Deep Dive Thread for Hofstra

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The Pride are coached in their 5th season by NBA Champion Speedy Claxton. Hofstra has won this season over Penn, Pitt, and Syracuse as well as losing a close one to UCF. Hofstra comes into this game having won 7 straight and 11 of their last 12.

Hofstra is led in scoring assists and steals by 6-3 Cruz Davis, averaging 20/4/4.5. Davis has shot over 40% from 3, and 83% from the line. Davis has played over 95% of the minutes this season, which is 3rd in the country, and is an elite athlete that will play at the next level. Davis previously played for Pitino at Iona & St. John’s.

Davis is an elite athlete with plenty of moves, and Alabama will need to not let him get rolling. https://x.com/HofstraMBB/status/2031536270170620339?s=20

Their second leading scorer is also in the backcourt with 6-1 Preston Edmead. Edmead is averaging 16/3.5/4.5, while also shooting over 38% from deep. The last few games, Edmead has played 40 minutes and really gives you another elite guard in the backcourt to complement Cruz. Edmead takes fewer shots from the midrange than Cruz but really does just as good of a job getting to the line and converting.

Edmead does not need much room to get his shot off. https://x.com/CBSSportsCBB/status/2031513254569156776?s=20

Their big man is a solid 2-man rotation of 7-0 Silas Sunday and 6-10 Victory Onuetu. Both guys are averaging around 5 points and 7 rebounds. Sunday leads the team in blocks and is much more efficient inside the arc. Victory is top 10 in the country in offensive rebounding rate, but both Sunday and Onuetu are top 50 in both offensive and defensive rebounding rates.

Alabama will have to rebound physically and keep them off the offensive glass. https://x.com/HofstraMBB/status/2028985388933505215?s=20

One of their starting seniors is 6-5 German Plotnikov averaging just under 10 per game. German is another solid 3-point shooter shooting over 38% from deep. Plotnikov does a great job defending without fouling and not turning over the ball on offense.

You can’t leave Plotnikov open from deep. https://x.com/HofstraMBB/status/2031537226442588301?s=20

The last 2 guys in their main rotation are 6-7 Biggie Patterson and 6-8 Joshua DeCady. Patterson is 3rd on the team in scoring at just under 10 per game and is willing to let it fly from deep, but he is just under 30% on the year. Patterson is also a solid rebounder at his size sitting at 3rd on the team in boards. DeCady does a great job not turning over the basketball and rebounding the basketball.

While not quite as efficient from deep, Patterson is not afraid to let it fly. https://x.com/HofstraMBB/status/2030832919850238375?s=20

Hofstra is one of the slowest-paced teams in the entire country, but they do take a decent amount of 3s and shoot nearly 37% from deep. They are a solid offensive rebounding team. On defense, they do a great job keeping teams very inefficient by playing drop coverage, which helps them with the 3rd best 2pt percentage and 9th best effective FG percentage.

Alabama should be able to take advantage of a couple of things. Hofstra takes a ton of midrange shots themselves and also has a lot of shots get blocked per game. They also struggle to run teams off the 3pt line with the defense that plays, which may lead to some open shots from deep for Alabama. They do also play a fairly thin bench with a couple of guys expected to play the whole game, so Alabama should have the stamina and depth advantage.

My player to watch is Houston Mallette. Houston does such a good job playing within the flow of the offense and rebounding the basketball. Houston also is one of the seniors on this team, so I expect him to be energized for this one. Additionally, with how Houston sets ghost screens, it often can be tough to defend for teams that do not play Alabama very often, and I think Houston will have open shots that I expect him to convert.

Hofstra is a good team with an elite backcourt and some more size in the front court than you normally expect to see at the mid-major level. I do expect Hofstra to keep this a close game early, but I think that the depth, experience, and speed that Alabama plays with will ultimately be too much for Hofstra to handle.

Prediction: Alabama 88 - Hofstra 75

I broke down this game even further on my YouTube Channel. Subscribe for More Alabama Basketball Content. https://youtu.be/3K2iUSg0Ubg