CAA Men's Basketball Report - Feb. 5, 2024
CAA Men's Basketball Report - Feb. 5, 2024
The CAA Men's Basketball Player of the Week is Hofstra's Tyler Thomas!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tyler Thomas, Hofstra
Graduate Student | Guard | New Haven, Conn. / Amity Regional
Thomas lifted Hofstra to a pair of pivotal home wins to keep the Pride in the top six of a crowded CAA race. The graduate student from Connecticut averaged 24.5 points on 50% shooting while adding 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per page in wins over Stony Brook and Towson. Thomas’ 26-point night on Thursday was capped off by a game-winner with 0.4 seconds remaining to beat the Pride’s Long Island rival and earned the guard the No. 3 play on SportsCenter. He followed it with 23 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in a thrilling nationally televised win over Towson.
CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Jerry Deng, Hampton
Freshman | Forward | Norcross, Ga. / Norcross
Deng was pressed into a larger role on Saturday and delivered with a standout performance in Hampton’s Legacy Classic win over Howard. The freshman from Georgia scored 21 points – including a pair of three-pointers in the final 1:04 to put Hampton in front – in the neutral-site game in Newark, N.J., on TNT. Deng added six points and 10 rebounds Thursday at N.C. A&T to average 13.5 points on 50% shooting and 4-of-7 from three along with 6.5 rebounds per game.
CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Dylan Williamson, Towson
Redshirt Freshman | Guard | Upper Marlboro, Md. / Our Lady of Good Counsel
Williamson repeats as a Rookie of the Week selection and gives Towson at least a share of the honor for the fourth straight week. The redshirt freshman from Maryland blitzed Northeastern in the second half with 23 of his game and career-high 26 points to help Towson battle back for a home win – its 18th straight at TU Arena. Williamson averaged 15.5 points on 50% shooting while adding 4.0 assists per game in the week’s competition against Northeastern and Hofstra.
NEWS AND NOTES
HOLD ME CLOSER, CAA SATURDAY
All six CAA games Saturday, plus Hampton’s non-league win, were decided by five points or less.
It marked the first time 5+ conference games were decided by single digits since Feb. 8, 2020 and the first of five or more by five points or less since Feb. 16, 2008, when Hofstra and Old Dominion won one-point games and Drexel, Georgia State, and UNCW all won by two.
12 of 13 February league games have been single-digit margins and 9 of 13 by four points or less.
EVERYTHING’S BETTER WITH OLD BAY
Pregame meals in Maryland have treated Towson well this year, as the Tigers extended their TU Arena winning streak to 18 Thursday. Towson’s streak is second nationally to Virginia (22). Home teams have gone 43-27 (.614) in CAA play, which ranks 11th of 32 leagues. CAA teams went 52-12 (.813) at home in non-conference play.
THEY GET BUCKETS
The CAA boasts three of the nation’s top 10 scorers as of Sunday morning. Monmouth’s Xander Rice ranks seventh and Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas eighth at 21.7 ppg (Rice has 499 points, Thomas 498), while N.C. A&T’s Landon Glasper is 10th (21.3.)
BOARD MEETING
Drexel and Towson have been two of the nation’s top teams at outworking their competition on the glass this season. Drexel’s +9.5 rebounding margin ranks 10th nationally, while Towson is 16th at +8.1. It was the Tigers who had the upper hand in the teams’ regular-season meeting with a +5 margin (42-37).
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
Two of the four teams at the top of the CAA standings have played two of the three toughest conference schedules to date, per KenPom. UNCW (7-3) has faced the second-most challenging slate, while Towson (7-3) ranks third. Monmouth’s schedule to this point is rated the toughest by the site.
HEN-CINNATI
Delaware bounced back from a 10-point deficit in the first half to down Xavier, 87-80, on Dec. 5. The Blue Hens shot 50% and turned the Muskeeters over 17 times while receiving a career night from Jalun Trent (27 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists.)
STATEMENT SATURDAY
Drexel and UNCW took down AP Top 25 opponents on Dec. 2 with Drexel holding off No. 18 Villanova, 57-55, and UNCW powering past No. 12 Kentucky, 80-73. It marked the first time in league history that two CAA teams defeated Top 25 opponents in the same day.
