HEMPSTEAD, N.Y — Sunday’s early afternoon tilt with the Temple Owls should have been another chance for the Hofstra Pride to test its mettle against another pretty good non-conference opponent. However, with two key starters ruled out before a scheduled noon tipoff, Hofstra’s offense never stood a chance.
Lacking its point guard and leading scorer, sophomore Cruz Davis (illness) and its fourth-leading scorer, junior guard Jaquan Sanders (knee tendonitis), the Pride (8-4) shot a season-worst 25 percent (14 for 56) from the floor while scoring a season low in a 60-42 loss at the David S. Mack Sports Complex.
The Owls (6-4) weren’t exactly lighting it up themselves while falling well below their top 70 season average of 80.9 point per game, but with very active hands and good interior defense that often kept Hofstra on the perimeter, they easily allowed a season-low point total (eclipsing their previous mark in a 69-61 win over Drexel on Nov. 12).
Temple shot just 31.3 percent (20 for 64) from the field and the Owls’ high scorer, Jamal Mashburn Jr., who had 12 points at halftime, went scoreless thereafter on five second-half shots while finishing 10 points below his team-leading average of 22.0 points per game.
Redshirt sophomore guard Quante Berry (10 points) was the only other Owl to score in double figures but that gave Temple more of those kinds of scorers than Hofstra, which was led by sophomore guard Jean Aranguren, who struggled his way to 16 points on 4-of-15 shooting while posting game-bests of 14 rebounds and five assists.
The Pride made one more 3-pointer than the Owls (5-4) but did so on 13 more attempts (29-16) from behind the arc, while missing 11 first-half straight 3s after making its first two, to jump out to a 6-0 lead after just over a minute.
A 15-2 answer put Temple in front, 15-8, before redshirt sophomore guard Eric Parnell ended his team’s 3-point drought, for his only points of the game, to bring Hofstra within 21-18.
Head coach Craig “Speedy” Claxton was forced to call his second timeout of the half after the Owls scored the next eight points to push their lead to 29-18. Mashburn Jr. scored the final four points of the half to send Temple to the visiting locker room with a 33-20 lead at halftime.
Hanging around for a moment, the Pride scored the first five of the second half as the Owls missed their first eight shots after intermission, but Claxton soon used another timeout after Hofstra gave those five points right back.
From there, Temple closed a 17-5 run to take a game-high 50-30 lead with 8:58 remaining as the Owls never led by fewer than 14 thereafter.
Although rebounding and second-chance points were about even in the second half, Temple built its comfortable early lead on the first-half strengths of a 31-17 rebounding advantage (including 12-5 on the offensive glass) and a 10-0 edge in second-chance points.
At full strength, Hofstra had already ridden some good defense to five solid non-conference wins (along with an offense-infused victory over Iona and a pair of expected routs over Division III foes) but the undermanned Pride didn’t have anywhere near the offense needed to get by this time.
“Defense wasn’t a problem,” Claxton noted. “In the first half, we gave up 12 offensive rebounds, which was an issue, but in the second half, we controlled that.”
Earlier, Claxton opened the postgame press conference saying, “When you’re down two starters, it’s going to be hard to beat an opponent like Temple. Today, we just didn’t make shots. There are going to be days like that and today was one of those days.”
If Hofstra had to miss multiple crucial pieces, this was the time, one game before the Pride’s longest layoff of the season, with its next game two weeks away, at Quinnipiac and head coach Tom Pecora, who was a former Hofstra for sixteen consecutive years (as an assistant for seven years and as a head coach for nine).
Claxton revealed of Davis, “He just has a little stomach bug. He had diarrhea and was throwing up pretty much all last night and this morning.
“It’s a big impact because we rely on him a lot. He’s our starting point guard. He makes plays for himself [and] for others, and he defends on the other end, so we definitely missed him today. But he’ll be back.”
On Sanders’ condition, Claxton said, “Jaquan had a little knee tendonitis. So, hopefully we’ll give him a little break these next two weeks and we’ll get him back after the holidays.”
Whereas Davis’ illness should clear up very soon, the Pride hopes Sanders’ knee soreness won’t linger after the Seton Hall transfer went scoreless on six total shots over his two prior games, playing only 14 minutes and 12 minutes, respectively, in those contests.
As if losing the production of two primary starters wasn’t enough, the effect that has on the roster down the line is also a lot to overcome.
In Hofstra’s case, that meant relying more than usual on replacements for Davis and Sanders — normal reserve guards, sophomore guard KiJan Robinson and redshirt sophomore guard Khalil Farmer — respectively.
Although he shot well in his prior two games and played significant minutes several times earlier this season, Robinson was still making his first career start, as was Farmer, who had seen only limited action this season.
Pressed into unexpected starting roles, Robinson scored just nine points on 3 of 14 shooting (including 2 for 8 from 3-point range) in 35 minutes while Farmer managed only two points on three shots in 26 minutes.
“You’re asking other guys to play bigger roles that they’re not used to playing,” Claxton explained. “You’re putting Kahlil [and] K.J. into the starting lineup and it affects the whole team because those guys are playing roles that they’re not used to playing. But we’ve just got to get healthy. I’m not worried. We’re fine. It just sucks that we had a great opportunity today but it happens. We’ve got to move forward.”
Adding further on Robinson and Farmer, Claxton said, “Both those guys didn’t learn they were going to be in the starting lineup until pretty much game time. It’s tough to… wrap your head around that. I just don’t know if they were ready for that. But Khalil and K.J. can get back into their normal roles and get back into the swing of things.”
With one final non-conference game to close the calendar year before starting conference play in the Colonial Athletic Association on the 25th anniversary of Hofstra’s home arena on Jan. 2, Claxton said, “I like where we’re at. We’ll continue to work over these next couple of weeks until we get to Quinnipiac.”
The post Shorthanded Hofstra No Match for Temple Defense appeared first on NY Sports Day.
