Game 4 - Bradley

[Pride97]

Bernardi forcing a 3 with two men on him and air mails it - come on.

[Wags]

Great ball movement to get it to Bernardi, who breaks an HU scoring drought of about 3 1/2 minutes, while tying the game at 77 apiece on a perfect rainbow 3 from the right wing. That's the best way to use Bernardi effectively. Don't leave it to him to create the 3 attempt for himself. Move the ball, get everyone involved, with Bernardi draining it at the end. There was no way for Bradley to defend that the way the ball moved.

[stuball888]

Sorry we should not be struggling against this team. They lost to Delaware by 14 points

[Cards]

You got that right Stu

[Wags]

80-79, Bradley, just over 3 left.

There's a decent chance we allow 90 points for a second time in three games, and each time, to a team that should come nowhere near 90 points.

[Wags]

80-79, Bradley, just over 3 left.

There's a decent chance we allow 90 points for a second time in three games, and each time, to a team that should come nowhere near 90 points.

Would have already, and would be down, had Bradley not left a few points at the line late. FTs for the game, BU: 12/19, HU 23/26. That's the only thing that's saving us right now.

BARELY hanging on, up 88-87, just trying to simply outscore the other team again. 29 ticks left.

[Polito]

Amazing... why can everyone else hit incredible 3's

I mean that was ridiculous!! Good D and 40 feet off the line lol - incredible shot

[ProudofPride]

Sorry we should not be struggling against this team. They lost to Delaware by 14 points

Delaware has a young coach from Notre dame who clearly recognizes the importance of defense. We have a coach/team that is satisfied with allowing even mediocre teams look like the best shooting team in the country

[Mike34]

Could have used some Sabety defense at the end of the game... yes I'll keep backing him because in his mere minutes given by JM he is the teams leading blocker.... ha ha. Rok isn't the only big man and if he has 4 fouls lets cut him a break and utilize the other players. Power did awesome this game so congrats to him he should be proud.

[Wags]

As someone who initially went to Bradley as a freshman before ultimately transferring to and graduating from Hofstra, I've been waiting for this game for a long time.

Too bad that it comes when both programs are down this year, but I'm still looking forward to it.

Major cause for concern with the HU defense in the long run, but for today only, that was fun! Just the way I'd want my two former schools to play -- an entertaining thriller that Hofstra wins right at the end!

[Jordan]

This is the confidence booster this team needed. Not a great game by any means, but an exciting finish with a lot to take from it. Have a feeling the loss to Sacred Heart was very demoralizing, and it showed in the Manhattan game. To be honest, I could care less about who we win/lose to. An at large post season play is never something easy to do, and this team should not have to even worry/think about that. Take each game as it is. A win is a win, and our record is .500 with a fresh new start to make it positive. No matter what, can't be mad with a loss, no matter how messy the game might've been

[Polito]

Holy cow... heart attack game. Not a good one, but a win, and I definitely at least saw some things positive, in particular better ball movement. I've given up on the D, it's a joke, so not even going there - it will be nothing but torture as a fan to expect to see any improvement there, it's just not happening. Every team will score 80-100 on HU. Every single one.

I am still not sold on how Powers plays just yet, but today was absolutely a step in the right direction. He played clutch hitting key FT's and of course the game winning full court dart to the basket. This is the kind of stuff I thought we'd see from him right from the start... hopefully a sign of more good Sr level things to come.

Still like Buie for a lot of minutes as he is clearly the better defender which this team desperately needs, and is much more of a floor general - he had a great play with Gustys where he passed, went to the foul line, was passed the ball, and then slid it to Rokus by the basket for an easy 2 - THAT is a play. THAT is what this team needs to be doing.

So def some good things - but my goodness this HU team still has a looooong way to go. Optimistic side says that means it can get a whole lot better.

As I said this tourney will make or break this team in the OOC, so 1 game down, 2 to go...

[Flying Dutchmen]

Great win, much needed!

Powers getting right to the rack for the winner, that was a thing of beauty.

Overall I'm proud of the upperclassmen for stepping up today, big game from Greer especially. I thought we were much more aggressive today, which got us more opportunities from the line, and we took full advantage of the FT differential. I thought the ball movement was considerably improved from Manhattan on Friday, but that may be more a product of the competition.

Defense stills sucks, Brown, the freshman on Bradley went off, he hit some highly difficult shots late, but we did a poor job overall containing him regardless. I thought we stepped up the defensive focus in the second half, but our transition D has been horrendous.

Onto UVM. Vermont is definitely a step-up in competition, lets see if we can build off this win.

