Pride upset No. 24 Razorbacks in Iyiola’s return to Arkansas (appeared in The Hofstra Chronicle on December 19, 2021)

The Hofstra men’s basketball team upset the No. 24 University of Arkansas Razorbacks by a final score of 89-81 at the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, on Saturday, Dec. 18, in what was one of the biggest wins in program history.

The win, Hofstra’s first-ever over Arkansas, improves the Pride’s record to 7-5. It’s their first win against a ranked opponent since defeating the No. 23 University of Richmond last season.

“Amazing [win] for my guys, I’m so happy for them,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton. “We played against two previously ranked opponents, and we should’ve won both of those. That was the theme tonight.”

As a team, Hofstra shot 47.7% (31-65) from the floor and 31.8% (7-22) from three-point land. Jalen Ray and Aaron Estrada led the way for the Pride with each scoring 22 points. Estrada also totaled eight assists to go along with 10 rebounds. Ray’s 22 points in this game got him to 1,480 career points at Hofstra. That now puts him 12th all-time in scoring at Hofstra.

“Ray was big down the stretch,” Claxton said. “He’s a first-hand, all-league guy. He’s our captain, he’s our go-to guy, and down the stretch, he made some very difficult shots.”

Abayomi Iyiola made his return to Arkansas, where he previously played before transferring to Hofstra prior to this season, and recorded his second-straight double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the game.

“[Iyiola] had an unbelievable night,” Claxton said. “I’m so happy for that kid to come in here and play against his old team and show them that they messed up by letting him go to the transfer portal. It’s tough to play a former team a year after you leave them, so that’s why this game was more important for us because we wanted to do it for Iyiola. I’m happy that we got it done.”

Hofstra’s road trip continues on Wednesday, Dec. 22 as they return to the east coast to play the Hawks of Monmouth University at the OceanFirst Bank Center. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.