Men's Basketball Weekly Honors - Feb. 29
Rob Washburn
CAA MEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY REPORT - FEB. 29 (PDF format)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Juan’ya Green • Hofstra
Sr., G, 6-2, 195 - Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll
Green averaged 17.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds in leading Hofstra to a 2-0 week and a share of its first CAA regular-season title. The senior guard scored 15 of his team-high 18 points in the final six minutes as the Pride rallied for a 70-69 victory at UNCW last Thursday. In a 72-63 win over College of Charleston on Saturday, he recorded his 8th double-double with 17 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Green is averaging 17.7 ppg and ranks 7th nationally in assists (7.2 apg).
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Jarrell Brantley • College of Charleston
Fr., F, 6-7, 245 - Columbia, S.C./Notre Dame Prep
Brantley averaged 13.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in College of Charleston’s two road games last week. The freshman forward posted his team-leading fourth double-double at Northeastern with team-highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds. He followed with 11 points and nine rebounds at Hofstra, which was 11th straight game in double figures. Brantley leads all CAA freshmen in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg).
CONFERENCE NOTES:
HOFSTRA, UNCW SHARE REGULAR-SEASON TITLE: Hofstra and
UNCW shared the CAA regular-season title after both teams finished with 14-4 records. It’s the first CAA regular-season crown for the Pride, while the Seahawks won their second straight regular-season title and seventh overall. The two teams split their head-to-head meetings, with each rallying from double-digit deficits to win on the road. UNCW came back from 20 points down to beat the Pride, 70-67, on Feb. 4. Last Thursday, Hofstra dug out of an 18-point hole to pull out a 70-69 victory over the Seahawks. It’s the second year in a row that there has been a tie for the CAA regular-season title. Last season, there was a four-way tie for first for the first time in CAA history. Prior to 2014-15, there hadn’t been a tie for first place since 2005-06.
TOURNEY TIME: The pairings are set for the 2016 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship, which will be held March 4-7 at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Md. In Friday’s opening round, #8 Elon faces #9 Drexel at 6 p.m., followed by #7 College of Charleston against #10 Delaware at 8:30 pm. In Saturday’s quarterfinals, #1 Hofstra meets the Elon/Drexel winner at Noon, followed by #4 James Madison versus #5 William & Mary. At 6 p.m., #2 UNCW faces the CofC/Delaware winner, followed by #3 Towson against #6 Northeastern. The semifinals are set for 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Sunday and the CAA championship game will be played at 7 p.m. on Monday. It will be the third consecutive year that the conference has conducted its showcase event in Baltimore. More than 400,000 alumni from CAA schools live within 250 miles of the city. Tickets are currently on sale at TicketMaster.com.
INCREDIBLE BALANCE: The CAA regular season was one of the most competitive in league history. Of the 20 games over the final two weeks, 13 were decided by six points or less. Over the final seven weeks, half (35-of-70) of all CAA games had margins of six points or less, including eight overtime contests.
PILING UP THE WINS: Four CAA teams (
Hofstra, UNCW, James Madison and
Towson) have already reached the 20-win mark and eight squads have at least 16 victories.
It’s the first time in the 31-year history of the CAA that the conference has had eight teams with at least 16 overall wins. Hofstra’s 22 wins are the most since 2006-07, while
UNCW’s 22 wins are the most since 2005-06.
James Madison reached 20 wins for the fourth time in eight years, while
Towson hit 20 wins for the second time in the last three seasons.
ROAD TEAMS FINISH 45-45 IN CAA ACTION: Road teams went 45-45 in CAA play this season. Seven of the league’s 10 teams had winning road records in CAA action, including four squads that had at least six wins
. All 10 teams suffered at least one home loss in conference competition and only six had winning records. Visitors having success in CAA action continues a trend from last year when home teams finished 47-43.
FOUR CAA TEAMS AMONG TOP 100 IN LATEST RPI: Four CAA teams are ranked among the top 100 in the latest RPI report released by
Collegiate Basketball News (rpiratings.com) on Feb. 29.
Hofstra leads all CAA squads at #60, followed by
UNCW at #66,
William & Mary at #70 and
James Madison at #96. The CAA is ranked #9 among the nation’s 32 Division I conferences,
which is its highest ranking ever at this point in the season, and is one of only nine conferences with four teams among the top 100 of the RPI.