[Jordan]

Would also just love to point out how great JWF shot has improved. Not just the amount he has contributed, but his style of shooting just looks so smooth. These past games I have been very confident overtime he takes the ball to shoot. Seems much more natural compared to last year. Of course, last year he was playing on a team full of upperclassmen shooters. Nonetheless, I feel he is something to watch for, especially with mid range jumpers. Something I haven't seen too many other players on this team attempt for whatever reason.

[Wags]

If what we've seen so far is going to continue, I'm going to start betting the Over on every Hofstra game for the rest of the year.

[Dooku25]

Outstanding drive by Powers at the end for the win and we will certainly take the victory. But once again we give up 90 and it looks like this will be the norm for us this year. Defense has always been a problem under JAM but so far this is the worst we have looked in that regard. The most disappointing thing about it is the fact that it doesn't seem like this staff changes anything as the game goes on. Whoever is the opponent's top scorer or hottest hand will continue to have their way for the full 40 minutes. Even on the last 3, Pemberton is guarding their guy 30 feet from the basket but he buries the 3 anyway. He had 34 points. Can we deny him the ball or double him and force him to pass? I'd like to see some kind of defensive recognition out there before I pull all of my hair out.

[stuball888]

Dont do that Dooku I wont be able to tell you and Joe1 apart.

[EvanJ]

I have a bunch of notes I'll put on their own lines:

Bradley tweeted that Darrell Brown's 34 points is a record by a Bradley freshman.

Hofstra had six players with either 4 or 5 field goals made and either 10 or 11 field goals attempted. The only Hofstra player to make more than half his field goals was Jamall Robinson, who shot 2-2. Powers (19 points), Greer (17 points), Bernardi (15 points), Wright-Foreman (12 points), Gustys (11 points), and Pemberton (10 points) made it the second time in 32 games that Hofstra had six players score double-digits. Bernardi, Tanksley, Koon, Gustys, Green, and Buie did it against La Salle on December 2, 2015.

I don't have a way of looking it up, but I wonder if Hofstra had ever scored 92 points with nobody making more than 5 field goals before today.

Bradley made exactly 60 percent of their two-pointers and exactly 60 percent of their three-pointers. The statistics do not include Bradley's final shot. The announcers thought the shot would have counted, but I thought he shot too late and the referees agreed with me. To show how hard it is to shoot that well and lose, no NBA team since 1983-1984 (which is as far back as basketball-reference has statistics for) has made at least 60 percent of their field goals and at least 60 percent of their three-pointers with at least 10 three-pointers attempted in a loss. Bradley attempted 20 three-pointers.

ESPN says the over/under was 136, so the score exceeded that by 46.

[Mike34]

Outstanding drive by Powers at the end for the win and we will certainly take the victory. But once again we give up 90 and it looks like this will be the norm for us this year. Defense has always been a problem under JAM but so far this is the worst we have looked in that regard. The most disappointing thing about it is the fact that it doesn't seem like this staff changes anything as the game goes on. Whoever is the opponent's top scorer or hottest hand will continue to have their way for the full 40 minutes. Even on the last 3, Pemberton is guarding their guy 30 feet from the basket but he buries the 3 anyway. He had 34 points. Can we deny him the ball or double him and force him to pass? I'd like to see some kind of defensive recognition out there before I pull all of my hair out.

Completely agree Dooku.

What would it be like (to improve defense) to have both rockas and sabety in at the same time? Pretty sure Manhattan had two bigs in at the same time and they made a killing against us... shame.

[Wags]

I don't have a way of looking it up, but I wonder if Hofstra had ever scored 92 points with nobody making more than 5 field goals before today.

Very good question. I'm guessing no, because usually one or two guys have a hot hand when you score that much as a team. It's extremely rare that you'll score 90+ with the shot distribution being as even as it was for HU today (all but three of their 66 shots came from six guys, who each attempted either 10 or 11 shots; you almost never see it that even... but that's a big credit to the way HU moved the ball and got each of those six guys involved in the offense).

Bradley made exactly 60 percent of their two-pointers and exactly 60 percent of their three-pointers. The statistics do not include Bradley's final shot. The announcers thought the shot would have counted, but I thought he shot too late and the referees agreed with me. To show how hard it is to shoot that well and lose, no NBA team since 1983-1984 (which is as far back as basketball-reference has statistics for) has made at least 60 percent of their field goals and at least 60 percent of their three-pointers with at least 10 three-pointers attempted in a loss. Bradley attempted 20 three-pointers.

Great point and stats to point this out. That IS definitely tough to do, but I guess Bradley found a way. lol