The Hofstra University men’s basketball team won a thriller against UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) 66-63 on Saturday, Jan. 11. Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton was unable to coach on Saturday due to personal reasons, but assistant coach Mike DePaoli galvanized his group and won a tight contest against a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opponent to improve to 2-2 in the conference and 10-7 overall.
“This one was for Coach [Claxton], dealing with a personal thing,” DePaoli said. “It’s a testament to [Claxton’s] leadership that he wasn’t here today and we performed the way we did.”
Hofstra won a tight contest on the backs of Jean Aranguren offensively and Khalil Farmer defensively. Aranguren scored 17 points in the second half and finished with 20, also dishing out four assists. Farmer added 13 points offensively but played crucial defense against UNCW’s leading scorer Donovan Newby in the final minutes, who finished with 21 points.
“Jean Aranguren was terrific,” DePaoli said. “This guy sitting to my left, [Farmer], I can’t say enough good stuff about him. He played four minutes the other night, didn’t play the game before that, and comes out and has 13 points. When Newby got things going he went out and guarded him. I’m proud of our effort and everyone coming together, rallying around to get that win.”
The Pride’s defense has dominated all season long, but especially over the last two weeks. They held Northeastern to just 37 points, took Charleston, the defending conference champion to their limit and held the Seahawks to 63 points in a season in which they’ve scored over 80 points per game.
“We didn’t steal this one tonight, we earned this one tonight,” DePaoli said. “That’s a really good team we just played and we got a ton of respect for the job they do down there … The defense is the foundation of our program. Defense is what allows you to win games, and offense determines how much you win them by… good teams are led by coaches, great teams are player-led. What allows us to defend is these guys taking ownership of it. It’s getting to the point now where we don’t even need to say anything, and they’re holding each other accountable.”
DePaoli also credits the energy brought in both practice and games to their success.
“The energy at practice has been off the charts and we’ve lost four out of five, but if you come to our practice, you wouldn’t know that,” DePaoli said. “That’s a credit to Coach [Claxton], that’s a credit to these guys, but when they take it over that’s what brings the defense to life. These guys have really bought into making that our DNA.”
The Pride has had a rollercoaster season. They began the 2024-2025 campaign 6-3 but have cooled off since, going 4-4.
“I hope a lot,” DePaoli said when asked what a win like this could do to this team’s confidence going forward. “These guys should feel really good about themselves. We have shown resolve this year; you look at some games that went to overtime this year and we’ve had resolve, we’ve had good response. We lost a tough one the other night to Charleston; they’re a really good team, but we felt like we could’ve won the game.”
Hofstra will travel to Maryland later this week to compete against Towson University. The Pride will take on the Tigers on Thursday, Jan. 16. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
