The Hofstra Pride and Elon Phoenix will play Thursday at the Schar Center in Elon, NC. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Pride are 11-point spread favorites and the game total is 140 points.
Hofstra, 13-8 SU and 11-9 ATS, beat UNC-Wilmington last Thursday. It's won five of its past six and is tied for second place in the Colonial Athletic Association. Elon, 2-18 SU and 8-10 ATS, was defeated by Towson on Saturday. It's lost ten straight and is still searching for its CAA win.
Hofstra and Elon split their two meetings last season. The Pride is 11-5 all-time against the Phoenix.
Hofstra is in the thick of the CAA race with an important game versus conference leader Charleston on Saturday. The Pride is paced by senior point guard Aaron Estrada, who is 21st nationally in scoring average (20.1 PPG) and a contender for conference POY. Other players to watch are senior guard Tyler Thomas, who contributes 14.3 points and shoots 41.5% from three, and sophomore guard Darlinstone Dubar, who adds 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Hofstra blew out the Seahawks in its latest match. While the teams were tied at halftime, the Pride outscored their opponent 40-16 in the second half, shooting 29-for-55 from the field (52.7%) with a +4 rebounding margin. They also won the turnover battle.
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We've now won 5?? out of 6??!
Margin of victory in those games…
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2??4?? –Let's roll the highlights from ANOTHER dominating win, this one a 70-46 victory over UNCW on Thursday!#PrideOfLI pic.twitter.com/d3w4vkchEb
— Hofstra Men's Basketball (@HofstraMBB) January 20, 2023
Hofstra scores 72.8 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor, including 35.5 percent from three-point range. They convert 74.5 percent of their free throws and average 30.0 rebounds with a -4.1 rebounding margin. The Pride is 99th in schedule-adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom.
Hofstra surrenders 68.4 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting, including 33.0 percent from distance. It's 141st in defensive efficiency and 115th in assist-per-turnover ratio (1.07).