Postgame Buffet: VCU 61, Hofstra 49 (Or: I await the day good fortune comes our way and we win down the Kings Highway)

Do the Flying Dutchmen have to travel down the King's Highway in Virginia to get to Richmond? For purposes of this blog entry, I am going to assume yes.

Buried in day work and something special for tomorrow morning (hint: who does Hofstra play tomorrow?), so here’s a postgame buffet from the Flying Dutchmen’s 61-49 loss to VCU that makes up for in brevity what it lacks in timeliness. Or something like that.

1.) The Dutchmen’s 14th loss of the season was the one that stung the least. The win over James Madison Saturday lessened the desperation that accompanied every game since the start of January. And let’s face it, of the 18 conference games, this was probably the one the Dutchmen weren’t going to win no matter what. Because the Dutchmen have NEVER won at VCU’s Siegel Center. Last night’s loss, in the 2,012th men’s basketball game in Hofstra history, dropped the Dutchmen to 0-9 all-time on the road against the Rams. So, you know, we’re kinda used to this.

2.) Still, this one did sting a bit, because it was very easy to make a case the Dutchmen had a shot at remaining in this one until the last minute for the 17,000th time this year, if not flat-out win the game. The Dutchmen displayed their usual resiliency in the first half, when they fell behind by at least seven points three different times yet closed to within 35-32 when Mike Moore banked a 3-pointer just before the first half buzzer.

And the Dutchmen had four chances to tie or take the lead in the first two-plus minutes of the second half but could never get the equalizer or inch ahead. Who knows what might have happened if David Imes’ 3-pointer from the left corner was a couple inches longer and the Dutchmen grabbed a one-point lead in the first 90 seconds? Instead, missing two shots over five empty possessions proved to be a sign of things to come for the Dutchmen, who were just 4-of-20 from the field and scored just 17 points on 31 second half possessions. Tough to win when the shooting touch goes that ice cold.

3.) Not surprisingly, VCU suffocated Moore after he scored 11 of his game-high 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the first half. And unfortunately for the Dutchmen, Moore grew frustrated by his inability to get open and get touches during the second half, when he scored six points—four from the free throw line—and hit just one of his four field goal attempts. It was a lapse into bad habits for Moore, who was similarly covered by James Madison Saturday yet dished to Stevie Mejia for the game-winning layup. After recording multiple assists in five straight games, he had just one assist and tied his career-high with six turnovers Monday. The Dutchmen fare best when Moore gets others involved when he is draped—i.e. in the second half—and any hope they have of mounting a second half run and advancing beyond Friday in the CAA Tournament rests on Moore resisting the instinct to force things offensively.

4.) Here’s a good bar bet question for you (if you happen to discuss Hofstra basketball at a bar, but I’m pretty sure I’d be the only person who did that, if only I went to bars): Name the Dutchman whose current streak of double-digit scoring efforts is the longest in the CAA. It’s not Moore but Nathaniel Lester, who extended that run to 13 games by scoring 12 points while adding a team-high eight rebounds. It wasn’t quite the game Lester appeared headed for at halftime, when he had seven points and seven rebounds, but it was still a very sturdy effort by a player who is very quietly putting together a legitimate run at earning second- or third-team All-CAA honors. Lester ranks ninth in the CAA in scoring and is tied for 10th in rebounding, which makes him just one of two players to rank in the top 10 in both categories. This is the type of year everyone envisioned for Lester when he was the jewel of the freshman class of 2007-08, which makes it so bittersweet that he’s capping his career in fine fashion in the midst of what looks like a lost season for the Dutchmen.

5.) While the Dutchmen didn’t lose this one in agonizing fashion, it was still symbolic of their close-but-not-quite season. “In the first half we were right there,” Mo Cassara said in Brian Bohl’s postgame recap. “We just ran out of gas a little bit and their pressure wore us down.”

In other words, an earnest and tireless effort wasn’t enough to overcome the Dutchmen’s razor-thin margin for error. A team that needs a little bit of everything didn’t get it. While reserves Mejia, Shemiye McLendon and Moussa Kone combined for another solid game (12 points on 5-of-10 shooting), Dwan McMillan was just 1-of-8 shooting and the trio of Kone, David Imes and Stephen Nwaukoni combined for just seven rebounds.

