Game 10 vs. Northeastern, Thursday, 1/7/21 @ 5 PM

[cactus]

one more unforced turnover gives northeastern the last shot, time out with 5.4 seconds left, tied at 68

[cactus]

And we go to OT
would like to see them go back to the inside/out game with Kante and stop forcing things

[Wags]

Bad start. 7-2, NU to begin extra time.

[RollPride15]

What a collapse. Strong and Walters both with 4 fouls (Strong had 4 for a long time) and we just couldn't knock either of them out of the game. Unacceptable, you let a guy with 4 fouls kill you in OT. Settled for jumpers too often in the second half, Ray played out of control, need more out of the older guys.

I keep saying it, Caleb Burgess is gonna be a guy. The growth he's shown has been exceptional.

[Wags]

Oh boy, not just one, but they allow Walters to make two late 3s to maybe ice it after Kante and Coburn used the FT line to cut a 5-pt game to 1.

Still time, but trouble. 81-76, NU with 15 ticks left.

[Hof_Judge99]

Walters just doesn’t miss. That’s really the story of the game.

[cactus]

Ray guarding empty space as Northeastern hits a dagger 3 as the shot clock expires. I give Coen a lot of credit but the defense was abominable today.

[Wags]

Northeastern had four guys (Walker, Telfort, Stucke and Emanga) go a combined 0/17 from 3, yet Strong and Walters each went 4/5 from 3.

Bad loss. 81-78 in OT after leading 51-32 early in the second half.

That's one they are going to have to learn a lot from if they're going to repeat as CAA regular-season champs. Also puts a lot of pressure on them for Saturday at NU.

[Hofstra]

Absolutely GROSS L tonight.

[HUSID74]

What can you say but a HORRIBLE loss...hope ity's a teaching moment and we rebound Sat...WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS

[Hofstra]

What can you say but a HORRIBLE loss...hope ity's a teaching moment and we rebound Sat...WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS

Our last 3 performances have been lackluster. I believe what you are saying though. We are a lot better than this. Young players will gel, and we hopefully take off at the right time. Need to play better than this and send a message Saturday

[Polito]

Ugh. Knew no lead was safe, but geez, "collapse" is a great word for what happened here. Really tough to swallow blowing that kind of a lead and losing at home in OT. NU is so annoying lol always good and well coached - and they are young. Oy vey!

This team still has large chunks of completely disappearing from the scoring column - gotta find a way to minimize those droughts and the durations of them - not sure they have enough consistency on O to do that though - and the 3pt D continues to be bad. Gotta get that under control.

Loving CB and Kante, though not sure how he didn't get at least 10 boards. Owned the paint tonight. Need to keep that focus there, really not sure why they keep trying to force the arc game. Good showing for Cramer, big future.

Tough L just because of being so close to a good W. Live and die by the 3 - and once again, they are not shooting as well as expected, and we keep hearing how the shots will fall... eh, but they're not and we're in the part of the season that matters now. I'm not convinced they will at this point. I don't think any of them are lights out, this might be just kind of what they are.

But they're not far off by any means, stay focused, don't get down, they are better than how they finished, but need to correct some things, and come out ready to finish the next game. HU can def take the next one, but need to get the ball sloppiness under control, and will need better play from Sr's to beat the better teams.

[EvanJ]

Burgess had 15 points, 8 assists, 5 turnovers, and 3 fouls. He became our second player from 2010-2011 to the present to have at least that many of those four statistics. Deron Powers had 15 points, 8 assists, 6 turnovers, and 4 fouls in an 88-86 win at Columbia on November 29, 2016. For all of Division I, it was the eleventh time it happened this season, and it happened 37 times last season. I counted players who did it more than once by how many times they did it, so fewer than 37 players did it last season.

Our starters played 196 minutes, and our bench played 29. If Trueheart and/or Silverio aren't available on Saturday, our starters could be tired by the end.

[Polito]

Oh, and really liked to see that Cramer got the start. He's still getting acclimated, so def didn't have a complete game, esp in the 2nd. But it will come in time IMO. Unfortunately in that time HU will need others to fill in the gaps.

Post-game Farrelly mentioned a couple of interesting things:

- How they came out with poor (or at least different) energy in the 2nd: Wonder if this will drive the staff back to using Green to start leaving Cramer as more of the energy guy to help mitigate that possibility.
- He was very displeased with the wing play, esp on D: See above?
- They lost their identity in the 2nd half: This screams at the ongoing need for more leadership on the floor. Kante's mention of guys needing to understand to play hard all 40, including himself, points to the same.

Ray is the go-to for the most part, but he has some streakiness, sloppiness, and odd poor decision-making this year that has been an issue. A lot on him, and it's def not all him, but the team is gonna need better if they want to go far. Not necessarily fair, but that's the way it is.

Tough one. Blowing that opportunity stings. Gotta bounce back and give them a taste of their own on Sat. Can NOT lose both IMO. This is a big series.

[Wags]

This team still has large chunks of completely disappearing from the scoring column - gotta find a way to minimize those droughts and the durations of them - not sure they have enough consistency on O to do that though

This is why the defense can't come and go (like it did after they got up 19 tonight). When they communicate, bring the effort and remain focused, they have shown they can defend well enough for 40 minutes to win even when they have their offensive lulls, which they inevitably have almost every game.

they are not shooting as well as expected, and we keep hearing how the shots will fall... eh, but they're not and we're in the part of the season that matters now. I'm not convinced they will at this point. I don't think any of them are lights out, this might be just kind of what they are.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Been saying this since before the season started, but I don't think it was believed. Hope I'm wrong, but it very likely is what they are. "Expected" depends on who's saying it. I have never expected it. Doesn't surprise me when they shoot very well in stretches, but what I expect (based on the actually track record rather than on mere wishful thinking) is that it won't continue game to game or even media timeout to media timeout. They are extremely streaky, even with their two best scorers - Ray is just as capable of efficiently getting a career-high as he is going 5/17. Coburn is just as capable of getting a career-high as he is going 3/12, but at least he'll usually get to the line a lot and make most of his FTs.

