Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Men's Basketball team heads to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship this week as the Pride will open play against Delaware in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The three-day, seven-team tournament will take place at the Richmond Coliseum beginning Saturday afternoon and conclude Monday night with the championship game. NBC Sports Network is televising both semifinals and the championship game (7 p.m. – Monday).
TV Availability for Quarterfinal Game
#7 Hofstra vs. #2 Delaware - 6:00 PM - Game #2
Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic PLUS (CSN-MA+) (LIVE)
WCAU – NBC (Philadelphia) Over-The-Air Digital Channel 10.2 (“COZI TV”, Comcast cable channel 248, Verizon channel 460) (LIVE)
Verizon FiOS1 Sports (Long Island, NY) (LIVE)
Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (CSN-BA) (LIVE)
Comcast SportsNet Houston (CSN-H) (LIVE)
All Hofstra games at the tournament will air on WRHU (88.7 FM) and be available through the PRIDE ZONE on GoHofstra.com and the WRHU app.
The link to the CAA Championship Page on CAASports.com will have links to live video, archived video, press conferences, live audio, live stats and a plethora of other information pertaining to the tournament.
Hofstra (7-24, 4-14 CAA) enters the tournament as the seven-seed and will take on second-seeded Delaware. The Blue Hens earned the number two seed with an 18-13 overall record and a 13-5 conference mark.
Hofstra and Delaware met twice during the regular season with the Blue Hens winning both meetings. The most recent encounter, in Hempstead on February 27, went down to the wire with Delaware escaping with a 57-56 victory.
The Pride has gotten quality play out of senior guard Stevie Mejia and sophomore forward/center Moussa Kone of late. Mejia has scored in double figures in nine of Hofstra's last ten games and is averaging 14 points per game over that stretch to see his season average move from 10.4 ppg to 11.9 ppg following his career-high tying 22-point outburst at Towson on Saturday.
Since taking over for the injured Stephen Nwaukoni (team-leading 7.9 rebounds per game/6.8 points per game), Kone has starred in his new role. The second-year player has set career-highs in points in each of Hofstra's last two games. He first scored 18 against Delaware on Wednesday before pouring in 20 points on 10-13 shooting from the field in the regular season finale against Towson. He also played major minutes in both games, playing 35 minutes in each contest. Mejia has played at least 30 minutes in each of the last eight games, including six games with at least 35 minutes. He played all 40 minutes against Old Dominion (2/24) and Delaware (2/27).
Senior forward David Imes will look to see his consistent play continue as he has chipped in with 7.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while leading the team with 28 blocked shots. Kone and Imes have been asked to pick up the slack on the rebounding end in the absence of Nwaukoni as Imes is Hofstra's top active rebounder and Kone is second with 4.3 caroms per game.
Mejia has been tremendous in several other areas as well, leading Hofstra in assists (126) and steals (61). He ranks first in the conference in steals and third in assists.
Sophomore guard Taran Buie will look to regain his shooting touch that has escaped him lately and with him a viable option offensively it will make the Pride a dangerous team in the CAA Championship. Buie leads Hofstra with 12.3 points per game, but has scored in double figures in just three of Hofstra's last seven games. He was held to three points in the regular season finale against the Tigers.
One of the Pride's biggest rivals, Hofstra and Delaware have met 75 times in a series that dates back to the 1954-55 campaign. Hofstra holds a 48-27 lead in the series, but the Blue Hens have won the last four meetings, including a 57-56 win on February 27. Prior to 2011-12, Hofstra had won six straight in the series. The first-ever meeting between the teams occurred in Newark and Hofstra was victorious by the score of 64-59.
Devon Saddler is Delaware's top offensive threat as he averages a team-best 20.2 points per game, while playing 37.7 minutes per game. He is not alone, though, as Saddler gets a ton of help from Jarvis Threatt and Jamelle Hagins. Threatt is second in scoring with 13.1 points per game, while leading the way with 91 assists. Hagins plays a role in everything the Blue Hens do as he averages a double-double with 11.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Hagins also has blocked a team-high 74 shots.
A win over the Blue Hens will give Hofstra its first CAA semifinal appearance since the 2011 tournament and its fourth overall since joining the league beginning in 2001-02.
