MBB Game 16 @Towson, Jan 8 (Thu) 12:30 PM

[Polito]

Agree, need to stay sharp for this one - hopefully they used the last 5 days to mend aches and fully prep for this game. I don't love the 12:30 time, although perhaps that's better than a home night game for them - team will just have to generate their own energy and excitement

For Towson this could definitely be viewed as a game for them to stop the bleeding - show out vs one of the top hot conf teams is a great way to reignite their engines. We need to be prepared for that and beat that energy. Just play our game as we have been - start with intensity, weather their storms, finish strong (er) - I want to see more killer instinct to finish off opponents whenever you can and keep them down - full 40.

They usually matchup well vs us, so I'd really like to see Edmead and Cruz chill it out with the TO's - their overzealous passing and sometimes sloppy handling needs to display some maturity now as we go into conf season.

I've already witnessed an epic choke job with the Hokies blowing a 13 pt lead in 3 min at home last night with poor decisions, poor shot selection, poor passing, poor clock management, and missed FT's, so I'd really like to reverse that mojo today with a quality road conf win for HU!!

Business trip lunch today, hope they eat!

[Wags]

Does anyone know if MNMT is on Optimum somewhere? Google says it's Channel 38, but I don't think so. That's USA Network.

[Wags]

I don't love the 12:30 time, although perhaps that's better than a home night game for them - team will just have to generate their own energy and excitement

Not good for fans on a Thursday, but better for Hofstra (which is ultimately better for Hofstra fans). It's better for Saturday. It would be tougher to turn around on Saturday at 2 pm vs. Monmouth after playing what is normally a physical battle with Towson and travelling back tonight. The extra seven hours or so of physical recovery could help and that extra time also helps the staff to prep the team for Monmouth.

[dan10]

Game is streamed for free today on flo's youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fax8hSR1Y_k

[The Shadow]

To dan10, Thanks so much for the Youtube CAA info on the free streaming. For all of us at work, this is a great find!

[Wags]

The Towson color commentator mentioned during the YT cast that Speedy had one of the great dunks in Cole Fieldhouse history against Maryland. Is it possible to find a clip of that?

[Wags]

Davis carrying Hofstra early again (11 of the Pride's 19), although every Hofstra starter has scored.

19-19 at the U8 (7:55) - not great considering Tejada and Williamson each started 0/5 and have a combined three points.

[HUSID74]

Where is Biggie???

[Cards]

Where id Biggie???

Bad knee??? Is he on the bench?

Update - watching second half warmup and do not see Biggie on court.

[HUSID74]

Where id Biggie???

Bad knee??? Is he on the bench?

Cards hard to tell...he has not come into the game...looks like #15 came in for a few minutes to give DeCady a blow.

Not sure if Cruz can keep this up...need some scoring from others...Cruz has 21, next highest on team is Edmead and Plotnikov with 5 apiece.

[HofstraMathew]

Maybe we get through this game without Biggie but we need him to win this conference. I hope he is ok and this is just a 1-2 week injury.

[Wags]

Where is Biggie???

Turns out, they don't need him today. Great job to be up double digits for this long without him!

Davis great (yet again), Edmead and Plotnikov (10 pts each since halftime) big to hold Towson off to this point.

[dan10]

Towson can't shoot, but playing stall ball for 7ish minutes to win doesnt seem like a good strategy for you guys. Never understood why not just keep playing instead of holding to kill the clock then take bad shots as time is expiring. You didnt get up by 17 by accident, keep going!

[Polito]

Okayyyyy take the conf W's all day long! Nice job by the team, nice win today in a game that could've very well been a trap. Business lunch trip success. They are looking like they're settling well into their roles, playing well as a team. This next month to me is the 'grindy' part of things, just keep working out important wins to get to crunch time mid Feb. Onward and upward!



P.S. I find the basketball IQ in today's game frustrating and lacking - kids do not understand this game, situational ball, or how games are best won/lost - it's just heads down do it all no matter what stuff - the amount of stupid fouling that goes on at the end of games when the clock needs to run is insane - seeing it everywhere - kids really need to be properly taught this game.

[Wags]

Towson can't shoot, but playing stall ball for 7ish minutes to win doesnt seem like a good strategy for you guys. Never understood why not just keep playing instead of holding to kill the clock then take bad shots as time is expiring. You didnt get up by 17 by accident, keep going!

Fully agree with this. I never like trying to play the clock game too soon.

Towson would've figured to be in good shape going in if told Womack and Coleman would combine for 30, but it turns out that was less than Williamson + Tejada because they were cold, especially Williamson, who barely scored at all. Those two were 8/39, Williamson just 2/19.

[Wags]

the amount of stupid fouling that goes on at the end of games when the clock needs to run is insane - seeing it everywhere - kids really need to be properly taught this game.

I was thinking the same. But it's every level, not just kids, including the NBA. Even the refs take such a long time sometimes to get in position and get guys the ball for inbounds passes. It makes it very hard to watch some of these games in the final minute or two, at every level.

