Can the Dutchmen burst Richmond's bubble for the second time in 11 months?
If you thought the Houston game was an agonizing near-miss, boy, do we have something for you! The undermanned Flying Dutchmen — employing a seven-man rotation with no one taller than 6-foot-7 — nearly pulled off one of the most impressive wins in program history Friday night before no. 20 Maryland scored the game’s final six points to escape with a 69-67 win. That’s two almost wins over top 20 programs in 10 days, rats. The Dutchmen will complete the arduous road trip tonight, when they’re slated to visit Richmond. Here’s a look back at the loss to Maryland and a look ahead to the creepy crawly Spiders.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The Dutchmen, playing without center Abraham Iyiola, managed to hang tight in a remarkably closely contested game and went ahead 67-63 with 1:26 left on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jalen Ray. Even after Maryland’s Julian Reese and Eric Ayala sandwiched jumpers around an errant 3-pointer by Ray, the Dutchmen had the ball with the shot clock off, but Ayala blocked Omar Silverio’s ill-advised 3-pointer with four seconds left and Silverio promptly fouled Ian Martinez on the “rebound.” Martinez hit both free throws and then burned a foul on Zack Cooks before Fatts Russell stole Aaron Estrada’s in-bounds pass at halfcourt. Ray finished with a game-high 18 points and was 5-of-12 from 3-point land for the Dutchmen, who never trailed by more than seven and never led by more than four. Estrada (12 points, nine rebounds) and Darlinstone Dubar (10 points, seven rebounds) each flirted with double-doubles while Cooks had 13 points. Dubar, the tallest player for the Dutchmen at 6-foot-7, split time at center with Kvonn Cramer, who had six points and four rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Maryland, 11/19)
3: Jalen Ray
2: Darlinstone Dubar
1: Aaron Estrada
SEASON STANDINGS
Jalen Ray 6
Darlinstone Dubar 6
Zach Cooks 6
Aaron Estrada 5
Abayomi Iyiola 1
Now that’s close!
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER FOUR GAMES
With the loss to Maryland, the Dutchmen fell to 1-3, which is especially noteworthy beyond the fact it is tied for the 65th-best start in program history…or, if you’re a negative Nellie, tied for the fourth-worst start in program history! Eighteen other teams began 1-3, most recently the 2013-14 squad in Joe Mihalich’s first year. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through four games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 2-2
1976-77: 3-1
1999-2000: 2-2
2000-01: 4-0
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 2-2
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 1-3
2004-05: 4-0 (most recent 4-0 start)
2005-06: 2-1
2006-07: 1-3
2015-16: 3-1
2018-19: 2-2
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 2-2
1961-62: 3-1
1962-63: 2-2
1963-64: 3-1
Other notable four-game starts:
2020-21: 2-2 (most recent 2-2 start)
2017-18: 3-1 (most recent 3-1 start)
2010-11: 1-3 (Mo Cassara’s first team)
1994-95: 1-3 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 0-4 (VBK’s last team, most recent 0-4 start)
1982-83: 4-0
1973-74: 0-4
1969-70: 0-4
1960-61: 4-0
1959-60: 4-0
1955-56: 4-0
1954-55: 4-0
1952-53: 4-0
1951-52: 4-0
1948-49: 4-0
1947-48: 4-0
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.
FOUR FOR SPEEDY
With the loss Friday, Speedy Claxton became the third Hofstra coach — all this century — to open 1-3. As noted above, Mo Cassara and Joe Mihalich each did so in 2010-11 and 2013-14, respectively. Frank Reilly (1947-48) and Butch van Breda Kolff (first stint in 1955-56) each began 4-0 while Jack McDonald began his second stint at 3-1 in 1946-47. Tom Pecora (2001-02) was the lone coach to open 3-1 while eight others have opened 2-2: McDonald (1936-37), Jack Smith (1943-44), Paul Lynner (1962-63), Roger Gaeckler (1972-73), Joe Harrington (1979-80) Dick Berg (1980-81), van Breda Kolff in his second stint (1988-89) and Mike Farrelly (2020-21).
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
The narrow loss Friday dropped the Dutchmen to 1-3 and ended one of the most remarkable streaks in Hofstra history. The Dutchmen are two games under .500 for the first time since finishing the 2016-17 season at 15-17 — a span of 126 games and 1,470 days dating back to a 77-74 win over Army in the 2017-18 opener on Nov. 10, 2017.
It’s believed to be the longest span in which Hofstra did not fall two games under .500 since a seven-season plus span from the start of the 1957-58 campaign through the third game of the 1964-65 season — a stretch of 189 games encompassing the final five seasons of Butch van Breda Kolff’s first tenure and the first two-plus seasons of Paul Lynner’s reign. I write believed to be because official records have Hofstra at 15-8 in 1957-58, when they had four victories vacated due to eligibility issues. Apparently the NCAA was so mad at CCNY, they put Hofstra on probation. Anyway, I haven’t been able to figure out if any of those wins were turned into losses that dropped the Dutchmen to two under at any point. Regardless, even if that streak were to start at some point during the 1957-58 season or with the start of the 1958-59 season, it is the most recent longest stretch in which the Flying Dutchmen never fell two games under .500.
As the buzzer sounded Friday night, just 51 Division I programs had gone as long or longer without falling two games under .500 than Hofstra, including 44 programs whose streak predates the 2016-17 finale and seven others who were last two games under .500 as of the end of their ’16-17 season. Virginia, tipping off at 7 PM, stayed on the list with a 68-52 win over Coppin State while Western Kentucky, tipping off at 8 PM, joined Hofstra in falling off by losing to Memphis, 74-62.
tl;dr these are the good ol’ days, enjoy them.
