Busting Brackets
Fansided

Hofstra Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Pride

By Jason Burgess

BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Flags of the schools line the wall during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament between the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks and the Hofstra Pride at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Flags of the schools line the wall during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament between the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks and the Hofstra Pride at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
BALTIMORE, MD – MARCH 07: Justin Wright-Foreman #3 of the Hofstra Pride drives to the basket past Devontae Cacok #15 of the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD – MARCH 07: Justin Wright-Foreman #3 of the Hofstra Pride drives to the basket past Devontae Cacok #15 of the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Who will start for Hofstra this season?

Mihalich returns 80% of his starting lineup from last season. The Pride is led by senior guard Justin Wright-Foreman. The 6-2 native of Queens is one of the best scorers in the country, averaging 24.4 points per game, the 5th best total in the country. He is a volume shooter who took the 9th most shots in the country and ended up with the 10th most made shots. He has come a long way from a freshman who averaged less than two points per game to a senior with the potential to lead the nation in scoring. Wright-Foreman is joined in the backcourt by junior Eli Pemberton. Pemberton is a 6-5 guard who is the team’s top returning rebounder at 4.8 boards per contest while adding 15.9 points. Pemberton is also the Pride’s leading three-point shooter, making them at a 41% clip as a sophomore. The final spot in Mihalich’s three-guard lineup should be senior Desure Buie. Buie scored 6.4 points per game and is the Pride’s top assist man at 3.3 per contest while starting 18 of his 30 games played.

In the frontcourt, the lone returner is junior forward Stafford Trueheart. Trueheart is a 6-8 forward who started 13 contests and averaged 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds. While that may not sound like much, over the first two months of the season he totaled 27 points, while in January and February he bumped his average up to 4.6 points.

The Lancaster, NY native will look to be a more prominent piece of the offense as the team must replace Rokas Gustys, the team’s leading rebounder, third-best rebounder in the country at 12 per game. A newcomer might get the first crack at filling that spot, and that newcomer might be graduate Jaquil Taylor from Purdue. At 6-10 235lbs. Taylor gives the Pride size to replace Gustys. At Purdue, Taylor suffered through injury after injury, so his numbers aren’t eye-popping (1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds), but after the injury to Isaac Haas he saw an increase in playing time, seeing 15 minutes in the season-ending loss to Texas Tech. In the CAA, Taylor looks to have much more of an impact for Hofstra.