Alabama-Vanderbilt had 64 fouls, 88 FTs, and ended at 11:46 pm without going to OT last night. Tip was 9 pm.

[dutchPride86]

No Biggie, no biggie i guess!

Very nice win, unfortunately I couldnt watch today. Holding Williamson to 2-19 is impressive, was that more credit to our defense or him bricking open shots?

Love the 32 FT attempts, hate only 6 assists as a team. But I know Towson is still tough defensively.

Glad to see German step up the scoring, fine if its a different person every night but need someone to step up with double figures as a 3rd option on a consistent basis.

The minute distribution today isnt sustainable. If Biggie injury winds up be serious, need to get more bench guys some run.

But a lot to be encouraged about! And yes, almost taking Cruz scoring 32 for granted and know i shouldn't. What a special year hes having. This was a big win

[HU87]

Very nice win, unfortunately I couldnt watch today. Holding Williamson to 2-19 is impressive, was that more credit to our defense or him bricking open shots?

I was able to watch while avoiding work calls... Thoroughly enjoyed the random "12:30 on a work day" timing

HUGE kudos to both Preston and Decady for their lockdown defense. Tejada was incredibly frustrated by Josh and his physical defense, picking him up full court and becoming his shadow for 40 minutes. While Tejada scored 20, it was on 20 shots and wasn't pretty.

Preston also locked down Williamson, forcing him left the entire game and contesting everything.

A lot of credit to Speedy and the coaches on the defensive game plan... they really forced other players to have to try and step up for Towson.

[EvanJ]

We won 78-67. Davis, Edmead, and DeCady had 2 assists each, which were our only assists. It must be rare to score at least 78 points without having a player with more than 2 assists. Towson shot threes better than twos, and the teams combined to shoot twos .379, and threes .378. Alex Tsynkevich got his first block. The bench played only 25 minutes, and players other than our main six combined to play 6 minutes. In the previous game, Wills played for the first time in a while. Today he did not play. Dylan Williamson became the third player from 2010-2011 to now to attempt at least 19 field goals and score 4 or fewer 4 points. I am not typing regular statistics, and https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=615179 has them. Here are the Analytics leaders:

In efficiency, Davis led with 27, Tyler Coleman was second with 18, and Edmead was third with 17. In game score, Davis led with 22.5, Coleman was second with 13.7, and Edmead and Jaquan Womack tied for third with 12.8. In net points, Davis led with 17.1, Tyler Tejada was second with 5.9, and Coleman was third with 3.4. Net points added up to -7.2 for us, and -33.0 for Towson.

Today's five remaining CAA games are at 7:00 P.M.

UNCW (3-0) at Northeastern (1-2): https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=613535
KenPom expects UNCW to win 75-71 with a 65 percent chance of winning.

Elon (1-1) at NC A&T (0-3): https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=613359
KenPom expects Elon to win 85-79 with a 71 percent chance of winning.

William & Mary (2-1) at Monmouth (1-1) on SNY: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=613127
KenPom expects William & Mary to win 79-75 with a 64 percent chance of winning.

Stony Brook (1-2) at Drexel (0-3): https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=611419
KenPom expects Drexel to win 68-67 with a 57 percent chance of winning.

Hampton (2-1) at Campbell (2-1): https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=610928
KenPom expects Campbell to win 76-71 with a 67 percent chance of winning.

Charleston has off, so they remain undefeated in the CAA.

We moved up 3 spots to 99th in KenPom.

[Wags]

No Biggie, no biggie i guess!

Haha, nice. And yes, correct.

The minute distribution today isnt sustainable. If Biggie injury winds up be serious, need to get more bench guys some run.

I guess they know what they're doing with Roberts since they keep winning, and maybe it's based on defensive matchups, but his minutes have been a little perplexing. He plays well and contributes significantly when given more playing time, and Speedy speaks very highly of him, but a few times after contributing that way, his minutes and offensive role were cut down to very little.

After the 25 min against Old Westbury (as you'd expect in that game), he had 12 very helpful minutes (scoring 11) in the win at Syracuse, but then just five minutes and no shots in the close win over Quinnipiac, when maybe they could've used his help some more. Then another very helpful 14 points in 15 minutes, on efficient 5/8 shooting, in the win over Campbell. But since then, only 10 minutes and one shot (which he made) at Drexel before getting only four minutes and one shot (which he made) at Towson today. I feel like he could give them double-digits points off the bench every game if they gave him at least 15 minutes and 5-8 shots but his time and shots seem to be yo-yo-ing up and down so far. We'll see how that goes from here. Can't really complain about it while they're on a seven-game winning streak, but I think they could become even more of a dangerous team when it counts the most in the CAA this year if they continue a steady development with Roberts rather than the start-stop-restart way they seem to be using him. But that's why they're the coaching staff and I'm just observing, And, as long as they keep winning, trust in Speedy and staff (who are doing a very good job this year so far).