Syracuse gets little rest before Hofstra visits on Saturday

Syracuse (6-3) faces a quick turnaround, as they will play their second game in under 48 hours on Saturday when they host Hofstra. The Pride have a 7-4 record on the season, including wins in five of their last six, highlighted by an 80-73 win at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Hofstra led by as many as 17 points in that game early in the second half before holding off a Panther rally for the win.

Leading scorer Cruz Davis was electric for the Pride in that game, rolling up 36 points while handing out seven assists. The point total was a season-high for Davis, who averages 20.6 points per game on the campaign, and his five 3-pointers matched his top output of the year.

Even with Davis’ high-powered offensive attack, Hofstra has just about an average Division One offense. Davis is complemented by guard Preston Edmead (13.7 points, 5.2 assists per game) and some effective bigs, many of whom have a nice shooting touch.

Hofstra's bigs complement their backcourt nicely

While forward Biggie Patterson is not one of the most effective shooters of the Pride frontcourt, Patterson averages 10.5 points per game while also being an effective defensive rebounder.

Small forward German Plotnikov shoots nearly 50 percent from the field, including 40.5 percent from long range, picking his spots to take shots effectively. Freshman Victory Onuetu has been a pleasant surprise for Hofstra, as the 6’10” center has earned the starting role by shooting 70 percent from the field while averaging a team-high 7.7 rebounds per outing. Silas Sunday compliments him well with a similar game and level of production.

Those bigs help the Pride defend on the interior, as they have held opponents to just 45.0 percent shooting on 2-point field goals this season. While Hofstra hovers around the edge of the top 100 in adjusted defensive efficiency, defending inside the arc is their clear strength on that end of the floor. That interior defense played a role in upsetting Pitt, as well, as the Pride held the Panthers to shooting just 48.0 percent from the field on 2’s.

SU can have success if they pound the offensive glass

That defense, however, showed a weakness against Pitt, as well as some other high-major conference foes. UCF was really able to punish Hofstra on the offensive glass, rebounding nearly half of their misses, and caused a long list of foul trouble for the Pride, as did Temple. Pitt’s free throw rate was the third-highest allowed by the Pride, so this seems to be a trend that high-talent teams can get to the line a lot, although that has not been an area of success this season for the Orange.

A major concern from that Pitt upset, though, is that Hofstra had their season-best adjusted offensive efficiency in the game. They shot 60.0 percent on 2-point shots and 40.0 percent on 3-point shots in knocking off the Panthers while also protecting the ball well. SU will need their defensive pressure to force mistakes, which is something the Pride have not suffered this season against high-level opposition.

All told, Hofstra has improved as the season has gone on, particularly by playing their best offensive basketball of the season in the last couple weeks. They will provide a legitimate test for Syracuse, especially with a short amount of prep time.

The Orange will still have the better of things from athletic and skill perspectives, but will need to assert these traits to win. SU will need to be ready to go at the jump, as this game figures to be the toughest test of the remainder of their non-conference slate and it will take good play to claim a win, particularly on the defensive end.

Syracuse 75, Hofstra 67.

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