March Madness: Hofstra's Joshua DeCady could be the key to an upset of Alabama
Hofstra's Joshua DeCady practices at the school on Tuesday. Credit: Thomas Hengge
TAMPA — Joshua DeCady just wanted to get on the floor. As a freshman for Hofstra last season, he played sparingly, averaging 9.4 minutes per game, and there were plenty of times when he was out there for just a handful of moments, if at all. There were games when his minutes total came in at one, two, sometimes three a day — and those were rounded up. He was intent on changing that for his sophomore campaign.
“You are learning and stuff like that,” the 6-8 forward from Queens Village told Newsday of his first season of college ball spent mostly stuck on the bench. “But I wanted to play. So I decided to make defense my thing.”
That decision and his dedication to it led him and the Pride to this moment.
Now it will be integral in taking them beyond it.
No. 13 Hofstra will face No. 4 Alabama in an NCAA Tournament first-round game on Friday, and while all of the attention will be on top scorer Cruz Davis and baby-faced freshman Preston Edmead, those in the know realize DeCady is going to be the player who has the most impact on whether the Pride can pull off the upset.
He’ll be the one locked on Alabama’s top player, Lebaron Philon Jr., and heading the effort to slow down an opponent that averages 91.7 points per game.
“I take a lot of pride in my defense,” DeCady said. “It’s what gets me on the court and what will help me progress for the rest of my career. And I think that’s what this team needs, someone who can be a stopper on defense, stop their best player . . . We have two great point guards right now who really dominate the offensive end of our team, and I want to be that on the defensive end for us.”
As soon as the Pride learned they were facing Alabama, they knew this was going to be a game in which they would have to rely on DeCady.
“They play extremely fast,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said of the Crimson Tide, comparing them to one of the CAA’s top-scoring teams. “It’s going to be like playing William & Mary on steroids. They are going to come down and shoot the ball very quick and try to force tempo. We’re going to have to try to slow them down, get them into a half-court game.”
That’s where DeCady comes in. Rather than have one of their guards matched up with the 6-4 Philon, who is the rocket juice in the Alabama engine, Hofstra would rather put its best defender on him regardless of position. They believe having DeCady come at Philon with those long, flailing arms and legs of his and having his thick body bouncing off Philon will be to their advantage.
“Philon likes to drive the basketball, get into the paint, use multiple pivots and use his body to create separation,” Claxton said. “If we have a smaller guy on him, that would be good for him. But I don’t think he’ll be able to gain any separation through contact against Josh . . . Hopefully he can do a good job on him.”
Philon averages 21.7 points per game. With Aden Hollaway out after being arrested on felony drug charges earlier this week, no other player on Alabama averages more than 12.8. Philon also averages 4.7 assists per game.
DeCady’s impact doesn’t necessarily show up in the stats. He has 24 steals and nine blocks this season and adds a little something on offense with 6.3 points per game. His real value for Hofstra is the tenacity he brings, the mentality he has. His “relentlessness to pursue the basketball,” as Claxton said.
Davis, who averages 20.2 points a game for Hofstra, knows that more than most. He has to go against DeCady in practices.
“He’s a tall, physical guy,” Davis said. “It’s hard to shoot over the top of him and it’s hard to get by him because he is a big guy . . . I feel like everybody is a little surprised when he is on you. It’s hard to adjust to him.”
Davis was asked several questions at his pre-practice news conference on Thursday about going “head-to-head” with Philon. He answered them gamely, but afterward laughed a bit. He knows that task will fall more to DeCady than himself.
“He’s our stopper right there,” Davis said. “Without him, it makes it tough for us to win. Josh does a lot for us.”
That wasn’t always part of his game. Like most players, he was more focused on scoring and glamour plays when he was at Archbishop Molloy in Queens and then Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire. He had to find and harness those skills at Hofstra, where he turned them into a nod on the CAA’s All-Defense team this season.
The first person he had to convince he had them was himself.
“I think he believes that he is a good defender now,” Claxton said. “At first he didn’t know, but we instilled it in him just by constantly getting on him and telling him how good he is, how good he can be.”
Hofstra will need every drop of that belief on Friday.
DeCady knows Hofstra’s fate likely rests on his shoulders and that he hasn’t faced many players in the CAA as good as Philon. But he said he is up for this challenge.
“I love the competition. I’m always ready for it,” he said. “I feel like every game I have an opportunity to go out and show my best. This is a bigger stage now, but honestly it just feels like a regular game to me. I’m going to do what I have to do, and I’m going to do it great.”
It’s why he is on the court for Hofstra. It’s why Hofstra might get to stay on it.
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.
