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I'm not on this trip, so no full preview, but here is a capsule on the players and what to look for on Sunday.


Hofstra Pride (18-10, 9-6 CAA)

Coach: Joe Mihalich


Key Players:

• 6’2” Jr. G Juan’ya Green averaged 15.5 ppg and 8.0 apg last week, including his 8th double-double (18pts/10ast) vs. NU and added 21 against Towson. Green has tallied double digits in all 28 games this season. He’s 3rd in the CAA in scoring (17.4 ppg), 1st in assists (6.6 apg) and 4th in steals (1.5 spg).

• 6’5” Jr. F Ameen Tanksley is 4th in the CAA in scoring (17.2 ppg), 9th in rebounds (6.0 rpg), 3rd in FG% (48.6%) and 1st in 3-pt% (46.9%). He had 21 last time out at Towson.

• 6’2” So. G Brian Bernardi scored a career high 23 points, including 5 3 pointers, vs W&M last meting. He averages 11.4 per game.

• 6’6” Jr. F Malik Nichols tied a career high with 15 points at Drexel. He averages 6.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg.

• 6’8” Sr. F Moussa Kone scored a career-high 23 points on perfect 10-for-10 FG shooting at Drexel. It was the most FG makes without a miss for a Pride player in the CAA era (since ‘01-02). He is one of three players averaging over 5 rpg for the Pride.

• 6’1” R-Sr G Dion Nesmith had 16 points off the bench versus Towson.



Game Notes:

Hofstra and W&M are the top two scoring teams in the CAA. Both average over 76 ppg in League play.

In league play they are the top two 3 point shooting teams and both shoot over 70% from the free throw line.

Last game ended 100-79 favor of the good guys. This one should also be high scoring as both teams like to push the ball when possible and both favor the three.

4 of the Top 7 scorers, in League play, will be in action on Sunday (Thornton, Prewitt vs. Green.Tanksley)



Final Thoughts: The Tribe, as with all teams that lose a key player to injury, are still struggling to define the new roles on the players stepping up. This is not only for the immediate replacements taking his minutes, but also for the other starters, that now find themselves adjusting their roles to cover what Daniel was doing for the team, including being a solid three point threat and third offensive option and, maybe, the best on ball defender, stopping a key player on the other team.
Hopefully, the more time on the floor will help the youngsters become more comfortable in their new roles (again, don't forget, our depth is almost all freshman/redshirt freshmen) and the starters adjust to added responsibilities.

W&M has had some tough days up in Long Island, shooting-wise, in past games and they definitely need to shoot well early this weekend, not allowing a repeat of the Northeastern game start. Transition defense will also be key, getting back to stop the fast break opportunities. The Tribe is only 2-8 at the Mack Center, with some last second heartbreakers included in the mix.
It would be nice to get a split on this road trip, coming back home for the final two games.


Go Tribe!!

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Good stuff. Let's bring home our own Oscar!

Will we see Malinowski finally start tomorrow?

Elon beats Delaware twice this season. What a crazy season.

(02-21-2015 02:54 PM)Big Tribe Wrote:  Will we see Malinowski finally start tomorrow?

Probably not. Malinowski is part of the Omar/Tarpey/Malinowski rotation, which doesn't extend to the guards. I think Coach Shaver relies on that rotation in order to know when to substitute for most of the game. I'm not knocking Coach here; I've been on the sideline and it is very hard to keep track of who has been in for how long. Having a fairly standard rotation makes that much easier.

Team flight cancelled due to weather in NY, and stuck in Norfolk waiting on alternative...No surprise on the weather forecast, so, not sure why they didn't go up last night.

Do you guys have Dixon back yet?

No Dixon, and it looks like the team is busing up to NY...

Bus ride to NY - great.

Team didn't travel yesterday due to being gone three days this week already...players needed to go to classes! This is W&M, not ODU.

(02-21-2015 04:32 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  Team flight cancelled due to weather in NY, and stuck in Norfolk waiting on alternative...No surprise on the weather forecast, so, not sure why they didn't go up last night.

This is a major league blunder. Lets' hope its not a repeat of that game out in Illinois last year. So many variables to consider; let's hope for a happy ending.

Didn't this same scenario lead to a big HU victory in NY last year? Great.

HU favored by 4 1/2.

(02-21-2015 02:54 PM)Big Tribe Wrote:  Will we see Malinowski finally start tomorrow?

He should get the start over Tot

(02-21-2015 07:28 PM)SoCal Frank Wrote:  

(02-21-2015 04:32 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  Team flight cancelled due to weather in NY, and stuck in Norfolk waiting on alternative...No surprise on the weather forecast, so, not sure why they didn't go up last night.

This is a major league blunder. Lets' hope its not a repeat of that game out in Illinois last year. So many variables to consider; let's hope for a happy ending.

Not how to rest up before the game, bad move.........

(02-21-2015 07:22 PM)Big Tribe Wrote:  Team didn't travel yesterday due to being gone three days this week already...players needed to go to classes! This is W&M, not ODU.

Understand about classes, but weren't there evening flights to NYC?

It's weird travel to think we flew back from Boston to Wburg late Wednesday only to turn around 48 hours later to fly back to the Northeast. That's a lot of travel even if our flights were all on time. I thought they put the road games at NU and HU back to back to help us in our travel and that we would just stay up there.

Hopefully we can come out strong tomorrow despite spending the night on the bus. Let's get the W.

In previous years with the usual Thursday Saturday games it worked. But with playing games on Wednesday and our weekend game going to Sunday I get coming back for two days of classes. I'm sure it also saved money not having to pay for hotels and meals for two and a half extra days.

Got to Norfolk Airport at 11:30am, now 7 hours into apparent cold bus ride to Long Island at 1am on Sunday. Not a recipe for success, especially if no early morning practice/court time Sat morning before they started this 3 hr tour.

Appears Dixon is with the team and I don't believe he was on the Northeastern trip. Any possibility he's been released to play ???

Looks like they arrived around 3 am. Won't be surprised if they are sluggish tomorrow, but hoping for the best. Glad it's a 4:30 tip.

You've got to check out Tarpey's tweets. Should be #Tribetravels.