Hofstra serves notice to CAA with rout of Delaware

Jaquan Carlos (11) has rapidly matured into burgeoning floor general and one of biggest reasons behind Hofstra’s 5-1 start to CAA play. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Charleston’s nationally ranked, one-loss start to its season is grabbing the majority of eyes and headlines around the Colonial Athletic Association, but while the Cougars are the unquestioned league favorite at this time, that title is not being bestowed without a vocal objection from the north.

And if Hofstra — ironically eliminated at the hands of Charleston in last March's CAA tournament — has any say in the matter, it will be the Pride who poses the biggest threat to Pat Kelsey and the 22nd-ranked team in the nation.

Three days after a 20-point win over Monmouth that was earned in a sense, as Hofstra overcame an early 10-4 deficit that head coach Speedy Claxton was noticeably chagrined by before his team regained its bearings and gradually pulled away for a decisive victory, the Pride was a more dominant side Saturday against an undermanned Delaware team missing point guard Jameer Nelson, Jr., not once trailing the Blue Hens on the way to an 86-62 rout that marked Hofstra’s fourth straight win and fifth of six to open the CAA slate.

“Coming into the game, we knew (Delaware) was going to bring it, and we wanted to be ready,” Claxton would say following a convincing victory in which makes on six of its seven 3-point attempts propelled Hofstra to the finish line by a comfortable margin. “And we had to defend (our) home court, which we did. I’m proud of my guys.”

“We pretty much controlled this game from start to finish, and I think we started well and ended well, which I’m extremely proud of. If want to be a championship team, we have to play complete games like we did (Saturday). I had a pretty good feeling we were going to be ready to play, which we were.”

Hofstra’s scouting report usually begins with Aaron Estrada, and rightfully so. The reigning CAA Player of the Year posted an understated 17 points Saturday, with 16 more coming from Tyler Thomas. But much like the best teams of the Joe Mihalich era, whose backcourts of Justin Wright-Foreman, Eli Pemberton and Desure Buie defined the most recent level of success on Long Island, Thomas and Jaquan Carlos — the latter of whom is being brought along on a development plan strangely similar to that of Wright-Foreman in that he was sparingly used as a freshman before blossoming fully as a sophomore — are what makes the Pride so formidable to whomever stands in its way on any given night.

“Definitely just working on my game, being in the gym a lot,” Carlos said of the key to his evolution and maturation as Hofstra’s floor general, a role Buie filled so valiantly and masterfully over five years. “And I know that with a player like Aaron Estrada, everybody’s going to be focused on him and my offensive game will open up having a good player like that on my team, so a lot of open shots will come up for me.”

“He’s been great all year,” Claxton echoed with regard to Carlos, a player in whom his trust continues to amplify with each passing game. “He had a rough freshman year, but (when) he was a freshman, he probably didn’t understand that he had to wait his turn. He was patient, and he’s seeing it now. He’s a key contributor to our team. He’s our leader: Vocal leader, emotional leader. The sky’s the limit for this kid. I’m really proud of him.”

At 5-1 in CAA play with a pivotal stretch in the schedule where three of its next four games come away from the Mack Sports Complex, Hofstra is now clearly positioned as Charleston's primary competition. Such a title is already lofty in some circles, but within the walls of the locker room in Nassau County, by no means satisfactory.

“We’re definitely on our way, but we’ve got a lot more work to do,” an emphatic Carlos insisted. “We could be way better than where we are right now, and we’re gonna get there by the time the CAA playoffs come.”