Following a year of adjustment from the low point of the Mo Cassara era to a talented yet thin roster, Joe Mihalich has a full plate this season at Hofstra, and the coach should reap the rewards sooner rather than later after the Pride released its nonconference schedule.
Hofstra will open the season on November 14 on its home court at the Mack Sports Complex against Jacksonville, with a trip to Raleigh to face North Carolina State on deck three days later.
November 21 will feature arguably the most hyped nonconference matchup in recent years in Hempstead, as the Pride will host Stony Brook in a revival of the rivalry between the two Long Island schools, which had notoriously avoided one another during the tenure of former Stony Brook athletic director Jack Hayes and Jim Fiore. The meeting with Steve Pikiell and the Seawolves will be Hofstra's first in six years, when Tom Pecora scored a 61-56 victory in the 22nd and most recent encounter between the two schools. Wagner comes to Nassau County two days later before the Pride travel to South Florida (November 25) and Jackson State (November 28) in the last contests of the season's initial month.
December opens for Hofstra on the 2nd of the month when Norfolk State comes into town, with journeys to Applachian State and Coppin State awaiting the Pride on December 7 and 10, respectively. A ten-day hiatus precedes Hofstra's final two non-league home affairs, which come against Columbia (December 20) and La Salle; (December 23) for whom Mihalich was an assistant coach for 17 years prior to becoming the head coach at Niagara, where he spent 15 seasons before replacing Cassara.
Hofstra makes its return to Brooklyn's Barclays Center on December 28 to square off against LIU Brooklyn before closing out 2014 and its non-CAA ledger on December 31 against Central Connecticut State in a return game from last year that will take place at the Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain.
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