Hey kids, stop moving up to Division I and joining the America East! We invented that! Copycats!
Unfortunately for the Flying Dutchmen, Rick Pitino’s homecoming was a successful one Saturday afternoon, when Pitino earned his first win at Iona — and his first win in his sixth decade of coaching college basketball — as the Gaels fended off the Dutchmen, 82-74. The Dutchmen are scheduled to stay home and stay local this evening, when our old friends SUNY-Stony Brook (hopefully) visit. Here’s a look back at the loss to Iona and a look ahead to the Patriots.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Tareq Coburn (a career-high 28 points while going 13-of-17 from the line) had a Loren Stokes-ian game, but it wasn’t enough as the Dutchmen had trouble handling Iona’s press and stopping the Gaels from 3-point land. The Dutchmen slumped in the first half for the third straight game and were just 7-of-23 from the field before going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 34-34 at the half. After holding a pair of brief one-point leads early in the second half, the Dutchmen trailed for the final 15:08 and were within a possession just once in the last 11:55. Isaac Kante had 17 points and eight rebounds, all on the defensive end, while Jalen Ray had 15 points. Caleb Burgess added seven assists and committed just one turnover in 32 minutes. The Dutchmen were out-rebounded 43-31 and had just six offensive rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Iona 12/5)
3: Tareq Coburn
2: Isaac Kante
1: Jalen Ray
SEASON STANDINGS
Tareq Coburn 6
Isaac Kante 5
Jalen Ray 4
KVonn Cramer 3
Not quite a four-way tie, but 6-5-4-3 is pretty neat too.
COACHSPEAK: “We have to take advantage of these opportunities when we do get the chance to play, given the uncertainty of what we’re going through. I don’t think we necessarily did that today, taking advantage of the opportunity the right way — playing with the right energy, the right amount of toughness. Certainly much credit to Iona, because I think they did bring that.”—acting head coach Mike Farrelly
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER THREE GAMES
As you have probably gathered by now, the Dutchmen are 1-2, which is tied for the 45th-best start in program history. Thirty-two other teams began 1-2, most recently last year’s squad. Things turned out OK after that. The Dutchmen last began 1-2 in back-to-back seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through two games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 2-1
1976-77: 2-1
1999-2000: 1-2
2000-01: 3-0
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 1-2
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 1-2
2005-06: 2-1
2006-07: 0-3
2015-16: 3-0
2018-19: 2-1
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 1-2
1961-62: 2-1
1962-63: 1-2
1963-64: 3-0
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.
THIRD GAME NOT USUALLY THE CHARM
Mike Farrelly is the third straight Hofstra coach to open his first season 1-2 and the 10th all-time. Tom Pecora (2-1 in 2001-02, with the loss coming in his third game) was the most recent first-year head coach to open better than 1-2. The others: Dick Berg (2-1 in 1980-81, with the loss coming in his third game), Butch van Breda Kolff I (3-0 in 1955-56), Frank Reilly (3-0 in 1947-48) and Jack McDonald (2-1 in 1946-47).
No Hofstra head coach has ever lost his first three games. The only first-year Hofstra head coaches to earn their first win in the third game are Roger Gaeckler (1972-73), Jack Smith (1944-45) and McDonald in his first stint in 1936-37, when he directed the Dutchmen to the first win in program history with a 42-40 overtime win over Staten Island.
THIRD TIME THE CHARM FOR PITINO
Iona head coach Rick Pitino became just the fourth known head coach to oppose Hofstra with three different teams Saturday, when he improved to 3-0 against the Flying Dutchmen. Pitino also beat the Dutchmen with Providence, 97-61, on Dec. 29, 1986 and with Louisville, 97-69, on Nov. 12, 2013. The latter game was Joe Mihalich’s third at the helm, just as Saturday’s was the third at the helm for acting head coach Mike Farrelly.
The other coaches to oppose Hofstra with three schools:
Jim Lynam (8-3 with Fairfield, American and Saint Josephs from 1969-70 through 1980-81)
Nick Macarchuk (9-7 with Canisius, Fordham and SUNY-Stony Brook from 1977-78 through 2004-05)
Jim Baron (3-1 with St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Canisius from 1992-93 through 2015-16)
GAELS A FORCE
The Dutchmen, whose solid zone defense became a trademark of the run to the CAA championship last year, had their roughest defensive afternoon in some time Saturday afternoon. Iona’s 82 points were the most scored by a Hofstra opponent since William & Mary recorded an 88-61 win on Jan. 2. And the Gaels 30- 3-point shots were the most by a victorious opponent since Northeastern finished 14-of-31 in the Huskies 82-74 (WHOA) win in the 2019 CAA championship game.
ROSS CAN
Isaiah Ross scored 33 points for Iona Saturday, the most by an opposing player against Hofstra since Matt Lewis racked up 40 points in James Madison’s 104-99 overtime win on Feb. 23, 2019.
KVONN HONOR
Redshirt freshman KVonn Cramer earned the first of what the Dutchmen hope will be many conference awards Monday, when he was named the CAA’s rookie of the week. Cramer collected 21 points, 16 rebounds and five steals while coming off the bench in the games against Fairleigh Dickinson and Iona. He had a double-double in the win over Fairleigh Dickinson.
