Seawolves Fans

One of the things about Charleston is that they really really get to the line (but not as much as Campbell). Towson held C of C to nine FT attempts, and after an 0-4 start, they seem like they're back on track.

Our Drexel loss suddenly doesn't seem all that bad. We've definitely got a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on – day to day, half to half.

We do have to be careful about other teams shooting against us. There's been a pattern over the last few weeks; we'll see if that continues against a Charleston team that has struggled in that department.

I’d love to know how many 10-point leads we’ve overcome in the Geno era, and then how many we’ve given up and lost.

UNCW’s a good team. The cream rose to the top though.

5 for 27 from three, 7 for 32 from two.

Sadly, it was announced recently that CJ Luster is going to redshirt at UNCW. We won't see him Saturday, at least on the floor. No idea if he's traveling with them.

Big (random) 12:30 tip today with Hofstra visiting Towson. Hofstra 3-0, Towson 0-3. Tigers making 28 percent of their threes. Hofstra 38 percent.

Minus 23 on the glass. That’s like a Michigan State/Kentucky kind of deficit. DeBrick played two minutes a few days ago; this time 11 and 10 in just 17 minutes.

We really need Shoshkikj as a secondary scorer. As Geno said in the postgame, he has to bring his floor up. Same with Goods on the glass; we can’t get just one board from him.

Nine enormous rebounds from Valentiny. We definitely look slim out there when the opposition trots out their size.

Great job on Walker. He’s had some big nights this year.

I wouldn’t say this was an especially inspiring night but a check in the win column.

Lastly, Oakes 🫡

WILLIAM & MARY (10-3, 1-0 CAA)
Last Game: William & Mary 84, Towson 70 on 12/29/25
Last Game vs SBU: William & Mary 83, Stony Brook 76 on 1/4/25; W&M 38-11 bench points; Luster game-high 22
Last 10: 8-2
Checkmate Guess the Line: William & Mary -11.5
NET Ranking: William & Mary 71, Stony Brook 241
KenPom Rating: William & Mary 115, Stony Brook 248
KenPom Prediction: William & Mary 84, Stony Brook 72
Watch: CBS Sports Network or https://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/
Listen: https://tideradio.com/
Notables
6-9/235 jr F Kilian Brockhoff 11.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.1 spg, 1.0 bpg, .469 FG%, .786 FT%
6-4/190 sr G Kyle Pulliam 11.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.3 spg, .507 FG%
6-4/180 jr G Reese Miller 11.2 ppg, .372 3-pt FG%, .821 FT%
6-7/205 jr F Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi 10.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 spg
6-5/205 sr G Chase Lowe 9.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.0 spg, .627 FG%, .769 FT%

2pm tip. Brace yourselves for this one.

Earl has really turned it around in Williamsburg. After abysmal 5-27, 13-20 and 10-23 seasons under still-unemployed Dane Fischer, the Tribe very well may be the team to beat in the CAA. They're certainly on the short list. Yesterday they absolutely worked Towson, rotating in guy after guy, seemingly all of them able to knock down shots (or at least be a threat offensively) and defend. Finn Lally, 12 minutes a night, three huge threes. Jhei-R Jones, transfer from Winona State, quick with the ball and a nuisance defensively for 94 feet. Jo'el Emanuel, a two-year starter and three-year contributor at FDU, doing a little bit of everything off the bench for W&M. They have seven guys who average nine points or more, from places like Winona, Blinn CC, STAC, Belmont Abbey, Trinidad State, etc. At no point in tomorrow's game will you be able to discern whether it's the starters or the bench on the floor. It's impressive.

And a tip of the cap to Lowe, who I thought would have graduated already, but he's the rare player who started as a freshman and stuck around for four years at a mid-major. 569 career shot attempts, only 12 from three. It just isn't his thing. His thing: Everything else. And it's great to see his FT numbers up after three years in the 60s.

The pace is unlike anything you'll see this year – KenPom has them fifth nationally in tempo and first in average possession length, more than a half second quicker than the second fastest team. One of their guys jacked up a long three in transition, nobody under the hoop, and I thought "oh man, bad shot" ... and the color commentator said "some coaches might say that wasn't a good shot but Coach Earl will get upset if you don't take it." And they will defend. Everybody switches, double teams, traps, anything to make you uncomfortable. It results in oftentimes rushed possessions, rushed shots, poor shots, etc.

I have to think the players love it. They play freely, they play together (note the nearly 20 assists per game), it's a good home court advantage too – they're 17-5 at home under Earl. The style and success are good selling points for current and prospective players.

