Hofstra overwhelmed by VCU

The glow of good feelings from Hofstra's signature win over local power Iona last week was short-lived. The Pride stepped up in class Monday night at the Mack Sports Complex against Virginia Commonwealth, which merely shocked the world by reaching the NCAA Final Four last spring, and the result wasn't pretty for the home team.

VCU assaulted the overmatched Pride with waves of pressure from a lineup that is long, quick, athletic and deep and ran away with an 80-63 victory that stamped the Rams as the team to beat in the Colonial Athletic Association this season. Hofstra turned the ball over 21 times against VCU's full-court press as the Rams built a 28-12 advantage in points off turnovers in their eighth straight win.

While VCU (11-3, 2-0 CAA) focused its attention on containing Hofstra star Mike Moore, who had 14 points but shot 1-for-7 from three-point range, the Pride (6-8, 0-2) was spread thin against a balanced Rams attack. Troy Daniels, who led VCU with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range, hurt them early with four three-pointers in the first half. Darius Theus added 14 points and seven assists and Juvonte Reddic and Briante Weber had 12 points each.

Daniels and Weber were part of a deep Rams bench that outscored Hofstra's reserves 44-21. The Pride got 13 points from Shemiye McLendon and 10 apiece from David Imes and Nathaniel Lester, but after falling behind by 20 at the 15:13 mark of the second half, Hofstra never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

"That's the best team we've played," Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. "They're better, deeper and more athletic than Oregon State, Cleveland State or Iona . . . They really outplayed us on a lot of levels. They were quicker to the ball. One of our keys was winning the 50-50 balls, but they were a little faster and shot very well. We weren't real efficient on offense, but that's a credit to their defensive pressure."

Hofstra point guard Dwan McMillan has stepped up lately since taking over as the starter for injured Stevie Mejia, but he struggled against the Rams. McMillan had five assists but was held to four points, committed six turnovers and fouled out with 4:38 to play.

"They had 10 or 11 guys, and we've got a lot of guys wounded," McMillan said.

In fact, Cassara was hoping not to play Mejia even though he's been cleared after a hamstring injury, but he had to use him for 11 minutes. It wasn't just Hofstra's point guards who were affected by VCU's pressure. Trailing by only two points midway through the first half, the Pride was outscored 35-17 as VCU took a 54-34 lead early in the second half. Hofstra shot 4-for-19 in that stretch and committed 13 turnovers.