Golden Griffins are a vital part of any good breakfast. Wait. That's not right.
The epic road trip for the Flying Dutchmen won’t be an unbeaten one after a loss Wednesday night to San Diego, but they’ll have a chance to collect a trophy this afternoon following a rout yesterday of Holy Cross. The Dutchmen will look to win the first preseason tournament of the Joe Mihalich era when they face Canisius in one of the finals of the Boca Raton Classic. Can’t say enough how confusing these things are. Here are looks back at the game against San Diego and Holy Cross and a look ahead to the Golden Griffins.
THE GAME BEFORE THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Eli Pemberton tied a career-high with 28 points and also collected a team-high eight rebounds for the Dutchmen, who otherwise looked gassed in falling to San Diego, 79-69. The Dutchmen led for most of the first half but fell behind for good a little more than four minutes into the second half. Desure Buie had 11 points, four assists and two steals but also committed three turnovers and was just 3-of-14 from the field. Isaac Kante and Tareq Coburn each had 10 points and six rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. San Diego 11/27)
3: Eli Pemberton
2: Isaac Kante
1: Desure Buie
SEASON STANDINGS
Eli Pemberton 11
Desure Buie 10
Tareq Coburn 10
Jalen Ray 6
Isaac Kante 5
COACHSPEAK: “Obviously disappointed. If we would have pulled this off, it would have been something incredible. Didn’t want to talk about it with the team, but three games and on the road for eight days. It’s the first time in my life I ever did that. We did seem to be a day late and a dollar short in every way today.”
THIS IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIENDS’ FIRST SEASON, WHAT WOULD THIS GAME BE TITLED IF IT WAS AN EPISODE OF FRIENDS?
The One Where We Lost And Didn’t Even Get To See An Episode Of Simon & Simon
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Desure Buie scored a game-high 21 points for the Dutchmen, who never trailed and saw all five starters score in double figures. The Dutchmen took their first double-digit lead with 9:51 left in the first half, led by fewer than 10 points just once the rest of the way and led by at least 20 points for the final 16:17. Isaac Kante stuffed the boxscore with 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 24 minutes. Eli Pemberton and Jalen Ray each had 16 points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal in 28 minutes. Weird. Tareq Coburn had 12 points and four rebounds and Omar Silverio (eight points) just missed making it six guys in double figures for the Dutchmen.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Holy Cross 12/1)
3: Desure Buie
2: Isaac Kante
1: Jalen Ray
SEASON STANDINGS
Desure Buie 13
Eli Pemberton 11
Tareq Coburn 10
Isaac Kante 7
Jalen Ray 7
COACHSPEAK: “We did all the things we had to (to) win.”
THIS IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIENDS’ FIRST SEASON, WHAT WOULD THIS GAME BE TITLED IF IT WAS AN EPISODE OF FRIENDS?
The One Where We Finally Beat A Sub-300 KenPom Team
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
Yes! The Dutchmen beat Iona 90-69 on Dec, 18, 1999 in the final game at the Physical Fitness Center, beat Bucknell 91-71 on Feb. 9, 1985 and earned a 89-69 win over Boston University on Dec. 29, 1966 but had never before recorded a 91-69 win. This is the Dutchmen’s fourth unicorn score of the season. They recorded 10 unicorn scores last season. The term unicorn score was coined by Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won.
11/9/19: 94-74 over Monmouth
11/15/19: 111-69 over New York Tech
11/21/19: 88-78 over UCLA
12/1/19: 91-69 over Holy Cross
WIRE-TO-WIRE WIN
The win over Holy Cross marked the third game this season in which the Dutchmen never trailed. The Dutchmen also led the entire way in a 111-69 win over New York Tech on Nov. 15 and a 79-57 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 24. The Dutchmen enjoyed five wire-to-wire wins last season.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER EIGHT GAMES
With the win over Holy Cross, the Dutchmen improved to 5-3. This ties the 2019-20 team for the 22rd-best record through eight games. Fourteen other teams began 5-3, including each of the previous three teams. Here is how some other notable Hofstra teams have fared through eight games.
