The Flying Dutchmen got into the win column for the 85th straight season Monday night, when they overcame another extended first-half shooting drought with a dominant second half performance in a 73-58 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. The Dutchmen will hope to play — and make it two wins in a row — this afternoon, when they are scheduled to host Iona and some scrub coach named Rick Pitino at the Arena. Here’s a look back at the win over the Knights and a look ahead to the Gaels.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The Dutchmen finished the first half in an even bigger shooting funk than the day before against Rutgers before getting hot from the field and authoring an unrelenting defensive performance in the second half as they pulled away from Fairleigh Dickinson. The Dutchmen led by as many as 10 early Monday night but missed 14 straight shots over a span of more than nine minutes as the Knights ended the half on a 23-6 run to take a 40-31 lead. But the Dutchmen scored the first nine points of the second half, including seven by Tareq Coburn, and outscored the Knights 42-18 over the final 20 minutes. Coburn ended up scoring 15 of his 21 points after halftime. Freshman KVonn Cramer continued to establish himself as the next big thing with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Isaac Kante had 16 points and nine rebounds. Omar Silverio had 10 points and Jalen Ray finished with six points but racked up a career-high nine assists.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Fairleigh Dickinson 11/30)
3: Tareq Coburn
2: KVonn Cramer
1: Isaac Kante
SEASON STANDINGS
Tareq Coburn 3
KVonn Cramer 3
Isaac Kante 3
Jalen Ray 3
Holy moley, a four-way tie! Even accounting for the small sample size, that's wild.
COACHSPEAK: “Good learning experience for us. Good example to use. You take every opponent seriously, whether you’re playing a top-25 Rutgers team at the RAC or you’re playing FDU at home. You have to approach every game the same way. I don’t know if we did that in the first half, but the second half we played the way that we’re supposed to.”—acting head coach Mike Farrelly
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No! But it took lots of deep diving into the media guide to find the most recent 73-58 win, which was registered by the Flying Dutchmen over Bates during the 1951-52 season. My parents weren’t even in kindergarten yet!
The Dutchmen recorded 13 unicorn score victories last season, three more than in 2018-19, which was when we first started tracking unicorn scores. 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.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER TWO GAMES
As you have probably gathered by now, the Dutchmen are 1-1, which is tied for the 28th-best start in program history. Forty-one other teams began 1-1, most recently last year’s squad. Things turned out OK after that. This is the Dutchmen’s third straight 1-1 start, their longest streak of 1-1 starts since opening 1-1 in five straight seasons from 2007-08 through 2011-12. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through two games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 1-1
1976-77: 2-0
1999-2000: 1-1
2000-01: 2-0
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 1-1
NIT TEAMS
2005-06: 1-1
2006-07: 0-2
2015-16: 2-0
2018-19: 1-1
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 1-1
1961-62: 1-1
1962-63: 1-1
1963-64: 2-0
This feature is inspired by Mets superfan and blogger Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.
WINS THE SECOND TIME AROUND
Four previous head coaches earned their first Hofstra win in the second game of their debut seasons:
Joe Mihalich 2013-14
Jay Wright 1994-95
Joe Harrington 1979-80
Jack Smith 1943-44
We mention this because…
FIRST WIN FOR FARRELLY
The win Monday was the first for Mike Farrelly, who has served as acting head coach since Mihalich went on a medical leave of absence in August. Farrelly is believed to be the 15th coach to record a win for the Flying Dutchmen, though Joseph Kershaw (1937-38) and Joe Dunleavy (1993-94) each have their win/loss totals included with those of Jack McDonald and Butch van Breda Kolff, respectively. Dunleavy was the previous man to earn a win as an acting head coach on Feb. 21, 1994, when the Dutchmen beat St. Francis, 96-89, while van Breda Kolff was hospitalized.
