Hempstead, N.Y. - There was no change in vocal inflictions during the post-game press conference. There were no demonstrative gestures or bravado-filled declarations. In a soft monotone, Hofstra senior guard Dwan McMillan matter-of-factly said the Pride was ready to take on Iona.

At the time, Hofstra was coming off a win against Colgate but was still 5-7 with the prospect of facing an Iona squad that would come to the Mack Sports Complex with the 12th-highest RPI in Division I. Yet McMillan said neither his nor his team's confidence would waver.

McMillan scored nine points and tallied 10 assists in 40 minutes to lift the Pride to a win against the Gaels on Dec. 27, helping Hofstra to its most impressive victory of the season. But for the senior guard from New York City, it was just another solid contribution in a season in which head coach Mo Cassara has needed his veteran point guard to take on an increased workload with eight scholarship players on the active roster.

"I'm from Brooklyn and we don't lack confidence," McMillan said with a laugh. "I don't care if I have zero points the whole game, I feel like I can score whenever and I can make my teammates better. I think our team feeds off that attitude. We're a little shorthanded right now but when we start gelling, it's going to be scary and a team other CAA teams won't like to play against."

McMillan was supposed to start the campaign as a backup to Stevie Mejia. A hamstring injury in November catapulted McMillan into the starting lineup and the 6-0, 180-pound point guard was asked to step in.

For someone who has the ball in his hands during most of Hofstra's possessions, McMillan hasn't been the offense's cynosure. Fellow senior Mike Moore has seized that distinction, benefitting from McMillan's passing acumen by entering the week with the CAA's highest scoring average at 21.1 points per game.

Despite starting just nine games, McMillan is tied with VCU's Darius Theus for the league-lead in assists with 72 and is second to Theus in assist-per-game  by averaging 4.5. He is second in the CAA in assist-to-turnover ratio and his total assists were 46 more than the next-closest teammate. 

"I just have to pace myself while continuing to be a pest on defense," McMillan said. "One of my goals coming into this year was to lead the league in assists and I just try and give my teammates the ball and get them going early."

When Mejia came to campus last season after transferring from Rhode Island, McMillan had someone from which to learn entering his first season at Hofstra. Mejia, who led the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio, had to sit out 2010-11 due to transfer rules yet was able to impart advice to McMillan coming from a successful Rams program.

"He had way more Division I experience than me, so I tried to listen to everything he said," McMillan said. "He tells me things like when to attack and when to pass the ball, and I've been able to add those elements into my game."

Cassara saw a glimpse of what McMillan could do last season when he started him for the first 11 games. McMillan was averaging 6.8 points and 3.3 assists in 27.6 minutes during his first season at the Division I level before an injury ended his year early. Now at full strength, Cassara said he's seen the talent and work ethic that made McMillan ESPN's 57th-ranked point guard coming out of St. Benedict's High School in New Jersey.

"Dwan has taken on such a positive leadership role for our team," Cassara said. "On the court, in the locker room and on campus, he's always shown real positive energy. Since coming into the starting lineup, he's been the vocal leader of the team."

The road to Hofstra was a circuitous one for McMillan. He originally signed with Big East-member South Florida after leading St. Benedict's to a 24-1 record and a New Jersey Prep A state title. But McMillan said he didn't take his academic work as seriously as he should have, forcing him to play two seasons at the junior college level, including his sophomore year for Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

That move required McMillan to leave the comforts of family for the first time. His father lives in Hempstead and his brother, Devon, is currently a star freshman guard for Fordham University. While at Indian Hills, McMillan averaged 10 points and eight rebounds while getting his grades up and keeping his dream of playing Division I alive.

McMillan said he thought he would be going to Iowa State after the Hawkeyes recruited him heavily. But experiences from McMillan's past would help to bring him home. Growing up, McMillan played AAU ball with Nathaniel Lester and Charles Jenkins. The duo persuaded McMillan to join the Pride, with the trio playing on last year's Hofstra team that finished 21-12 and helped the program win 20 games for the fifth time in seven seasons. Jenkins currently plays for the NBA's Golden State Warriors.

As a child, McMillan also participated in camps on Hofstra's campus, including the first year when the Mack Sports Complex opened (then called Hofstra Arena) in 2000.

"When I played pickup with those guys, they tried to encourage me to come, but I still thought I was going to Iowa State. "But I talked to my dad and he said he hasn't had the chance to see me play. Now, I get to go out there in front of him, the rest of my family and my friends. It's a lot of fun."

With his father living just a few minutes away from the Mack Sports Complex and his brother playing in the Bronx, McMillan said that familiarity and comfort being around family cemented his decision to join the Pride.

Devon McMillan has started all of Fordham's 15 games, averaging 8.1 points in almost 30 minutes per game. The two speak frequently, especially with Devon being in his first season of collegiate basketball. The younger McMillan said the two have often been in touch despite the time constraints to playing Division I in the metropolitan area.

"We call each other before and after every game just to talk," Devon McMillan said. "I just learn from him since he knows more. We get to make each other games when we have days off."

Though both are guards with similar builds, Devon said there are subtle differences in each sibling's game.

"He's been playing point guard his whole life and I've been playing more off the ball so I think I could score better," he said.

Dwan's messages to his brother have reinforced what the Fordham coaching staff has imparted on him in stressing the importance of continuing to work in the gym beyond the regular practice hours in order to improve.  The brother-to-brother discussions have also involved off-the-court topics.

 "I told him he has a better opportunity than me, because I didn't take advantage because of my grades coming out of high school," Dwan McMillan said. "He has a great start coming in as a freshman and not as a junior, like I did."

Moving to a new place was something the elder McMillan had done previously. He starred for Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn before moving on to St. Benedict's. Once there, McMillan played for Danny Hurley, who currently serves as head coach at Wagner College.

Hurley saw his former pupil up close when Hofstra played at Wagner on Dec. 6 and said the improvement from his time as a prep player to now is a credit to McMillan and the Hofstra coaching staff.

"Seeing Dwan now, I've been impressed with his growth and maturity," said Hurley, who coached McMillan's team to a 24-1 record and a New Jersey Prep A state title and No. 2 ranking nationally. "He's a lot more composed and is carrying himself in a really professional manner."

Hurley said McMillan always maintained his confidence even as a prep player. When the Pride visited Wagner, Hurley couldn't focus too much on his former player, but looking back now, Hurley said he is proud that McMillan's skills have allowed him to be 30-minutes-a-game player in the competitive CAA.

"He was a really fun guy to be around with a lot of energy and a lot of charisma," Hurley said. "It's been impressive to me how Mo's been able to harness that and turn it into a real positive thing. Watching him play, you notice he's a really good communicator. It's a credit to Dwan and a credit to the Hofstra coaches.

"That's the thrill of being a high school coach is watching guys like Dwan who have come through your program mature into responsible; hard-working, professional people."

As he dribbles up the court at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C., McMillan barks out instructions to teammates, shakes the top-right part of the uniform and points emphatically to set a play. The extroverted actions are the dichotomy of his off-court persona, though both sides of the personality reflect a fierce desire to play well. McMillan is always looking to help his teammates look good and improve, and it's a trait that he says will hopefully carry over into his post-playing career when he earns his degree with a liberal arts concentration.

"I'd want to be a gym teacher and coach high school basketball," McMillan said. "I love the game of basketball and it's been so good to me. I want to give something back to the community."