VARIETY OF CHAMPIONS: Five different schools have won the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship over the past five years. The most recent champions were Old Dominion (2011), VCU (2012), James Madison (2013), Delaware (2014) and Northeastern (2015).
HOFSTRA’S GREEN TOPS 1,000 POINTS AGAIN: Hofstra guard
Juan’ya Green became just the fourth player in NCAA history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark at two Division I schools on Feb. 7, joining former CAA standout
Gary Neal (La Salle/Towson), Joe Manning (Oklahoma City/North Texas) and Kenny Battle (Northern Illinois/Illinois). With 2,242 points (1,131 at Niagara/1,111 at Hofstra), he’s currently second among active scorers in Division I. Green is second among active Div. I players in career assists (746) and fourth in career steals (227) through games of Feb. 28. He trails Evansville’s D.J. Balentine (2,409) in points and Oakland’s Kay Felder (756) in assists.
BACK-TO-BACK 20-20’S FOR HOFSTRA’S GUSTYS: Hofstra sophomore
Rokas Gustys became the first Division I player in six years to record back-to-back “20-20” games. He tallied a career-high 25 points and a career-best 20 rebounds vs. JMU on Jan. 16, followed by 23 points and 20 boards at Northeastern on Jan. 21. He has grabbed 20 or more rebounds five times, which is the most by any Division I player in a season since Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried had six in 2010-11. Gustys has recorded 15 double-doubles in his last 16 games and averaged 16.4 ppg and 15.1 rpg in CAA play. His 382 total rebounds are the 3rd-most in a season in conference history, trailing only Navy All-American David Robinson (455 in 1985-86) and Towson’s Jerrell Benimon (404 in 2013-14).
THREE-POINT SUCCESS: Several CAA teams are among the nation’s best at scoring from the 3-point line and defending it.
Elon (9.6 pg/17th),
Northeastern (8.8 pg/44th),
James Madison (8.7 pg/46th) and
Hofstra (8.5 pg/53rd) are among Division I leaders in 3’s per game. Defensively, JMU is 4th (29%) and
College of Charleston is 56th (32.1%) in 3-point FG% defense. Individually, NU’s
David Walker ranks 28th (2.97 pg) in 3-pointers per game.
UNCW RANKS EIGHTH IN TURNOVER MARGIN: UNCW ranks eighth nationally in turnover margin (+4.0 tpg) through games of Feb. 28. The Seahawks are forcing 15.5 turnovers per game, which ranks 21st in Division I, while committing 11.5. UNCW is also 28th nationally with 7.9 steals per game.
HOFSTRA’S GUSTYS AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS IN THREE CATEGORIES: Hofstra’s
Rokas Gustys ranks 4th nationally in rebounding (12.7 rpg), 9th in FG percentage (65%) and 7th in double-doubles (19) through games of Feb. 28. Hofstra’s
Juan’ya Green (7.2 apg) is 7th in assists, UNCW’s
Jordon Talley is 24th (3.08) and W&M’s
David Cohn is 37th (2.87) in assist/TO ratio and W&M’s
Terry Tarpey is 25th (2.07 spg) in steals. Delaware’s
Marvin King-Davis is 41st in double-doubles (12) and 52nd in rebounding (9.0 rpg).
College of Charleston
• Suffered setbacks at Northeastern (58-57) and at Hofstra (72-63) last week. Six of their 10 CAA losses were by four points or less.
• Jarrell Brantley averaged 13.0 ppg and 9.5 rpg last week, including his 4th double-double (15 pts/10 reb) at NU. He’s scored double figures in 11 straight games and tops all CAA freshmen in scoring and rebounding.
• Marquise Pointer hit four treys and had a game-high 19 points and 8 rebounds at Hofstra. He’s scored double figures in 8 of the last 11 games.
• Cameron Johnson tallied 18 points at Hofstra and 13 points at NU. He’s recorded 11 double-digit efforts in the last 14 games.
• Payton Hulsey had 12 points and 9 rebounds in both games last week and is averaging 12.0 ppg and 9.7 rpg over his past three contests.
