CAA Men's Basketball Report - Feb. 26, 2024
CAA Men's Basketball Report - Feb. 26, 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 is CAA Player of the Week for a league-leading third time this season after two more stellar performances to help Hofstra stay in the driver’s seat for a double-bye. The guard from Connecticut averaged 26.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 4.0 steals in a 2-0 week with a 28-point game in Thursday’s CBS Sports Network win over Drexel and 23 on Saturday in a Senior Night victory over Elon. Thomas is third in the nation in scoring at 22.4 points per game.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Tyler Tejada, Towson
Freshman | Guard | Teaneck, N.J. / Teaneck
Tejada erupted for a career-high 30 points to power Towson to an 80-61 win over Monmouth on Thursday night. The guard from New Jersey was 10-of-15 from the floor and added six rebounds as the Tigers picked up their 10th win of league play. Tejada averaged 18.0 points on 57% shooting and 55% from three while corralling 5.5 rebounds per game in a 1-1 week. The fourth honor of the year for Tejada leads all CAA rookies.
NEWS AND NOTES
THE GOAL: SUNDAY RESERVATIONS
The top four teams at the end of the regular season will be guaranteed a spot in the Sunday Quarterfinals at the CAA Championship in D.C., and three of those four spots are still up for clinching entering the season’s final week.
Charleston (13-3) has earned a top-four seed with UNCW (11-4) the top team among those still looking to secure one. Hofstra (11-5), Drexel (10-5), Towson (10-6), Delaware (9-6), Monmouth (9-7), and Stony Brook (9-7) remain in contention.
68% FROM THREE? THAT IS GOOD.
Charleston made 15 three-pointers on 22 attempts in Saturday’s win, becoming the second team in the nation this year to have at least two-thirds of its three-point attempts go down with 15+ makes. Two of the last three teams to achieve the feat have been from the CAA, as Towson went 16-of-22 in a win last February.
THE COMFORTS OF HOME
CAA teams have gone 69-41 (62.7%) at home in league games, a mark that ranks eighth nationally. The percentage is currently on pace to be the highest since 2016-17, when home teams went 58-32 (64.4%).
I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR... ROAD WINS
UNCW enters Monday night in search of its 11th road victory of 2023-24, which would lead the nation. The Seahawks are one of six teams with 10 and one of two in the CAA, as Charleston has also secured 10 true road victories. Charleston is tied with James Madison for the nation’s second-best road-winning percentage (.833).
ARE WE PLAYING 2K OUT THERE?
Hofstra’s Jaquan Carlos dished out 19 assists in the Pride’s Feb. 17 win over Northeastern, breaking the CAA record of 17 by VCU’s Joey Rodriguez in 2010 and the conference game mark of 16 set by Richmond’s Greg Beckwith in 1986. A couple hours south in New Jersey, Monmouth’s Nikita Konstantynovskyi posted the CAA’s first game of 20 points and 20 rebounds since Hofstra’s Rokas Gustys on Feb. 15, 2018.
BOARD MEETING
Drexel and Towson have been two of the nation’s best at outworking their competition on the glass this season. Drexel’s +8.4 rebounding margin is 13th nationally, while Towson is 14th at +8.2. It was the Tigers who had the upper hand in the teams’ regular-season meeting with a +5 margin.
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.
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.)
THEY GET BUCKETS
The CAA boasts three of the nation’s top 17 scorers as of Monday morning. Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas is third nationally at 22.4 ppg, while N.C. A&T’s Landon Glasper is 10th at 21.3 and Monmouth’s Xander Rice is 17th at 20.7.
COMPUTER GAMES
UNCW leads the CAA with a NET of 101 in the latest update with Charleston (102), Hofstra (124), and Drexel (127) also in the top 150. UNCW (Kentucky), Drexel (Villanova), and Delaware (Xavier) each hold a Q1 win; Charleston and Monmouth and have steered clear of a Q4 loss. KenPom ranks two league offenses in the top 100: UNCW (56) and Charleston (75).
One Thing To Know About Each CAA Hoops Team
Anthony Dell’Orso has scored 20+ points in each of his last six games.
Charleston’s seven-game winning streak is tied for sixth nationally with Loyola Chicago and Little Rock and behind Saint Mary’s (15), South Florida (13), Merrimack (9), James Madison (8), and Tarleton State (8).
Gerald Drumgoole Jr. has been in double figures in five straight games.
Drexel ranks 13th nationally in rebounding margin (+8.4) and has been outrebounded just three times in 28 games.
TK Simpkins is averaging 17.2 points per game over his last six wth five in double figures, including a 24-point showing for the Brooklyn native in a game on Long Island Saturday.
Jordan Nesbitt has scored 15+ points eight times in conference play.
Hofstra is 10-2 in its last 12 games and is in control of its own destiny for a bye to the CAA Quarterfinals.
Xander Rice scored in double figures for the 25th time in 29 games this year on Saturday.
N.C. A&T is 11th in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (9.5).
UNCW has won 20+ games in three straight seasons.
Northeastern has won four of its last six games and can clinch a first-round bye on Thursday.
Stony Brook has won six straight games at Island Federal Arena.
Towson has grabbed 39.8% of available offensive rebounds, which ranks second nationally.
Gabe Dorsey’s 93 made three-pointers are nine shy of W&M’s single-season record set by Marcus Thornton in 2015.