Tag: Jamal Olasewere

Fun facts you should know about the NEC

This post may sound like I was smart enough to read the weekly notes from the NEC where Jamal Olasewere was named the co-player of the week. If that’s the case that’s fine because here are some fun tidbits that the conference office figured out the time to share and I thought were pretty awesome. Note: If you think you could’ve written this post it’s probably true. Read the full notes here.

Fun fact #1: This could be just the second time in conference history that the NEC has three 20-game winners. Wagner has 21 victories, LIU Brooklyn and Robert Morris each currently have 19 and seem good bets to get that final one. The last time this happened? 1995-96 when Marist, Mount St. Mary’s and Monmouth all cracked 20 wins. The NEC put two teams in the NIT that season along with an NCAA bid. It’s certainly possible that Wagner, LIU and RMU will all get postseason invitations of some sort (NCAA/NIT/CBI/CIT) when this season is over.

Fun fact #2: Wagner’s 21-4 record is the reverse of its 4-21 record just two years ago. That’s ridiculous. In the past 19 seasons Wagner has won 20 games two other times in 2002-03 (the school’s only NCAA appearance) and 2007-08.

Fun fact #3: Olasewere went 11-11 from the field to earn Battle of Brooklyn MVP honors. His 11-11 from the field tied Luke Apfeld of Vermont for the most made shots without a miss in a game this season. Note: Apfeld was also 1-1 from the free throw line and scored 24 points. Olasewere was just 9-12 from the line. Of course Olasewere also made his 11 shots against St. Francis (NY) whereas Apfeld was playing Towson.

Fun fact #4: Shane Gibson of Sacred Heart currently has the highest per game scoring average in conference play for all NEC players since 1998 at 25.9 points per game. I can only imagine that will probably go up in a shootout against LIU Brooklyn on Thursday, a game I’m excited to be attending. Gibson is using 28.7% of SHU’s possessions (72nd in the country) and has a 113.3 offensive rating (313, but 11th amongst players using at least 28% of their team’s possessions). He’s carrying that offense.

Fun opinion #1 (Technically not a fact): Kyle Vinales of Central Connecticut is the leading scorer amongst NEC freshman and probably the leader for the NEC’s Rookie of the Year award, but I’d take two players – St. Francis (NY)’s Jalen Cannon and Robert Morris’ Lucky Jones – over him.

Oh yeah, NYC NEC still lives as thanks to Wagner’s two wins over Mount St. Mary’s last week the three city schools are now 29-1 against NEC competition. The road gets a little tougher this week as St. Francis has to go to suddenly scorching Quinnipiac and LIU Brooklyn hosts the Bobcats on Saturday.

Jamal Olasewere and Julian Boyd lead LIU past St. Francis (NY)

Jamal Olasewere went a perfect 11-11 from the field and scored a career-high 32 points to take home MVP honors in LIU’s 81-78 win over St. Francis (NY) in the Battle of Brooklyn. It was teammate Julian Boyd who scored 20 points, grabbed 10 boards and hit the eventual game-winning shot. Here’s some video that I took of the shot from the stands with my Flip video camera.

“That’s a shot I practice every day in practice,” Boyd said. “I don’t know if coach likes it. But it’s something we do everyday, just a little turnaround jump shot. I thought it was going to come off on the left side of the rim. Thank God pushed it in. It was falling off and it went in. I was happy it did.”

LIU Brooklyn keeps control of NEC with win at MSG

The road to the NEC title still goes through Brooklyn, even if LIU and St. Francis (NY) played at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The Blackbirds took home an 86-77 win too maintain control of first place in the conference at 12-1.

“We knew coming in that St. Francis coming in had won nine of their last 11,” said Jamal Olasewere. “They’re definitely a team on a mission coming in trying to knock us off. So we definitely took that into consideration going into tonight’s game.”

The Terriers managed to make the game interesting. A run right before halftime left them down just one point at the break. Coming out of it Akeem Johnson, who scored a game-high 24 points, hit a layup to give SFC its only lead of the game. LIU then responded with a 16-5 run. St. Francis never got closer than five points after that moment.

