The Hofstra University men’s basketball team lit up the scoresheet beating the University of Delaware 93-68 on Thursday, Jan. 23. Hofstra was riding a two-game skid heading into the match, but the much-needed victory improved their overall record to 11-9 and their Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) record to 3-4. The Blue Hens fell to 11-9 overall and 4-3 in the CAA.
“Tremendous job from the guys,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “The big focus was [playing] 40 minutes,” he said with a smile. “We did that and that’s why we won. We had a great first half and then we doubled down and added a good second half also.”
The Pride is coming off back-to-back games in which they went into halftime with leads, but lost the momentum in the second half. This team hasn’t played a full 40 minutes to the best of their abilities in over a month before this game against Delaware. Claxton had a message for his team after the two heartbreaking losses.
“[The message was] to keep playing, we’re close,” Claxton said. “In those two losses, we were up at halftime pretty big and we played the first 20 minutes. But then the second 20 minutes, I don’t know if we relaxed or [if] we got comfortable, but the emphasis was to play 40 minutes tonight. I told these guys, ‘Listen, we lost but we’re close, we were close.’ I think they saw that tonight and what we’re capable of when we play for 40 minutes.”
Heading into the game, Delaware led the CAA in scoring, averaging just over 83 points per game against conference opponents. Hofstra held them to just 68.
“It was the number one offense against the number one defense,” Claxton said. “They’re a very good team. They have some very good shooters and drivers. [Antwon] Portley, who was the scout for the game did a tremendous job, but it was the players. We gave them the gameplan and they followed it.”
Cruz Davis posted a season-high 28 points, while also adding 10 rebounds to secure his first career double-double. Davis kept his teammates involved as he added seven assists as well, just three shy of a triple-double.
“Everybody was being aggressive,” Davis said when speaking on what was working for the team’s offense.
German Plotnikov put together his best performance of the season, as he poured in 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Jean Aranguren added 13 points as well, while Khalil Farmer and Silas Sunday played huge roles off the bench, as they both had double-digit nights.
“Every time after a win the first thing I say is, ‘Let’s get on a roll, let’s get a streak going,’” Plotnikov said. “It feels good to win.”
Hofstra averaged just 58.8 points per game heading into the game, but they managed to dominate in the paint and score a season-high 93 points against a Division I opponent. The Pride outscored the Blue Hens 42-16 in the paint.
“We’re ground and pound,” Claxton said. “We got guys that are really good post players, and we definitely wanted to post these guys up and play to their strengths.”
Hofstra was back in action against Campbell University on Saturday, Jan. 25. The CAA is up for grabs, giving the Pride some leeway to hit their stride. Tipoff against Campbell was set for noon.
