Dukes Bounce Back Against Hampton

JMU got off the schneid with a 74-67 win over Hampton at the Convo tonight. After 3 straight losses and about 2 weeks of miserable play, it was a result the Dukes desperately needed. Hampton made the NCAA tournament last year, but has regressed a bit this year. They are a team that JMU was expected to beat. The same could have been said for Northeastern and William & Mary though, so it’s nice that the Dukes came through. JMU now sits at 8-7 with a couple huge CAA contests set for later this week against VCU and Mason.

It’s Only One Game. Repeat. It’s Only One Game.

JMU didn’t shot well, make smart decisions, or do much of anything to encourage fans for the past 2 weeks. Tonight  the team showed signs of life. It reminded me of the team that played so well over Thanksgiving. Better ball movement, a more balanced attack, and increased intensity on both ends of the floor. There were let downs, but the Dukes bounced back and closed it out. AJ Davis scored 21. Humpty snapped out of his funk and added 15. Andre Semenov went 6-8 from the field on his way to 17 points. In his first career start, Enoch Hood struggled offensively, but pulled down a team high 8 boards. The kid is raw and a beanpole, but seems to love crashing the glass. And he’s good at it. It’s only one game against a struggling opponent, but at least we saw signs of life and evidence that this team still has some fight left in it.

Is Brady Getting Through to Davis?

Coach Brady has never been one to mince words. He’s repeatedly stated that AJ Davis has to play with more intensity, particularly on defense, if he wants to play. He’s even gone so far as to pull AJ from the starting lineup and bench him for long stretches of games. Despite the loss, I thought AJ played a little better against Northeastern. Tonight, he played like the talented game changer we all hoped he’d be. Brady must have liked what he saw, because   AJ played the full 40 minutes. Davis’ 3 point shooting woes continued, but rather than bombing away he went to the bucket. And while steals alone do not indicate good defense, he picked up 5 and was engaged on both ends of the court. Brady has taken a lot of criticism this season, and put his neck out there with the way he’s managed AJ. If tonight is any indication though, he might be making some headway. I certainly hope so.

The Road Ahead

We’d hoped that JMU would riding high after feasting on couple of the weaker CAA teams last week. Unfortunately, W&M and Northeastern had other things in mind. Now the Dukes need to get ready to play two of the stronger teams in the conference. Wednesday night they’ll head to Richmond to play VCU. The Rams looked to be the class of the conference before coming back down to earth with losses to an upstart Georgia State team and preseason favorite Drexel. The back-to-back losses probably have surely gotten their attention and anxious to right the ship. On Satureday, they welcome George Mason to the Convo. The Patriots have a new coach in Paul Hewitt, but there are just as deplorable as ever. Regrettably, they also are pretty good and currently sit atop the CAA standings. Lose these two and JMU’s chances of finishing in the top half of the league are probably gone. Win one or both though, and the Dukes entire season will change.