Real Hofstra spectacular in CAA tourney opener

Jaquan Carlos facilitated a virtuoso effort for Hofstra in record-setting CAA tournament quarterfinal. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speedy Claxton had only one concession at the end of an historic performance, in relation to his Hofstra team’s only other effort against William & Mary prior to Sunday’s Colonial Athletic Association tournament quarterfinal.

In that one meeting on January 7, Hofstra won convincingly, defeating the Tribe by 13 points in Williamsburg. Still, there was something missing from the Pride’s overall composition, according to its second-year head coach.

“Honestly at that time,” Claxton admitted, “we weren’t playing great. So they didn’t see the real Hofstra.”

Sunday’s rematch was far from an imposter.

Jumping on the accelerator with a 14-2 start that soon became 31-6 and 51-14 by the time the first half ended, Hofstra expended very little, if any, of its muscle en route to a 94-46 mastery of the Tribe that now goes down in the annals of CAA history as the largest margin of victory in a conference tournament game.

“I thought tonight, unfortunately for them, they saw the real Hofstra,” Claxton assessed. “We were clicking on all cylinders and it’s just a credit to our guys. They’re totally locked in both sides of the basketball, playing good ball in March.”

“I thought we came out with the right mindset and we put them away, right from the start. That’s what we wanted to do, get off to a good start and just keep it rolling. But I thought everybody that came in the game and played contributed really well.”

It was not just Aaron Estrada or Tyler Thomas, each of whom tallied 22 points. Jaquan Carlos chipped in for 15 points, and walk-on Aiden Best even had his moment in the sun down the stretch, converting a four-point play to fuel a team effort that left William & Mary head coach Dane Fischer at a loss for words when trying to defend the buzzsaw his team ran into.

“Someone asked me before the game, ‘what are the two keys to the game?’” Fischer recalled. “I said, ‘only two?’ There’s not a lot of holes in their game. They just seemed to have an answer for everything we did. What was probably most impressive was the way they defended. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively, and a lot of that had to do with the way they played. It’s hard to get loose against them.”

“They’re a very complete team because they’ve got guards that can play with just about anybody, they’ve got bigs that can defend and score on the blocks. I think they’re really good, and I think that they can make a run in March because they’ve got all the pieces you need to do that.”

Hofstra was almost machine-like Sunday, a cohesive unit that showed its maturation in year two under Claxton, something Carlos had predicted would be the case when the Pride entered the postseason.

“We definitely just let everybody know the energy and how we’re gonna come out and defend,” he said. “We had a great offensive game, but I think we were getting a lot of stops, so that sent a lot of messages. We’re gonna win games by defense.”

“Don’t play the scoreboard,” Claxton emphasized, citing the commitment to Hofstra playing complete and within itself as a team. “It’s about us continuing to do the right things offensively and defensively. Whenever we get out to a big lead at halftime, we try not to play the scoreboard. We want to continue to do the right things. It’s always about us.”

Claxton dismissed the notion that Hofstra was playing to erase the disappointment of last March, when the Pride fell victim to a hot-shooting Charleston team, stating the past was just that. But if this is the real Hofstra, early returns indicate the Pride is real, and it is spectacular.

“Last year’s last year,” Claxton reiterated. We’re not thinking about that, although when we got here, we got the same locker room and I’m like, ‘this is bad vibes.’ But new year, new us. It’s good to start off like this.”