UNDERSIZED BUT NOT OVERMATCHED
With 6-foot-10 Abraham Iyiola unavailable Friday night and 6-foot-8 Jarrod Simmons still recovering from the knee injury he suffered in the season opener against Houston, the Dutchmen played the entire game against Maryland with no one taller than 6-foot-7 — Darlinstone Dubar — on the court. It is believed to be the first time the Dutchmen have played an entire game without someone taller than 6-foot-7 since Nov. 24, 2012, when a pair of 6-foot-7 players — Moussa Kone and one of the He Who Shall Not Be Nameds — were the tallest players in the lineup for Hofstra in an 80-56 loss to George Washington. (This was the last game before the bottom fell out and resulted in four players no longer being referred to by their names here)
I write believed to be because per both the Hofstra site and KenPom.com, Kone was measured at 6-foot-8 during his junior and senior years at Hofstra. Now that’s a growth spurt! Regardless, playing an entire game without anyone taller than 6-foot-7 is some kind of unusual feat…one we might see again tonight.
CLOSELY CONTESTED
The Dutchmen and Maryland were never separated by more than seven points Friday night. It marked the first time the Dutchmen played an entire game in which neither team led by more than seven points since Dec. 5, 2018, when the Dutchmen edged then-winless Monmouth, 75-73, for the third win in the 16-game winning streak. The Dutchmen’s biggest lead in that game was six points while Monmouth’s biggest lead was two points.
RAY MOVIN’ ON UP (part one)
Graduate student Jalen Ray continued climbing a pair of all-time Hofstra lists Friday night. With 18 points, Ray moved past Ken Rood into 15th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,372 points. His climb could slow tonight, when he needs 51 points — three more than the single-game school record — to surpass Rick Apodaca for 14th place.
14.) Rick Apodaca 1,422
15.) JALEN RAY 1,372
16.) Ken Rood 1,354
17.) Barry White 1,344
18.) Dave Bell 1,330
We suppose we can give Ray a break tonight if he doesn’t catch or at least tie Apodaca tonight. Ray has gained at least a half-spot on the all-time scoring list in every game but one since joining the 1,000-point club against Richmond on Dec. 22, 2020.
Dec. 22, 2020: Tied for 38th place
Jan. 2: 38th place
Jan. 3: 37th place
Jan. 7: 36th place
Jan. 9: 35th place
Jan. 15: 34th place
Jan. 17: 33rd place
Jan. 23: 29th place
Jan. 24: Tied for 28th place
Jan. 30: 28th place
Jan. 31: 25th place
Feb. 6: 23rd place
Feb. 7: 22nd place
Feb. 13: 21st place
Feb. 14: 21st place
Mar. 7: 18th place
Mar. 8: 17th place
Nov. 16: 16th place
Nov. 19: 15th place
RAY MOVIN’ ON UP (part two)
And by taking the court for his 125th career game Friday, Ray moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list, one game ahead of Roberto Gittens, Loren Stokes and Greg Johnson. Ray is four games away from tying Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester for third place and 16 games behind the all-time leader, Desure Buie.
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game will be carried on SNY, which is channel 70 on Optimum or Cablevision or whatever it’s called nowadays. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
RICHMOND AND THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE
Richmond, under 17th-year head coach Chris Mooney, is 2-2 this season after alternating wins and losses against North Carolina Central, Utah State, Georgia State and Drake, the latter of whom edged the Spiders, 73-70, on Saturday.
Richmond was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 behind unanimous no. 1 pick St. Bonaventure. Graduate student guard Jacob Gilyard and graduate student forward Grant Golden were named to the preseason all-A10 team while junior Tyler Burton was selected to the preseason all-A10 second team.
Golden leads the Spiders with 19.3 points per game and ranks second with 60 rebounds per game. Burton is second in scoring at 15.7 points per game and is pulling down at team-high 7.0 rebounds per game. Gilyard is averaging 10.7 points per game.
The Dutchmen and Richmond have two common opponents. The Spiders are slated to play Maryland in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship on Thursday (not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving) and are scheduled to visit Duquesne in an A-10 game on Feb. 1. Hofstra beat Duquesne, 73-63, on Nov. 13.
The Dutchmen are 1-3 all-time against Richmond, but the lone win came in the most recent meeting between the schools last Dec. 22, when Jalen Ray scored 23 points in his homecoming as Hofstra overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to beat the no. 23 Spiders, 76-71. It was just the second win over a ranked opponent for the Dutchmen in the DD era (1993-pres).
This marks the ninth straight season in which Hofstra has faced at least one A-10 school. Hofstra is 38-106 all-time against current Atlantic 10 schools, a membership that includes former Dutchmen conference foes George Mason (CAA), La Salle (ECC) and VCU (CAA). With the win over Duquesne on Nov. 13, the Dutchmen have won their last two games against A-10 foes. Hofstra hasn’t beaten two A-10 teams in the same season since the 2015-16 campaign, when the Dutchmen beat St. Bonaventure 89-83 and La Salle 84-80 in back-to-back games on Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.
At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 144th while Richmond is ranked 68th. KenPom.com predicts a 78-69 loss for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 10.5-point underdogs. The Dutchmen are 3-1 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
T.J. Cline wouldn’t come to Hofstra bias! (Cline played his freshman season at Niagara under Joe Mihalich in 2012-13 but transferred to Richmond instead of accompanying Juan’ya Green and Ameen Tanksley to Hofstra)
Nancy Lieberman bias! (T.J.’s her son)
First 15 over 2 bias! (No matter how tonight turns out, we’ll still love Richmond for knocking off Jim Boeheim and Syracuse in 1991)
The Mayor bias! (Richmond alum Sean Casey hit .302 over 12 big league seasons, back when hitting .302 was valued by teams)
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