Jenkins credits man he broke for scoring mark to guiding his career

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications

In Saturday's 65-60 loss to Drexel Charles Jenkins became the all-time leading scorer in Hofstra men's basketball history and senior guard credits the man he passed for this milestone Antoine Agudio for helping to guide his heralded Pride career.

"He took me under his wing when I first got here," said Jenkins of Agudio, who he played with as a freshman during the 2007/08 season. "It means a lot me just to be mentioned in the same breath as him because I remember how much buzz he had when he was here."

After red-shirting during the 2006/07 season Jenkins began his Hofstra career the next year and saw Agudio break the 43-year old program scoring record that had been held by Steve Nisenson. The one year Jenkins and Aguido were teammates Hofstra endured a disappointing 12-18 season after having made three straight trips to the NIT, but three years later the Pride are in prime position to finish in the top four in the Colonial Athletic Association and make a run at a conference title. As much of an accomplishment as breaking the Hofstra scoring mark is Jenkins is only concerned with winning and getting the Pride to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade.

"The season is what is most important to me," said Jenkins. "When I leave Hofstra and I come back then this record will mean a lot to me but right now I've just got to worry about winning."

Longtime college basketball head coach Mike Jarvis gives major praise to Charles Jenkins

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications

In his more than 20 years coaching college basketball at Boston University, George Washington, St. John’s and now Florida Atlantic Mike Jarvis has coached many talented players including some who wound up in the NBA, and he says Hofstra’s prolific guard Charles Jenkins would stand toe to toe with any of them.

The current Florida Atlantic head coach lauded Jenkins with major praise after the senior guard scored 32 points in a 63-59 Pride loss on Saturday. “He would have started for any one of my teams,” said Jarvis, who is most known for being the St. John’s head coach from 1998-2003.

New Hofstra men's basketball era underway with hiring of Tim Welsh

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications
Hofstra University's national arboretum campus was in full bloom Thursday on a perfect spring day with hardly a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 60's. The setting was just as sunny inside David S. Mack Hall when university officials kicked off a new era of Hofstra men's basketball with a press conference unveiling its new head coach Tim Welsh.

There was a feeling of immense optimism inside Mack Hall as the former Providence and Iona head coach was introduced to the Hofstra community for the first time just one week after longtime head coach Tom Pecora accepted a head coaching position at Fordham.  While coaching at the Big East level from 1998-2008 Welsh, 49, led Providence to two NCAA Tournament appearances and developed Ryan Golmes, who now plays for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves . The Massena, N.Y native and 1984 SUNY Potsdam graduate also had success in his three years as head coach at Iona leading the Gaels to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth in 1998.

In addition to his 13 years of head coaching experience Welsh also gained valuable knowledge of what it takes to succeed as a college basketball program as an assistant at Syracuse from 1988-1991 under the legendary Jim Boeheim. "It is a great day for Hofstra athletics because this marks our hiring of Tim Welsh, who I truly believe will enable us to move our basketball success to the next level," said Hofstra University president Stuart Rabinowitz during the press conference.

Delaware free throw struggles help aid Hofstra win

With 4:32 left in Saturday’s Hofstra-Delaware men’s basketball game and the Pride clinging to a 58-56 lead after leading by as many as 13 in the second half, the Blue Hen's Jamelle Hagins stepped to the foul line with a chance to knot the score. He would only make one his two attempts, which summed up Delaware’s day from the charity stripe that included 14 misses and was a huge factor in a 77-67 Pride victory.

Hofstra (11-12, 4-7 in Colonial Athletic Association) led wire to wire before a large crowd of 4,019 at the Mack Sports Complex but had Delaware shot better than 24-38 (63 percent) from the free throw line the game would have been far different. The Blue Hens (6-16, 2-9 in CAA) also struggled shooting from the floor (35 percent) but managed to stick around for much of the game before the Pride iced the game in the final minute from the free throw line to make the 77-67 final score a bit misleading. Hofstra allowed Delaware to stay in the game due in large part to shooting 43 percent from the floor and being outrebounded 41-36, including giving up 19 offensive boards.

“The longer you let teams hang around, you know they are going to come up with a run at some point,” said Hofstra men’s basketball head coach Tom Pecora of his team’s inability to put Delaware away earlier despite their shooting woes.

Hofstra offense brightened in win over UNH

What a difference one game can make. In a 44-39 win over Manhattan Wednesday the Hofstra men’s basketball team’s offense was a cloud of dust but Saturday afternoon the Pride shooting was a ray of sunshine in a 75-58 triumph over New Hampshire at the Mack Sports Complex.

In the ugly offensive struggle against Manhattan Hofstra only shot 35%, but versus UNH the Pride connected on 47% of their shots including 67% from three-point range to post its fourth victory in a row and improve to 7-3 on the young season. Hofstra nearly equaled its entire scoring from the Manhattan game in the first half in taking a 43-31 lead into the locker room and were never seriously threatened in the second half with its lead growing to as many as 24.

“I think [UNH] is one of the best teams in the America East from what everyone has told me, so it is a good win,” said Hofstra head coach Tom Pecora in the post-game press conference. “We can definitely build off of it.”

Jenkins-Lester duo propels Hofstra to huge win over Fairfield

Monday night was the Charles Jenkins-Nathaniel Lester show with the dynamic scoring duo combing for 67% of Hofstra’s offense in a critical 84-80 win over Fairfield.

Jenkins scored a career-high 38 points including 26 in the second half while Lester tallied 18 to propel Hofstra to come-from-behind second-half win over the Stags. Both veterans hit big second half shots and perhaps no basket was bigger than when Jenkins drained a three-pointer with the shock clock winding down and 1:20 left that gave Hofstra an 82-77 lead. It was one of  five treys he drained in seven attempts.

“Jenkins and Lester] responded,” said Hofstra men’s basketball head coach Tom Pecora in the post-game press conference. “It was nice to see a couple of the veterans step up.”

Hofstra men's basketball pre-season practice update

A dozen days since Hofstra men’s basketball’s first official practice and two weeks before the Pride get set to open the season at national powerhouse Kansas, head coach Tom Pecora is satisfied with the progress of his many younger players, who will help provide a deep bench in 2009/2010.

After today’s hour and a half practice concluded Coach Pecora told “Inside the Pride” that he anticipates playing a nine possibly 10-deep lineup that will have the ability to run the floor more than previous teams. The prospects of being a heavy transition team are made possible by having a deeper bench and the early progress of new guards Chaz Williams and Brad Kelleher, which will allow junior Charles Jenkins to play off the ball for longer stretches. “We’re going to play at a little bit of a quicker pace,” said Pecora.

Jenkins, who averaged 19.7 points per game as a sophomore, has shown a serious focus in the early practices and is a perfect example for younger players to follow on and off the court, according to Pecora.  “He is on the right page and he is definitely focused and he is doing a great job being a good leader,” said Pecora of Jenkins, who earned Colonial Athletic Association pre-season player of the year honors after winning last year's Haggerty Award given to the best player in the New York City metropolitan region.