Pride basketball ready to roar

Hofstra men’s basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) but if its Nov. 17 performance at Connecticut, where the Pride nearly upset the nationally ranked Big East power, is any indication, head coach Tom Pecora’s squad may make those preseason prognostications seem way off come March. 

Hofstra led No. 12 UConn by nine with nine minutes left before the Huskies scored 31 of the game’s final 44 points for a 76-67 win. However the second-round NIT Tip-Off game at Gampel Pavilion may send a message to the CAA and the rest of the nation that the Pride will be a serious contender for an NCAA or National Invitational Tournament berth.

Pecora said the Pride being picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the 12-team CAA serves as extra motivation for his players to take their games to the next level. “Polls mean nothing, you go out and you play and you make your own history and make your own legacy,” Pecora said. “The term I use is ‘climb to glory’ and I said [to the team] let us play to a level where we are one of the best teams in this league and surprise some people, and I think we are capable of doing that.” 

The Pride are coming off a 21-win season that ended with a heartbreaking 52-51 loss to Old Dominion in the CAA tournament quarterfinals. Hofstra returns only five scholarship players but all received significant playing time last season, led by junior shooting guard Charles Jenkins, who averaged 19.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists a game. Jenkins earned the Haggerty Award, which is given to the top New York City-area college player. In addition to his on-court success, Pecora raved about the leadership role Jenkins has undertaken to try and bring the new players up to speed on what it takes to play Hofstra basketball.

“He is tremendous on and off the floor, in the locker room and when we travel,” Pecora said of Jenkins, who scored 25 points against UConn including 21 in the second half. “It is his team.”