Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Men's Basketball team will look to record its fifth 20-win season in the last six years when it hosts IUPUI in a College Basketball Invitational (CBI) opening round game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Hofstra enters the CBI with a 19-14 record on the year, including 10-2 in its last 12 games, with one of the losses a double-overtime defeat to Northeastern in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament last weekend. The Pride finished 21-11 last year, and also had three straight 20-win seasons from 2004-05 through 2006-07, when it participated in the Postseason NIT all three years.
Junior guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, NY), the CAA Player of the Year, enters the postseason ranked 21st in the nation in scoring at 20.6 points per game, including 24.8 points in the last 12 games. He has scored at least 20 in 11 of those 12 games and has scored in double figures in each of his last 24 contests. He also is one of only five players in the country currently averaging at least 20 points, four rebounds and three assists per game (20.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.8 apg).
As a team, Hofstra ranks in the top 20 in the nation in three different defensive categories, including eighth in blocks (6.4 bpg), eighth in three-point defense (29.1 pct.), and 18th in overall field goal defense (39.6 pct.). Junior forward Greg Washington (Centereach, NY) is 17th in the country in blocks (2.8 bpg) and already has single-season (92) and career (203) records at Hofstra for blocks. Freshman guard Chaz Williams (9.8 ppg) and freshman forward Halil Kanacevic (8.5 ppg) rank second and third on the Pride in scoring and were both named to the CAA All-Rookie team.
Hofstra last hosted postseason games in 2006, when it defeated Nebraska in the opening round of the Postseason NIT at Mack Sports Complex, and then fell to Old Dominion in the quarterfinals in front of a sellout crowd. The Pride also hosted America East Conference championship games in 2000 and 2001, defeating Delaware both times.
IUPUI (full name: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) plays in the Summit League and has been an NCAA Division institution since 1997. IUPUI was an NAIA school until 1993, when the Jaguars joined the NCAA Division II ranks, then moved up to Division I four years later and qualified for the 2003 NCAA Tournament as the Summit League champions, falling to Kentucky in the first round. The Jaguars recently sent guard George Hill to the NBA as a first-round pick in 2008, where he currently averages 12.1 points for the San Antonio Spurs, the same team that Hofstra alum Speedy Claxton earned an NBA ring with in 2003.
The Jaguars (24-10) have used the same starting five in all 34 games this season, with all five players averaging at least 30 minutes per game. The forward tandem of senior Robert Glenn (19.5 ppg) and sophomore Alex Young (18.4 ppg) is potent offensively, while junior point guard John Ashworth has better than a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio (160 assists, 71 turnovers). Junior swingman Leroy Nobles is also a capable scorer at 13.4 points per contest. The Jaguars are very efficient offensively, shooting 51.1 percent from the floor as a team (second in the nation behind Syracuse), including 39.2 percent from three-point territory, providing a good test for Hofstra's nationally ranked defense. Senior forward Jon Avery averages 8.1 points in 25 minutes off the bench, but the Jaguars won't go much deeper than those six players.
The Hofstra-IUPUI winner advances to the CBI quarterfinals on Monday against the winner of Wednesday's game between Princeton and Duquesne.
