MBB rolls over Hofstra 68-47

[mat1992 2,233]

Defense, rebounding and the old Cam is starting to show, Nygal Russell had one of his best games today including defense on Aaron Estrada and rebounding 

 

[TuTigers2012 1,062]

Not there yet but getting closer. 
pretty good defensive effort after the first 4 minutes of the game. Hofstra can score and we held them down. Pride missed a bunch of wide open looks. 
Cam getting the ball deep in the post rather than playing with back to the basket from 15 feet out, is much better. Decent ball movement at times and solid rebounding.  Nick caught fire for a 5 minute stretch. 

[mat1992 2,233]

https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/1/16/mens-basketball-holden-scores-his-1-000th-career-point-mens-basketball-defeats-hofstra-68-47-on-monday.aspx

Comments coming up. Cam and Nic did talk after the game. Interesting comments.

As Pat said after the Monmouth game, this is how this team has to play. Physical, tough defense, hopefully, limit the wide open threes (not great today but better) and make a great player like Estrada work by putting bigger players like Russell and May on him. Thought Russell was fantastic for stretches today on both ends. He had 12 rebounds and 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting in 27 minutes. I still think he's a 25 minute or less guy, but today against Estrada, they needed him to play more minutes. I thought May is improving defensively and played Estrada pretty well.

 

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

Ready to play from the tip.  Russell has been our most consistent contributor this season and he gives effort on defense which makes up for when his shooting is sub par.  
Do whatever we need to do to keep Nic T confident shooting the basketball.  
Hicks and Conway yet again take good care of the basketball (only 2 turnovers)

A ways to go but credit to the players and coaching staff for max effort on Hofstra and Estrada.  
 

 

[mat1992 2,233]

Cam on being back to form

"Not quite. But trying to get back to the rhythm. Better to get back to that rhythm now instead of later. I feel like we had the rhythm kind of early and it kind of snuck up and caught us in the end. I'm sort of out of sort and trying to figure things out. Hopefully in March we can something special happen year."

Nic on slow start (13-3)

"Skerry got after us in the huddle. Checking our manhood as he usually does. We knew what we're capable of this season. We've stepped it up and that's the result."

Concern about being down 13-3? Nic

"There's always concern when you're down. For the most part, we've been down in a lot of games this year and find a way back. That's part of having a veteran-savy group. We've been in these situations before. We know what it takes for a comeback like that."

Cam on defensive effort

"It's been our focus at practice. We haven't reached our standard on defense. The energy was down from the start. We came out and competed after that and took it out on Hofstra and that was the result."

On balanced effort in first half

Nic

"Knowing that we're going to be playing the majority of the game, I know there are times that I get pretty frustrated from missing a couple of shots, I'm getting older and realizing that I'm going to play most of the game. I'll be getting more shots eventually. So just finding the hot hand in the first half was the idea for me."

Cam 

"The three of us are all one ingredient (CT as well). When he is having a bad game, I can pick up the slack. When I'm a little frustrated, Charles takes up the slack for the both of us and rebounds. When Jason comes back, he's another piece. I think we all take stress of each other. Not everyone is going to have a good game but we can all do something to help players like Nic when he's hot. Screen for them, get rebounds, etc. Help each other out when the ball is not going in."

Nic on younger players like Ryan and May

"They've been playing really well since conference play started and that just opens the floor up for everyone. I'm getting a lot more comfortable passing to either of them. Conway is shooting lights out right now."

Cam on Estrada G

"I don't think he got shook. He's a great player. The guys did a great job on him. Clearly the best job since I played against him that I've seen against him. Guys wore him down. Christian, Nygal."

 

Nic on second half

"Kudus to them for finding me. It's kind of like who's hot and everyone knows who is getting the ball. I was feeling it."

 

 

[mat1992 2,233]

Skerry opening comment

"Good win for our guys against a talented and well-coached team. We probably played our best game of the year maybe aside from UMass. Our guys responded. We played hard. Took care of the ball in the second half. Hopefully, this is the type of team we'll become moving forward."

"We came in the morning. We taped and had full contact at 7:45am we did it very early against Monmouth. We were very soft up against Delaware for 20 minutes. It's not how our team's normally are. I didn't do anything. Those two guys that came in (Nic and Cam) owned it. If they don't own it, then we are not going to be very good. Today they owned it. It's going to be about coaching and the gameplan. When those two guys are locked in and decide to lead and lead the right way, we have a chance to be a very good team. If we deviate from that, we can get beat by anybody."

On Russell

"Rebounding piece was big. He's been a very good teammate and addition. He's been consistent and plays hard. We got a little bit of a break that Thomas and Estrada missed some shots that they would normally make. Sometimes it's a make or miss game. Overall, we worked pretty good and the reason we had some separation was that we had 10 turnovers and were up in the first half. If we want to be really good, we have to be that team (that doesn't turn it over)."

