BROOKLYN, NY– 11 days have passed since Aaron Estrada of the Hofstra men’s basketball team went down with an injury, and the Pride is still searching for a way to win without him after losing their third straight contest on Sunday evening to the University of Massachusetts at Barclays Center, 71-56.
There appeared to be some promise following a 24-point performance from Amar’e Marshall in the Pride’s loss at No. 4 Purdue University on Wednesday, but that promise looked broken against UMass, with Marshall only scoring four points while shooting a disappointing 1-10 from the field.
“He’s a redshirt freshman, so he’s going to have some up and down games,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “Last game, against Purdue, was up. Today, it was down. You try to have young guys be consistent with their play, but they’re just not at that young of an age. There are going to be highs and lows, ups and downs. You just got to hope there are more ups than downs.”
Not to place all the blame on Marshall – who has done his fair share of contributing this year by taking home three Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week awards to show for it. As for the main culprit behind the Pride’s third straight loss, Claxton faulted his team’s toughness.
“There was a lack of toughness in aspects of the gameplan,” Claxton said. “We knew we had to limit our turnovers to keep them out of transition. We knew we had to box out. We didn’t box out. So it was a combination of all those things. We knew that [UMass was going to be physical] going into the game. Tonight, they were the tougher team, and that’s why they won.”
Along with their toughness, Hofstra’s performance on offense was also lackluster, shooting just 34% from the field against UMass after averaging 45% this season.
Save for Darlinstone Dubar with 13, no other member of the Pride’s starting lineup had a double-digit scoring performance. Warren Williams, with 12, and Griffin Barrouk, with 11, each had double figures off the bench.
It was evident from the opening tip that Hofstra’s offense wasn’t as strong as it has been at earlier points this season. Although UMass wasn’t particularly sharp either in the opening 20 minutes, as the two sides entered the half tied at 30, they came out of the locker rooms with a burst of energy that eluded Hofstra.
The loss to UMass comes in what is the Pride’s eighth straight road game. In that stretch, they’re 3-5 and are now 6-5 so far this year.
“We kind of had an NBA schedule to start the year with a lot of travel and a lot of road games which is tough for these kids,” said Claxton. “I probably have to take the blame for that. But we talk about scheduling, and teams don’t want to play us, much less at home. So we got a lot of road games, and we just got to make the best of it.”
Hofstra will play one last road game against the University of South Florida on Monday, Dec.19, in Tampa, before finally returning home to the Mack. Until then, Claxton says there’s only one thing his team can do.
“We got some time to refine some things and get some guys healthy,” Claxton said. “So, hopefully, we can relax, take a deep breath and get our minds and our bodies right.”
Photo Courtesy of Alexis Freidman/Hofstra Chronicle