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 4-4
1976-77: 6-2
1999-2000: 4-4 (most recent 4-4 start)
2000-01: 6-2
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 4-4
2004-05: 8-0 (most recent 8-0 start)
2005-06: 6-2
2006-07: 5-3
2015-16: 6-2 (most recent 6-2 start)
2018-19: 5-3 (marked second win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 4-4
1961-62: 7-1
1962-63: 6-2
1963-64: 7-1
Some other notable eight-game starts:
2013-14: 2-6 (most recent 2-6 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2012-13: 3-5 (most recent 3-5 start)
2008-09: 7-1 (most recent 7-1 start)
2002-03: 1-7 (most recent 1-7 start)
1994-95: 2-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-6 (VBK’s last team)
1959-60: 8-0 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise)
This feature is also inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.
SEEKING THE CHIP
The Dutchmen take the court this afternoon seeking their first preseason tournament title since November 2012, when they won three games in as many days at Hofstra to win their bracket of the 2K Sports Classic, or, as it is better known, The Cost Of Playing In Two CBIs Which Is Why We Don’t Do That Anymore. As it turned out, the Dutchmen won one fewer game in three days than they did the rest of the damn season. Let us never speak of it again. Today also marks the Dutchmen’s first appearance in a preseason tournament final since 2012-13. Crap, I spoke of it again.
SO WHO HAS A DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK NOW?
Justin Wright-Foreman, as you may or may not recall, ended his Hofstra career by scoring in double figures in each of his last 88 games. Jalen Ray entered the season with the longest streak of double-digit scoring efforts among active players (one) but his streak ended at seven games Wednesday, when he scored eight points against San Diego (after initially being credited with 10 points, that seems like getting over 1,000 yards rushing and then losing three yards on the next carry and never playing again). The longest streak of double-digit scoring efforts now belongs to Desure Buie, who has four in a row.
1010101010 WINS
The Dutchmen put five players in double figures for the fourth time this season Sunday. Earlier, they had six players score in double figures against Monmouth on Nov. 9 and five players in double figures against New York Tech on Nov. 15 and then again against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 24. The Dutchmen had six games last season in which five players scored in double figures.
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE, PART 1
The Dutchmen were 31-of-35 from the free throw line Sunday, when they had three players shoot perfect from the line while making five or more attempts. Desure Buie remained red-hot from the charity stripe by going 9-for-9 while Jalen Ray was 7-for-7 and Tareq Coburn was 5-for-5. And Isaac Kante hit his first five attempts before finishing 6-for-8. According to the Play Index at CollegeBasketballReference.com, this is the first time in the Play Index era (dating back to 2010-11) that the Dutchmen have had three players shoot perfect from the line (minimum five attempts) in the same game. Two players did it seven times, most recently when Buie (8-for-8) and Ray (5-for-5) achieved the feat against Delaware on March 2.
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE, PART 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
Desure Buie is doing it again. The senior has drained each of his last 26 free throw attempts following Sundays perfect effort. It marks the third time in the last two seasons he’s hit at least 25 straight free throws and leaves him five free throws shy of matching his career-best streak and six from tying Brian Bernardi for the most consecutive free throws made during the Joe Mihalich Era (2013-present).
Brian Bernardi, 32-for-32 (12/11/16-2/25/17)
DESURE BUIE, 31-for-31 (11/11/18-12/28/18)
Justin Wright-Foreman, 31-for-31 (2/11/17-11/10/17)***
DESURE BUIE, 29-for-29 (2/21/19-3/12/19)
DESURE BUIE, 26-for-26 (11/21/19-present)
A NEAR BENCH BLANKING
Omar Silverio’s two points against San Diego accounted for the only bench points for the Dutchmen in the loss to the Toreros. The two points by reserves marked the third time this season the Dutchmen have received exactly two bench points. Kevin Schutte had a dunk in a 79-71 loss to San Jose State on Nov. 6 and Stafford Trueheart drained a basket in the 88-78 win over UCLA on Nov. 21.
UPDATING THE CAA-ERA SCORING LIST
The all-time list is still a work a progress, but here’s the movement in the CAA-era scoring list that took place over the last two games.
25.) Jalen Ray 610
26.) Cornelius Vines 594
Ray scored eight points Wednesday to move into a tie with Vines before breaking the tie with 16 points on Sunday.
