Coombs-McDaniel makes presence felt early

Against William and Mary, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel played just seven minutes. Monday night, it only took 26 seconds for Coombs-McDaniel to get into the game and in the first half, he had already played 10 minutes.

"Hopefully everybody contributes, but I'm just trying to play my part - my role on the team," Coombs-McDaniel said. "If [Stanley Robinson] gets tired, [Jerome Dyson] or Gavin [Edwards] and when they come out, I don't want them to feel like they're losing anything out there."

Coombs-McDaniel finished the game with 15 minutes and his shooting from behind the arc was a big help for the Huskies against Colgate's 2-3 zone. Coombs-McDaniel hit three 3-pointers in the first half.

"They were playing in the 2-3 zone and that's where the open shot is at," Coombs-McDaniel said. "And they were shading over to Jerome's side so I got a lot of open shots and they just happen to go down tonight."

On his first offensive possession, Coombs-McDaniel took the ball to the hoop and drew a foul. But as soon as he made the second of his two free throws, Calhoun subbed Coombs-McDaniel out of the game for Jamaal Trice.

"[Calhoun] said I was walking to the basket; he said I wasn't going hard enough and he was right, it should have been an and-one play," Coombs-McDanel said.

For the freshman, Monday's game was just another stepping stone to improve upon.

"Jamal Coombs, if he can guard anybody will be a very valuable player off the bench for us," Calhoun said. "He doesn't even know a single play and he can't guard anybody, but he makes shots and that's a good thing."

"In my second college game, it was a live one on ESPNU, it felt good," Coombs-McDaniel said. "I'm just trying to get after it on defense."

Air Stanley

With 6:45 left to play in the game, Jerome Dyson took a loose ball and drove to the baseline. As the Raiders defense shifted to the right side of the floor, Dyson threw an off-balance lob to the hoop.

It wasn't on target, but then again it didn't need to be. Stanley Robinson cut across the lane and threw down the alley-oop that sent the crowd roaring.

"It's just timing, 'cause I'm long enough to get the ball off the rim and I just jump high enough," Robinson said. "It just happens. I don't know. I can't explain it. It's just a feeling I have to go out and get the basketball; to just catch it and dunk it. As long as I can get something like that going, I'm sure we can get something started on the court."

But the Dyson to Robinson connection isn't the only one the Huskies will see a lot of this season. In fact, Robinson expects he can connect on the alley-oop with any player on the team.

"Hopefully it'll be like this all season; we got to keep playing with each other like this," Robinson said. "I mean we're a very energetic team. We just have to keep it going."

Next up: Hofstra

With Monday's win, the Huskies advance to the NIT Season Tip-Off quarterfinals and will face off against Hofstra tonight at 7.

Hofstra beat Yale on Monday 68-63. Calhoun and the Huskies were in attendance at the game.

"They look pretty good," Coombs-McDaniel said. "They have some shooters, they like to run. We should get after it and we should get the win and try to get to New York, but it's gonna be a good game."

Hofstra's Nathaniel Lester finished the game with a game-high 19 points. Calhoun said Lester is definitely capable of being a Big East type of point guard.

Quote of the night:

"I feel great, he told me not to do it again; he was scared. I caught Jeff [Adrien] like that a few times last year." - Stanley Robinson on getting a put-back dunk over teammate Alex Oriakhi.