Hofstra edges MBB 59-56

[mat1992 2,236]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401600703

Towson's five-game winning streak came to an end tonight in Hempstead as Tyler Thomas scored 23 points and dished out nine assists. He hit the dagger with a 25-footer in the face of Christian May with 42 seconds left. Nendah Tarke missed a three on the other end and the Pride held on to the victory. That's despite Jacquan Carlos, who leads the CAA in FT shooting at 93%, missed the front end of a one-and-one with eight seconds left, but Dylan Williamson's three-point attempt to tie the game was way off. Towson fell to 7-3 on the season in the CAA and will face Delaware on Thursday night at home to attempt to extend their 18-game home winning streak.

Here are some Skerry quotes on the post game on TSN;

"Liked our fight. Great environment. Place was rocking. Really bad night shooting the ball. Thought we had good looks. Took a lot of 3s. Liked our fight to get back in the game. Disappointed in that we did a poor job of guarding 3s. Didn't get that across. Dubar and Thomas cost us the game. Not our effort. We were a tick late. Tough game. Shot so badly. Can't believe we had a shot to force overtime."

   

"Those guys played hard on the glass (Jones and Sulaiman). Didn't have the same perimeter play on offense or defense. Looked a tick slow. Take Sunday off. Get ready for Thursday night. (We are) 7-3 with a brutal schedule we were given. Step slow, Effort was good on the glass. Has to do with Hofstra. Wide open looks. Dylan and Christian are good shooters. Sometimes it's a make or miss game. A tick late in getting to their guys. Hopefully we get another chance at their guys."

[Chris Datres 423]

"Shot so badly" is putting it nicely.  A ton of open looks that didn't drop.  Hell, even DW's look to tie the game was a pretty good one and not really contested.  It's frustrating to lose games in this way -- missing open looks, getting zero from your 5th year SR big man at the offensive end (again), and missing numerous shots around the basket.  Gotta tip your cap to Thomas for a couple of the 3's that he hit but earlier in the game when you're helping off shooters like him and Dubar, you're gonna get burned every single time.

[mat1992 2,236]

Ok, let's start with the Good, Bad, and Ugly. And some nights, it's tough to find the ugly, but tonight it was pretty clear. 

Good

*Rebounding was great. Towson did what they needed to at 42-32 on the boards and had 17 offensive rebounds.

*Jones and Sulamain were pretty good. They combined for 17 points and 16 rebounds

*Free throw shooting continues to improve. They were 14 of 15 tonight (93.3%)

*This was the last (fifth) of these ridiculous CAA home/road splits for Thursday/Saturday. To come out 7-3 after that isn't bad. 

*Tarke led the team with 12 points, 5 rebs, 3 steals and a block. Has quick hands.

Bad

*What is bad was the shooting tonight. Just awful. 6 of 23 from beyond the arc and 30%. Hofstra was 11 of 23 from beyond the arc for 47.8%. Some shots were wide open and others like that Tyler Thomas shot from NBA range was in May's grill. Though as PS said, they were a tick slow in their rotations.

*When you have 17 offensive rebounds, you need to convert more shots down low, but that's been an issue all season. Jones had 5 offensive rebounds and just one basket. It's not like Hofstra has Amari Williams blocking shots.

*Tarke had some open looks that he couldn't hit and had four turnovers with no assists. Not that he doesn't make the extra pass. But he's at his best when he drives to dish and to score if it's there. 

Ugly

*CT had 8 rebounds but two points and two costly turnovers.

*I still don't think Tejada should start and he rarely plays in the last five minutes. He did make his first three but wound up going 3 of 12 tonight.

*Rough game for May. Did hit a three late to tie the game, but had several open looks. Had just 5 points and was 2 for 10. This was one of those games where you thought, I'd like to have a Timberlake, who can get hot and carry the team. They don't have that and Williamson (1-5 3pt) was slowed tonight and got very few open looks.

*Why is CT dribbling the ball up and ignoring Dylan? I don't get it.

 

Look, this was a strange game. This team should not have been in the game late. They certainly claw and scratch their way, but here's the problem with this club. Yes, shooting can be bad, but if you just go with Tejada and Williamson to boost the offense, you might lose something defensively. If you want to play Lowery more and he can be one of the most spectacular defenders I've seen in his program, you lose something offensively. He's also going to make mistakes the more you play him. The freshmen need to contribute, but for this team to grab a top four seed, they have to get more out of CT, Tarke and May. Shooters are going to miss at times and I know May's dribble-drive game is awkward. Maybe more mid-range shots. Push it a little more in transition. 

