Hofstra (17-8 SU, 15-9 ATS, 10-2 CAA) travels to Boston to take on Northeastern (8-14 SU, 9-13 ATS, 4-7 CAA) in a CAA battle on Wednesday night at 6pmET.
Last season, these teams played twice with Hofstra winning both but covering just once. In fact, the Huskies have covered three of the last four meetings.
Hofstra is now tied for first in the CAA with Charleston at 10-2. They own the tiebreaker over the Cougars, but in a one-bid league, it's all about winning the tournament. But you also have to avoid playing in the first couple of rounds by getting a top-four bid. The Pride are in a great position to do so after winning five straight games over UNCW, Elon, Charleston, Towson and Stony Brook on Saturday (79-58). They also have a very winnable schedule at the end with no Towson, UNCW or Charleston on their schedule in their last six games.
On Saturday, they dominated Stony Brook by 21 at home, giving 21.5. They were up by 12 at the half, showing no ill effects of a letdown after edging Towson by four on Thursday night in one of the best-played CAA games of the season. Guard Tyler Thomas, a Sacred Heart transfer, was sensational with 29 points and 11 rebounds on 13-of-17 shooting. To make the win more impressive, Hofs tra won without star guard Aaron Estrada, who was out with food poisoning.
“I thought it was a total team effort today,” head coach Speedy Claxton said on NYSportstoday.com. “Warren and German were great off the bench. J.C. (sophomore point guard Jaquan Carlos) was our floor general… Bryce was really good and Tyler Thomas, he just kept us in the game all game long. He put us on his back from start to finish, and we kind of rode him. We needed that because we were without Aaron. Everybody stepped up.
“We weren’t really looking at any one guy to take the place of Estrada. We knew that it was going to take a total team effort, which it did. I’m proud of every single guy that played today.”
Hofstra owns the most efficient offense in the CAA, averaging 48% (1st) from the floor and they are allowing just 42.1% (2nd) from the field. They also rank second in the leagu e in three-point shooting (36.9%) and third in three-point defense (32.1%). They have issues on the boards, ranking 11th in rebounding margin (-3.80) and 13th (last) in offensive rebounds per game with 7.16.
Estrada leads the team and the league with 21.6 points per game, adding 4.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.6 steals on 51.2% shooting (38.5% 3pt). Thomas, who won CAA Player of the Week, adds 15.6 points on 50% shooting (42.1% 3pt).
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