Eric Von Zipper
Senior
Posts: 343
Age: 71
Reg: 11-11-17
|
12-18-19 08:34 PM - Post#294851
Opens Princeton -2
O/U 148 1/2
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
Hofstra 12-18-19 09:16 PM - Post#294852
In response to Eric Von Zipper
Should be another tough but winnable game, and would definitely be nice to have a home win. From the most experienced team in the country in Iona to the 6th most experienced team in Hofstra. Hofstra plays a group of veteran guards, and are generally pretty undersized. Hopefully that opens up a lot of opportunities for Aririguzoh, Evbuomwan, and Schwieger to pound the paint similar to how they did against Drexel.
On the flip side, the guard defense is going to have to really improve for Princeton to be successful. Hofstra's lead guard is 5-11 Desure Buie, a 5th year senior who's a 41% 3pt shooter and an excellent scorer. He scored 29 for them in their early season win at UCLA. The Tigers have had some real trouble containing similarly talented guards in Jaworski, Wynter, Gist, Bouyea, and Carry. Llewellyn was a solid defender last season, but this year lead guards have hurt Princeton a lot. Assuming he's on Buie most of the game, it's gonna take some real effort from him on the defensive end.
Couple other notes on Hofstra, they are dead last in the country in bench minutes this season, and 4 players (all 6-5 or shorter) are averaging over 30 minutes per game this season. Part of the reason they can do this is because Hofstra rarely sends teams to the free throw line. Per KenPom, Llewellyn, Aririguzoh, and Evbuomwan are all averaging 4.5 fouls drawn per 40 minutes. Getting Hofstra in foul trouble by attacking the basket could really throw a wrench in their game plan.
|
Eric Von Zipper
Senior
Posts: 343
Age: 71
Reg: 11-11-17
|
12-18-19 09:24 PM - Post#294853
In response to welcometothejungle
The Flying Dutchman are 2-3 all-time against Princeton in a series that dates back to the 1955-56 season. The teams have not met since a neutral site encounter (at Baylor) at the Dr. Pepper Classic in 1991-92.
The Hofstra coach of both the 1955-56 and 1991-92 games? None other than Wilt Chamberlain's favorite...Butch Van Breda Kolff.
|
Eric Von Zipper
Senior
Posts: 343
Age: 71
Reg: 11-11-17
|
12-19-19 05:56 PM - Post#294937
In response to Eric Von Zipper
Order flow heading Tiger's way.
Up to -3 1/2 or 4.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
Hofstra 12-19-19 08:10 PM - Post#294960
In response to Eric Von Zipper
Hofstra up 12-7 at the U16, Hofstra off to a hot start shooting the ball. Evbuomwan not available tonight and is in street clothes on the bench. 2 early fouls on Hofstra's 2nd best guard Jalen Ray
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
Hofstra 12-19-19 08:17 PM - Post#294962
In response to welcometothejungle
Hofstra leads 23-18 at the Under-12. If the defense was even average this would be a good start, as the offense has been solid. Unfortunately Hofstra is off to a 10/16 start and have 4 offensive rebounds. Feels like the Tigers can't buy a stop early on.
Edited by welcometothejungle on 12-19-19 08:17 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 08:21 PM - Post#294963
In response to welcometothejungle
Llewellyn looking very comfortable, 4/4 from the field and 3/3 from 3 to start. He's also 19/22 from the FT line over the last 4 games
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 08:25 PM - Post#294964
In response to welcometothejungle
Down 31-21 now at the U8, allowing Hofstra to score 1.68 points per possession, and they have all the confidence right now. Tigers not doing anything on either end to make them work very hard
|
SRP
Postdoc
Posts: 4911
Reg: 02-04-06
|
12-19-19 08:29 PM - Post#294965
In response to welcometothejungle
When Hofstra was having trouble on D, they switched to a zone and slowed Princeton down a little bit. The Tigers are playing very poor man-to-man and won't get out of it.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 08:35 PM - Post#294967
In response to SRP
Hofstra has now "slowed down" to 1.37 points per possession, still leading 35-26. Morales with a few steals in the last few possessions and seems to be bothering Buie a lot, who committed a frustration foul leading into the time out. Aririguzoh has struggled to find chances so far
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 08:42 PM - Post#294968
In response to welcometothejungle
A decent push to finish the half down 39-33, but overall a pretty bad half for the Tigers. Aririguzoh and Schwieger both struggled
|
SRP
Postdoc
Posts: 4911
Reg: 02-04-06
|
12-19-19 08:49 PM - Post#294969
In response to welcometothejungle
Despite the occasional wild play, Morales is the only thing standing between this team and defensive armageddon. Even when he's just floating around off the ball looking for chances to poach, he's upsetting Hofstra. Reminded me a little bit of Aaron Craft, if anyone recalls the OSU stopper of several years back.
|
bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
|
12-19-19 08:51 PM - Post#294970
In response to welcometothejungle
Defense Defense -- please play tough team defense.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 09:09 PM - Post#294972
In response to bradley
Couple of positive possessions in a row on both ends bring the lead down to 3, 46-43 at the U16. Schwieger and Aririguzoh starting to attack the basket more. Hofstra's 2 main bigs have 3 & 4 fouls respectively, and they're onto their 3rd string post player to guard Aririguzoh now
|
TigerFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1888
Reg: 11-21-04
|
Hofstra 12-19-19 09:14 PM - Post#294973
In response to welcometothejungle
Schwieger is absolutely killing us tonight. Five bad turnovers, several in a row and we’re down 8 again.