• CofC limited 16 of its 18 CAA opponents to 65 points or less and allowed a league-low 59.2 ppg in CAA play. They were also 2nd in FG% defense (42%) in CAA action.
Delaware
• Lost games at Drexel (74-64) and to Elon (77-59) last week.
• Marvin King-Davis had a game-high 24 points and 8 rebounds at DU and a team-best 20 points vs. Elon. He averaged 15.8 ppg and 9.1 rpg in CAA play and has scored double digits in 7 straight games.
• Kory Holden averaged 17.0 points and 7.0 assists last week. He’s reached double figures in 22 of his last 25 games and is 5th in the CAA in assists (4.3 apg).
• Anthony Mosley has 14 double-digit efforts in the past 19 games and averaged 12.3 ppg in CAA play.
• Cazmon Hayes averaged 8.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg last week. He’s averaging 6.8 rpg over his last six contests.
• Maurice Jeffers grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds at Drexel, which was his highest total since Jan. 14.
• Delaware made just 7 turnovers at DU and 8 turnovers against Elon.
Drexel
• Went 1-1 at home last week, beating Delaware (74-64), but losing to NU (61-59).
• Tavon Allen scored 23 of his team-high 27 points in the first half vs. NU and contributed 18 points against UD. He’s averaging 19.3 ppg over his past four games.
• Terrell Allen scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the 2nd half vs. UD. He’s averaging 16.0 ppg over his last 4 games and has had just 3 turnovers in 120 minutes. Allen had eight double-figure outings in CAA play.
• Rodney Williams had 15 points and 6 rebounds and 2 blocks vs. UD. He’s averaging 12.7 ppg over the past six contests.
• Kazembe Abif averaged 10.0 ppg and 10.0 rpg last week, including his team-best 6th double-double (10 pts/13 reb) against UD. He’s scored double figures in 10 of the past 12 games.
• Rashann London hit 3-of-5 treys and scored 11 points against Northeastern.
• Drexel has shot better than 45% from the floor in four of the past five games.
Elon
• Split games last week, losing 75-65 to W&M, but winning 77-59 at Delaware. Elon tied its D-I record with its 8th road win.
• Tyler Seibring had a team-high 17 points on 7-of-10 FG shooting and a team-best 9 rebounds in the Delaware win.
• Dmitri Thompson poured in 16 points at Delaware. He’s averaging 13.2 ppg over his past 10 contests.
• Tanner Samson went 6-of-11 from 3-point range and scored a team-high 18 points vs. W&M. Samson is Elon’s career 3-point leader (324) and has 83 treys this season.
• Dainan Swoope scored 10 points off the bench at UD. It was his 16th game in double figures this season.
• Jack Anton contributed 8 points and a career-high 7 rebounds at Delaware.
• Elon drained 11-of-34 threes against W&M and 12-of-36 treys at UD. The Phoenix have made 10 or more treys in 17 games and lead the CAA with 9.6 per contest.
Hofstra
• Won a share of their first CAA regular-season title after rallying from an 18-point deficit to beat UNCW (70-69) and defeating CofC (73-64) for their 6th straight win.
• Juan’ya Green scored a team-high 18 points at UNCW and had his 8th double-double (17 pts/10 ast) vs. CofC. He’s scored double figures in 29 of 30 games and ranks 7th nationally in assists (7.2 apg).
• Rokas Gustys posted double-doubles vs. UNCW (12 pts/21 reb) and CofC (13 pts/14 reb) and has 15 in the last 16 games. He’s 4th nationally in rebounds (12.7 rpg) and 8th in FG% (65%). He’s had 10+ boards 24 times and has 19 double-doubles.
• Ameen Tanksley tallied 18 points at UNCW and 10 vs. CofC. He’s reached double figures in 18 straight games and scored his 1,000th point in less than two seasons at Hofstra.
• Hofstra out-rebounded UNCW 41-23 in the victory.
• Hofstra’s 22 overall wins are the most since the 2006-07 season.
James Madison
• Went 1-1 last week, losing 69-67 at Towson before defeating W&M, 71-65.
• Ron Curry scored a team-high 20 points at Towson and 21 points vs. W&M. He’s reached double digits in a league-best 22 straight games and has 12 20+-point outings. He’s 5th on JMU’s all-time scoring list.
