NIT Second Round: Hofstra

[Queens_NYC]

Saturday, March 18th, 2023
2:00 PM
David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex
ESPN+

The Bearcats (21-12 [11-7 AAC], NET #70, KenPom #53) continue their NIT journey this weekend at Hofstra (24-9 [16-2 CAA], NET #86, KenPom #86) who upset Rutgers on Tuesday night 88-86 in OT.

The Pride are led by school legend (his #10 jersey is retired) and NBA veteran Speedy Claxton who is finishing his 2nd season as head coach and was recently awarded CAA Coach of the Year.

Hofstra features 4th-year 6'4 guard and CAA Player of the Year Aaron Estrada who averages 20.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 4.1 apg. He is joined in the backcourt by All-CAA 2nd Team selection 4th-year 6'3 guard Tyler Thomas who averages 16.5 ppg and 3.7 rpg on 41% shooting from 3.

Hofstra is a solid offensive team that slashes 48/37/74. They don't draw many fouls (14.4/game) and, as a smaller team, don't rebound particularly well (-2.5 rebounding margin).

The winner of this game will go on to play the winner of Colorado vs Utah Valley who face off on Sunday night at 9:30 pm.

Saturday's game marks the first ever meeting between these two programs.

[sedziobs]

Hofstra is a team of extremes. They are a top 10 shooting team, and top 20 in field goal defense. They're top 40 in taking care of the ball, keeping opponents off the line, 2pt offense and defense, and 3pt offense and defense. You'd think they would be a top 5 team in the country looking at those stats. But they are outside the top 300 in both offensive and defensive rebounding, and are dead last in getting to the free throw line.

A big part of their shooting success is they convert over 49% from midrange. It's not really an inefficient shot for them, which makes it tough to gameplan. They have a below average assist rate, which indicates that they run a lot of iso sets for guys who can get to the rim or create separation and hit a jumpshot. They have four players who shoot over 60% at the rim and over 45% from midrange. Three of them shoot over 37% from beyond the arc, and two of them are 6'8. That's tough for anyone to guard. Based on the bad rebounding numbers, I'd guess they spread it out on offense and let those guys go to work.

This seems like a tough matchup for us. We have a lot of guys that struggle in iso defense. Hofstra just put up 1.23 points per possession on Rutgers top 10 defense. But they can obviously be beat - they've lost to several bad teams including North Carolina A&T, who was 15-17 at the rim with no shots blocked. St Mary's shut them down, holding them to 48 points. Purdue scored 85. Zach Edey had 18 rebounds in that game, Hofstra had 20 total. We don't have the defenders that St Mary's has, so we need to dominate the boards and get as many extra possessions and putbacks as possible.

[Queens_NYC]

-1.5

Hope the camera gets my good side behind the UC bench.

[sirthought]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

Hofstra is a team of extremes. They are a top 10 shooting team, and top 20 in field goal defense. They're top 40 in taking care of the ball, keeping opponents off the line, 2pt offense and defense, and 3pt offense and defense. You'd think they would be a top 5 team in the country looking at those stats. But they are outside the top 300 in both offensive and defensive rebounding, and are dead last in getting to the free throw line.

A big part of their shooting success is they convert over 49% from midrange. It's not really an inefficient shot for them, which makes it tough to gameplan. They have a below average assist rate, which indicates that they run a lot of iso sets for guys who can get to the rim or create separation and hit a jumpshot. They have four players who shoot over 60% at the rim and over 45% from midrange. Three of them shoot over 37% from beyond the arc, and two of them are 6'8. That's tough for anyone to guard. Based on the bad rebounding numbers, I'd guess they spread it out on offense and let those guys go to work.

This seems like a tough matchup for us. We have a lot of guys that struggle in iso defense. Hofstra just put up 1.23 points per possession on Rutgers top 10 defense. But they can obviously be beat - they've lost to several bad teams including North Carolina A&T, who was 15-17 at the rim with no shots blocked. St Mary's shut them down, holding them to 48 points. Purdue scored 85. Zach Edey had 18 rebounds in that game, Hofstra had 20 total. We don't have the defenders that St Mary's has, so we need to dominate the boards and get as many extra possessions and putbacks as possible.

Nice to read your breakdown. Seems like an interesting challenge for sure.

[sirthought]

I'm hating that this game is on ESPN+. Second round of a tournament should be more easily accessible. Not sure what bars in Cincy are carrying the game for certain.

[sedziobs]

Great job on the glass so far. Let's see if they go after Davenport now.

[sirthought]

All these stupid low percentage fall away jumpers by Davenport and Nolley. There was still time to pass the ball for a better shot. That's poor coaching when its happening again and again.

[Bcatfollower]

Originally Posted by sirthought

All these stupid low percentage fall away jumpers by Davenport and Nolley. There was still time to pass the ball for a better shot. That's poor coaching when its happening again and again.

Yea, Miller can’t coach. It’s nothing new.

[sedziobs]

I hate running the offense through Nolley at the short corner. Almost always results in a midrange shot.

[Bcatfollower]

Kind of embarrassing. Miller’s lack of coaching once again showing itself with our lazy defense and street ball offense.