I'll Be Quirky: Siena

What could Jose Lind possibly have to do with Siena? Read to the end!

The Flying Dutchmen nearly made their reunion with VCU a winning one Saturday night, when they came back from a 15-point first half deficit and had the ball with the chance to win at the buzzer in both regulation and overtime before falling, 69-67. The Dutchmen will look to continue their pattern of win one-lose one tonight, when they host Siena at the Arena. Here’s a look back at the loss to the Rams and a look ahead to the Indians, err, Saints.

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

VCU jumped out to a 15-point lead during a first half in which it limited Justin Wright-Foreman to four points, but Wright-Foreman did Wright-Foreman things by scoring 23 points after the break for the Dutchmen, who led by as many as six in the second half. But Wright-Foreman, who scored 14 of the Dutchmen’s final 17 points, missed a jumper just before the buzzer in regulation and missed a 3-pointer as time expired in overtime. Eli Pemberton had 17 points for the Dutchmen while Jalen Ray had 14 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes off the bench. Jacquil Taylor racked up 17 rebounds in 35 minutes.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. VCU 11/24)

3: Justin Wright-Foreman

2: Jalen Ray

1: Eli Pemberton

SEASON STANDINGS

Justin Wright-Foreman 18

Eli Pemberton 7

Tareq Coburn 2

Stafford Trueheart 2

Desure Buie 2

Jalen Ray 3

Jacquil Taylor 1

Dan Dwyer 1

COACHSPEAK: “It’s just heartbreaking. It’s just heartbreaking to be so close. So proud of our guys. I mean, we had a chance to pack it in. We let a feel-good team feel good. At the end of the (first) half, they banked one in from 30 feet, they’re up 13. We could have packed it in. Next thing you know, there’s 10 minutes to go in the game and we’re up. I was so proud of our guys. We had our chances. Just one play here, one play there, you pick it out.”

NOT-SO-RANDOM SELECTION FROM THE 1993-94 JUKEBOX



The (#CAAHoops) past is gone but something might be found to take its place...

WORKIN’ OVERTIME

The Dutchmen played their first overtime game since Jan. 5, when they edged James Madison, 87-81. It was also the first-ever overtime game between Hofstra and VCU. The Dutchmen are 3-6 in overtime games under Joe Mihalich.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES

The Dutchmen scored just 23 points in the first half Saturday. It was their lowest-scoring half since a 21-point second half against James Madison on Jan. 5, 2017. However, the Dutchmen limited VCU to 25 points in the second half, which was the stingiest half by the Dutchmen since Delaware was limited to 23 points in the second half on Jan. 27. 

In addition, Saturday marked the first time the Dutchmen have scored 25 or fewer points in a half and limited the opposition to 25 points or fewer in a half in the same game since Feb. 8, when the Dutchmen scored 24 points in the first half against Elon before holding the Phoenix to 20 points in the second half.

ALL BY HIMSELF

With his 27 points Saturday night, Justin Wright-Foreman extended his streak of double-digit scoring efforts to 59 straight games, which broke a tie with Charles Jenkins for the longest streak by a Hofstra player since 1989-90 (as far back as my records go, at least at home). In addition, Wright-Foreman’s streak is the fourth-longest active streak in Division I, per Hofstra SID Stephen Gorchov.

Justin Wright-Foreman: 59 straight games 12/11/16-present

Charles Jenkins 58 straight games 12/12/09-3/15/11*** 

Antoine Agudio 48 straight games 3/6/06-1/17/08****

Juan’ya Green: 43 straight games 11/14/14-12/9/15 

Loren Stokes 41 straight games 2/20/06-3/14/07*** 

Loren Stokes: 34 straight games 1/14/04-1/31/05

***streak ended with the end of the player’s Hofstra career

****Agudio had three DNPs during his streak

JWF IS A TOP TEN HIT

With his 27 points Saturday, Justin Wright-Foreman remained in 10th place on the all-time Hofstra scoring list. To be fair, he needed to score 132 more points to move up the list and pass Norman Richardson for ninth place. 

8.) David Taylor 1,818 (1979-83)

9.) Norman Richardson 1,677 (1997-2001)

10.) JUSTIN WRIGHT-FOREMAN 1,546 (2015-present)

11.) Frank Walker 1,437 (1985-89)

12.) Leroy Allen 1,435 (1983-87)

OLD NEWS BECOMES NEW NEWS

I forgot last week to mention Justin Wright-Foreman earned CAA Player of the Week honors for the week ending Nov. 18. No problem. He won it again (albeit in shared fashion with Charleston’s Grant Riller) for the week ending Sunday. Wright-Foreman is the first player to earn at least a share of the Player of the Week award in consecutive weeks since…Riller, who shared the award for the week ending Feb. 11 earned the honor by himself for the week ending Feb. 18.