STILL NOT TWO UNDER .500
The win Monday also ensured the Dutchmen would not fall two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2016-17 season. Only 68 other Division I teams have gone as long or longer without falling two games under .500, including 60 programs whose streak predates the 2016-17 finale and eight others who were last two games under .500 as of the end of their ’16-17 season. (There were 69 — nice — programs prior to last night, when Seton Hall lost to Oregon to fall two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 season)
Among true mid-majors (defined by me as schools outside the Power 6, AAC, A-10, West Coast and Mountain West), Hofstra’s streak is exceeded by just 16 schools and matched by two more. Among the mids that have gone longer without falling two games under .500 than the Dutchmen: Charleston, which hasn’t been two under since the end of the 2014-15 season, Here’s the full list and the date the program was most recently two games under .500:
Louisiana Tech: 2/16/12
New Mexico State: 1/3/15
UAB: 1/17/15
Charleston: end of ’14-15
San Francisco: end of ’14-15
Furman: end of ’14-15
Vermont: 12/8/15
Northern Kentucky: end of ’15-16
UNC Greensboro: end of ’15-16
Loyola Chicago: end of ’15-16
Georgia Southern: 11/22/16
Belmont: 11/25/16
Liberty: 1/3/17
Buffalo: 1/31/17
Murray State: 2/25/17
South Dakota State: 2/18/17
HOFSTRA: end of ’16-17
Hawaii: end of ’16-17
Western Kentucky: end of ’16-17
DOMINANT DEFENSE
The Dutchmen came within two seconds Monday night of authoring their most suffocating defensive half in almost 15 years. A 3-pointer by Brandon Rush just before the buzzer provided Fairleigh Dickinson’s final points of the evening and gave the Knights 18 points for the second half. That’s still the lowest output by a Hofstra opponent in a half since Feb. 8, 2014, when the Dutchmen limited UNC Wilmington to 17 points in the second half of a 61-52 win. The Dutchmen haven’t allowed fewer than 17 points in a half since Mar. 5, 2006, when they held George Mason to 16 points in the second half of a 58-49 win in the CAA Tournament semifinals. NCAA Tournament, here we come!
For most of the second half Monday, the Dutchmen had a real shot at breaking an even older record for stinginess. The Dutchmen last allowed fewer than 15 points in a half on Nov. 29, 2005, when they held St. John’s to 11 points in the second half of a 64-51 win. On Monday, Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t break double digits in the second half until John Square Jr. sank a free throw with 3:25 to go.
DOUBLE THE FUN FOR KVONN
KVonn Cramer, already quite fun to watch, needed just two games to get his first career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds). That’s the earliest a Dutchmen player has posted his first double-double since one of the He Who Cannot Be Nameds opened his very brief Hofstra career by recording a double-double against Monmouth in his collegiate debut on Nov. 9, 2012.
SPEAKING OF (THE GOOD KIND OF) STEALS…
Here’s a note from Sunday I forgot to include on Monday. Loyal reader EvanJ notes the Dutchmen had seven players record a steal against Rutgers (Cramer led the way with three thefts). That was tied for the most players to record a steal for the Dutchmen since 2010-11, the start of the Play Index era at CollegeBasketballReference.com. The Dutchmen also had seven players with at least one steal in a 91-69 win over Holy Cross on Dec. 1, 2019.
OMAR’S COMIN’
Omar Silverio’s 10-point effort Monday marked the first time he’s reached double digits since Jan. 4, when he tied a career-high with 13 points against Elon. Silverio has 18 points in two games this year, which is two more points than he had in his final 13 games last season.
(I’ve never actually seen The Wire but I know I should)
JALEN DIMES
Jalen Ray took on an unexpected role Monday, when he scored just six points but added nine assists. The latter figure shattered his previous career-high of five, set twice previously and most recently against Elon on Jan. 4.
ONE IS A STREAK
We’ve had some fun here tracking the longest active streak of double-digit scoring performances by the Dutchmen since the graduation of Justin Wright-Foreman, who of course ended his career by scoring in double figures in each of his last 88 games. But with Ray, who was the only player to score in double figures against Rutgers, had his streak of double-digit scoring efforts snapped at five Monday, which means the tracking of the streaks, such as they are, have gone completely to the other end of the spectrum.
Tareq Coburn, Isaac Kante, KVonn Cramer and Omar Silverio have all scored in double digits in one straight game. Discounting season openers, this marks the first time the Dutchmen haven’t had a player working on a streak of two or more consecutive double-digit scoring efforts since Jan 31, 2013, when the Dutchmen fell to James Madison, 62-41, as David Imes scored 10 points and Taran Buie had his streak of double-digit scoring efforts snapped at five straight.
