Opposing Guards Each Need to Control Tempo in Stylistic Clash Between Alabama, Hofstra

TAMPA, Fla. — Labaron Philon Jr. has been a part of some massive guard matchups this season. From Braden Smith to Jaden Bradley to Darius Acuff, he has gone toe-to-toe with many of the best in the nation.

Cruz Davis will be added to that list on Friday.

Davis, the Coastal Athletic Association Player of the Year, has put together a dominant season, averaging 20.2 points and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 40% from beyond the arc.

"It's a big matchup," Philon said. "We can't just go out there and doubt these guys. He's a great guard."

Davis has reciprocated Philon's perspective, recognizing the challenges that the Third Team All-American will pose, especially on the offensive end.

"He's a good player," Davis said. "He shoots the ball really well, he's a really good offensive player. I've just got to limit his attempts and play good defense on him."

While Davis has been the star of this Hofstra team, CAA Freshman of the Year Preston Edmead has emerged as a legitimate No. 2 option alongside him. Edmead averaged 15.9 points and 4.4 assists per game and carried the team through the conference tournament, hitting a last-second 27-foot game-winner in the semifinal before scoring 26 points in the championship. His rise has created a two-headed monster in the backcourt that has led to the Pride losing just one game since the start of February.

"If a team has one guard that's great and elite and everybody else plays off him, it's a lot easier to trap him in ball screens and double him," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "If you want to trap Cruz, now you're pulling in Edmead's man to help on the roll. I'm not so sure how smart that is because now all of a sudden, you've got to play him on a long closeout, and him attacking a long closeout is an issue. The fact that they have two of them together makes them both better.

"We're going to have to do a great job in one-on-one defense; our help is going to have to be good. And we're going to have to have different packages to guard them because I don't think you can just do one thing against these great guards the entire game."

Davis and Edmead are first and second on the team, respectively, in both points and assists. Pride head coach Speedy Claxton, a former NBA guard, runs a very deliberate, half-court offense with professional-style sets that the duo executes efficiently. The result has been a productive offense, but also one of the slowest in the country. Hofstra ranks No. 317 in adjusted tempo compared to Alabama's No. 4, setting up a clear clash of styles.

"We want to play fast," Oats said. "We're going to play the way we play, and we're going to attack the way we attack."

The adjusted tempo statistic measures possessions per 40 minutes adjusted for opponent pace of play. Alabama averages 73.1 possessions per game, nearly identical to William & Mary (72.6), a CAA team that Hofstra has already faced.

After giving up 89 points in a January loss to the Tribe, Hofstra shut down William & Mary in the quarterfinals last week, holding the high-scoring offense to just 61 points.

"We're going to instill the same game plan that we have against William & Mary," Claxton said. "They play a similar style of tempo. We told our guys to think of William & Mary on steroids: more athletic, bigger, faster, stronger. It's not like we're not used to seeing this play style. We're definitely going to try to control tempo. I think it's going to be a big key to the game."

With Aden Holloway out, the impetus falls on Philon to push the pace for Alabama. The sophomore has at times played a slower style of basketball, working the midrange and playing out of more established half-court sets. Oats has prioritized tempo heading into this matchup, and believes Holloway's absence will have little effect on how his team plays.

"We don't really have to change the way we play," Oats said. "We had all the injuries all year, and there wasn't one time when we walked into a game and said, 'Oh, we're going to try to play a little slower this game,' or we're going to really concentrate on throwing it inside this game because we're missing Wrightsell or Philon or Holloway."

It is highly probable that Philon and Cruz each lead their team in scoring on Friday, but the most important aspect of their head-to-head matchup will come not in the box score, but in each guard's respective ability to establish the tempo. In a matchup with two vastly different styles of play, whoever controls the pace controls the game.

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