Dreaming bigger
Middletown’s Eli Pemberton helped bring Hofstra men’s basketball to new heights; now he’s looking at pro possibilities
Eli Pemberton arrived at Hofstra with a chip on his shoulder and found a kindred spirit.
“When you visit, they’ll bring you to parties and stuff like that,” Pemberton said. “I’m 17, 18 at the time. I’m not into partying. My main focus is hoops. So I go to Hofstra and my best friend, Desure Buie, was there, and we go out to eat and catch up. He asked me what I wanted to do, and this was a big factor for me. I wanted to know what he was going to do. I wanted to see what his move was.”
Buie’s move was go to the gym, where he and Pemberton shot baskets from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
“I just kind of made my decision right there,” Pemberton said.
Coming from Middletown, and Xavier High, Pemberton knew what he was looking for and got the important decisions right. He flourished for four years at Hofstra, scoring in double figures each season, left with a Colonial Athletic Association championship and a berth in an NCAA Tournament that, due to the coronavirus, never took place. It would have been Hofstra’s first appearance in 19 years.
“Coming from that sudden high to the lowest of lows,” Pemberton said, “I was coming home to celebrate with my family, I’m not thinking much of it. My coach [Joe Mihalich] called to say, ‘You might as well stay home, Elijah. The tournament has been canceled.’ That was a different kind of pain I felt that day. I just felt so bad for Long Island, with all the love they gave us.”
He gave himself a little time to get over the disappointment, then got back to work, wherever he could find a place around Middletown. Pemberton, a 6foot-5 combo guard, can check a lot of boxes on a stat sheet, and when NBA evaluators ask, as they have in his early interviews, what he likes to do on a Saturday night, he could give them the right kind of answer. He forged a college career from under the radar, becoming one of the most durable players in the country, and will now try to forge a pro career the same way, hoping to hook on somewhere after the NBA draft.
“Interviews and all that are cool,” Pemberton said, “but I feel like I would be a better person to have those face-to-face impressions with teams. The confidence kind of stems from where I’m from. It starts with that. Just being from my city, I’ve played with grown men my whole life. My confidence comes from the work, repetition and consistency. That’s going to be the best formula to give you confidence. I know there are going to be bumps and bruises. In high school and college, I had my bumps and bruises. But in every situation, I’ve come out all right.”
Pemberton grew up in Andre Drummond’s neighborhood, taking his first shots at Wesley Elementary School. When he got to Xavier, he sustained a concussion in a JV game, but when he returned, he was on varsity.
“Coach [Mike] Kohs, I love him to death,” Pemberton said. “He took a chance on me. He threw me into the fire. I was 14. I was 6-foot-1. I really appreciate Coach for allowing me to work through those mistakes when I was young. It helped me develop a mid-range game early, giving me a solid foundation of understanding basketball.”
After three years at Xavier, one at Cheshire Academy and one at the Master’s School, scoring more than 2,000 points altogether, Pemberton committed to Hofstra and was MVP in the Jordan Brand Regional Game at the Barclays Center in April 2016, going 9-for-11 from the field in a game in which future UConn guard Christian Vital also played.
Pemberton, who was sometimes called “Pemba,” grew up dreaming of being a Husky, too.
“I always wanted UConn because I was a Connecticut kid. I felt I was good enough,” he said. “I knew I needed that extra year of prep school to develop my game a little bit, but they didn’t want to take that chance.”
Therein lies the somethingto-prove mentality he brought to Hofstra. Pemberton played starter minutes from game one, averaging 34.8 minutes across 129 career games. As a senior, he averaged 17.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals. He scored 35 points against James Madison on Senior Night, and 19 points, 12 in the second half, as the Pride defeated Northeastern in the conference tournament final. Buie, playing his final game as a fifth-year senior, scored 20.
“Desure Buie, Eli Pemberton, they’re both going to go down as two of Hofstra’s all-time greats,” Mihalich told WFAN-AM on March 11. “They got us to the tournament. They’ve re-written the record books, and they’re better off the floor. They’re incredible leaders.”
Pemberton graduated with his degree in management on May 17. As he works this spring and summer for a professional chance, he remembers his humble beginnings, dreams of being able to support his family and allow his parents to retire. He plans to give something back to Middletown, where people around him helped him make the right choices, and believes he can make a difference.
“The circumstances I came from, I just didn’t limit myself,” Pemberton said. “I’m not near where I want to be. But I’m happy I made the choices I made, just to help me get the foot into my dream. … I want to target those inner-city kids who are struggling. I find it’s really tough for those kids to be inspired to be their greater selves because they’ve been put into a life that they didn’t ask for. I want to just grab the kids. It starts when they’re babies. They’re growing minds, developing as individuals, help them grow into smart, young men making strong decisions for themselves.”
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com.