SCORELESS STARTER
Freshman David Green went scoreless in a second straight start Monday, when he was 0-for-4 from the field in 11 minutes. He is the first player to produce back-to-back scoreless starts since Jamall Robinson was scoreless against Charleston and Elon on Jan 7-12, 2017.
OVER THE AIR
Hofstra will provide a video feed (with a FloHoops subscription) and radio feed of today’s game, as well as live stats, at the Pride Productions hub.
IONA AND THE MAAC
Iona, under some first-year head coach named Rick Pitino, is 0-1 this season with an 80-64 loss to Seton Hall on Monday. Pitino is surely the most accomplished head coach to visit the Arena since Dec. 1, 2012, when another Long Island native, Larry Brown, brought Southern Methodist to town and exited with a 73-47 win in a game better known for being the first game played after, well, you know.
The Gaels, who were shut down for two weeks in the preseason due to a Tier 1 positive coronavirus case and had to back out of a game against Fordham as well as a pair of Bubbleville games, were supposed to play Merrimack Thursday, but that game got canceled Thursday morning due to a positive coronavirus case within the Merrimack program. Per old friend Casey Stanley, the former UNC Wilmington assistant who is now on Pitino’s staff, Iona drew up contracts for 17 games that weren’t played. And this game was supposed to be played Dec. 23 before getting moved up following the spate of Iona cancellations. What a year.
Despite returning just four scholarship players from last year’s squad, Iona was picked to finish second in the preseason MAAC coaches poll. Perhaps this Pitino guy can coach a little bit. Seniors Asante Gist and Isaiah Ross were each name to the preseason all-MAAC second team. Ross scored a team-high 23 points against Seton Hall while Nelly Joseph had 13 points and six rebounds. Gist sat out with an injury.
The all-time series between the teams is tied at 20-20, though one supposes Hofstra leads 21-20 because Willie can actually play rock/paper/scissors. While Iona is Hofstra’s third-most frequent non-conference opponent behind only Wagner (53 games) and Manhattan (46 games), today’s scheduled game is the first between the teams since Dec. 29, 2011, when the Dutchmen upset the NCAA Tournament-bound Gaels, 83-75, at the Arena. Mike Moore had 24 points while Nathaniel Lester recorded a double-double (21 points, 10 rebounds).
At KenPom.com today, Hofstra is ranked 147th while Iona is ranked 267th. KenPom.com predicts a 76-67 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 9-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 2-0 against the spread this season.
A FAMILIAR FACE
If the game happens today, Rick Pitino will join a unique group of coaches to oppose Hofstra with three different schools. Pitino first faced the Flying Dutchmen way back on Dec. 29, 1986, when Providence cruised to a 97-61 win in Rhode Island. Future national champion head coach Billy Donovan was one of five Providence players to score in double figures. Almost exactly three months later, the Friars were in the Final Four. Gerald King scored 24 points for the Dutchmen.
And Pitino’s second game following his second national championship LUKE HANCOCK BIAS was against Hofstra on Nov. 12, 2013, when Louisville beat the Dutchmen, 97-69, in Joe Mihalich’s third game at the helm. Dion Nesmith led the Dutchmen with 24 points while Zeke Upshaw had 17 points.
Per my still-incomplete research, at least three other coaches have opposed Hofstra with three different schools. Jim Lynam coached against the Dutchmen with Fairfield, American and Saint Joseph’s between the 1969-70 and 1980-81 seasons. Nick Macarchuk coached against Hofstra with Canisius, Fordham and SUNY-Stony Brook between the 1977-78 and 1999-2000 seasons while Jim Baron did so for St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Canisius between the 1992-93 and 2015-16 seasons.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Two-time national champion bias! (duh)
Pat Kennedy’s trench coat bias! (Long before he sacrificed his trench coat on a highway offramp, Kennedy spent the first six seasons of his coaching career at Iona)
Dennis Leonard bias! (The longtime rubber-armed Royals starter, who had a whopping 69 complete games back when men were men from 1976-79, went to Iona)
Casey Stanley is a Bobby Bonilla fan who likes aquariums bias! (Well, at least his girlfriend likes visiting aquariums, on the afternoons before his former school beats Hofstra in a conference championship game 2016 DOESN’T HURT ANYMORE, CASEY)
No comments:
Post a Comment