We really wilted against Hampton. We had a 93 percent chance to win, up 10 with eight minutes left, and then got outscored 17-4, with only two free throws and a layup from Simmon on the ledger, and three turnovers in the final 30 seconds, two on just insanely dangerous crosscourt passes. William & Mary is going to really make us work, and make us pay for our mistakes (they're +6 per game in points off turnovers). We have to maintain our poise, value the basketball, get back in transition and in shooters' faces in general. I am skeptical. They're really good.

This is a tough, tough stretch in general: W&M, home to a competitive A&T team, at Drexel and then UNCW, Hofstra and Charleston all in a row. As Shaggy would say, zoinks.

Lastly, some news that even I would want Newsday to ignore entirely ... this is going to be my last post in this "position." With the new year on the way, I'm really going to make it a point to use my time a little more wisely, specifically with screen time and such. Too much time on the laptop, too much phone time, not enough productivity and definitely not enough exercise. So I'm going to take a step back. It was back on November 23, 2015, when I nervously wondered if the new guy could create a game thread. It became some semblance of the now longstanding format that January, and however many games later, here we are. It's time to get a little time back though. No need for any thanks. It's been my pleasure. I'll be around.

Go SB.

-30-

HAMPTON (6-7)
Last Game: Grambling State 81, Hampton 72 on 12/19/25
Last Game vs SBU: Hampton 81, Stony Brook 49 on 2/24/25; Hampton 28-6 points off turnovers; SBU -12 on the glass
Last 10: 5-5
Checkmate Guess the Line: Hampton -5.5
NET Ranking: Stony Brook 223, Hampton 268
KenPom Rating: Stony Brook 246, Hampton 253
KenPom Prediction: Hampton 72, Stony Brook 69
Watch: https://go.flosports.tv/partner/caa
Listen: N/A
Notables
6-4/180 sr G Michael Eley 11.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, .480 FG%
6-0/185 jr G Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt 11.4 ppg, 3.4 apg
6-7/190 sr F Xzavier Long 9.9 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 1.0 spg
6-7/190 so G Daniel Johnson 9.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.0 spg, .361 3-pt FG%
7-0/275 gr F Josh Ogundele 6.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.0 spg, .500 FG%

Considering many of us might have had our eyes on football on a Sunday afternoon, and anyone who did watch may have turned it off at halftime, it feels like we haven't been on the court in quite a while, hasn't it?

I'll give Hampton some flowers here. I really thought that they and A&T were disastrous additions to the CAA, but ever since Ivan Thomas took over last year, they've been all right. Last year, they played a million guys, including Goods #revengegame, really guarded and turned teams over. This year, it's about the same formula, and they figure to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the CAA.

For starters, I like the kid Eley, who's a bit of an old school player in that he lives in the mid-range. They run him around a ton of screens, and oftentimes he'll find himself with some room from 10-15 feet out. He plays really hard and can beat you in a few different ways. He's shooting his twos at over 57 percent, joining Ogundele and Long among those over 50 percent. Gorman's the lone healthy player for us in that category at 71 percent, but on much fewer attempts.

To go with him is Gaines-Wyatt. I can't say I'm that plugged into the high school/Catholic school scene on Long Island, and thus I'm surprised a few times a year when a LI kid (Wyandanch) pops up on one of these rosters. He was a dynamo at St. Anthony's, averaging 27 points a game, before going the prep school route and then spending two seasons to Alcorn State. He's their primary creator, and he'll typically eschew the outside shot in favor of putting it on the floor.

He and Eley are an interesting tandem. Hampton has a couple guys who come off the bench and are knockdown shooters, but their numbers from deep are pretty middling. Of their top eight scorers, only Johnson shoots it better than 35 percent from three, and as a team, they hover around 31 percent. I was going to get on Hampton for their shooting a little more, but we've not been great ourselves of late – just 12 for 48 in our last two games; granted, against two teams that were pretty good defensively.

I'm curious how we handle Ogundele, who's a more skilled Silas Sunday from my perspective. He was a good find, having averaged 7 and 4 at Tennessee State, this after stops at Iowa (3 seasons) and Middle Tennessee. He's not somebody you pound the ball into on the block, but we don't really have anybody who can combat his sheer width. Neither Goods nor Kojenets are physical enough. That said, he hasn't really overpowered anybody to this point (only three games in double figures), and on the other end, though, Goods is comfortable on the perimeter, and that's not an easy mark for Ogundele.

One area to watch: Rebounding
SBU: Lost the rebound battle in 9 of its last 10 games, including some really ugly ones
Hampton: Won or tied the rebound battle in 10 straight games. They've all been pretty close, and the competition hasn't been great either, so we'll see if we can compete here.

It'll be a tough turnaround to go from Hampton to the feverish pace we'll encounter in Williamsburg on Wednesday. A split would be terrific.