TAREQ COBURN AND LOREN STOKES EACH COMBINE FOR 11 LETTERS…AND OTHER SIMILARITIES
I couldn’t have been the only one to think about Loren Stokes upon seeing Tareq Coburn’s final line Saturday, right? Coburn posted his career-high 28 points by going 6-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-8 from 3-point land, and 13-of-17 from the free throw line. He also added four rebounds.
So because this is a normal thing to do, I looked at the boxscores from Stokes’ four years and found the closest comp between the two in a CAA quarterfinal game on Mar. 5, 2005, when Stokes was 9-of-19 from the field and 13-of-17 (!!!) from the free throw line for a then-career 31 points in a XX-YY win over Drexel. Hopefully Coburn can avoid malice-filled punches below his midsection.
GETTING TO THE LINE
Coburn’s 17 free throw attempts were the most by a Hofstra player since Nov. 25, 2014, when Juan’ya Green was — you’re not going to believe this — 13-of-17 in a 71-70 loss to South Florida. That’s pretty wild.
CALEB A BURGEONING POINT GUARD?
Sophomore Caleb Burgess may have taken the lead in the point guard race Saturday, when he was just 1-of-7 from the field but had a career-high seven assists while committing just one turnover in a career-high 31 minutes. Junior Shawndarius Cowart was scoreless with a steal in eight minutes. Burgess is the youngest Hofstra player to collect seven or more assists while committing one turnover or fewer since Mar. 5, 2010, when freshman Chaz Williams had eight assists and one turnover in 40 minutes in a 68-67 win over Georgia State in the first round of the CAA Tournament.
SCORELESS STARTER
Freshman David Green went scoreless in a third straight start Saturday, when he was 0-for-2 from the field in 10 minutes. He is the first player to produce back-to-back-to-back scoreless starts since Moussa Kone was scoreless against Oregon State, St. Francis (NY) and Florida Atlantic from Nov. 16-22, 2011.
STILL NOT TWO UNDER .500...FOR NOW
With the loss Saturday, the Dutchmen are in danger tonight of falling two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2016-17 season. Only 67 other Division I teams have gone as long or longer without falling two games under .500, including 59 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 68 other programs prior to Sunday, when Kentucky lost to Georgia Tech to fall two games under .500 for the first time since Nov. 18, 2009)
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 and is also trying to keep that streak going tonight when it faces Marshall. 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
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.
SUNY-STONY BROOK AND THE AMERICA EAST
SUNY-Stony Brook, under second-year head coach Geno Ford, is 1-2 this season after an 89-66 loss to St. John’s on Sunday. Hey, how about that, St. John’s can schedule local mid-majors. Who knew?
SUNY-Stony Brook was picked to finish fifth in the America East this season after its entire starting lineup from a 20-win team (that was knocked out of the America East semifinals — IT’S NOT THE PLAYOFFS — just as Hofstra won the CAA on the last night of normal) transferred Elijah Olaniyi (Miami), Makale Foreman (California), Andrew Garcia (Georgia), Miles Latimer (Bucknell) and Jeff Otchere (Texas-Rio Grande Valley) took with them a combined 56.7 points and 21.5 rebounds per game. For good measure, reserve Anthony Ochefu (Delaware) transferred too.
As a result, SUNY-Stony Brook’s top four scorers are all first-year transfers. Junior Juan Felix Rodriguez is averaging 13.7 points per game, followed by sophomore Frankie Policelli (13.0 ppg), senior Jaden Sayles (12.0 ppg) and junior Tykei Greene (9.3 ppg with a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game) . The Patriots’ top returning player is senior forward Mouhamadou Gueye, who is averaging 8.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Hofstra is 23-5 all-time against SUNY-Stony Brook, including 5-1 since the series resumed in 2014. The Dutchmen won their fourth straight game in the series a year ago tomorrow, when they beat the Patriots, 71-63, at the Arena. Tonight’s game marks the third game of a four-year contract between the schools.
Hofstra is 24-21-1 in all sports against SUNY-Stony Brook since the two schools began scheduling each other again in the spring of 2014, including 19-10-1 since the 2016-17 school year began. Because of the pandemic, this is the first game between the schools in any sport since last year’s men’s basketball clash.
Hofstra is 83-33 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 161st while SUNY-Stony Brook is ranked 263rd. KenPom.com predicts a 75-67 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 9-point favorites. That didn’t work out well at all on Saturday! The Dutchmen are 2-1 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Anthony Noble is a part of us all bias! (The one-time Hofstra walk-on played his final two seasons at SUNY-Stony Brook)
Nick Tropeano was part of both New York teams this year never pitched for either of them bias! (The SUNY-Stony Brook grad spent two days on the Yankees’ roster in August and was claimed by the Mets in October but non-tendered earlier this month)
Adam Rubin's Rapid Reaction bias! (In his previous career as a Mets beat writer for ESPN New York, Stony Brook SID Adam Rubin produced the popular Rapid Reaction after every Mets game)
You still can’t win America East tournaments despite getting the rules changed on your behalf bias! (If you know, you know)
No comments:
Post a Comment