Northeastern Drops the Dukes
JMU played an outstanding opening half against CAA favorite Northeastern tonight. The Dukes zone held the Huskies in check, limiting them to just 21 points on 8 of 21 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. On the other end of the floor, JMU shot very well. The Dukes were even effective from beyond the arc, knocking down 4 of 8 threes. It all added up to a 30-21 half-time lead. Unfortunately, NCAA rules mandate that basketball teams must play two halves to make a whole game. And the second half thing didn’t work out too well for the Dukes.
JMU shot poorly after the break. It might not have been Valpo-game bad, but it was pretty ugly. JMU missed shots from long range, from under the basket, and from everywhere in between. Thanks to some garbage buckets in the closing minutes, the final score was a seemingly close 65-59. It wasn’t really close though. Northeastern cruised home for a relatively comfortable win.
There’s really not much to say. JMU played a great first half against one of the CAA’s best teams. Then the Dukes got cold. Ice cold. And they got crushed on the boards, with the Huskies pulling down 21 more rebounds. Poor second half shooting plus poor rebounding doesn’t usually add up to a win. It certainly didn’t this evening.
JMU now finds itself at 9-7 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. The win moved Northeastern to 2-1 in the league and 10-5 overall. Winston Grays was a bright spot for JMU in the loss, leading the team with 15 points off the bench. Yohanny Dalembert reached double figures again, finishing with 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting. He’s not flashy, but he’s really learning how to position himself for easy baskets down low. In addition to the scoring of Grays and YoYo, there were plenty of reasons to be happy with the team in the first half. There was good ball movement, terrific zone defense, and effective shooting. The second half was miserable to the point that I don’t even feel like discussing it. They shot bad, abandoned the zone for some reason, and really got beat in all aspects of the game.
The Dukes have a chance to get back on track with a game at William & Mary on Saturday. If they play like the team we saw in the first half tonight, they could win. If that second half team shows up though…
I feel like there is a pattern…every time I get an update on my phone and am excited about the halftime score…we lose. If we are down by a few points at half then it seems like we have a fighting chance.
Good luck in Billsburg this weekend; will be interesting to see if the club can lose the Jekyll/Hyde act between halves and games…
Not sure what Coach Brady put in place to keep A. Nation in check behaviorally, but it seems effective at this point in the season.
I would’ve lost my over/under bet on whether A. Nation would still be on the team. I set it at the 3rd conference game — in October on this blog — and took the under. The fact that I am mildly surprised bothers me; I’m making a concerted effort to be less cynical this year.
What a kind report you wrote here. I don’t see our team in the same positive light.
Our rebounding is bad, our shooting kills are terrible, and there is little evidence of teamwork … it’s every man for himself.
I wonder where we rank when it comes to foul shooting percentages.
The women have won 1,000 games. How many have the men won?
The women’s team winning 1,000 games is quite an achievement and it’s something all JMU fans should be proud of. Since you asked, the men have won 700 games, which obviously is far fewer than the women. Of course the woman have been playing for 90+ years and the men since 1970. The woman also have 5 ties if you’re counting.
I’m not knocking the women’s program at all (it’s great), but comparing the all time win totals of the two programs is sort of pointless.
The basketball teams over tge time that Brady has been the coach seem inconsistent. Just when one thinks that things have gotten on track and there is a 20 win season then they drop back. And games at home where it seems they should come out and handily win, they lose. Just does not seem to be much consistency or much of a type of identity as to the type of teams Brady puts on the court. A couple of years ago when they made it yo the NCAAs that team seemed to really hustle and play hard even if they lost but that style seems to be gone. We just can’t seem to turn around the basketball team so that it is aconsistent winner. In this watered down CAA the chance to always be at the top for a school like JMU is there, I think. Nice that the women have won lots of games but there really is not a comparison to be made there other than one squad seems to have a formula for success within its sphere and the other has not. Different athletes playing different teams, it’s a different game,etc.ok hopefully the next game will turn it around. I did not see the “every man for himself ” style when I saw tge Dukes play Ohio State here in Columbus in late Nov. but tge shooting had certainly gotten worse since then. As always thanks for the blog and the opportunity it gives. For weighing in on JMU sports for those of us in parts of the country tat don’t get much Dukes news.
@jmuparent: according to the 14-15 media guide, JMU had 692 NCAA wins coming into this season. So 692 + 9 so far this year, so:
701
The first men’s season as an NCAA team was 1969-70. Through last night’s game, the Dukes are 701-602 for a winning % of 53.8%.
Definitely disappointing to lose a game when you have a double digit lead in the second half. The rebounding situation on the team is terrible, and I thought Brady waited to long to return to the zone after changing to man defense for a bit.
Brady should go back to the starting lineup he used early in the season.
Vodanovich doesn’t deserve to be a starter. The guy can’t score and he had one rebound last night. He isn’t particularly good at much else besides putting a body on somebody. Satkus can at least score some and he moves much better to the lane and can pass the ball.
Nation gets into foul trouble too much, and I like Grays as a scorer and rebounder as a guard.
No question in my mind that Dalembert is the team’s most consistent player. And I really like his toughness. When others seemed to give up in the game against Northeastern, he was still playing with attitude.