34.) Tareq Coburn 389
35.) Denton Koon 388
36.) Taran Buie 371
37.) Shemiye McLendon 370
Coburn scored 10 points Wednesday to move past McLendon and Buie before scoring 12 on Sunday to surpass Koon.
69t.) Isaac Kante 84
69t.) Anthony Noble 84
69t.) Chris McRae 84
72.) Dan Dwyer 74
73.) ********* Stokes 70
74.) Matija Radovic 69
Kante scored 10 points Wednesday to move past Radovic and (name redacted) before collecting 12 points Sunday to surpass Dwyer and move into a tie with Noble and McRae.
77.) Omar Silverio 45
78.) Kevin Schutte 39
79.) Jorge Lebron 38
Tough Sunday for Jorge LeBron, who got passed out twice when Silverio scored eight points and Schutte added two points. Perhaps Lebron can commiserate with Schutte, who managed to move past someone yet not gain a spot.
Eli Pemberton (fifth with 1,519 points), Desure Buie (16th with 820 points), Stafford Trueheart (53rd with 199 points) all scored in the last two games without moving up the charts.
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Big stuff happened 25 years ago today, when Jay Wright earned his first win as a head coach when the Flying Dutchmen beat Cornell, 82-56, in the opener of the Mile High Classic at the University of Colorado. James Parisi scored a team-high 19 points for the running-and-gunning Dutchmen, who put five players into double figures for the second straight game. (This proved to be unsustainable) Rob Ogden scored 17 points, James Shaffer added 15 points and Jamil Greene and Chris Parsons finished with 12 points each. Chris Johnke, playing near his California home for the first time, pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds.
The Dutchmen would lose to host Colorado in the title game the next night and never got back to .500 in Wright’s first season. I wonder how he turned out? I chatted with Wright last week about his first game and win with the Dutchmen, check it out at Flo Hoops. I’ll also provide regular looks back at Wright’s first season throughout this, uhh, season.
CANISIUS AND THE MAAC
Canisius, under fourth-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon, is 4-2 after earning its fourth straight win Sunday with a 76-66 victory over Mercer in the other Boca Raton Classic semifinal. The Golden Griffins were picked to finish seventh in the MAAC’s preseason poll. Senior guard Malik Johnson, a preseason all-MAAC second team pick, leads Canisius with 14.8 points per game and shares the team lead in rebounding at 5.8 rebounds per game with freshman forward Jacco Fritz
The Dutchmen and Golden Griffins have a whopping five common foes this season. The Dutchmen fell to Bucknell 86-71 on Nov. 13, three days before Canisius edged the Bison, 83-81. The Golden Griffins also beat St. Bonaventure, 61-57, and will host Holy Cross on Dec. 14. Neither of those games are part of the Boca Raton Classic, though both of the Dutchmen’s game against those foes are. So confusing. Hofstra also beat Monmouth 94-74 on Nov. 9 and is scheduled to host Manhattan Dec. 22. Canisius is scheduled to face both teams twice apiece in MAAC play.
The Dutchmen are 4-0 all-time against Canisius. The two teams last met Nov. 13, 2015, when Hofstra came back from an 18-point deficit to beat the Golden Griffins, 96-85, in the season opener. That is tied for the biggest comeback mounted by Hofstra in the Joe Mihalich Era.
Speaking of Mihalich, the longtime former coach at Niagara is 25-9 all-time against Canisius. His teams have beaten the Golden Griffins more than any other opponent.
Hofstra is 100-118 all-time against current MAAC schools. This marks the 13th time in the last 14 seasons the Dutchmen are scheduled to play at least two MAAC schools (the 2014-15 schedule had no MAAC teams).
At KenPom.com this morning, Hofstra is ranked 126th while Canisius is ranked 230th. KenPom.com predicts an 80-74 win for the Dutchmen. There was no line yet overnight but I’ll check before opening tip to see what the wise guys in Vegas have to say. The Dutchmen are 4-3 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
John Beilein bias! (The legendary college coach and current Cleveland Cavaliers coach got his first Division I head coaching gig at Canisius from 1992-97)
Your nickname sounds like Golden Grahams bias! (That’s good cereal)
You dropped football long before we did it 10 years ago tomorrow bias! (Canisius did it 2002)
Baron Bias! (Dad Jim coached son Billy at Canisius from 2012 through 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment