It’s been a rough few days for Mo Cassara and the Hofstra Pride.
Just one day after news came down that Shaquille Stokes, Jimmy Hall, Dallas Anglin and Kentrell Washington were arrested and suspended from the team for allegedly stealing $20G worth of electronics in a dorm robbery spree, Hofstra was blown out by Larry Brown’s Mustangs 73-47.
“It’s been a difficult few days,” Hofstra head coach Mo Cassara said. “Obviously the ball didn’t go in the hoop for us as much as we like. There’s no body that feels worse about it or disappointed than me.”
Hofstra came out of the gate sluggish, allowing SMU to score the first 10 points. It was not until a Stephen Nwaukoni jumper with 15:13 left to play in the first half that Cassara’s team finally got on the board with the Pride’s first points.
“If you just make that first basket, the pressure just comes off,” Cassara said. “We just weren’t able to withstand what we needed to do. It was a challenge. We missed a lot of easy shots.”
Things didn’t pick up for Hofstra following the basket however as the Mustangs continued to pour on the punishment and jumped out to an early 19-point lead that would balloon to 26 before the night was over thanks to Nick Russell (20 points) and Jalen Jones (14 points, 12 rebounds).
“Obviously we didn’t play our best today, but that’s a very good basketball team,” Cassara said. “Some of our guys who have played pretty well didn’t play well tonight.”
Due to the suspensions, Cassara was forced to use a shortened bench and had to take Taran Buie (10 points), Jordan Allen (four points) and Nwaukoni and thrust them into the starting lineup. Before yesterday’s contest, the trio had started just three combined games this season.
“Obviously we had a lot of new guys in new positions,” Cassara said. “Darren Payen, we were planning on redshirting him, he hasn’t played a minute but he went out there and did some good things. The plan has to adjust a bit.”
Without Stokes and Hall, who were averaging 22.7 points per game combined, the Pride (3-5) only managed to score 47 points, which was the lowest total since they scored 43 points against Georgia State last February.
Brown, whose Mustangs improved to 8-1, was comedic after the game, joking with Knicks head coach Mike Woodson, but did speak to Cassara beforehand and mentioned how much the loss of four players impacted the team.
“It was everything,” Brown said. “You can’t lose four quality players in one day and expect to have success. [Cassara] can coach. They were a team that we really had a lot of respect for and that hasn’t changed.”
As difficult as it seems right now following four suspensions, a lack of scholarships, short roster and a 26-point loss, Cassara tried to stay positive. The third-year coach will have to add walk-ons just to fill out his roster and cannot sign any scholarship players.
“All I can do is work as hard as I can every day,” Cassara said. “Our guys are resilient, my staff is resilient and we are just going to keep working as hard as we can. We have some good pieces and we’re going to keep building on it.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com