Preview: Hofstra returns to Pride den in NIT matchup against Cincinnati

The Hofstra men’s basketball team wasn’t supposed to be here. 

No, literally;  they weren’t supposed to have another game at the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex this season. But that’s the case on Saturday when the Pride gets to defend their home court one more time in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) against the No. 4 University of Cincinnati Bearcats. 

Hofstra advanced to the second round by upsetting top-seeded Rutgers University in overtime on Tuesday. Tyler Thomas led all scorers with 25 points in the contest, the biggest of which came with under 10 seconds remaining in the game when he drilled a step-back jumper from 15 feet out to ice the game for Hofstra. 

Although, without the efforts of Nelson Boachie-Yiadom, Thomas’ shot and Hofstra’s eventual victory wouldn’t have been possible. Just before the final buzzer sounded in the second half, the graduate center tipped in a rebound, tying the game and sending it into overtime. 

“Coach [Mike] DePaoli been telling me to rebound the whole year,” Boachie-Yiadom said following the win. “You know we’ve got some great shot creators; I’ve got shooters around me, so I know that they’re gonna take a lot of shots, and if it misses, I have to be there for a rebound to get some extra points.”

Cincinnati makes its way to Long Island following an 81-72 win over Virginia Tech on Wednesday. Graduate guard David DeJulius led all scorers with 21 points for the Bearcats, shooting 6-16 from the field. As a team, Cincinnati shot 46% from the field, knocking down 6-19 three-pointers while hitting 17 of their 20 attempts from the charity stripe. 

Cincinnati, led by head coach Wes Miller, finished fourth in the highly competitive American Athletic Conference (AAC) with an 11-7 record while going 20-11 overall. In those games, the Bearcats' offense scored 77.3 points per game and was led by redshirt senior forward Landers Noelly II, who was the team’s lone selection to the all-conference team this year, averaging 16.6 points.  

Hofstra and Cincinnati are scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPN+, while 88.7 FM WRHU will carry an audio-only broadcast. Live stats can be found on GoHofstra.com.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Evan Bernstein