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The Opponent: Hofstra Pride (14 – 7, 5-3 CAA) Coach: Joe Mihalich


The Skinny: Despite dropping three of its last four games, Hofstra (14-7, 5-3) is having a strong season led by the high-scoring duo of junior forward Ameen Tanksley and junior guard Juan’ya Green.

4 of the Top 10 scorers in the CAA will be on display wednesday night, as Tanksley (3) and Green (4) go against Thornton (2) and Prewitt (10). Both teams start four double digit scorers (Take the Over).

The Series: Hofstra is 14-8 all-time against William & Mary, with all 22 meetings occurring since the Pride joined the CAA in 2001-02. The teams split the meetings over the last two seasons with each squad winning on its respective home court. Hofstra is 6-6 against William & Mary in Williamsburg.

Last week: The Pride split a pair of home games, rolling past Drexel (86-58), but losing to JMU (69-63).


The Players:

• 6’2” Junior G Juan’ya Green posted his 6th double-double (11pts/11ast) vs. DU and had a team-high 16 points vs. JMU. He’s tallied double digits in all 21 games and is 4th in the CAA in scoring (17.3 ppg) and 1st in assists (6.5 apg).

• 6’5” Junior F Ameen Tanksley had his 19-game double-digit scoring streak snapped last week. He’s still 3rd in the CAA in scoring (17.8 ppg), 8th in rebounds (6.0 rpg), 3rd in FG% (49%) and 1st in 3-pt FG% (47.9%).

• 6’8” Senior C Moussa Kone had his first double-double (13pts/11reb) of the season vs. JMU. He’s averaging 11.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 2.0 bpg over his last four games.

• 6’2” Soph. G Brian Bernardi hit 6-of-10 threes and scored a team-high 23 points vs. Drexel. It was his fourth 20-point effort of the season. He’s second in the CAA with 64 treys and is shooting 45.1% from beyond the arc. He averages 12.2 ppg.

• 6’1” graduate G Dion Nesmith also scores in double figures with 10.2 points per game off the bench.

• 6’6” Junior F Malik Nichols recorded his third double-double (10pts/10 reb) of the season against Drexel.


Pride Notes:

Hofstra’s Juan’ya Green and William & Mary senior guard Marcus Thornton are two of 40 players named to the mid-season watch list for the Lou Henson Award, which is presented to the Division I Mid-Major Player of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.


Green is very proficient at drawing fouls. He has made 134 free throws this season, which is the second-most of any player in Division I. BYU’s Tyler Haws leads the nation with 138. Green also ranks fourth in free throws attempted (161). He’s shooting an impressive 83.2% from the charity stripe.


Hofstra is tied for the second-most road wins (7-4) in Division I through games of Jan. 25. The Pride trails only Murray State, who is 8-1 away from home.

Hofstra is 10th (9.3 pg) and William & Mary is 20th (8.8 pg) in 3-pointers made per game, while the Tribe is 11th (40.7%) and the Pride is 33rd (38.7%) in 3-point FG percentage. Hofstra is also 17th in scoring offense (78.7 ppg). W&M is at 73.1.


Two of the eight players nationally to notch a triple-double this season will meet Wednesday night, as Green had his for Hofstra against LIU Brooklyn on December 28 (15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) while Terry Tarpey had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against James Madison on January 10.


Tribe Disa & Data:

• Omar Prewitt averaged 24.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg last week, including a career-high 30 points at UD where hit 6-of-9 from three. He also had a team-high 19 points vs. NU and has 7 double-digit efforts in the last 10 games

• Marcus Thornton added 15 points at UD and 13 vs. NU, and set the W&M record for career treys (281). He has reached double figures in 25 consecutive contests and has topped the 20-point mark seven times.

• Terry Tarpey averaged 13.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 4.5 apg last week, including his 5th double-double (12pts/10reb) at UD. He’s 2nd in the CAA in rebounds (8.3 rpg), 4th in assists (3.8 apg) and 5th in steals (1.4 spg).

• W&M shot 52.7% vs. NU and has made 45% or better in 7 of its 8 CAA games. The Tribe has shot 50% or better from the field 10 times this season.


The Broadcast: Countdown to Tipoff begins at 6:30 PM along the network and http://www.tribeathletics.com . Live streaming is also on http://www.tribeathletics.com . Be sure to tune in for Tony's pregame thoughts, then get your butts into the stands to make some noise!

Final Thoughts: This has all the makings of an old fashioned shootout. The two teams are 1-2 in scoring and in 3 point percentage made (both teams make about 9 per game). The team that can put some solid defense together for a sustained period of time, is definitely in the driver's seat. The Tribe will have to win the battle of the boards and hope to have another one of those 50% shooting nights to pick up the victory between to evenly matched squads.

Go Tribe!!


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I'm sorry the Hofstra thread I started wasn't good enough for you.

"I always like a fresh bowl."

This has all the makings of a disappointment in the pregame. We often have trouble with teams that have offensive balance, and missing Sheldon is going to hurt. We may have to just turn on the offense and hope to outscore them.

Lots of pressure on Whitman and Schalk...Sheldon has really upped his game.

Here's hoping our taller guards give their's problems with shooting and distributing the ball and we can bottle up Green without fouling him. A repeat of the steals/deflections by the point of the zone we saw against NE would be great.

Schalk and Whitman are in a battle for playing time and this would be the prime time for them to step up their game to make their case.

Let's get after them on defense (GATA) and things will work out.