It’s March, the month when the country glorifies basketball and everyone tunes in to watch college hoops. It’s March, the month when that unfamiliar school in a small town upsets a top five team in the country. It’s March, the month stars emerge and carry programs to the pinnacle of the sport. It’s March, the best time for basketball, and the Hofstra University men’s basketball team – while they have an uphill battle – have a chance to do something special.
Hofstra is the No. 11 seed in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), the worst-seeded team that head coach Speedy Claxton has coached during his four-year tenure with the Pride. Claxton has been spoiled with three 20-win teams, and he’s never been lower than a No. 3 seed in the CAA Championship.
This team has experienced adversity all season, especially due to the large turnover of its roster. Of the key players from last season, they lost graduate student Tyler Thomas, one of the nation’s scoring leaders, Darlinstone Dubar and Jaquan Carlos to Syracuse University. Due to these losses, the Pride has struggled to score the ball.
On top of that, the team had trouble holding onto leads in the second half and have let games slip through their fingertips all season. While they’ve played elite defense all season, their offense hasn’t contributed their share. They’ve played great first halves against some of the conference’s best teams, so even though they can lose to anyone, they can certainly beat anyone.
Protecting second-half leads
Here’s a list of teams that Hofstra had a lead against at halftime or some point in the second half, but ultimately ended up losing the game:
College of Charleston: 31-27 at halftime
Towson University: 41-32 at halftime
Drexel University: 37-26 at halftime
Campbell University: 36-20 at halftime (lost in Overtime)
Stony Brook University: 60-52 with 6:52 to go in the second half
College of William & Mary: 34-33 at halftime
Monmouth University: 36-27 at halftime
Those are seven games where Hofstra was in the position to win but failed to do so. Even if the Pride won half of those games, they’re right around the No. 7 and No. 6 seed and receiving a first-round bye.
Hitting the open shots
Hofstra struggled offensively, only averaging 66.61 points per game in CAA play. They’re at their best when shooting at the rim at 63.4%, the right corner at 38.6%, from behind the arc on the left wing at 35.9% and at the top of the key at 34.3%.
If Jean Aranguren and Cruz Davis can get hot at the same time, it’s going to be hard to stop this team. They need big performances off the bench from guys like Eric Parnell, who’s surged onto the scene averaging 7.3 points per game over the last three games after not playing much all season.
German Plotnikov has made his presence felt on the defensive end, averaging almost one steal per game and 0.58 blocks per game. If Hofstra can get more offensive production from Plotnikov, they’ll be in better shape.
Get to the free-throw line
The Pride shot the second lowest number of free throws in the CAA this season with 451, and they only shot 72.3% as a team. Playoff games get tighter as teams try to limit their mistakes because every possession matters. Since Hofstra doesn’t score many points, getting to the line to steal an extra 10-15 points per game can be the difference between winning and losing.
Play Hofstra basketball
Hofstra’s identity this season when they finished non-conference play was elite defense. They smothered their opponents and turned defense into offense. In many first halves, they’ve played lockdown defense. They’ve taken an opposing team’s leading scorer out of the game multiple times this year and forced teams to beat them in other ways.
If Hofstra can lock up opposing scorers for a little longer and rely on their defense to create open looks for their offense, they can beat any team in this tournament. The Pride ranks first in team defense in the CAA, allowing only 65.19 points per game.
Even though Hofstra is 6-12 in conference play, they have a positive point margin of 1.42. To put that into perspective, Monmouth, the No. 6 seed, has a -5.48-point margin. If the Pride held onto some of those games, who knows where they could’ve ended up.
Game one of the CAA Championship for the Pride is on Friday, March 7, against the No. 14 seed, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. in Washington D.C.
