A senior at Hofstra University, Juan’ya Green has been regarded to many as this year’s men’s basketball star. A transfer from Niagara University, Green averaged 17.1 points last season while ranking 9th in the NCAA with 6.5 assists per game. Recently the selection for CAA Preseason Player of the Year, Green has come a long way to become the player he is today.
Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Green started playing basketball when he was about 10 years old. “I’d just go to the playground up the street, and play with the bigger kids, the older kids, just trying to make myself better,” said Green, “I’ve loved the game ever since.”
Green had a lot of family support growing up, most significantly from his uncle. “My uncle was the one who started me out liking basketball. He played so I would go over to the playground and watch him play. It made me want to play even more.”
Close to his hometown throughout high school, Green attended Archbishop John Caroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania, where he remains the basketball program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,492 points.
Green began his collegiate career at Niagara University. There for two seasons, from 2011 through 2013, this is when Green met one of his biggest college influences, current Hofstra Head Coach and previous Niagara Head Coach, Joe Mihalich.
“I wanted to follow Coach Mihalich; I didn’t want to start the process over again being with a new coach,” said Green, “I had a good relationship with Coach so that was definitely the better part of that decision.”
At Niagara, Green was named the 2011-12 MAAC Rookie of the Year, averaging 17.7 points per game as a freshman. The following season, he started all 33 games, leading his team with 56 three-pointers and earning an All-MAAC First Team Selection.
After sitting out a year do to NCAA transfer rules, Green did not disappoint in his first season at Hofstra. A finalist for the 2015 Riley Wallace Award, he was named to the NABC All District 10 first team, while posting the first ever triple-double in program history against LIU Brooklyn with 15 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
Despite a fantastic junior year, Mihalich still recognizes room for improvement in Green’s game.
“He’s not incredibly vocal, he leads more by example than by talk, but he’s even been talking more this year,” said Mihalich, “he’s had a really good preseason.”
An early season acknowledgment of his raw talent, Green was recently named to the 2016 Bob Cousy Award Watch List. In its thirteenth year, Green is one of twenty Division 1 guards to earn the honor, which is named after Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic’s guard Bob Cousy, to recognize the elite point guards around the nation.
Of the recognition, Green simply said, “It’s very humbling. I’m blessed. I just thank God.”
A humble athlete with the potential to play at the next level, Green recognizes his weaknesses. “(I need to work on) defense and being more vocal, just being more verbal with my teammates so I can be that leader that they need,” said Green. And according to Coach Mihalich, Green has already taken the initiative of taking freshmen guards, Desure Buie and Justin Wright-Foreman, under his wing.
“After this year, I’ll definitely tryout for a couple teams, a couple NBA teams, and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll try to go overseas to play,” said Green, “I’m just taking it one day at a time and hopefully I’ll have the chance to keep playing.”
And with just one dayy left until the opening tipoff of the Hofstra men’s basketball season, there’s the hope that all their stars align, but most people will have their eyes on the brightest of them all, Juan’ya Green.