The Dutchmen forced 17 turnovers, but committed 18. And the Dutchmen looked wiped in the second half, and while it didn’t help this was their second road game in three days and their third game in six-day span overall, the second half fade was a familiar one for a team that basically only has an eight-man rotation (though Matt Grogan saw some time in the waning moments). Again: This one didn’t sting nearly as badly as the other seven CAA losses, but it carried with it the “what ifs?” of every defeat other than the Jan. 2 loss to VCU. Unfortunately for the Dutchmen, it almost certainly won’t be the last time that happens in a season in which the line between contention and wearing the road uniforms on Friday in Richmond is a razor thin one.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. VCU, 1/23)

3: Nathaniel Lester

2: Mike Moore

1: David Imes

SEASON STANDINGS

Mike Moore 43

Nathaniel Lester 30

Dwan McMillan 17

David Imes 10

Shemiye McLendon 9

Stephen Nwaukoni 8

Stevie Mejia 5

Moussa Kone 2

Bryant Crowder 2

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Postgame Buffet: VCU 80, Hofstra 63 (Or: Never mind that noise you heard it’s just the HAVOC under your bed)

VCU's going to give the rest of the CAA nightmares all year long. (Also: Enjoy this, for when it is from an era in which the idea of Metallica uniting with Lou Reed sounded like parody instead of reality)

And on the second day of the year, everyone else in the CAA realized they were playing for second place.

VCU continued its sizzling post-Final Four run by routing the Flying Dutchmen, 80-73, at Hofstra Arena. While the margin of victory was plenty, it could have been much worse. In winning its eighth in a row, VCU dominated the Dutchmen with athleticism, depth and efficiency: The Rams played 13 players (not at once, though it seemed that way at times), had three players shoot 45 percent or better and had just 29 possessions in the second half, when it bled the clock and took advantage of the undermanned Dutchmen by pulling down eight offensive rebounds over the final 10 minutes.

“At the top—that’s the best team we’ve played,” Mo Cassara said. “They’re better, deeper, more athletic than Oregon State, Cleveland State or Iona. And I think the other piece of that is they’re playing very well right now. I told Shaka [Smart] after the game I saw them play on TV earlier in the season and they were a very different team than they are right now.”

Barring a stunning upset in Richmond, we’ll all be watching VCU on TV the first Monday night of March. Since the next game is a mere three hours away as a I type this (hooray for being back to work!) here’s a quick VCU postgame buffet.

1.) Had a certain someone else who led a CAA team to the Final Four over the last six seasons been coaching the Rams, VCU could have put up 100. But that’s what makes VCU so scary. While the Rams have the firepower to channel Loyola Marymount circa 1990, they compliment their gobs of talent with resourcefulness and by playing within an actual system. This is what happens when a coach follows up a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime Final Four run with actual substance. It will absolutely not take VCU five years to win another NCAA Tournament game.

(Who knew? It still feels so good to take shots at That Guy)

“[People] talk about VCU, how aggressive they are athletically, but they do a great job of sharing the ball,” Cassara said. “They do a great job of sharing the ball. They make that extra pass all the time. I thought we did a great job a handful of times—10, 20, even almost 30 seconds defensively—then one breakdown, they make an extra pass.”

2.) That said, the effectiveness of VCU’s “Havoc” style of ball can’t be understated. While it was encouraging to see the Dutchmen play so well against a high pressure team such as Iona, it didn’t take long Monday to realize the Rams’ athleticism and skill level was on an entirely different level. VCU’s relentless nature stunned the Dutchmen, who committed 21 turnovers—their most since Jan. 9, 2010 against Old Dominion.

Dwan McMillan, who played so well in the Dutchmen’s three-game winning streak, turned the ball over six times and fouled out. Five other Dutchmen had at least two turnovers apiece.

