I'll Be Quirky: Iona

I'll be annoyed if tonight's the night Rick Pitino finally gets Tim Duncan.

Now we know why the Atlantic 10 doesn’t want to invite Hofstra. The Flying Dutchmen ran their winning streak over A-10 foes to two Saturday night, when Zach Cooks continued his red-hot start and the Dutchmen led almost wire-to-wire in a 73-63 win over Duquesne. The Dutchmen will look to maintain their winning ways much closer to home tonight, when they’re slated to visit Iona and some little-known second-year coach named Rick Pitino. Here’s a look back at the win over the Dukes and a look ahead to the Gaels.

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Zach Cooks (29 points) moved into some rarefied Hofstra air as the Dutchmen led for the final 38:17. Cooks, who is the first Hofstra player to score at least 25 points in each of his first two games since Demetrius Dudley in 1991, scored 20 first-half points as the Dutchmen raced out to a 41-23 lead and then drained a jumper to end Duquesne’s 11-0 run to open the second half. The Dukes got as close as 47-44 with 12 minutes left, but Primo Spears missed a 3-pointer and Darlinstone Dubar answered with a 3-pointer for the Dutchmen, who led by multiple possessions the rest of the way. Cooks scored his final four points during a decisive 9-2 run by the Dutchmen that extended the lead to 71-62 and was fueled by three nifty assists from Caleb Burgess. Cooks also shared the team lead with seven rebounds. Dubar and Aaron Estrada each had 14 points and six rebounds. Estrada added four assists. Abayomi Iyiola had 12 points and seven rebounds while Burgess finished with seven assists.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Duquesne, 11/13)

3: Zach Cooks

2: Aaron Estrada

1: Darlinstone Dubar

SEASON STANDINGS

Zach Cooks 6

Aaron Estrada 4

Darlinstone Dubar 2

(Pretty sure the same top three opening the season as the 3 Stars of the Game in back-to-back games has never happened)

COACHSPEAK: “It is absolutely everything — everything, everything, everything. I mean, I have dreamt of this moment for years. And to finally have it be here, I mean, I’m living a dream, man. I am living a dream that I don’t ever want to wake up from.”—Speedy Claxton

WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?

Sigh, no, but at least it took a while to find the most recent 76-63 win, which the Dutchmen recorded over St. Francis (NY) on Feb. 6, 1971. That was one day shy of my parents’ second MONTH wedding anniversary! 

The Dutchmen have recorded 23 unicorn scores since we first started tracking them in 2018-19 — 10 in ’18-19 and then 13 in 2019-20. 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-two other teams began 1-1, most recently last year’s squad. This is the Dutchmen’s fourth 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

Five previous head coaches earned their first Hofstra win in the second game of their debut seasons:

Mike Farrelly 2020-21

Joe Mihalich 2013-14

Jay Wright 1994-95

Joe Harrington 1979-80

Jack Smith 1943-44

We mention this because…

FIRST WIN FOR SPEEDY

The win Saturday was the first for Speedy Claxton, who also becomes the first person in the history of the program to both score a point as a player and earn a win as a head coach. #Facts #Science Claxton is believed to be the 16th 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.

STILL NOT TWO UNDER .500

With the win Saturday, the Dutchmen avoided falling two games under .500 for the first time since ending the 2016-17 season at 15-17. Only 53 other Division I teams have gone as long or longer without falling two games under .500, including 45 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. Two programs are 1-2 heading into games later this week — Oregon State against Samford on Thursday and Western Kentucky against Memphis on Friday).

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 11 schools and matched by two more.

(Once again, dear Dutchmen: Please win tonight to ensure this stat remains current this week, thank you in advance)

AN AWARD-WINNING COOKS

Zach Cooks earned CAA Player of the Week honors after collecting 55 points in the games against Houston and Duquesne. Cooks is the 11th Hofstra player to earn at least a share of Player of the Week honors since the 2013-14 season, Joe Mihalich’s first at the helm. No other CAA school has more than nine award-winners in that span.