[griggey20 178]

About as bad as we can shoot the ball and only lost by 3. Would’ve loved the win but happy with the fight feel like we are primed for a top 4 spot. 

[mat1992 2,236]

Here’s the release

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1753959651261985192?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

Had prior obligations and couldn’t watch this live and just saw it on DVR. Yikes. 3 road games holding teams under what 67 and 2 of those under 60 and you lose?  Missed opportunities but it seems like we are happy here because we “played hard”. For the love of God can Pat please go to nyc and get a tough guard who can get his own shot. Pride always have tough offensive guards but lack the depth and rebounding. We always have guys who can rebound but have minimal skill.
 

Hofstra has the three most talented offensive players on the court but we did nothing to make those guys work defensively and gave up too many east looks to others.
 

Have to finish through contact and run better sets. The lack of energy from the two seniors is appalling. Is the meac that bad that he was DOPTY?!  
 

parr and the 2 4s fought hard and had decent games.  Hold Hofstra to under 65 you need to win. 

Thursday is a must win for the top 4 and double bye especially since our road record is not great 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

3 hours ago, mat1992 said:

Ok, let's start with the Good, Bad, and Ugly. And some nights, it's tough to find the ugly, but tonight it was pretty clear. 

Good

*Rebounding was great. Towson did what they needed to at 42-32 on the boards and had 17 offensive rebounds.

*Jones and Sulamain were pretty good. They combined for 17 points and 16 rebounds

*Free throw shooting continues to improve. They were 14 of 15 tonight (93.3%)

*This was the last (fifth) of these ridiculous CAA home/road splits for Thursday/Saturday. To come out 7-3 after that isn't bad. 

*Tarke led the team with 12 points, 5 rebs, 3 steals and a block. Has quick hands.

Bad

*What is bad was the shooting tonight. Just awful. 6 of 23 from beyond the arc and 30%. Hofstra was 11 of 23 from beyond the arc for 47.8%. Some shots were wide open and others like that Tyler Thomas shot from NBA range was in May's grill. Though as PS said, they were a tick slow in their rotations.

*When you have 17 offensive rebounds, you need to convert more shots down low, but that's been an issue all season. Jones had 5 offensive rebounds and just one basket. It's not like Hofstra has Amari Williams blocking shots.

*Tarke had some open looks that he couldn't hit and had four turnovers with no assists. Not that he doesn't make the extra pass. But he's at his best when he drives to dish and to score if it's there. 

Ugly

*CT had 8 rebounds but two points and two costly turnovers.

*I still don't think Tejada should start and he rarely plays in the last five minutes. He did make his first three but wound up going 3 of 12 tonight.

*Rough game for May. Did hit a three late to tie the game, but had several open looks. Had just 5 points and was 2 for 10. This was one of those games where you thought, I'd like to have a Timberlake, who can get hot and carry the team. They don't have that and Williamson (1-5 3pt) was slowed tonight and got very few open looks.

*Why is CT dribbling the ball up and ignoring Dylan? I don't get it.

 

Look, this was a strange game. This team should not have been in the game late. They certainly claw and scratch their way, but here's the problem with this club. Yes, shooting can be bad, but if you just go with Tejada and Williamson to boost the offense, you might lose something defensively. If you want to play Lowery more and he can be one of the most spectacular defenders I've seen in his program, you lose something offensively. He's also going to make mistakes the more you play him. The freshmen need to contribute, but for this team to grab a top four seed, they have to get more out of CT, Tarke and May. Shooters are going to miss at times and I know May's dribble-drive game is awkward. Maybe more mid-range shots. Push it a little more in transition. 

You see Tarkes play as “good”?  Based on scoring slightly more points than his other teammates?  Anything else? Truly an honest question.  The lack of defense at times, isn’t good enough for 30% shooter. He’s a “stat stuffer” and gambles on defense. Has not been the lock down or even solid defender we needed. 4 turnovers 

 

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

Only positive today was the 14-15 from the line.  Can’t continue to get off to bad shooting starts and win.  Bit us in the ass today.  Amazing we were 28-28 at the half.  
Delaware has won 2 in a row.  Rice had 24 but didn’t matter.  Hens shot 50%. 
Thursday gonna be a battle.  Step up veterans!

 

[Tiger93 299]

That was the first time since the Monmouth game that we have been under a point per possession in a game (.933 points per game in 60 possession) and it was not pretty. I think to some extent Skerry is right that it is make or miss game, and we missed a lot. If we have a couple more shots we win that game, but (and I am not saying this to be critical Skerry, just in genera) it is bad habit to think that way. 

