MBB Game 26 - Northeastern - 2/12/15, 7 PM

[Wags]

the more the merrier my friend! on this board there's at least one common goal, to grow the HU nation!

anticipation building big time for this one!! biggest game of the conf season thus far - time to bring it, nothing but A game.

I REALLY hope they have recruits scheduled to visit tonight - this is exactly the kind of game you want visits - there should be every potential possible in the stands tonight

Just for you, Polito...

Halfway through the first half... Green has a game-high 4 assists (including two really nice bounces pass to set up two Gustys layups), and no FGA yet.

Now he's gone to the other extreme though -- 0-1 FG over the first 18 min. HU down 31-20.

And just as I say that... he drives for his first hoop... 31-22.

That's it, just want to see some balance (while remaining pass first over shoot first), Juan'ya.

[ProudofPride]

Did the cheerleaders not get the message that it's white out night? Even the dance team is at least wearing the free shirts...

[dutchiedoright]

No doubt Green is injured.

[HUSID80]

Northeastern is a better team than we are. And for my money #43 is the player of the year in the conference. We played real hard but nobody took control of the game for us like their big guy.

Sure we can beat them if we get hot from 3 but their defense took away our three point shooters and dared us to beat them inside which we could not do.

Disappointing but the real deal is the playoffs and we need to stay away from Friday.

[EvanJ]

Northeastern won 79-68. Green led Hofstra with 18 points. He had 10 assists and the only double-double on either team. Hofstra shot the ball well but Northeastern shot the ball better. Scott Eatherton with 24 points and 9 rebounds and David Walker with 20 points and 8 assists had big games for Northeastern. Northeastern had almost double the rebounds, 33 to 17. Hofstra's 17 rebounds was their fewest since 2000-2001, which is as far back as I have information for. Hofstra had 15 steals which is their most since they had 16 steals against Old Dominion on February 24, 2013.

Edit: Hofstra had more bench points, 29 to 2.

Edit: Northeastern had a free throw percentage of .913, which was the best by a Hofstra opponent since Monmouth shot .923 in the first game of a season on November 9, 2012.

[dutchiedoright]

I am still optimistic about Baltimore. Agree with needing to not play Friday night, but once Green is healed, the better defensive rotation will give us a balanced attack.

Not one team in the conference that scares me.

Also, we don't have to beat them all, just the ones we are matched-up against.

[Cards]

Wow - - - - Was the NU 3-point defense really that good?? Totally shut us down. Beranrdi, Tanksley, and Dion were nonexistent.

Green played OK, but he cannot carry the team. Gustys played well and with energy. Seemed like Kone could not even begin to defend against Eatherton. Caoch kept bringing Gustys back in after Kone was only in for a few minutes. Malik played good "D", but as usual he gets in foul trouble.

Northeastern is a better team - thats all there is to it. Eatherton is very tough and reliable. David Walker is likely a second team all CAA this year - he is very impressive. Ford played steady and was reliable. Those three guys along with good overall "D" put us in trouble.

Not sure if Green or Kone is injured - if yes, that may be a SMALL part of HUs issues.

Only hope left are the playoffs, but its tough to go into them not having beaten any of the better teams in the conference.

[HUSID80]

Why is everyone taking about injuries to Green and Moussa? Green ALWAYS looks like he is in pain! And yes when he drives to the basket he gets hit but I think he's fine. And Moussa in fact did a pretty good job against 43 early until that killer three he hit. He's just that good of a player and Hofstra killer.

[ProudofPride]

We had 17 rebounds for the entire game… Have we ever had that few?

Also, I think the fact the a lot of the students left early basically means it'll be hard to get them to come back for future games.

[joeg1]

Green is fine...draws a lot of contact, and gets dinged a bit, but did not look serious.

[joeg1]

Gustys just played better than Kone. Don't think he was injured

[dutchiedoright]

Green turned the ball over twice off run-outs, looked stiff, slow, and had no explosion. He looked hurt to me.

Moussa....I didn't think he looked injured....he just cant defend Edgerton. That kid is all-conference.

Gustys had his break-out game.

I take away some positives.......

[Wags]

On the 17 boards, HU had six in the second half, when NU shot 65% (13-20). Not a lot of chances to get boards when you don't make the other team miss shots. By the way, NU shot >60% in three of the four halves against HU this season.

On "#43" and "Edgerton," I'm surprised knowledgeable HU fans don't know Scott Eatherton. He's a redshirt senior who has been a force in the CAA for a few years now.

