By Nick Bond

In a recent post-game press conference, Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Pecora jokingly made a proclamation that he was going to- much in the same way Pat Riley had done with the phrase “threepeat” – trademark the phrase he used to describe his team’s style of play. If he thought that game, a Sybil-inspired performance at home against Towson, which saw Hofstra manage to drag itself out of a 12-point deficit to a three-point victory clinched on -of all things – a mid-range jump shot by Greg Washington, was bipolar basketball, only the good Lord can tell what he though about Saturday’s game on the road against the University of Delaware, a 69-59 win for the Pride.

26.5% shooting, including a dismal 1 for 10 from 3 point, put the team in a tremendous pickle, exacerbated by 6 turnovers in the half. Pretty obviously by the subpar team shooting percentage, every major contributor on the floor struggled to find their groove, as Captain Jenkins went 4-11 and swingman Cornelius Vines contributed another 5 misses to the team’s total. But much like the Towson game, there was magic still left in the bag for Pride.

In this case, it was from the bench, as the Pride reserves put 16 points of their 23 total on the board in the second stanza. The Pride was also riding high on splendid shooting, throwing down 61.5% on 16-26 shooting. For his part, Jenkins brought the hammer, putting up 17 points in the half. The Pride was also in near perfect form from the charity stripe, with Jenkins and classmate Nathaniel Lester were a combined 13-15 from the line.

The game was not without its issues, however, even outside of the poor start. The usual hallmarks of wins this season, hustle and strength points along with defensive rebounding, were lacking from the box score, as the Pride lost the rebounding battle by two and were outscored by the Blue Hens in the categories of second chance points and fast break points- despite pulling down one more offensive rebound than their opponents – and points in the paint.

Despite this lack of production in key stat areas, the team still looked solid, if a little all over the place, and were able to capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes, nearly doubling Delaware’s 7 points off of turnovers.

All in all, the game was not a great one for a Pride, and exposed some flaws that may prove troublesome for the team down the road, but at this point in the season, the Pride can only look forward, and hopefully the positive addition to the only statline that actually matters, the conference standings, will help the boys see the horizon a little bit clearer.