Disa & Data for Week of 1/15/18 along with some NORTHEASTERN Notes
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CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Justin Wright-Foreman • Hofstra
Jr., G, 6-1, 185 - Queens, N.Y./High School of Construction
Wright-Foreman averaged 27.5 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds as Hofstra earned a pair of CAA road victories last week. The junior guard had 35 points, six assists and five rebounds as the Pride rallied for a 76-73 buzzer-beating win at Towson last Thursday and shot 71% (20-of-28) from the floor, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range for the week. For the season, he ranks second nationally in scoring with 25.6 ppg.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Tomas Murphy • Northeastern
Fr., F, 6-8, 220 - Wakefield, R.I./Northfield Mount Hermon
For the second week in a row, W&M will face the ROW. Murphy averaged 13.5 points and 3.0 rebounds off the bench as Northeastern split two CAA road games. The freshman forward scored a career-high 17 points in the Huskies’ 81-77 overtime victory at UNCW and had 10 points in a setback at Charleston. For the week, Murphy shot 64.7% (11-16) from the
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CONFERENCE NOTES:
LAST WEEK IN THE CAA: It was a wild week around the CAA with three games going to overtime and five others decided by six points or less. UNCW played a pair of OT contests, winning 80-78 at Elon on Marcus Bryan’s bucket with 23 seconds left, but falling to Northeastern, 81-77, as the Huskies scored 11 unanswered points in the extra session. Hofstra overcame a 10-point deficit with 5:22 to go and topped Towson, 76-73, on Jalen Ray’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. Delaware scored the final 8 points to edge JMU, 61-60, on Ryan Daly’s jumper with 14 seconds left. Elon got two free throws from Dmitri Thompson with 9.3 seconds left and held off Charleston, 63-58. Of the 30 CAA games played thus far, five have gone to overtime and nine others have been decided by six points or less. The Tribe contributed their rally from a 9-point deficit with 45 seconds left to beat JMU, 89-82 in OT.
TOP 100 OF RPI: Four CAA teams are ranked in the Top 94 of the latest NCAA RPI through games of Jan. 14. Towson leads the way at #69, William & Mary follows at #74, Hofstra is ranked #80, and Elon is ranked #94. The CAA is ranked 13th out of the nation’s 32 Division I conferences, a drop of 1 position from last week.
HIGH SCORING START: Offenses have taken center stage in the early portion of conference play. Through the first 30 league games, the winning team has scored at least 80 points in 20 of them. Eight squads are averaging 75.0 ppg or more in CAA action. Shooting percentages have been impressive as well. Seven teams are shooting better than 46% from the floor, five are hitting at least 37% from 3-point range, and three squads are shooting better than 80% from the free throw line in conference play.
ROAD TEAMS WEEK: After home teams were dominant early in CAA play, road teams went 6-4 last week, including 4-1 on Saturday. Hofstra ended Towson’s 14-game home winning streak and UNCW snapped Elon’s seven-game home win streak last Thursday and Towson stopped W&M’s eight-game league home win streak on Saturday. Charleston is the only remaining CAA team that is unbeaten (8-0) at home.
SCORING STREAK: Hofstra junior Justin Wright-Foreman, who leads the CAA and ranks second in the nation in scoring with 25.6 ppg, extended his double-digit scoring streak to 40 games last week. The streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation. Wright-Foreman has scored 20 or more points 15 times this season and has topped the 30-point mark in five games.
STILL VERY OFFENSIVE: William & Mary can still make a strong case as the top shooting team in the nation, despite some struggles of late. The Tribe ranks among the Top 10 in the nation in field goal percentage (51.0%/8th), 3-point FG percentage (44.5%/2nd) and free throw percentage (81.9%/1st), and is 14th in scoring (86.4 ppg).
Northeastern Notes
• The Huskies split their Southern road swing, losing 82-66 at CofC, but winning 81-77 in OT at UNCW.
• 6'5" R-Jr. Guard Vasa Pusica (transfer from San Diego) tallied team-highs of 15 points and 6 assists at CofC and had 12 points and 5 assists at UNCW. He’s reached double digits in 13 of the last 14 games and ranks 10th in the CAA in scoring and 3rd in assists. He averages 15.5 ppg. He is the top 3 point shooter on the Huskies team.
