit: https://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/202 ... rexel.html is Jerry Beach's "I'll Be Quirky: Hofstra at Drexel." The 81-49 win at North Carolina A&T was our first 81-49 since we beat Queens in the 17th of 24 games in 1953-1954. Dubar tied Rokas Gustys for 30th in points with 1,184, and Dubar is 2 behind Juan'ya Green and Brian Bernardi, who are tied for 28th. Thomas moved up to 35th with 1,123 points. He is 5 points behind Mike Moore (who led the CAA in points per game in 2011-2012), 9 points behind Wandy Williams, and 16 points behind Nathaniel Lester. Plotnikov followed a scoreless game with a 20 point game, and became our first player to do that since point guard Deron Powers or Kenny Wormley. Powers played one season for us in 2016-2017 after point guard Juan'ya Green graduated. Powers did not score on January 7, 2017, and scored 21 five days later. Kenny Wormley was a transfer expected to be th point guard before Desure Buie took over, and Wormley hardly played in his second of two seasons for us. He did not play in eight consecutive games and then scored 20 against Division III Rosemont on December 22, 2018. I do not think Wormley should count because playing without scoring is different from not playing. After playing Drexel twice, they will tie Delaware as our most played opponent with 99 games, so the CAA Tournament could make us reach 100 games against one or both of them.

[Jojogunne]

Game link:

https://www.flohoops.com/live/87639

[dutchPride86]

With Drexel slumping, it makes it even for critical for Hofstra to get off to a good start tonight... make Drexel feel the pressure and don't let them regain their confidence.

Check box 1 here. Keep up this intensity level!

Also this blitzing Moore with a double team full court press off makes is an interesting new wrinkle. Gotta watch the off ball fouls on Williams

[dutchPride86]

sneaky x-factor will be keeping Drexels role players like Okros and House from getting hot from 3.

Unfortunately check box 2...Drexel 4-5 from deep at the under 8... all from the role players

[dutchPride86]

Outstanding effort level for the 1st half. Now no let up, we all remember Monmouth gotta finish the job!

Could use some more from Dubar as I'd expect Drexel to start throwing some doubles at Tyler. And watch the foul trouble!

[EvanJ]

We lead 42-32 at halftime. We went up 12 and 19-7, Drexel got within 4 at 19-15, we went up 13 at 33-20, Drexel got within 6 at 33-27, Thomas made three shots in 1:22 to go up 39-27, Drexel had two basket and fouls and made the free throw the second time for a total of 5, and Thomas made his second three to go up 42-32. Thomas has 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. The next most points on either team is 7 by Amari Williams and Jamie Bergens. Thomas has as many rebounds as the rest of our players combined, and is tied with Williams for the most on either team. Thomas has a majority of our 7 assists, and nobody else on either team has more than 2. The teams combined for only 23 rebounds, with 12 for Drexel and 11 for us. We blocked 4 shots, with 2 by Fritz, 1 by Thomas, and 1 by Sunday. Of our nine players, Sunday did not shoot, and the rest of them scored. Thomas and Dubar were our only players to miss a field goal, and Fritz missed a free throw to not get a three-point play. Thomas shot 8-12; Dubar shot 1-5 and scored 3; Fritz shot 3-3 and scored 6; Plotnikov, Robinson, and Farmer shot 1-1 with a three; Carlos shot 1-1 with a two, and Washington shot 1-1 with a two and two free throws. Carlos (10 minutes), Fritz (10 minutes), and Plotnikov (8 minutes) committed 2 fouls. That let Washington play 12 minutes and Robinson play 10 minutes.

[dutchPride86]

A little ticky tack but brutal tech on Tyler there going into under 8 timeout. Was having a great game.

Can he get help from anyone down the stretch? And can Hofstra keep Drexel out of the paint this half?

So much for first to 60....

[Pride97]

Bad loss. This is who they are.


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