On the road in conference play, we are now 103-277 (37.2%). If you take out the 30-58 performance at Charleston (which obviously shouldn't be taken out) it gets a lot worse. We have six bad halfs, one decent half and three good halfs. We shot 57% in the second half at Northeastern, 50% and 54% at Charleston, and a decent 43% in the first half at Delaware.  We shot 33% in the first half against Hofstra and 27% in the second half, 24% in the first half at Northeastern, 35% in the second half at Delaware, and 23% and 31% at Monmouth. 

I love the effort and defense of this team, but this is one of the big reasons why as much as I like the talent and depth on this roster it gets very dicey come tournament play. Right now, in 10 halfs away from Towson in CAA play, six of the 10 have been 35% or worse shooting halfs. One half like that sinks you tournament play.

Tip your cap to Thomas who made some tough shots. One thing that has been brought up on this board is how good Lowery plays on defense, but what a liability he can be on offense. There was a 4-5 possession stretch where Lowery was covering Thomas. One time Thomas just got the angle on him and hit a jumper, but the other 3-4 times Lowery forced him to him pass it or miss the shot. I think if we played Hofstra again, I would probably use Lowery in that matchup more. The stretch where Lowery was guarding Thomas is where we made our run at the end to tie it at 54 (I am pretty sure). Mat mentioned some good defense by Tarke, and Tarke did make a great block on Carlos with the game tied at 54 to give us a chance to take the lead late. Unfortunately, he had one of his several really bad possession when he committed an offensive charge. 

I honestly think you guys are being a little hard on Charles. The only reason he was a good offensive player at times in 2021-22 was because there were so many options on offense that things came easy to him and Timberlake. When either of those guys are a clear-cut second option on offense things won't come easy. Charles had some bad turnovers, but he had the assist on May's game-tying three late, and also had a couple of key blocks. I like when he scores, but I would rather see this then him force up a bunch of ill-advised shots. 

Honestly, this offense seems at its best when May and Williamson are scoring. They combined for 37 against Northeastern and 39 at Delaware. Yesterday they had 10 points combined. It was probably he 21 bench points, 17 of which came from Sulaiman (10) and Jones (7). Those two had 11 offensive rebounds combined. Unfortunately, Jones, who had been making his shots at a high clip recently, was only 1-6 and missed 3-4 layups in traffic. The team was 10-22 on layups. 

One positive trend I would love to see this team keep up is the free-throw shooting lately. We are 59-70 (84.3%) the last three games and an impossible to replicate 40-44 (90.9%) in the last two. 

Hofstra still hosts Drexel, but UNC-W misses out on traveling there. That will be a tough place to win, and only Charleston has beaten them at home. We have four home and four road games left. Nothing can really be assumed, but I would guess 5-3 is the worst we can go to get a top 4 seed.

I know it is early for this nonsense, but I will start it. Here are the top 6 teams remaining games:

Drexel - at UNC-W, at Charleston, vs. Hofstra, vs. Campbell, at Hofstra, at Delaware, vs. Stony Brook, vs. Northeastern
Towson - vs. Delaware, vs. Elon, at William & Mary (who almost beat Charleston yesterday), at Hampton, vs. Monmouth, vs. Charleston, at NC A&T, at UNC-W
UNC-W - vs. Drexel, at Hampton, vs. NC A&T, vs. Elon, at William & Mary, at Campbell, vs. Hofstra, vs. Towson
Charleston - vs. NC A&T, vs. Drexel, at Northeastern, vs. William & Mary, at Delaware, at Towson, vs. Campbell, vs. Hofstra
Hofstra - at Hampton, at NC &T (I think they lose there last year), at Drexel, vs. Northeastern, at Hofstra, vs. Elon, at UNC-W, at Charleston
Delaware - at Towson, vs. William & Mary, at Elon, at NC A&T, vs. Charleston, vs. Drexel, at Stony Brook 

[Moleman1 44]

Playing against Hofstra, a usually quick Williamson who's been scoring well recently was blunted by the "speedy" defense of Hofstra's guards.. As for others on the Tiger's offense who might penetrate in to score, they too were often stymied by double and triple defenders who collapsed on our ball handlers; ie I think maybe what's needed is improvement with our drive-and-dish plays.. We've got a team that has remarkable talent in rebounding, decent defending, 10 man depth, and now remarkable FT skill. Just some flaws on offense that need straightening out, incl Tejada's scoring slump. He had the magic, so he can get it back; just hope it happens soon.