CHECKING THE NET
Drexel leads the CAA with a NET of 110 in the latest update with UNCW (110) and Charleston (120) right behind and Delaware (140), Towson (141), and Hofstra (143) also in the top 150. UNCW (Kentucky) and Delaware (Xavier) each hold a Q1 win, while UNCW, Charleston, and Monmouth and have steered clear of a Q4 loss so far.
HEALTHY COMPETITION
The CAA was .500 or better against the Horizon (4-0), Missouri Valley (3-0), CUSA (1-0), Southland (1-0), Patriot League (9-1), MAAC (6-1), Big South (4-2), Sun Belt (8-3), Atlantic Sun (3-2), and MEAC (6-5) in non-conference play.
The CAA has two wins against the Big East (Drexel at Villanova, Delaware at Xavier) and The American (Northeastern vs. East Carolina, Hofstra vs. South Florida) and one vs. the Big 12 (Monmouth at West Virginia) and SEC (UNCW at Kentucky).
WINTER WONDERLAND
Five CAA teams - Charleston, Drexel, Monmouth, N.C. A&T, and Stony Brook - boast men’s and women’s basketball programs that are both over .500 in league play this winter. Charleston, Drexel, N.C. A&T, and Stony Brook are all 13-6 between both programs, while Monmouth is 11-8 along with Towson.
HIGH FIVE!
Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas (Nov. 28) and UNCW’s Trazarien White (Dec. 12) earned spots on the USBWA’s Player of the Week list, thanks to Thomas’ 30.3 scoring average at the Gulf Coast Showcase and White’s 27-point effort to knock off Kentucky.
ALMOST HEAVEN, CENTRAL JERSEY
Monmouth made a statement in the season’s opening week with a 73-65 victory at West Virginia. Xander Rice scored 30 points in his second game playing at Monmouth for his father, King Rice, who defeated a high-major opponent for the ninth time at the helm of the Hawks program. The victory was the CAA’s first over a school in the Big 12 at the time of the matchup since VCU’s Elite Eight win over Kansas in 2011
TROPHIES
Drexel and Hofstra were winners of their multi-team events with the Dragons taking both games in the Market Street Challenge and the Pride sweeping the three-game bracketed Gulf Coast Showcase. Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas took MVP honors in Florida after averaging 30.3 points per game.
WHOLE LOTTA WINS
The longest-tenured head coach in the CAA, Northeastern’s Bill Coen passed Jim Larranaga for first in CAA history with his 184th league win (CAA games + CAA Championship) in January.
Towson’s Pat Skerry ranks sixth on the list with 121, while North Carolina A&T’s Monté Ross is the active coach closest to entering the top 10 with 88 league wins, 83 of which came in his time at Delaware.
AND-ONES
One Thing To Know About Each CAA Hoops Team
Campbell has split all five conference weekends to open its first trip through the CAA schedule.
Charleston’s win in Williamsburg was just its second since joining the CAA; the previous one came in the Cougars’ prior trip on Feb. 3, 2022.
Christian Ray eclipsed 1,000 career points in Saturday’s win over Monmouth.
Drexel ranks in the top 15 nationally in scoring defense (15th, 63.8 ppg allowed) and rebounding margin (10th, +9.5).
Zac Ervin’s 199 career three-pointers have him tied for ninth in Elon program history.
Jerry Deng is Hampton’s first weekly award winner this season and third over the Pirates’ first two years in the CAA, as Jordan Nesbitt collected Player of the Week honors and Kyrese Mullen earned a Rookie of the Week nod last season.
Hofstra’s 59 points Saturday were the Pride’s fewest in a victory since defeating Delaware, 58-56, on Dec. 31, 2016.
Xander Rice is averaging a league-best 25.7 points per game in CAA games with 20+ in 9 of 10. Rice is one of 26 active D1 players with 1,500 points and 400 assists after reaching the latter milestone Saturday.
Landon Glasper is up to 10th in the nation in scoring (21.3), which is third in the CAA; Glasper’s 24.1 ppg in conference games ranks second in the league.
UNCW tied a program record with 40 three-pointers taken against Campbell, equaling the mark set against Southern Miss in 2021.
Northeastern has turned over its opponents at the highest rate in the CAA in conference play at 17.8% of possessions.
Stony Brook hosted its sixth-annual Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Night on Saturday. The tradition features special uniforms to show support for patients at the hospital.
Freshman Dylan Williamson scored a career-high 26 points in Thursday’s win with 23 coming after halftime.
Gabe Dorsey is seventh in the nation with 3.35 made three-pointers per game and has made 18 over his last four contests.