But again, that's all why the defense has to remain consistent game in, game out, all game long, every game. That's sometimes tough with the zone, even with the right focus and effort. But they can't lose sight of guys. They held four NU shooters to 0/17 from 3 tonight, but then two go 4/5 each and Walters (one of those two) hits the two huge ones in OT. One, okay. But can't allow the second to the same guy in that spot. That proved to be the difference (in an 81-78 final). We already saw, like in the first win over W&M, how when the offense isn't there, they can still win with defense, as long as that doesn't disappear and remains a constant. Shooting will come and go, defense can't. Shooting sometimes can't be controlled, defense can, a lot more often, and it's the one area more than any other that will either carry them to contending again or having a disappointing year.

[Mikey77]

Hard to add anything to what's already been said. Terrible loss, awful second half. Blew a 19 point lead. Geez. Maybe Ray's worst game of his career. Returning the favor in Boston on Saturday will mitigate the damage. Hopefully, some defensive changes and some imaginative coaching will help.

[triplec2195]

I'm not going to be redundant here this game is major frustrating and don't want to play the blame game. It probably would be fair to say that we got outcoached in the second half. Coen's game plan clearly worked better then Farrelly's was this on Mike or was it because the players just didn't implement the plan and leave it on the court. This is a deja-vu of the Stony Brook game with worse results. The one thing that I found interesting in the post presser by coach Farrelly is he singled out and even emphasized and I quote Cramer had a HORRIFIC second half game on defense. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I don't ever remember Joe singling out a player in a negative way like Mike did here. It was always the team didn't want it bad enough they weren't tough enough etc.He put it on the team. This comment came after someone complimented the game Cramer had especially the 10 rebounds coach found it necessary to say how bad he played on D the second half. It was like saying to him were you watching the same game. But if that wasn't enough when he was asked about the three's hit by Walters I believe he said he didn't expect it said he was a good player but not a good SHOOTER. I just wonder how Joe would have handled this IMO Joe always took the high road. I remember the coach of UCLA putting his players down post presser after the loss to us but just don't remember it happening here. To go one step further I wonder how N.E. feels about those comments??

[Polito]

Re Farrelly, I was a bit surprised as well since we are not used to that, but I LOVE his transparency - I absolutely cannot stand fluff. Sure that may rub some wrong, but I hate hearing the same coach speak after every game. Its meaningless and provides no insight - now that’s me selfishly as a fan lol

Should coaches speak that way? Probably most of the time JM is a master at it, he has a fantastic ability to edify others - I’m not being facetious either, it’s a great skill. I’m sure Mike will gain more of that as he matures into the HC role.

But I also guarantee the team and a guy like Cohen knows where Mikes heart is - as does the entire league - it may be used as a little fuel but I don’t think anything he said was so bad that it would be any real issue. Sometimes a callout is exactly what a player needs and coaches will do that purposefully to spark it. To quote Dodgeball, “It’s bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for em!”

And frankly, he’s 100% right on everything he said, so there’s that lol.


Question as I couldn’t watch it, were HU guys missing wide open looks, or were they mostly well contested by NUs D?

[4EverDutch]

I'm not going to be redundant here this game is major frustrating and don't want to play the blame game. It probably would be fair to say that we got outcoached in the second half. Coen's game plan clearly worked better then Farrelly's was this on Mike or was it because the players just didn't implement the plan and leave it on the court. This is a deja-vu of the Stony Brook game with worse results. The one thing that I found interesting in the post presser by coach Farrelly is he singled out and even emphasized and I quote Cramer had a HORRIFIC second half game on defense. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I don't ever remember Joe singling out a player in a negative way like Mike did here. It was always the team didn't want it bad enough they weren't tough enough etc.He put it on the team. This comment came after someone complimented the game Cramer had especially the 10 rebounds coach found it necessary to say how bad he played on D the second half. It was like saying to him were you watching the same game. But if that wasn't enough when he was asked about the three's hit by Walters I believe he said he didn't expect it said he was a good player but not a good SHOOTER. I just wonder how Joe would have handled this IMO Joe always took the high road. I remember the coach of UCLA putting his players down post presser after the loss to us but just don't remember it happening here. To go one step further I wonder how N.E. feels about those comments??

Many coaches, when reporters compliment their players, try to bring them down to earth a little (the old "let's not put him in Canton" Parcels routine) so don't mind the teaching moment for Cramer even if Joe avoided. But should never make derogatory comments about another team's players, especially when playing again soon. Bulletin Board material. Seemed like an excuse to me, and a bad one, for not properly defending Walters. While statistically it may be true, shooting is streaky, and if a guy gets hot you have to adjust.

[HUSID74]

Couple of observations. Coen did do a better job of defending Kante in the second half, doubling down on him during the second half and we did not respond well getting to the open man...I think too many of our guys, especially Green have the "Green" light on threes...we need some better shot discipline.

Apparently Farrelly blames Cramer's poor defense on Walters going off...perhaps he singled him out after the frustrations of the evening which is understandable.

HAS ANYONE NOTICED THAT THE SID DOES NOT REFER TO FARRELLY AS INTERUM ANY MORE?