The Hens come into the DAC after drubbing W&M. Their leader Jameer Nelson Jr returned after a 4 game absence and made his presence known early and often. He is always a handful. Their other player is Jyare Davis. He had an excellent rookie season last year and has been really solid this season. This game is going to come down to who has the energy. If Delaware is missing either player they are a totally different team, and their ball movement dictates their success. When they are passing well and moving, this will be an uphill battle. If they get a little stagnant on offense, it opens the door for us. We will have to shoot decently to win this one.

Homecoming game. Bigger crowd. Rivalry game. This is a big one for several reasons. If we have a desire to hang around and compete for the 4th seed we are going to have to win games against teams that are not bottom-feeders. This is sort of one of those. Can we step up in a big game or do we come out flat and have to chase from behind? Drexel is 7-2 at home, Delaware is 4-6 on the road. Delaware is at 189 in the NET so they are a Q4 game at home currently. That is good news because we are 1-6 against Q1-3 and 9-2 against Q4. A win here would put us 3 games up on Delaware and nearly eliminate them from top 4 contention. A loss for us will make our own hill pretty steep for the 4th seed.

My gut says we press too hard early and make a ton of mistakes that lead to easy Delaware points and we end up chasing all game. I think our defense is still shaky and their ball movement is going to give us all kinds of fits.

UD- 79
DU- 71

A pivotal game for all the reasons eloquently described above.

Today on the road, I doubt Delaware shoots as well as it did against William & Mary (56.1 % FG) in the Nelson comeback game, but if the defense makes the trip (9 steals, 7 blocks vs. Tribe), it could be one that UD makes close late. Amari Williams will have other plans, as IDK if Delaware has an ideal answer for him inside.

Blue Hens completed a real attitude adjustment after getting crushed on the glass at Northeastern following their usual beating at Hofstra. An eye on rebounding continues today.

Expecting a real good atmosphere in the DAC on hoco. Biggest sporting event in Philly - looking forward to seeing the place.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=425149 will have statistics. It is on NBC Sports Philadelphia. KenPom expects you to win 69-64, so that's 15 fewer points for Delaware than dan10 predicted.

It looks like you won't be caught by Northeastern today because they trail 42-26 at halftime hosting Charleston. Charleston outscored their opponents by 33 in the last two halves. Northeastern has a hard schedule. Half of their ten games after today are Hofstra twice and at Charleston, UNCW, and Towson.

Wow, what a game. Big defensive stands in OT capped off by Amari's block when the Dragons were still only up 1. Every win over Delaware is a good win.

You won 77-74. Delaware scored 1 point in overtime, which was with 4:43 left. The CAA had one team lose by 3 because they did not score in the last 4:43, and North Carolina A&T won by 4 because they made their last 11 field goals.

I think it's time for Okros to not play more than 10 minutes a game and give others more minutes. He is a liability offensively.

Okros was 13/22 from 3 in the 5 games prior to this. His role off the bench is fine.

Great end of game. Jameer Jr basically willed Delaware into OT. And then Amari was just phenomenal in OT. Nice win.

Probably the most exciting game that I missed at the DAC in my many years of coming to games. I did get to watch the ending and OT on TV. Sadly the crowd mics weren't working so it was tough to get a sense of what the atmosphere was like.

Regarding the end of the game. I never understood why teams always force the game into the hands of the best player in the court and that guy still forces himself to make the big shot with like 3 defenders on him. You could tell that JN Jr had no shot to tie the game at the end the way he was defended. Sometimes you have to trust an open teammate.

(01-21-2023 07:42 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Regarding the end of the game. I never understood why teams always force the game into the hands of the best player in the court and that guy still forces himself to make the big shot with like 3 defenders on him. You could tell that JN Jr had no shot to tie the game at the end the way he was defended. Sometimes you have to trust an open teammate.

That reminds me of Daniel Dixon's three-pointer at the buzzer while down 2 in double overtime to beat Hofstra in the 2015 CAA Quarterfinals. William & Mary's Marcus Thornton won Player of the Year, Hofstra guarded him, and he passed to Dixon.

Of Charleston's remaining nine games, KenPom thinks their hardest game is at you.

(01-22-2023 10:53 AM)EvanJ Wrote:  

(01-21-2023 07:42 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Regarding the end of the game. I never understood why teams always force the game into the hands of the best player in the court and that guy still forces himself to make the big shot with like 3 defenders on him. You could tell that JN Jr had no shot to tie the game at the end the way he was defended. Sometimes you have to trust an open teammate.

That reminds me of Daniel Dixon's three-pointer at the buzzer while down 2 in double overtime to beat Hofstra in the 2015 CAA Quarterfinals. William & Mary's Marcus Thornton won Player of the Year, Hofstra guarded him, and he passed to Dixon.

Of Charleston's remaining nine games, KenPom thinks their hardest game is at you.

I am excited for a chance of having two teams in the tourney if Charleson loses

(01-22-2023 10:53 AM)EvanJ Wrote:  Of Charleston's remaining nine games, KenPom thinks their hardest game is at you.

Seems accurate. Charleston gets Hofstra, Towson and UNCW at home.

I am really excited for that game. Turnout *should* be decent.

The 2nd half and overtime were nothing to write home about as far as quality of basketball. However, HUGE win. To be able to finish the job against a team like Delaware is awesome. Big crowd. Homecoming. Great to send everyone home with that win. That type of win and energy at the DAC is what can bring those students back to future games. Absolutely critical to win that one in front of that crowd.

There were spurts late where it was maddening that we knew Nelson Jr and Davis were their only options and they still continue scoring. Amari did his part to ensure our victory when buckets were at a premium for the dragons. Hopefully we can build off of this as a team and keep focused going forward. Hopefully this results keeps the student section filled going forward this season (as long as results dont start slipping)

On the note about the lack of crowd noise, I sure do hope we get that fixed. It makes no sense if it was purposely done. For the few folks tuning in on FLO they deserve to hear a loud DAC when it happens.

(01-23-2023 01:02 PM)dan10 Wrote:  On the note about the lack of crowd noise, I sure do hope we get that fixed. It makes no sense if it was purposely done. For the few folks tuning in on FLO they deserve to hear a loud DAC when it happens.

And Saturday's game was televised and probably had a pretty large audience, including many fans from down south (Delaware that is). I'm sure it wasn't a good look Drexel and their broadcast.