• Yohanny Dalembert tallied 18 points and 6 rebounds vs. W&M and had 11 points and a team-high 8 boards at Towson. He was 12-of-17 from the floor last week.
• Joey McLean had 6 points vs. W&M and is averaging 9.3 ppg over his last 4 games.
• Jackson Kent scored nine points at TU and had 10 against W&M. He’s hit 10 three-pointers over the past four games.
• Shakir Brown (11.3 ppg) didn’t play against W&M due to a toe injury suffered at TU.
• JMU limited W&M to 4-of-24 shooting from 3-point range. JMU leads the league in FG% defense and 3-pt FG% defense in CAA games.
UNCW
• Fell 70-69 to Hofstra, but topped Towson 74-68 to claim a share of their 2nd straight CAA regular-season title.
• Dylan Sherwood and Marcus Bryan scored 14 points apiece vs. Towson. It was the most points for both of them since they each had 14 points at Georgetown on Dec. 12.
• Jordon Talley scored a team-high 16 points vs. Hofstra and has five double-digit efforts in the last seven games.
• Denzel Ingram had 11 points vs. TU, which was his 12th double-figure outing in the past 14 games. He shot 42.3% from 3-point range in CAA play.
• Craig Ponder tallied 13 points vs. Hofstra and has reached double figures in six of his past eight contests.
• Chris Flemmings had 11 points vs. TU. He tallied 16.8 ppg in CAA play and has scored double digits in 16 of the last 19 games.
• UNCW’s 22 overall wins are its most since 2005-06.
Northeastern
• Have won 5 of their last 6 games after edging CofC (58-57) and Drexel (61-59).
• David Walker scored a team-high 20 points at DU. It was his 12th 20-point effort and 13th time in double figures in the last 14 games. He has already set the NU record for 3-pointers in a season (92).
• Zach Stahl scored a team-high 15 points vs. CofC and had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists at DU. He eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career vs. CofC.
• Quincy Ford hit two game-winning FT’s with 4.7 seconds left and had 9 points and 9 rebounds against CofC. He’s scored double digits in 23 of 27 games.
• Jeremy Miller scored 10 points vs. CofC, which was his 11th game in double figures.
• Senior Caleb Donnelly went 3-of-5 from 3-point range and scored 12 points vs. CofC. He’s shooting 39.2% from three.
• NU has made 10 or more treys in 16 games this season.
Towson
• Defeated JMU, 69-67, but lost 74-68 at UNCW last week. Reached the 20-win mark for the second time in the last three years.
• Byron Hawkins scored 16 points vs. JMU and had 15 points at UNCW. He’s hit double digits in 5 straight games and is averaging 14.6 ppg over that stretch.
• Timajh Parker-Rivera had 13 points and 9 rebounds vs. JMU and became the winningest player in Towson history.
• William Adala Moto had 9 points and 11 rebounds vs. JMU. He’s scored double digits in 20 of the past 26 games.
• John Davis posted his 3rd double-double at UNCW with team-highs of 16 points and 11 rebounds. He’s averaging 13.0 ppg over his last four contests.
• Towson out-rebounded UNCW 39-30 and is a CAA-best +7.4 in rebound margin. TU has beaten 17 straight foes on the glass.
• Josh Ivory made three treys and scored a career-high 11 points vs. JMU.
William & Mary
• Split a pair of road games last week, winning 75-65 at Elon but losing 71-65 at JMU.
• Omar Prewitt tallied a team-high 19 points at Elon and 17 points at JMU. He has hit double figures in 11 straight games and has been W&M’s leading scorer in seven of the past eight games.
• Terry Tarpey averaged 13.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg last week, including 18 points and 7 rebounds at Elon. He’s scored double digits in 12 of his last 16 games, ranks 4th in the CAA in rebounds, 1st in steals and 2nd in blocks.
• David Cohn added 13 points at JMU and 10 at Elon. He’s averaging 12.4 ppg and 5.3 apg in CAA play.
• Sean Sheldon had 13 points on 4-of-5 FG shooting and 6 rebounds at JMU. He’s shooting 61.6% from the floor for the season.
• Daniel Dixon scored 10 points vs Elon. He tops W&M with 68 threes this season.
• W&M shot 62.5% in the second half in the victory at Elon.