On Tanksley going 0-for-2 from two, 2-for-6 overall, you've got to get your leading scorer more than SIX shots in 34 minutes, especially in a must-win game at home.

Home CAA losses to UNCW, JMU, Towson and Northeastern. Entered as the favorite in each of those games. 7-2 record in all other CAA games. That's the whole season right there, those four games. Even a split among those four and HU is 9-4 and tied for second place, a game out of first, instead of 7-6 and in sixth place. Gotta show some urgency and defend your home court when you're supposed to.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Not one team in the conference that scares me.

Not one team in the CAA is scared to play Hofstra.

We're the only team in the league getting worse, because our offense isn't as potent as we thought, and our defense does not hold up against teams that can match us with some size. Our team doesn't have an identity if we're going to go 4-12 from three point range, and still lose by double digits, still playing four guards at all times.

Northeastern shot 65% in the second half. Three out of four halves Northeastern has shot over 60% against us.

Playing two forwards at all times isn't really a suggestion in Division 1 hoops, it's an obvious necessity. Something our coaching staff has seemed to overlook. We're 310th in the nation in effective height, worst in the CAA.

This game was nearly a mirror-image of the game in Boston, just at a slower pace. Northeastern has run the same offensive sets for 80 straight minutes against our defense, and we're still clueless. How many times is our one forward going to get caught at the top of the key on a bad switch. Let's give Eatherton one more iso on the left block. Is Mike Woodson (circa '14) our defensive coach? This defense does not work with the personnel we put out there, we're 26 games in, it does not work, let's scrap it.

I have to give the Huskies credit, they are very disciplined, they have lost games because their guard play is shaky, but it was something we could only exploit for a few possessions early in the second half. Walker had a great game, I did not realize how important he is to Northeastern's success. Ford was a bit underrated tonight as well, Juan'ya was not hurt, Ford did a great job on Green, especially in the first half.

We were at a considerable size disadvantage all night, and it crushed our opportunity to win on both sides of the ball. That's on the coaching. Have to play Kone and Gustys at the same time, have to get Walker in the rotation for at least a few minutes. The guards cannot carry it alone this year, they do not create enough shots on their own. We're not getting a top seed in the tournament anyway, we should work on the rotation the last five games, to give us the best chance for a first round upset.

Despite the loss, have to give credit to Nichols and Gustys who really stepped up tonight. We have a lot of players can carry parts of the scoring load, we have to find the rotation that works best on both sides of the ball in these last games.

[ProudofPride]

Per Newsday, Mihalich wants to apologize to the students.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/h ... -1.9933438

Charles Jenkins now has to change his twitter picture to Northeastern for a week.

[Polito]

Had wife tape it, just finished watching - what can ya say... Except crap.

Want to say HUs intensity and effort was much improved, they played much tougher defense, gave great effort IMO, and I think they really played hard and left it out there - that needed to change and they did

Gustys and Nichols really played well - Nichols is aggressive and although foul prone at times I'll take it over Robinson who is having a very bad soph slump yr - excited to see Gustys develop in his career

Green is not injured guys, c'mon - he had quite a few very explosive moves to the hoop - he played the game I think he needs to play, didn't force and spent most time driving to the hoop to create

Other key guys did jack like Tanksley and Bernardi, and its really because NU is a very solid team, they play great D, and they can score - quite frankly, they are just better than HU this yr - HU played very hard but the talent just isn't there yet

And that's the bottom line folks - this team doesn't have enough talent to win this conf - they have talent and a good bench, but they play very sloppy ball for too many stretches in every game - it's late in the yr to still be playing sloppy ball - and it's not laziness, they displayed quite the opposite tonight - its just simply they're not good enough right now

Tough to admit that HU STILL doesn't have the talent to win this league, but that is the reality based on the proof on the court - I mean they had PLENTY of opps to score tonight and I lost track of how many missed buckets under the basket

Said before this team doesn't have a true leader - everyone wants to say its Green, but he isn't that type of player at this point - there's no Jenkins, Stokes, Speedy type guy that's just automatic that can put the team on his back and win a game - HU will struggle until they have that

Like I said, hope staff is recruiting their a$$es off because they need better talent and guys who can score CONSISTENTLY - in the meantime, this team isn't winning the tourney folks - and I'm not knocking em, they're a good team, and based on this game they are trying, but they're not a great one - they played their butts off and still got beat by 11 at home - just not gonna cut it this yr

Hoping for 20 wins and maybe losing in the champ game for the NIT - otherwise it's hope for a crap lower tourney to get some experience in - at this point I just want to see them play any postseason

#ROLLPRIDE

[ProudofPride]

Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 10.01.50 AM.png

Too bad Charles didn't use a picture of him playing against Northeastern, because then he still technically would've have NU in his picture.