Edited by TigerFan on 12-19-19 09:14 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
TigerFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1888
Reg: 11-21-04
|
12-19-19 09:20 PM - Post#294974
In response to TigerFan
Looks like RA could score at will if they could get him the ball. Hofstra on its third center now.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 09:32 PM - Post#294975
In response to TigerFan
Hofstra leads 65-51 at the Under 8 and the defense continues to struggle. Not sure why Princeton is so accepting of switching Aririguzoh onto Hofstra's quick guards, who are taking advantage of it on every possession. Llewellyn and Morales are fast enough to get around those ball screens, but they're instead accepting switches
|
TigerFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1888
Reg: 11-21-04
|
12-19-19 09:40 PM - Post#294976
In response to TigerFan
Hofstra is really quick around the ball and Tigers look a step behind on both ends tonight.
|
bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
|
12-19-19 10:07 PM - Post#294977
In response to TigerFan
Fundamentally flawed team and Mitch has not been able to figure it out - yet? Team is more interested in offense than defense plus there is a lack of quickness at certain positions.
The team does not appear to have a Weisz or Cook or Miller as to being tough physically and mentally. They are a tough team to watch. There is some offensive talent but not consistent.
What makes no sense tonight or in the Iona game is when the other team's big gets in foul trouble just keep pounding the ball inside to give you a real size advantage and just keep going down deep.
It is a team lost in the wilderness that may or may not eventually find a rhythm.
|
SRP
Postdoc
Posts: 4911
Reg: 02-04-06
|
12-19-19 10:19 PM - Post#294978
In response to TigerFan
Wow. Lots to pick apart on both ends, but with the offense it's more a question of being good or very good instead of okay, whereas with the defense it's a question of getting to respectability. Hofstra is a good, experienced team, with a lot of scorers, but not better than Yale, say. (I was impressed with Pemberton in the postgame interview as well as on the court.)
Once again, getting the opponent uncomfortable with ball pressure or getting a steal was the only way the Tigers could prevent a good shot. They either need to clean up their standard man-to-man, especially but not only on ball screens, in those cases where they don't disrupt a dribble or pass, or they need to sacrifice some soundness in order to attack the ball more frequently. I don't see how they have much to lose in terms of giving up better-quality looks by gambling a bit more, since they are already getting burned regularly, but there was a stretch of decent second-half defensive possessions where they played their usual and ended up only yielding tough shots, and maybe those glimmers are keeping MH hopeful that the D will gel.
|
welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
|
12-19-19 10:29 PM - Post#294980
In response to TigerFan
Hofstra ends up with a comfortable 87-72 win. Pretty disappointing overall after the comeback win against Iona, and the Tigers still struggle a ton with inconsistency. 11 turnovers from Schwieger and Aririguzoh really hurt, especially in the 2nd half when the Tigers were trying to gain some momentum to come back. In the end, Hofstra ended up with a 59% True Shooting % compared to 51.5% for the Tigers, but the defense was still pretty rough on the whole.
It appears this team is going to have to out shoot opponents in most matchups to get wins, and having so many turnovers and missing FTs won't get that done. The Tigers were also pretty abysmal at the rim and on the boards, particularly disappointing against an undersized Hofstra team. Hofstra entered the game 351st in the country in Block% at 3%. They had a 17% block % today, and the Tigers missed a ton of other shots at the rim. Hofstra also grabbed offensive rebounds on 38% of their misses, which is the worst Princeton has rebounded this season besides the USF game. While the team defense definitely needs addressing, even when they did force misses, the Tigers did a pretty bad job of ending possessions.
There were a couple of runs in the second half, and Kellman again showed his athleticism at the rim, but it was too late. The past few years Henderson's teams have played some of their best basketball after the break for the holidays, so the hope has to be that the turnaround comes at that time again.
Princeton in late December:
2016: Close loss @Miami, comfortable wins @Hampton and Norfolk State, 10-1 to start league play
2017: 5-6 going into Christmas break, 18 wins in a row after
2018: 3-6 before a West coast trip, then 4-1 on the California/Hawaii trip, 3-1 start to league before wheels fell off
2019: 5-5 after a 50 point loss at Duke on Dec 18, run off 7 straight wins before the Cannady suspension and injuries
|
Tiger69
Postdoc
Posts: 2814
Reg: 11-23-04
|
12-19-19 11:40 PM - Post#294990
In response to welcometothejungle
I think I’ll take a vacation from the men and follow the women for awhile. Less frustrating, better ball movement, consistent stellar defense and, not surprisingly, better record. Can’t put the blame for the men on anything other than inexperience. But, the biggest payoff going forward, given our inconsistent offense, is to work hard on our team defense. We are simply too easy to score on. Watching Hofstra’s short, hustling guards force is into bad shots was frustrating. If we are lacking speed, we may have to drop into some zones at times. It is depressing to see us giving up points so easily.
|
1LotteryPick1969
Postdoc
Posts: 2274
Age: 73
Loc: Sandy, Utah
Reg: 11-21-04
|
12-20-19 05:02 PM - Post#295027
In response to SRP
We need to find the one guy who is a shut-down defender. It all starts with that.
|