The Dre Smith Show

Friday night it was Dre Smith's world and James Madison was just livin' in it. Dre made his first 7 three-pointers on his way to a career night with 26 points. The only three-pointer he missed came in the last 10 seconds as he shot a 30-footer while the Patriots were running the clock out not realizing the shot clock was about to expire before the game clock. No matter, Dre still was able to almost set a CAA tournament record for three-point shooting percentage. This is the Dre Smith we got a glimpse of earlier in the season against Florida International and at ODU. Smith was expected to step right in out of JUCO and be a contributer; for the most part he was but these were high expectations for someone who never previously played DI ball. I still think the best is yet to come from this kid, stay tuned.

Mason as a team shot 10 for 19 from the three-point line, a consistent perimeter shooting night that we have not seen from the Patriots much this season. Without the solid guard play the Patriots could have been in trouble late in this game as Will Thomas and Darryl Monroe got off to slow starts. Birdsong was able to pick up the slack in the low post during the second half and was pretty much able to do whatever he wanted when he got the ball during the second half scoring 11 and pulling down 7 rebounds. Folarin Campbell and Jordan Carter had off nights in term of point production but showed off their play making skills having a combined 13 out of the Patriots 22 assists.

Speaking of assists, the Patriots had 22 assists on their 25 field goals, that is very rare and very impressive. Most division I teams don't get assists on half of their made field goals; this stat shows how well the team was sharing the ball and making unselfish plays. Folarin Campbell was an example of this last night as he had almost 5 more assists than his season average. Throughout the season Campbell had been notorious for making some bad 2nd half decisions when the team was down as he tried to do everything by himself often alienating other teammates. In this game when the game was close after halftime he distributed the ball well and got his other teammates involved instead of forcing up a three-pointer off a double team.

Next up the Patriots face #3 seed Hofstra tonight at 8:30pm, a team they haven't beaten in awhile. Last years CAA tournament game against Hofsta was marred by Tony Skinn's antics but this year the Patriots should be looking for some redemption against a team that has had their way with them recently. The Patriots will need strong defensive play from their guards tonight in order to keep up with Hofstra. Hofstra does not have a strong inside presence and during there last meeting the Patriots were not able to take advantage of that as Will Thomas was shut down for the most of that game. Larranaga is gonna have to find a way to get him involved early to prevent Hofstra's guards from controlling the game. After a season of ups and downs this a chance for the Patriots to seek revenge on the top CAA teams and we shall see if they are up to the challenge.