ZACH’S REALLY COOKING

With his 29 points Saturday night. Zach Cooks became just the fourth Hofstra player since the 1991-92 season to score at least 20 points in each of his first two games and only the second to score at least 25 points in each of his first two games. The late great Demetrius Dudley, who was also a transfer from a New Jersey school, scored 33 points against Navy on Nov. 23, 1991 and 32 points against Lehigh on Nov. 27, 1991. The only others to open their careers at Hofstra with consecutive 20-point efforts over the last 30 years are Lawrence Thomas (20 points against Villanova on Dec. 28, 1995 and 32 points against Army on Jan. 3, 1996) and Eli Pemberton (20 points against Coppin State on Nov. 11, 2016 and 23 points against Sacred Heart on Nov. 15, 2016).

Looking ahead to tonight, Cooks is aiming to join Dudley as the only player in the last 30 years to open his Hofstra career with three straight 20-point efforts. Dudley actually made it three straight 30-point performances by collecting 30 points against Manhattan on Nov. 30, 1991. Thomas had 12 points against Drexel on Jan. 6, 1996 and Pemberton scored 15 points against Manhattan on Nov. 18, 2016.

TEN WITH SEVEN

Caleb Burgess’ late surge allowed him to finish with seven assists for the 10th time in his career. Only two other Hofstra players have collected at least seven assists 10 times or more since the 2010-11 season, the first of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference. Juan’ya Green had 36 10-assists games from 2014-16 while Desure Buie had 22 10-assist games from 2015-20.

OVER THE AIR

Tonight’s game will be carried on ESPN3, which you have if you have the Disney Bundle, which you have if you have a child under the age of 18. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.

IONA AND THE MAAC

Iona, under this random second-year head coach Rick Pitino, is 2-0 this season with a 65-53 win over Appalachian State Nov. 9 and a 90-87 overtime win over Harvard on Saturday.

Iona, which has earned the MAAC’s last five NCAA Tournament bids (the Gaels were knocked out in the MAAC quarterfinals on Mar. 11, 2020, which, well, you know what happened after that) and gave second-seeded Alabama all it could handle in a first-round game in March, was the unanimous pick to win the MAAC this season. Sophomore Nelly Junior Joseph, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year, was selected to the All-MAAC first team.

Joseph leads Iona with 20.0 points per game this season and ranks second with 5.5 rebounds per game. Graduate student Tyson Jolly is averaging 17.5 points per game while fellow graduate student Dylan van Eyck ranks third in scoring at 16.5 points per game while pulling down a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.

The Dutchmen and Gaels have one common opponent. Iona is slated to play the CAA’s Delaware at UBS Arena on Dec. 21.

Tonight marks the second game of a three-game home-and-home series that began last year, when Iona earned an 82-74 win at Hofstra Arena on Dec. 5. That gave Iona a 21-20 lead in the all-time series between the schools, though perhaps it’s actually tied because Willie bested Killian the Gael in a game of rock/paper/scissors to determine last year’s host. Iona is Hofstra’s third-most frequent non-conference opponent behind only Wagner (53 games) and Manhattan (46 games).

Hofstra is 103-119 all-time against current MAAC schools. Iona is the only MAAC foe on the Dutchmen’s schedule this season, which marks just the second time in the last 16 seasons the Dutchmen haven’t played at least two MAAC schools (the 2014-15 schedule had no MAAC teams).

At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 149th while Iona is ranked 159th. That’s pretty close! KenPom.com predicts a 72-69 loss for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 4-point underdogs. The Dutchmen are 2-0 against the spread this season after once again shutting up the doubters Saturday night. 

I helped preview tonight’s game in podcast form with my good friend, Iona superfan Guy Falotico. Check it out here! 

A FAMILIAR FACE

By directing Iona to a win over Hofstra last season, Rick Pitino became just the fourth coach to oppose the Flying Dutchmen with three different schools. Pitino first faced the then-actual 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.

The only other coaches to oppose Hofstra with three different schools are Jim Lynam (Fairfield, American and Saint Joseph’s between the 1969-70 and 1980-81 seasons), Nick Macarchuk (Canisius, Fordham and Stony Brook between the 1977-78 and 1999-2000 seasons) and Jim Baron (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

Tim Duncan butterfly effect bias! (Who knows how Pitino’s career as an NBA head coach/general manager turns out if the Celtics win the 1997 lottery instead of the Spurs)

Mariano Rivera bias! (The all-time saves king lives in New Rochelle and his son pitched for Iona)

You always have too many transfers bias! (Hey, now that we’re doing it too, all is good!)

The Mets are never going to make Casey Stanley happy bias! (Our good friend’s lone non-basketball interest is the Mets)