Hofstra's Preston Edmead, a Deer Park native, transferring to N.C. State, sources confirm
Preston Edmead departs Hofstra University in Hempstead on March 17, 2026, as the headed to Tampa, Florida for the NCAA tournament. Credit: Thomas Hengge
Preston Edmead, the freshman guard from Deer Park who helped lead Hofstra to the NCAA Tournament last month, will transfer to N.C. State, sources confirmed to Newsday. Edmead is the second key player from Hofstra’s team to commit to another school through the transfer portal this week; Cruz Davis, the CAA’s Player of the Year, committed to Texas Tech on Thursday.
Edmead was the CAA Rookie of the Year and the MVP of the conference’s tournament after hitting a game-winning three-pointer in overtime to beat Towson in a semifinal and scoring 26 points in the championship game win over Monmouth. He scored a team-high 24 points in the first-round loss to Alabama in the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 16.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game and hit 96 three-pointers shooting 38.7% from that range.
Both Edmead and Davis were adamant about returning to Hofstra when their season ended, but the lure of NIL money and the chance to play in power five conferences was too much to ignore.
The moves leave Hofstra as the current state of college basketball leaves many successful mid-major programs, having to overhaul nearly its entire roster rather than build on what it accomplished.
“I learned so much,” Edmead said last month of his time at Hofstra before entering the transfer portal on April 6. “This group, these coaches, they made me so much better. If I went anywhere else in the country, I don’t think it would be this good.”
Edmead also noted several times during the season how much he enjoyed playing in front of Long Island friends and family after having spent the three previous years at prep schools in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
With Edmead and Davis leading the way, Hofstra won 24 games, won its conference title for the first time since 2020, and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.
“We know what we did was special,” Edmead said. “We can always look back on that. We made history.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