On Hofstra scoring under 50 points

"Unfortunately, we have to go back there and that's going to be a challenge. Thought out energy was better, closeouts and attention to detail. Defense is about effort and concentration. We're capable of doing it at a high level. For whatever reason, I have not been able to get them to consistently do that. Hopefully, the light went off with some guys today. Russell, May, Hicks, Biekeu. Playing more guys. Before of injuries, we're playing a lot of guys and we need to continue to move them out moving forward."

On testing the veterans

"Testing them a lot the last few days. They are really talented. Really good kids from good families. I love them as people. I'm going to miss them when they're gone. They have at times caused some exasperation over the last month. They're very competitive. They have to lead us the right way. When they do that, we can be a difficult team to beat. I'm ok, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But just play and lead the right way and let's see what happens. We've seen glimpses of it. We have to now be consistent with it. You have to get into a rhythm in January."

[Blounge 520]

Gotta like that our bench guy Malik got in there and scored even though he doesn’t even have a jersey with his name on the back of it

[TSU88 1,073]

This may not have been our A game, but if it wasn’t, it was pretty damn close. I’m sitting at the game, as Hofstra jumps out to an 11-1 lead, thinking “oh boy, this is not going to end well for us” and then naturally we finish the rest of the game on a 67-36 roll. I mean this wasn’t Monmouth, but instead a team with a borderline NBA player. Speaking of which, it didn’t hurt that Estrada went 0-10 from 3, but some of that has to be attributed to our D.

I thought Russell was excellent; 12 boards and strong D. Holden today was Holden from last season, hitting that awkward looking shot of his. NT continues to be an enigma-a non-factor in the 1st half and then taking over the game during a scorching shooting stretch in the 2nd. 

We need to go down to Tobacco Road and win those 2 games and come back home on a gravy train with biscuit wheels 
 

[TuTigers2012 1,062]

1 hour ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

Ready to play from the tip.  Russell has been our most consistent contributor this season and he gives effort on defense which makes up for when his shooting is sub par.  
Do whatever we need to do to keep Nic T confident shooting the basketball.  
Hicks and Conway yet again take good care of the basketball (only 2 turnovers)

A ways to go but credit to the players and coaching staff for max effort on Hofstra and Estrada.  
 

 

Game started at 9 am your time. We were 100% not ready to play from the tip …

1 hour ago, mat1992 said:

Skerry opening comment

"Good win for our guys against a talented and well-coached team. We probably played our best game of the year maybe aside from UMass. Our guys responded. We played hard. Took care of the ball in the second half. Hopefully, this is the type of team we'll become moving forward."

"We came in the morning. We taped and had full contact at 7:45am we did it very early against Monmouth. We were very soft up against Delaware for 20 minutes. It's not how our team's normally are. I didn't do anything. Those two guys that came in (Nic and Cam) owned it. If they don't own it, then we are not going to be very good. Today they owned it. It's going to be about coaching and the gameplan. When those two guys are locked in and decide to lead and lead the right way, we have a chance to be a very good team. If we deviate from that, we can get beat by anybody."

On Russell

"Rebounding piece was big. He's been a very good teammate and addition. He's been consistent and plays hard. We got a little bit of a break that Thomas and Estrada missed some shots that they would normally make. Sometimes it's a make or miss game. Overall, we worked pretty good and the reason we had some separation was that we had 10 turnovers and were up in the first half. If we want to be really good, we have to be that team (that doesn't turn it over)."

On Hofstra scoring under 50 points

"Unfortunately, we have to go back there and that's going to be a challenge. Thought out energy was better, closeouts and attention to detail. Defense is about effort and concentration. We're capable of doing it at a high level. For whatever reason, I have not been able to get them to consistently do that. Hopefully, the light went off with some guys today. Russell, May, Hicks, Biekeu. Playing more guys. Before of injuries, we're playing a lot of guys and we need to continue to move them out moving forward."

On testing the veterans

"Testing them a lot the last few days. They are really talented. Really good kids from good families. I love them as people. I'm going to miss them when they're gone. They have at times caused some exasperation over the last month. They're very competitive. They have to lead us the right way. When they do that, we can be a difficult team to beat. I'm ok, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But just play and lead the right way and let's see what happens. We've seen glimpses of it. We have to now be consistent with it. You have to get into a rhythm in January."

Good old coach speak.  Hofstra has too much talent to have a bunch of those clunkers. 
We have never been a 35+ minute a game team. Our depth was always a strength. He had long leashes early this year for the seniors. But like you said Russell should be around 25 and the other 3 ~28-32 minutes. May Sylla. Beku hicks and Conway might not be consistent scorers or rebounders but they are capable of holding their own to give players a few minutes of rest. Would love to see us utilize media timeouts better regarding rest.  

41 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Gotta like that our bench guy Malik got in there and scored even though he doesn’t even have a jersey with his name on the back of it

Yeah. Surprised they shot it considering. A big compliant of pat ( I know there are many from me), is the lateness of putting walkons in. Speedy pulled players with over 3 left. And Pat tried to get some in around 1.20 but should have just called a running timeout. They deserve it and it definitely is a positive for all of the players 

[TSU88 1,073]

5 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Speedy pulled players with over 3 left

Yep, when he pulled Estrada I knew the white flag was being waved & that it was ok to start making my way to the exit