Patriot's take down Hofstra, remain only unbeaten team in CAA play

After last night's 67-63 victory over Hofstra, the Patriots improve to the lone unbeaten CAA team during conference play. This certainly wasn't the most pretty thing to watch as the game started off with both teams throwing up bricks left and right. The Hofstra Pride were having their way in the paint in the 1st half but a little bit of butt-kicking by Larranaga at half-time seemed to motivate the young Patriots to clamp down more on defense. The ended the game with 7 blocked shots and held preseason co-MVP Charles Jenkins in check for most of the game. Louis Birdsong, who most of us have been tough on this season, played excellent defense in this one, blocking 3 shots. In the end it was the Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius show. Both had some clutch shots and just great overall defense down the stretch, while also managing to hit free-throws to seal the deal. Mason scored 17 points off 18 Hofstra turnovers and this is area that I think the Patriots are the league's best at. They use their defensive ability to create more points than most other teams in the CAA and I think it will really attribute to more wins to come.

-I thought it was interesting how Mason handled ODU's powerful front court easier than they did against Hofstra's smaller more scrappy group. Mason was out rebounded 41-30.

-After going 3-for-4 from the three-point last night, Andre Cornelius is currently shooting 50% on the season from there. Why isn't he shooting more?

-Jai Lewis was in attendance last night. A shame he wasn't in uniform, the Patriots could have used him on the offensive boards.

Below is a chart from StatSheet.com and it highlights the "Four Factors to Winning at Basketball". If you have never heard of this statistical breakdown before read more about what they mean here

NCAA Basketball Stats