Tuesday, December 10, 2019

I'll Be Quirky: SUNY-Stony Brook

Marge Simpson gets ready for the big game by reminding us that Hofstra is a part of us all! A part of us all!

That wasn’t fun. The Flying Dutchmen, at the end of a three-week road trip and playing at St. Bonaventure the afternoon the school honored its 1970 Final Four team, never had a chance Saturday, when they suffered arguably the most lopsided loss of the Joe Mihalich era by falling to the Bonnies, 73-45. All will be forgotten as long as the Dutchmen get back on track tonight, when they host those turnip juice-drinking yokels from SUNY-Stony Brook. Here’s a look back at the loss to the Bonnies (as well as last Monday’s win over Canisius) and a look ahead to the Patriots.

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The Dutchmen jumped out to an 11-4 lead, but St. Bonaventure went on a 20-0 run (!!!) shortly thereafter and never looked back on its way to the easy victory. Desure Buie (17 points) was the only player in double figures for the Dutchmen. He added two rebounds, two assists, two steals and two turnovers. Eli Pemberton had nine points and four rebounds.  The Dutchmen’s other three starters — Jalen Ray, Tareq Coburn and Isaac Kante — were a combined 3-of-19 from the field.e

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. St. Bonaventure 12/7)
3: Desure Buie
2: Eli Pemberton
1: Omar Silverio

SEASON STANDINGS
Desure Buie 18
Eli Pemberton 14
Tareq Coburn 13
Isaac Kante 7
Jalen Ray 7
Omar Silverio 1

COACHSPEAK: “Great opportunity. Disappointed in our lack of toughness. I believe that deep down inside, we’re more tough than that. We can be tough at UCLA, I don’t know why we can’t be tough here. We’ve got to just learn from this, grow from this and hopefully never forget this.”

THIS IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIENDS’ FIRST SEASON, WHAT WOULD THIS GAME BE TITLED IF IT WAS AN EPISODE OF FRIENDS?
The One In Olean That Didn’t Go So Well

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER TEN GAMES
With the loss to St. Bonaventure, the Dutchmen fell to 6-4. This ties the 2019-20 team for the 28th-best record through 10 games. Thirteen other teams began 6-4, most recently the 2016-17 squad. The 6-4 record is the most common 10-game record. Here is how some other notable Hofstra teams have fared through 10 games.

NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 5-5
1976-77: 7-3
1999-2000: 6-4 
2000-01: 7-3

NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 6-4
2004-05: 9-1 (most recent 9-1 start)
2005-06: 8-2
2006-07: 6-4
2015-16: 6-4 
2018-19: 7-3 (marked fourth win in the 16-game winning streak)

NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 6-4
1961-62: 9-1
1962-63: 7-3
1963-64: 9-1

Some other notable 10-game starts:

2013-14: 3-7 (most recent 3-7 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2008-09: 8-2 (most recent 8-2 start)
2007-08: 2-8 (most recent 2-8 start)
2003-04: 4-6 (most recent 4-6 start)
2002-03: 1-9 (most recent 1-9 start)
2001-02: 5-5 (Tom Pecora’s first team, most recent 5-5 start, never .500 again)
1994-95: 2-8 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 2-8 (VBK’s last team)
1960-61: 10-0 (most recent 10-0 start)
1959-60: 10-0 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise)

Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1954-55.

This feature is inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.

A RARE FORAY INTO THE ‘40S
The Dutchmen scored fewer than 50 points for only the third time in the Joe Mihalich era and the first time since a 67-49 loss to Charleston on Feb. 1, 2014. The 45 points Saturday were the fewest for the Dutchmen sine a 61-43 loss to Georgia State on Feb. 13, 2013 and the fewest by a Mihalich-coached team since  Niagara fell to Drexel (Bruiser!!!), 84-39, on Dec. 28, 2010. That was barely this decade!

