By Kyle Kandetzki – Assistant Sports Editor This is “The Scouting Report”, an online feature from The Hofstra Chronicle where we go in-depth on the Pride’s upcoming opponent. Stats and insight will be provided to help Hofstra fans know what to expect with each coming matchup.
The Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team continues their stretch of four games in eight days with a chance at a 3-0 record in the CAA against the College of Charleston Cougars. Hofstra hasn’t had the prettiest victories to open conference play, but forcing fouls (vs. UNC-W) and strong inside play (vs. UDel) has provided them enough to win their games versus weaker opponents. The Cougars are no powerhouse team, but are a slight step up from Hofstra’s early competition.
THE BASIC INFORMATION: College of Charleston (AKA CofC) is a public university located in Charleston, South Carolina and hosts 10,000+ students. The Cougars play in the 5,000-seat TD Arena, and wear maroon, white, and gold on their jerseys.
HISTORY: The one-time DII national champions started DI play in 1991, and have since made four NCAA Tournaments, but none since 1999. Their one tourney victory game against 5th-seeded Maryland in 1997, while their highest seed was an 8 in 1999. In the National Invitational Tournament, the Cougars made the quarterfinals back in 2011.
LAST YEAR: CofC took 6th in the program’s first season in the CAA with a 6-10 conference record, and a 14-18 overall. The Cougars fell to a Marcus Thornton led William & Mary team in their first matchup of the CAA Tournament.
THIS YEAR: Charleston let go of Head Coach Doug Wojcik after just two seasons and have yet to show much of a turn around. The Cougars sit at 5-10 in 2014-15, and are winless at 0-2 in the CAA. Their non-conference slate featured several impressive teams that currently have RPI rankings of 100 or better, but CofC lost to all of them. Losses include West Virginia, Davidson, LSU, UConn, Texas A&M, and Miami. Certainly not a bad group of teams to fall to, though their closest loss was by eight points to defending champ Connecticut.
But with the losses, the resume of wins Charleston has taken hasn’t been quite impressive. Their best win was a one-point upset against former CAA team George Mason (112th in RPI), but beyond that, all of their victories come against teams considered in the bottom 50 teams in the nation: Furman, Campbell, South Carolina State, and a close win against bottom-dwelling Citadel.
CofC opened up conference play with an embarrassing 30-point loss to William & Mary where not a single player hit double figures. They followed that up with an 11-point loss to James Madison.
THE COACH: In his first year with Charleston is Earl Grant. Grant is 37 and comes from a role as an assistant with Clemson University. Prior to his four-year stint with Clemson, Grant was an assistant at Wichita State and Winthrop University. Charleston’s website lists Grant as a key contributor in recruiting current NBA player K.J. McDaniels to play for Clemson.
CURRENT ROSTER: The Cougars’ top three scorers also make up their three-man starting backcourt. Anchoring the squad is 6’3” sophomore guard Joe Chealey, who leads the team with just 10.9 PPG and 3.1 APG. His shooting isn’t extremely efficient, with a 38% mark from the field.
Joining Chealy is fellow sophomore Canyon Barry, who is 6’6”. Barry and Chealy are the only two to average double figures in points, with Barry putting up 10.6 PPG, while using his height to add 5.2 boards per game, and having similarly inconsistent field numbers at 36%. Barry was a member of the All-CAA Rookie team last year. Finally in this three-guard setup is 6’1” senior Anthony Stitt, who puts up 9.3 PPG, and 2.9 APG, and his field numbers drop even further to 33%.
Whereas the three don’t have stunning numbers, they are workhorses who all average 30+ minutes per game. In the team’s most recent game vs. James Madison, the trio had 25 of their 50 points, though on 10-of-35 shooting.
In the frontcourt, the sole forward to average over 20 minutes per game is 6’9” 250-pound senior Adjehi Baru. Baru adds 7.4 PPG, but on a much more selective 51% shooting. Baru’s stature has made him a clear rebounding force, leading the team with 6.3 per game, and is 8th in the program’s history in total boards. Baru is also noted for his play on the defensive end, grabbing an All-CAA Defensive Team selection in 2014.
Quickly thrust into a starting role has been 6’7” freshman Donovan Gilmore, who though has 18 MPG on his stat sheet, tends to eat up a majority of minutes (25 vs. JMU). Gilmore’s first season has been successful, with 7.4 PPG on an impressive 60% shooting. He is coming off of a 5-for-7 performance (12 pts, 7 rebs).
First off the bench is a duo of freshman, though not making gigantic contributions quite yet. Primary reserve guard Cameron Johnson plays 23 MPG, but only adds 5.3 PPG, and also does it a bit inconsistently on 36% shooting.
6’6” Freshman Evan Bailey is first off the bench at the forward position, and has a bit of expectations behind him. Bailey received the highest mark of CofC’s recruiting class, obtaining a grade of 70 from ESPN, but has yet to make a major impact, with just 17 points over the past seven games.
WEAKNESSES: Statistically, this team is extremely unimpressive, with no one turning in averages of 11+ PPG, equaling an offense that only averages 57.9 PPG, which is in the bottom 15 of all DI programs. Among individual performances, the Cougars have only seen one regulation performance all season that had a player hitting 20+ points. As a team, Charleston averages a 40% field goal mark, and have failed to reach 60 points eleven times (they’ve also scored 50 or fewer six times). In comparison, Hofstra has never scored under 60, with their worst offensive output being 64 points vs. NC State. Charleston’s numbers might be a bit deflated due to their somewhat strong schedule, but against poor teams, the performances aren’t exciting either. Against one of the lower teams in DI in The Citadel, Charleston was limited to 59 points in just a four-point win, shooting 17% from behind the arc.
On the defensive end, though having an All-CAA Defensive Team member, this team can’t make up for their offense on the other side of the court. The Cougars pull up in the middle of DI teams, allowing 65.5 PG. They kept UConn to 65 points and Texas A&M to 59, but also allowed 80 to Gardner-Webb and 90 to Charlotte.
Speaking for this team’s momentum: it is at an all-time low. They are in the middle of a six-game losing streak; with their last win being nearly a month ago to Campbell. In regulation games, Charleston hasn’t come within ten points in any of their losses, and hasn’t scored more than 50 points in their last four games.
THE MATCHUP: The Charleston Cougars don’t dwell quite as low as UDel, but simply lack many things that would be needed to beat Hofstra, even in a weaker state like they had been versus UNC-W. Hofstra’s two main guards (Juan’ya Green and Brian Bernardi) average 31.6 PPG…Charleston’s trio averages 30.8 PPG. Ameen Tanksley, who doubles as guard and forward, puts up 18.9 PPG by himself…the three most commonly appearing forwards don’t even put up that much (18.4 PPG). If all goes according to plan (or even in the ballpark of a plan), Hofstra will completely outgun Charleston offensively, and leave them no chance to win, even if the Pride defense isn’t at it’s best.
But then again, Coach Mihalich says himself, every road conference game is hard fought...
At the 5, Rokas Gustys and Moussa Kone turned in their best performance as a duo so far vs. Delaware, and showed that they could eliminate some worries of frontcourt problems. They did it against a completely undermanned Delaware 4 and 5 though, and this time will be facing a bigger defensive force in Baru. The guard matchup should be predictably shifted toward Hofstra, but it will be interesting to see how Gustys, Kone, and company can handle Baru’s size and rebounding prowess.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Hofstra had a bit of an easy non-conference slate, and a not-so-impressive duo of teams to start CAA play. This game can be seen as a last tune-up before their schedule heats up. Following CofC is Elon, who isn’t among the conference’s best, but they hold a 9-6 record so far, and have done well in their first CAA season. And right after Elon is their road matchup with Northeastern, the team picked to win the conference. A weaker performance against Charleston certainly wouldn’t be a good time for it, as the game @ Northeastern is among the biggest of the season, and a win there can shift who exactly is the favorite in the CAA.
Juan’ya Green continued his streak of scoring 14+ points in every game this season on Monday vs. UDel, an impressive streak of offensive prowess, and showing that he is a big contributor, regardless if he’s not shooting at his best. Having Green as a constant presence is what makes this team a contender; he never falls of the radar in his contributions to the team, and is always there in one way or another.
Gustys’ return has already been key, and should continue to be that way. Gustys’ 16 boards vs. UDel were immense, and his offensive rebounding ability is ridiculous. Rokas’ health and ability to control the game under the net could be the factor this team needs to push its way to a CAA title.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS Pride Green (17.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 6.3 APG) Bernardi (12.7 PPG, 3-for-6 on 3ptrs vs. UDel) Nichols (6.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, Last game: Only 4 rebs) Tanksley (18.9 PPG, 52% FG, 15 pts each in last 3 games) Kone (6.6 PPG on 63% FG)
Cougars Chealey (10.9 PPG, 38% FG) Barry (10.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 36% FG) Stitt (9.3 PPG, 33% FG) Gilmore (7.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG) Baru (7.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG)
NEXT UP: 1/10 @ Elon