[Cards]

Agree on all points Polito

I only mentioned possible injuries to Green and Kone because someone else had brought it up in an earlier post.

I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves.....hoping that Djambo becomes our PF next year playing alongside Gustys and Walker. put Tanksley in the "3" spot and go with 2 pure guards. I watched a 5-7 minute video of Djambo jsut shooting around in the gym and he really does appear to be a good shooter with lots of range (don't think he would have been recuited by Clemson if he was a slug). here is the link to the video www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdiMsf9_ics

Agree on recruiting - we need more talent. With two guard commits already, I really hope that one of the remaining two slots is for a 6'8" or bigger scoring guy (since Djambo is one year and done).

In any case, we are left hoping for continued good effort on the court along with a hot streak in shooting for the remainder of the season. It's hard to accept that we are left "hoping", but that is the reality of the situation.

Compared to the last few years, JM and HU have taken some pretty big strides for the better. I will continue to support and root for the team every way I can, but we simply are "not there yet".

[Polito]

Yep, my thoughts exactly Cards - except HU is not going for the bigs right now as we've seen from the offers, they are looking for more scoring power, athletic shooting guards and wing/forwards - and that's ok, you can win with that, you just need guys that are consistent - that's what's lacking right now

Not knocking the guys - previously, their effort was in question, as I saw some very lazy play - not so at all last night, I saw a team fighting against one of the best teams in the conf - I really thought they played hard - they just aren't there

they played much better D, they made in game adjustments, they ran some beautiful plays on O - they just played against a very well-oiled, extremely polished team - and HU is not that right now - HU really made a lot of mental errors, lots of sloppy play - that's not effort to me, that's skill and experience - the diff is clear

some may not be willing to accept that around here, I know we all want to believe these guys are stars and have what it takes, but quite frankly they do not have the talent at this point to beat the top 2 or so teams in the CAA - the fact is HU is a mid pack CAA team this yr

hard to swallow, but that's the truth. They need to continue to develop, and the staff needs to bring in some guys that can carry a team - some true STAR power - this team is crying for a true leader

NU played fantastic D, locking down the 3 and collapsing in the paint - their ability to guard both at the same time with ease was really impressive to me - excellent inside/outside D - that's what long athletic 6'8 guys that play like 6'2 guards do - this wasn't HU not taking 3's, there were simply very few to take - that's HU's kryptonite and everyone knows it - Bernardi cannot create his own shot, and that hurts - something he needs to work on for next yr

to their credit HU actually went inside a LOT against arguably the best post group in the league...and had some success - Rokas has major potential - they just missed WAY too many easy buckets - again, that's talent and/or experience

HU needs more - it's def a step in the right direction, I love the players and the staff, and really appreciate a year with good ball as opposed to constant losing - and I really appreciate having solid citizens on the team, easy to root for - things are improving, and it's only year 2 - not all that I hoped for this yr, but a bright future

#ROLLPRIDE

[Flying Dutchmen]

Agree on recruiting - we need more talent. With two guard commits already, I really hope that one of the remaining two slots is for a 6'8" or bigger scoring guy (since Djambo is one year and done).

In any case, we are left hoping for continued good effort on the court along with a hot streak in shooting for the remainder of the season. It's hard to accept that we are left "hoping", but that is the reality of the situation.

Compared to the last few years, JM and HU have taken some pretty big strides for the better. I will continue to support and root for the team every way I can, but we simply are "not there yet".

I don't think the problem is we do not have enough talent. It's not the best talent we've had in the CAA (04-07 teams had better talent), but our competition has dropped off as well, so we should be relatively stronger than we have been in years. Our guard play is pretty good, and we consistently play eight players, so depth is not much of an issue as well.

Mihalich does not use his size effectively, so in a sense it almost doesn't matter if we recruit another big or not, we already have three for next season. I looked back at Mihalich's tenure at Niagara, every season his teams were at 290th or worse in the NCAA in effective size. Every team he's coached was constructed like our current squad. Every team he's coached has the same issues our team has right now, it's insane.

I agree, we are left to "hoping." We have to hope we can attempt more than 12 three point shots, and hit more than four in Baltimore, otherwise we'll be finished early Saturday afternoon. Because we're clearly never going to see two forwards on the floor this year, have to hoist three's all day to win.