• 6'4" So. Guard Shawn Occeus had 15 points and 3 steals at UNCW and chipped in 10 points at CofC. He has 7 double-figure efforts in the past 9 games and leads the CAA in steals (1.8 spg). He is averaging 11.1 ppg.
• 6'6" So. Guard Bolden Brace averaged 11.0 ppg and hit 6-of-11 treys over the two games. He’s shooting 42.4% from three in CAA play. He averages 7.6 ppg and 4.1 rpg.
• 6'8" Fr. Foreward Tomas Murphy averaged 13.5 ppg last week, including a career-high 17 points at UNCW.. It was his 3rd straight game in double digits. He is the CAA ROW for this week.
• 6'4" Sr. Guard Devon Begley contributed 7 points and a career-high 9 rebounds at UNCW. He averages 7.3 ppg and 3.2 rpg.
• 6 players on the Huskies shoot 75% or better from the Free Throw stripe, led by Begley's 84%.
TRIBE DISA & DATA
• Nathan Knight put up 21 points vs. JMU and 22 vs. TU, and has eight 20-point efforts for the year. He’s among the top 7 in the CAA in scoring, rebounding, FG% and blocks and is averaging 22.3 ppg and 9.8 rpg in CAA play (20.0 & 8.2 overall).
• David Cohn scored 21 points vs. JMU and had 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3 vs. TU . He leads the CAA with 6.5 apg and is 2nd on W&M’s career assists list (393).
• Matt Milon accumulated 18 points vs. JMU, including a 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left that forced OT. He’s 2nd in the CAA in 3’s per game (2.9) and 2nd in 3-point FG% (49.5%). He is averaging 14.6 ppg on the season.
• Justin Pierce tied his career-high with 17 rebounds vs. JMU and scored 16 vs. Towson. He ranks 4th in the league with 9.0 rpg. His scoring average is now up to 12.4 per game.
• Connor Burchfield tops the CAA in 3-pt FG% (51.5%) and is 2nd in 3’s per game (2.9). He is the fifth Tribe starter averaging in double figures, at 11.6 ppg.
• W&M also leads the CAA in Scoring (86.4 ppg), FG% (51.0%), FT% (81.9%), 3-point FG% (44.5%) and 3-pointers per game (11.1).
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
Northeastern, coached by Bill Coen, comes into the game at 11-7, 4-2 on the season, one of seven CAA squads with at least 11 wins. Coen is a very talented coach, that I put up, with Coach Shaver, as the top two coaches in the league (P. Skerry and E. Grant definitely not far behind). The Huskies are always prepared and remind me of W&M more than any other teams in the league (makeup, play, etc).
The Tribe will have to be able to make adjustments to what opponents are currently doing on defense, now that there is plenty of tape out there to use for stopping the offense. We have seen, in several of the past few games, that teams want to keep Connor and Matt from getting going from long range. The defenses are running those two off the 3 point line as soon as they catch the ball. Better to allow the Tribe to get two pointers, that they have to work hard for, than allow the three point shots to open up the inside for easy buckets.
Getting Connor back on track is very important. In the past four games (the ones where defenses have been keying on he and Matt, in particular) Connor is 6 for 20 from three (30%). In the first 13 games Connor shot 57.1% from distance. Matt, in the past 3 games, is 5 for 18 (28%). He came into that three game stretch shooting 54% from three. So, in the past 3 games, the Tribe's biggest long range marksmen are a combined 9 for 31 from three (29%). The staff really needs to figure the method for restarting that supply of points. It won't help that NU has the top 3pt. defense in the CAA.
W&M averages almost 14 more ppg than the Huskies, but also gives up about 11 more ppg than the NU defense. Both teams have solid shooters, but the Huskies tend to rely on Pusica, Occeus and the freshman Murphy for their points.
The Tribe will need to get the outside shooting going to keep NU from clogging the interior and will need to keep the turnovers low. The Huskies average 6.8 steals per game (2nd in the league) and play tight defense. Also, keeping laser-like focus all game and trusting their offense (not reverting to one on one play), will be key in a Tribe victory Thursday night.
Let's get back on track.
Go Tribe!!
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