Wright-Foreman has earned at least a share of Player of the Week honors twice. He was the lone winner for the week ending Dec. 10, 2017 and shared the award Dec. 17. Overall, Wright-Foreman has been named the CAA Player of the Week seven times in his career. 

Week ending 1/22/17 (shared)

Week ending 2/12/17

Week ending 12/10/17

Week ending 12/17/17 (shared)

Week ending 1/15/18

Week ending 11/18/18

Week ending 11/25/18 (shared)

WIN ONE, LOSE ONE, WIN ONE, LOSE ONE, WIN ONE, LOSE ONE

The Dutchmen have alternated wins in odd-numbered games with losses through even-numbered games through six games for the first time in program history. The Dutchmen alternated wins with losses in the first six games of the 1979-80 and 1999-2000 seasons, but they lost the odd-numbered games and won the even-numbered games in both of those campaigns. This is the good content, kids! (Also good: The Dutchmen made the NCAA Tournament in 1999-2000) 

SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE ROK

Jacquil Taylor’s 17 rebounds Saturday were the most by a Hofstra player this season and, thus, the most by a Dutchmen since Rokas Gustys graduated. Gustys had at least 17 rebounds 16 times in his career. Taylor’s rebounds are the most by a Hofstra player other than Gustys since David Imes pulled down 17 rebounds against UNC Wilmington on Feb. 23, 2011.

In addition, the two points for Taylor are the fewest any Hofstra player has recorded in a game in which he’s pulled down at least 15 rebounds since at least the 1989-90 season, which is as far back as my records go (at least at home).

ROUGH GAME FOR BUIE

Junior Desure Buie was scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting in 14 minutes Saturday night. He is the first Dutchmen to go scoreless from the field in at least six attempts since Justin Wright-Foreman was 0-for-6 against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 3, 2016. Things have gone pretty well for Wright-Foreman since then. 

OVER THE AIR

Hofstra will over live video, audio and stats here.

SIENA AND THE MAAC

Siena, under first-year head coach Jamion Christian, is 2-4 this season following its third straight loss, an 84-79 defeat at the hands of Colgate on Saturday. The Saints were picked to finish last in the 11-team MAAC. 

The Saints are led by freshman Jalen Pickett, who is averaging a team-high 15.4 ppg, and senior Evan Fisher, who ranks second on the team in scoring at 13.5 ppg and leads Siena with 5.7 rpg.

Thanks to the Dutchmen’s MAAC-heavy non-conference schedule, Hofstra and Siena have three common foes this season. The Dutchmen play Monmouth, Rider and Manhattan in consecutive games in December. Siena plays Monmouth and Manhattan twice apiece in conference play and Rider once.

This is the second straight season Hofstra is facing four MAAC opponents. Last year marked the first time the Dutchmen faced four teams from one league in the non-conference schedule since 1993-94, when the Dutchmen, who were really known as the Dutchmen back then, played four North Atlantic Conference foes in the program’s final pre-NAC season.

This also marks the fourth straight season Hofstra has faced Siena, which makes it the Dutchmen’s second-longest active non-conference streak behind SUNY-Stony Brook. Isn’t it ironic?

Hofstra is 5-3 all-time against Siena. Seven of those meetings have taken place since the 2005-06 season. The Saints earned an 85-76 win last season in upstate Loudonville.

Siena is the most frequent opponent for Joe Mihalich, who is 19-20 against the Saints dating back to his days as Niagara’s head coach. The Dutchmen are 2-2 against Siena under Mihalich.

At KenPom.com this morning, Hofstra is ranked 137th while Siena is ranked 257th. KenPom.com predicts a 73-63 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 12-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 6-0 against the spread this season.

Hofstra is 95-118 all-time against current MAAC schools. This marks the 12th time in the last 13 seasons the Dutchmen have played at least two MAAC schools (the 2014-15 schedule had no MAAC teams).

THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY

Jamion Christian likes Jose Lind bias! (The Siena head coach once suggested my avatar for a Pirates-Mets game)

I still call you Indians bias! (The Saints were the Indians until 1989)

You won the NAC measles tournament bias! (Siena won the NAC Tournament in 1989, when the tourney was held in front of no one at Hartford Civic Center due to measles outbreaks at Siena and Hartford)

You didn’t like publicity from I-AA football way before us bias! (Siena dropped football following the 2003 season)