In just five days’ time, Hofstra men’s basketball will look to write the ultimate underdog story, when the Pride head to Brooklyn to take on college basketball royalty the University of Kentucky at the Barclays Center on Sunday as part of the 2016 Winter Hoops Festival.
The Wildcats, under head coach John Calipari, have been a perennial powerhouse for the last decade, winning a national championship in 2011 and churning out countless NBA prospects, including current NBA stars like John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis.
On paper, this contest may get ugly, quickly. It’s simply impossible to compare a dynasty like Kentucky with a mid-major like Hofstra. The Pride doesn’t typically play the level of competition that the Wildcats play on a game-by-game basis.
Even though it may seem as though Sunday’s outcome might be easy to predict, the game still has to be played, and if years of crazy college basketball action have proven, it’s that nothing is impossible.
Could lightning strike for the Pride this weekend? Sure, but a lot of things have to happen. The most important thing is that Hofstra has to have a huge day from beyond the three-point arc. Hofstra’s defense will be hard-pressed to stop studs like DeAaron Fox and Malik Monk from the Wildcats, so if Hofstra has any shot in this one, it’ll be in a shootout.
Another huge key that Hofstra would need in order to shock the college basketball world comes on the offensive glass, another essential ingredient to any college basketball upset. Fortunately for the Pride, Hofstra has the most prolific rebounder in the country, Rokas Gustys.
Gustys will have to control the glass on Sunday, while Kentucky doesn’t have a true star center like they have in the past. The problem is, even if Gustys is able to pull in rebounds, it may not matter if he’s unable to convert his shot attempts. Calipari’s staff will have undoubtedly noticed that Gustys is a poor free-throw shooter, and putting the Lithuanian big man at the line will neutralize his effectiveness on offense.