LOPSIDED LOSS
The 28-point loss for the Dutchmen is tied for the most lopsided loss of the Mihalich Era. The Dutchmen fell to no. 3 Louisville, 97-69, in Mihalich’s third game at the helm Nov. 12, 2013.

QUITE A QUIET HALF, PART I
The Dutchmen scored just 26 points in the first half Saturday, their fewest in a half since a 23-point first half against VCU on Nov 24, 2018. Alas, it didn’t take long to negate this stat…

QUITE A QUIET HALF, PART II
The Dutchmen were limited to just 19 points in the second half Saturday, their fewest in a half since scoring just 18 in the first half against SMU in a 73-49 loss on Jan 19, 2014.

RUN RUNAWAY
St. Bonaventure’s 20-0 run is believed to be the longest by an opponent since Tulane opened the second half on a 20-0 run in an 83-62 win on Dec. 22, 2012. I mean, that’s got to be it, we’d remember another 20-0 run, right?

ONLY A SINGLE IN DOUBLES
Desure Buie was the only player in double figures for the Dutchmen Saturday, when he scored 17 points. It is the first time the Dutchmen had just one player score at least 10 points since Feb. 9, 2017, when Justin Wright-Foreman scored 28 points as the Dutchmen fell to Towson, 69-65. That was the 16th game in Wright-Foreman’s career-ending streak of 88 straight double-digit scoring efforts. Speaking of which…

SO WHO HAS A DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK NOW?
That would be Desure Buie, who has six in a row.

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
That trip to St. Bonaventure really stunk. Desure Buie, who drained all seven of his free throw attempts against Canisius on Dec. 2 to break Brian Bernardi’s Mihalich-era record for most consecutive made free throws, saw his streak end Saturday, when he missed the final of his three free throw attempts. Buie’s 35 straight free throws is tied for the seventh-longest in CAA history.

DESURE BUIE, 35-for-35 (11/21/19-12/7/19)
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)

***spanned two seasons

ROUGH DAY FOR RAY
Jalen Ray, who didn’t start for the first time this season against Canisius due to an ankle injury and was scoreless in seven minutes off the bench, returned to the starting lineup Saturday but was just 1-for-10 from the field. It’s the first time a Hofstra player has made one field goal or fewer in 10 or more tries since Taran Buie was 0-for-11 against Towson on Feb. 16, 2013.

SCORELESS STARTER
Omar Silverio stepped in for Ray against Canisius but was scoreless on six field goal attempts. He is the first Hofstra starter to go scoreless since Desure Buie was held without a point against Delaware in the CAA semifinals Mar. 11. Silverio is also the first player to go without a field goal in at least six attempts  from the field since Tareq Coburn was 0-for-6 against Northeastern on Feb. 2.

WINNING THE CHIP
Let’s talk about happy things, shall we? The 64-57 win over Canisius on Dec. 2 gave the Dutchmen the championship in the Naismith Bracket of the Boca Raton Classic. It’s the first in-season tournament title for Hofstra since 2013, when the Dutchmen won their bracket of the 2K Sports Classic, which we shall never discuss again. The win over Canisius also gave Joe Mihalich the first in-season tournament title in 22 years as a head coach.

While the 2013 season didn’t exactly turn out as anyone hoped, in-season tournament championship previously portended good things to come in the Defiantly Dutch Era. Each of the first four in-season tourney titles came in seasons in which the Dutchmen reached either the NCAA Tournament or NIT.

1998 Holiday Festival (invited to the NIT)
1999 Holiday Festival (won the America East’s automatic bid to the NCAAs)
2000 Florida International Tip-Off Classic (won the America East’s automatic bid to the NCAAs)
2006 Holiday Festival (invited to the NIT)

THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST, PART 1
With the 64-57 win over Canisius, the Dutchmen have won their last 24 games in which they held an opponent under 60 points. Hofstra is 26-1 under Joe Mihalich when holding an opponent to fewer than 60 points. The only loss was absorbed Feb. 10, 2014, when the Dutchmen fell to James Madison, 59-53.

THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST, PART 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
The Dutchmen led Canisius, 28-26, at the half Dec. 2. It was the first time the Dutchmen scored fewer than 30 points in the first half but still led since Feb. 25, 2017, when the Dutchmen led James Madison, 27-23, at halftime of a 71-66 victory.

UPDATING THE CAA-ERA SCORING LIST
The all-time last 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. 

67.) Isaac Kante 96
68.) Omar Alston 91
69.) J***** H*** 89
70.) Anthony Noble 84
70.) Chris McRae 84

Kante broke a tie with Anthony Noble and Chris McRae for 69th place (nice) and then shoved past one of They Whom We Shall Not Name by scoring six points against Canisius. Another six points against St. Bonaventure vaulted him past Omar Alston.

76t.) Omar Silverio 50
76t.) Andre Walker 50

Silverio’s five points against St. Bonaventure moved him into a tie with Walker.

93t.) Hal Hughes 4
93t.) Paul Bilbo 4
93t.) Brian Sisti 4
95t.) Dan Steinberg 2

Hughes dunked against Canisius to leave Dan Steinberg as the only Hofstra player to score exactly two points in the CAA era.

THE WRIGHT STUFF
Jay Wright began his head coaching career 25 years ago this fall. The Dutchmen played two games around this time in 1994, when they lost to Lehigh, 67-66, on a last-second basket Dec. 7 and lost to Northeastern, 74-54, on Dec. 11 to fall to 1-4. Wright’s never gonna work out, they should fire him. Jim Shaffer (19 points) and James Parisi (18 points) scored in double figures against Lehigh while Darius Burton collected a career-high 10 assists. Shaffer and Burton had 13 points apiece against Northeastern while Matt Carpenter pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

SUNY-STONY BROOK AND THE AMERICA EAST
SUNY-Stony Brook, under first-year head coach Geno Ford after Jeff “Parker Executive Search Committee” Boals did what everyone knew he would do and bolted for Ohio before last season was even complete, is 7-3 this season after a 79-63 win over Brown on Saturday.  

SUNY-Stony Brook was picked to finish third in the America East this season. Junior Elijah Olaniyi leads SUNY-Stony Brook with 19.7 points per game. Juniors Makale Foreman (14.4 ppg) and Andrew Garcia (11.7 ppg) are also averaging in double figures while junior Jeff Otchere is pulling down a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.

The Dutchmen and SUNY-Stony Brook have two common foes this season. SUNY-Stony Brook fell to Delaware, 75-61, on Nov. 27 before beating Manhattan, 65-47 on Dec. 2.

Hofstra is 22-5 all-time against SUNY-Stony Brook, including 4-1 since the series resumed in 2014. The Dutchmen won their third straight game in the series last Dec. 19, when they beat the Patriots, 71-64, at SUNY-Stony Brook. Tonight’s game marks the second game of a four-year contract between the schools.

Hofstra is 23-21-1 in all sports against SUNY-Stony Brook since the two schools began scheduling each other again in the spring of 2014, including 18-10-1 since the 2016-17 school year began.

Hofstra is 82-33 all-time against current America East schools. Since joining the CAA in 2001-02, the Dutchmen have faced at least one America East opponent every season except 2012-13. SUNY-Stony Brook, which was a Division III school for decades, completed its transition to Division I and joined the America East upon Hofstra’s departure.

At KenPom.com this morning, Hofstra is ranked 147th while SUNY-Stony Brook is ranked 171st. KenPom.com predicts a 74-69 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 5.5-point favorites. 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
You still only have half as many America East titles as us even though you’ve been there almost three times as long bias! (It’s a mouthful but it works)
Adam Rubin bias! (The rare consecutive home game visiting SID bias! Congrats to Adam on his new gig, even though we now must loathe him)
At least our coaches stick around for the full season bias! (But does leaving before the CBI really count?)
Y
Turnip juice bias! (It’s a Simpsons thing)

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