“One time on the bench I said ‘We’re just a little slow to every ball tonight,’” Cassara said. “And then about five minutes later I said ‘Either we’re really slow tonight or they’re just really, really fast.’ I think it’s a combination of those things. We need the ball to go into the basket to get a little confidence and every time we got it close, they just made a tough shot.”

“Coming in before the game, Coach [Patrick] Sellers drew up the game plan and he said that if we come into the postgame saying that we handled their pressure and we didn’t have as many turnovers as we had on this stat sheet right here, we would have won the game,” Mike Moore said. “That obviously wasn’t the case.”

3.) Cassara said Sunday the Dutchmen would be in trouble if Moore didn’t lead the CAA in scoring, and the Dutchmen got a glimpse at what life could be like if Moore was shut down. Limited by a groin injury he suffered against Iona and smothered by VCU, Moore scored just 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting.

While the Dutchmen had three other players in double figures, only Shemiye McLendon (13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point land, in 26 minutes) came close to becoming the big-time scorer the Dutchmen needed with Moore hampered. David Imes had 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting but missed much of the first half with foul trouble while Nathaniel Lester (10 points, nine rebounds) scored all his points with the game no longer in doubt in the second half.

“I thought Nat did a better job of being aggressive tonight, especially in the second half,” Cassara said. “We have to get more production from David and Nat and Shemiye and continue to share the ball. I thought a couple times mike really shared the ball well, he threw the ball ahead, he gave some other guys good shots and good looks. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get enough stops on the other end to cut the gap.”

4.) While looking for positives in a 17-point defeat trends dangerously close to the moral victory zone, there were some causes for encouragement in the Dutchmen’s performance. VCU ended any hopes of a Dutchmen comeback by opening the second half on a 6-0 run and expanded the lead to 20 with 15 minutes to play, but the Dutchmen closed the gap to 13 points four different times and avoided getting completely blown out of the building.

There were also several parts of a winning equation in place: In addition to the four players in double figures and Imes continuing his offensive resurgence, Stephen Nwaukoni pulled down eight rebounds in just 23 minutes. Despite a lack of size, the Dutchmen should be fine on the boards, especially as Nwaukoni (four fouls) and Moussa Kone (four points and four fouls in 11 minutes) become more efficient and experienced. And Stevie Mejia provided much-needed depth at point guard by scoring four points in 11 minutes in his return from the hamstring injury that was expected to sideline him well into January.

The Dutchmen also impressed Cassara with their effort and enthusiasm despite trailing by double digits for most of the final 22 minutes. “I told our guys in the locker room there’s some positives,” Cassara said. “I thought in the huddle all of our guys continued to battle. They continued to say the right thing. I think a month ago, we weren’t ready to face that kind of adversity.”

5.) The good news is that on most nights this season, the Dutchmen won’t need everything to fall into place just to have a chance to compete. The bad news is they are 0-2 heading into a two-game road trip to Delaware and UNC Wilmington, but they need a couple wins in a hurry because the schedule gets progressively rougher after this week: Northeastern, at Old Dominion, Drexel, at James Madison, at VCU, George Mason, at Northeastern.

This is where that James Madison loss in December hurts. It’s a lot easier to stay afloat in the CAA by winning every other game when you’re 1-1 instead of 0-2.

“That’s going to be one of those games in this league where [when] you have to play three games [in six days], it’s a lot less about them and a lot more about us,” Cassara said of tonight’s tilt. “We’ve got to come out with great energy and great effort and we’ve got to go find a way to win some games on the road.”

Fortunately for the Dutchmen, McMillan seemed to be in pre-Iona mode right after the game when he promised a better performance moving forward.

“They just brought more effort and energy tonight, something that we had for the last week-and-a-half, two weeks,” McMillan said. “But you won’t see that out of us anymore. We’re gonna step it up on Wednesday.”

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. VCU, 1/2)

3: Mike Moore

2: Shemiye McLendon

1: David Imes

SEASON STANDINGS

Mike Moore 31

Nathaniel Lester 15

Dwan McMillan 13

Shemiye McLendon 9

David Imes 8

Stevie Mejia 3

Stephen Nwaukoni 3

Bryant Crowder 2

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.