A Tough Loss

Saturday night's loss to Hofstra was one of the hardest, but best losses of the season. First off, I would like to thank all the students who showed up to the game (and some friends at the Wesley Foundation for working concessions). 2,200 students tickets were given out and a total of 5,023 people showed up for the game. From 'Dukie', a JMU alum, on the CAAZone boards:

I wish you students could know how much impact you have on the enjoyment of a game and on creating a home court environment. When you folks show up and get into it, it makes driving all that way worth the trip. Even though JMU lost last night, we all have to admit we were entertained for 40 minutes. The Dukes played well enough to win and Hofstra had a good shooting night. I was impressed with how Hofstra handled the pressure of the road crowd.

This team has five more home games. As good as things were last night, they can get even better. When I was a student, I can remember having to sit in the 300 level for some games and in the bleacher aisle for others. There was a good student crowd last night but there was room for more. You also can get even louder especially in the first half.

For those of you who were behind the Hofstra basket in the first half, you are suppose to wave your arms and yell when the opposing team is shooting free throws. Your fellow students on the other side of the court did a very nice job of this in the second half.

All of the remaining home games are extremely important. We all witnessed last night the difference 2 or 3 points can make in league games. I believe the home crowd can make that kind of difference or more. Please do not give up on this team. They need you! Years from now, you can say "I remember when JMU basketball turned the corner" and you can say you were part of it!

Hope to see the student section filled to capacity at ODU. Everyone is to bring no less than three friends with them to the game. Peer pressure is a beautiful thing and in this case, won't be the type of peer pressure your parents said you should ignore.

I hope this illustrates how important the students are. If the students get into it, then the older crowd gets into it and the place gets back to the times of the Electric Zoo...the students must be the catalyst though.

The game turned out to be what was predicted...unpredictable. Neither team had a lead over 8 and it came down to the very end in what was a very exciting game, despite the heartbreaking conclusion. The Hofstra team that showed up in the first half was a team that JMU could beat. They shot 39% in the opening period, letting JMU keep it's lead of 34-30 by hitting 14 of 19 FT's. Unfortunately for JMU, whose FG% was only 36% for the game (20% from 3pt range), the Hostra team that beat Northeastern showed up in second half. Our visitors from the north shot a solid 54%, allowing them to creep their way back up. As the clock ticked down to :13, Andrey Semenov missed a layup, but Juwann James got the rebound and put it back up, getting fouled on the shot, getting his chance at 2 FT's. “I feel like I want to be in that position,” James said. “A chance to win the game. Just like any other of my teammates, I think they would love to be in that position too. That’s the time that as a senior, you know, you gotta step up and make those shots and I did it.” After making both shots, JMU was up 68-67, with Hofstra getting the ball back. Coach Brady kept our guys in man-to-man defense as they passed the ball in to Jenkins. Jenkins took the ball down the court, made some nice moves to get a decent look, and rolled it just over the rim and in, giving Hofstra the 1 point lead with 1.9 seconds left. Dazz took the ball and heaved it down the court. Unfortunately, Hofstra's Urbutis got a piece of it and Pierre had to rush his shot, which fell short of the basket and a W next to JMU in the scorebook. Juwann fell to the ground from mental and physical exhaustion after playing a superb performence for 25 minutes against a big team inside. He was definitely JMU's MVP of the game as he went 7-12 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line, coming through in the clutch in his biggest pitfall (of which he has taken great strides in improving). This drops us down to 13-7 (5-4), but it by no stretch of the imagination means we're out of the race for the CAA's top 4, just makes it a little more difficult. Everyone needs to show up and get loud for the Dukes again on Wednesday night so that we can complete a sweep against ODU this year!

DNR: Jenkins, Hofstra Beat Dukes || Box Score
Breeze: Crowd | Not Enough