St. Francis managed to launch 80 shots, but the Terriers shot just 37.5% from the field and 7-29 (24.1%) from beyond the arc. When St. Francis wasn’t grabbing offensive rebounds, which it did often with 20 for 28 second-chance points, the offense sputtered.

On the other end LIU used its typically aggressive offense to set the tone in the second half. Olasewere and C.J. Garner attacked the rim consistently and LIU shot 37 free throws in the game, including 31 in the second half alone. Olasewere finished with 21 points and 11 boards and Garner scored 19 points.

“The key with Jamal is just not fouling,” said LIU head coach Jim Ferry. “If he doesn’t foul he has the potential to be one of the best players in this league. He’s so versatile.”

The only LIU player that didn’t get very involved was Julian Boyd. The Blackbirds’ star player was hampered by foul trouble, but he still managed a 17-point, 11-board double-double in just 27 minutes of action. He was an efficient 5-9 from the field, but struggled at the line shooting 6-10.

That aggressive style of play is what makes Ferry’s team so tough at home and it’s looking more and more like the Blackbirds will be there throughout the NEC tournament. LIU has now defeated Wagner twice and St. Francis (NY) once, with the opportunity to get another victory over the Terriers on Sunday at the Wellness Center on Sunday in the Battle of Brooklyn. Ferry isn’t happy that these two games are so close together.

“It’s brutal, I don’t like it,” Ferry said about the NEC rivalry week schedule. “I don’t like that we have to play these rivalry games back-to-back. Ours is a true rivalry game, St. Francis and LIU. There’s so much emotion used up in these basketball games.”

Olasewere enjoys the format. “I think it’s exciting,” he said. “It’s more of a challenge. We’re able to show what we really are in situations like this.”

For St. Francis to pull the upset in that game the Terriers are going to have to shoot better from three than their effort on Wednesday. LIU started with Michael Culpo on Stefan Perunicic and he failed to get into the offensive flow of the game finishing with zero points on 0-4 shooting from the field. Ben Mockford scored 20 points, but it took him 22 shots to do so (including 3-11 from three) and Travis Nichols shot 3-11 (2-7 from three) and scored eight points. One of those perimeter players is going to have to step up on Sunday for the results to change.

“I think everyone in the league knows that we’re winning and that we should be close to the top of the league,” Johnson said. “They’re a great team and they played us well. Sunday we’re just trying to come back and hopefully we’ll play better. Hopefully we’ll remember our defensive principles and the outcome will be different.”

If the Terriers can’t pull the upset they could find themselves back at the Wellness Center again later this season, as they battle to reach their first ever NCAA tournament.

History Lesson: LIU Brooklyn vs. St. Francis (NY)

NEC rivalry week is here and the biggest set of games is right here in New York City. LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis (NY) will play two times in order to determine who will be in first place in the NEC at the end of the week. Monday during the day Nelson Castillo, who I’d definitely recommend following on Twitter, took a trip down memory lane to some of the most exciting recent games of this rivalry. Let’s take a look back at them.

Continue reading “History Lesson: LIU Brooklyn vs. St. Francis (NY)” →

LIU Brooklyn still in control of NEC after win at Wagner

For a year now LIU Brooklyn has been the class of the NEC. The Blackbirds haven’t lost a conference game, regular or post season, in over a 365 days with their 73-66 win over Wagner on Saturday at the Spiro Sports Center. LIU did it the same way its gotten most of its wins this season in conference play, by dominating in the paint and getting to the free throw line.

Continue reading “LIU Brooklyn still in control of NEC after win at Wagner” →

Two players honored with kPOY conference awards

Stats guru Ken Pomeroy started his own statistical award in an attempt to sort out all the noise surrounding the national Player of the Year debate. His new award is the kPOY and it was given to Jared Sullinger this morning. Two New York City players were honored as well. Iona’s Michael Glover won the conference kPOY award in the MAAC and Long Island’s Jamal Olasewere captured the NEC version.

I was a little surprised that Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins was unable to capture the award in the CAA. My guess is that the Pride’s lower standings in the team rankings hurt Jenkins enough that his advantage in Offensive Rating (123.5 vs. 114.0) and Usage Rate (28.4% vs. 23.7%) were offset by the fact that George Mason finished 28th and Hofstra finished 135th.