{"id":7476,"date":"2015-01-08T21:49:40","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T02:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7476"},"modified":"2015-01-08T21:51:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T02:51:47","slug":"northeastern-drops-the-dukes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7476","title":{"rendered":"Northeastern Drops the Dukes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Matt<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. It wasn’t really close though. Northeastern cruised home for a relatively comfortable win.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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…<\/p>\n

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