HEMPSTEAD, NY — The Hofstra men’s basketball team dropped the “Pride” moniker Thursday night, when it held a “Throwback Thursday” honoring the many decades in which the school’s teams were nicknamed the Flying Dutchmen.
As far as UNCW coach C.B. McGrath is concerned, the Seahawks dropped their pride Thursday, as well.
The team temporarily known as the Flying Dutchmen dominated both ends of the floor Thursday night, when Hofstra shot a season-high 63 percent from the floor and stifled UNCW on the boards in a 96-76 win over the Seahawks in front of 1,952 at the Mack Sports Complex.
“I thought it was total lack of concentration, total lack of focus,” McGrath said. “You can call it what you want, but we didn’t show up tonight.”
The Seahawks (4-7 CAA, 7-16 overall) traded blows with the Pride (7-4 CAA, 14-9 overall) during the first 13 minutes, a stretch in which Jordan Talley scored eight of his team-high 21 points, before Hofstra took the lead for good with an 11-0 run to go up 36-25 with 4:39 left. Eli Pemberton scored four of his game-high 27 points in the spurt.
UNCW trailed 48-37 at intermission and closed within single digits just once in the second half, during which Hofstra shot 68 percent and drained six of seven 3-point attempts.
“Just couldn’t get stops,” McGrath said. “Anytime someone shoots 68 percent in a half against you, you don’t compete at all.”
The Seahawks’ struggles extended to the area that is usually their greatest strength. UNCW which entered Thursday leading the CAA in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage, was limited to just one offensive rebound in the first half and finished with a season-low eight offensive boards and six second-chance points, its fewest in a CAA game this year.
Overall, Hofstra enjoyed a 38-24 rebounding edge as its center, senior Rokas Gustys, got the better of UNCW junior Devontae Cacok, the nation’s leading rebounder. Gustys, who entered Thursday ranked seventh in the country in rebounding, collected 17 points and 16 rebounds. Cacok finished with nine points and eight boards — only the sixth time this season he’s recorded fewer than 10 rebounds.
“Definitely felt we weren’t crashing as much as we usually do,” Cacok said. “I don’t know what the reason was for that.”
As much as it pained him to admit it, McGrath had a good idea what the reason was Thursday.
“We just have to have more pride,” McGrath said, “If they don’t have more pride, more activity, more energy on the defensive end, it doesn’t really matter.”