Not coming soon to Hulu: The Daniel Dixon Story.
After a sour ending to 2022, the Flying Dutchmen got 2023 off to a better start Wednesday night, when they led wire-to-wire in a 67-51 win over Hampton. The Dutchmen will look to make it 2-for-2 in Virginia this afternoon, when they are slated to visit William & Mary. The good news is nothing crazy ever happens when Hofstra and William & Mary play a men’s basketball game, especially early in the CAA schedule! Here’s a look back at the win over the Pirates and a look ahead to the Tribe.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Aaron Estrada and Tyler Thomas opened the game with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for the Dutchmen, who led by as many as 17 in the first half before finishing off a workmanlike victory. Hampton got as close as one point twice in the game’s first 4:30 before Thomas, Darlinstone Dubar and German Plotnikov all hit 3-pointers in an 11-2 run that gave the Dutchmen their first double-digit lead at 21-11. The Dutchmen led by at least seven the rest of the way and withstood a second-half surge by Hampton, which went on a 12-2 run to pull within 45-37 with 11:11 left. But Estrada hit a corner 3-pointer out of a timeout and then put the Dutchmen ahead by double digits for good with 10:00 left by sinking a jumper after Hampton’s Jordan Nesbitt hit a pair of free throws. Estrada finished with a team-high 20 points and shared the lead with seven rebounds and five assists but also tied a career-high with seven turnovers. Thomas had 16 points and went 4-of-7 from 3-point land. Dubar had 13 points and seven rebounds while Warren Williams collected 12 points and six rebounds. Nelson Boachie-Yiadom’s final line — two points, five rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals — was superseded in uniqueness by Jaquan Carlos, who had no points and seven rebounds. You’ll be reading more about that shortly!
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Hampton, 1/5)
3: Tyler Thomas
2: Aaron Estrada
1: Darlinstone Dubar
SEASON STANDINGS
Aaron Estrada 30
Tyler Thomas 20
Darlinstone Dubar 20
Jaquan Carlos 9
Amar’e Marshall 6
Warren Williams 5
Nelson Boachie-Yiadom 5
Griffin Barrouk 1
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No! But somewhat surprisingly for a score from a pre-shortened shot clock era, the Dutchmen’s previous 67-51 win was all the way back on Jan. 27, 1992, when they beat Buffalo in an ECC game. It’s real and spectacular even if I didn’t know what an ECC was back then, Litos. (Close, though — by the spring I had Hofstra on my radar, sorry again Hofstra) Anyway, that was the day after Washington beat Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVI. Really, the Super Bowl used to take place in January!
The Dutchmen have four unicorn score victories this season after recording 11 unicorn score victories last season, no unicorn scores in 2020-21, 13 unicorn scores in 2019-20 and 10 unicorn scores in 2018-19. 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. You may also know it as a “Scorigami,” a term popularized in the NFL.
WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?
To sort of borrow my writeup from the win over Delaware: Well, if the Dutchmen never trailed and Aaron Estrada scored the first basket of the game, that means Aaron Estrada now has two Keith Hernandezes! Estrada’s 3-pointer 33 seconds into the game put the Dutchmen ahead for good and continued the recent trend of super early Keith Hernandezes. Moar, please.
Jaquan Carlos tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Princeton, 11/7/22 (1:11 left 2H)
Tyler Thomas tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Iona, 11/11/22 (:35.2 left 2H)
Darlinstone Dubar go-ahead layup vs. George Washington, 11/14/22 (5:09 left 2H)
German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. San Jose State. 11/17/22 (6:32 left 2H)
Tyler Thomas tie-breaking jumper vs. UNC Greensboro, 11/26/22 (14:56 left 1H)
Aaron Estrada go-ahead jumper vs. Quinnipiac, 11/27/22 (17:28 left 1H)
Tyler Thomas go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Old Westbury, 12/22/22 (19:02 left 1H)
Tyler Thomas tie-breaking jumper vs. Delaware, 12/29/22 (19:42 left 1H)
Aaron Estrada tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Hampton, 1/5/23 (19:27 left 1H)
Estrada is now the second Hofstra player with multiple Keith Hernandezes, ranking behind only Tyler Thomas in this prestigious category.
Tyler Thomas 4
Aaron Estrada 2
Jaquan Carlos 1
Darlinstone Dubar 1
German Plotnikov 1
The Keith Hernandez is bestowed upon the player who scores the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good in a victory. The stat pays homage to Hernandez, the World Series-winning Cardinals and Mets first baseman who had a record 129 game-winning RBIs when the stat was inexplicably discontinued after the 1988 season.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIXTEEN GAMES
With Thursday’s win, the Dutchmen improved to 9-7. This ties the 2022-23 team for the 37th-best record in school history through 14 games. This marks the Dutchmen’s second straight 9-7 start and the ninth 9-7 start in program history. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 16 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 8-8
1976-77: 11-5
1999-2000: 11-5
2000-01: 12-4
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 11-5 (most recent 11-5 start)
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 10-6
2004-05: 11-5
2005-06: 12-4
2006-07: 12-4
2015-16: 11-5
2018-19: 13-3 (most recent 13-3 start, win in 16th game marked ninth win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 11-5
1961-62: 15-1 (most recent 15-1 start)
1962-63: 11-5
1963-64: 13-3
Some other notable 16-game starts:
2020-21: 10-6 (most recent 10-6 start)
2014-15: 12-4 (most recent 12-4 start)
2013-14: 5-11 (most recent 5-11 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2011-12: 6-10 (most recent 6-10 start)
2007-08: 4-12 (most recent 4-12 start)
2001-02: 7-9 (most recent 7-9 start)
1994-95: 3-13 (only 3-13 start in program history, Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 2-14 (VBK’s last team, most recent 2-14 start)
1973-74: 2-14 (first 2-14 start)
1990-91: 8-8 (most recent 8-8 start)
1960-61: 14-2 (only 14-2 start in program history)
1959-60: 15-1 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise; win in 16th game was fifth win of season-ending 13-game winning streak)
Hofstra has never been 16–0, 1-15 or 0-16 through 16 games.
One season was completed in fewer than 16 games:
1937-38 (10-4)
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1957-58.
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.
NUMBER TEN THROUGH FORTY-EIGHT
With Thursday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 30-18 (.625) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 48 games at the helm.
Paul Lynner 38-10 (.792, 48th game was the 18th game of his second season in 1963-64)
Butch van Breda Kolff I 31-17 (.646, 48th game was the 22nd game of his second season in 1956-57)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 30-18 (.625, 48th game was the 16th game of his second season in 2022-23)
Mo Cassara 27-21 (.563, 48th game was the 15th game of his second season in 2011-12)
Dick Berg 23-25 (.479, 48th game was the 21st game of his second season in 1981-82)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 22-26 (.458, 48th game was the 19th game of his second season in 1989-90)
Joe Mihalich 21-27 (.438, 48th game was the 15th game of his second season in 2014-15)
Jay Wright 17-31 (.354, 48th game was the 20th game of his second season in 1995-96)
Tom Pecora 16-32 (.333, 48th game was the 16th game of his second season in 2002-03)
Roger Gaeckler 16-32 (.333, 48th game was the 24th and final game of his second season in 1973-74)
The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenures of Jack Smith (1943-46) and Frank Reilly (1947-55).
Three coaches had one-season tenures lasting fewer than 33 games at Hofstra. McDonald went 18-6 in the lone season of his second stint in 1946-47 while Joe Harrington went 14-14 in 1979-80 and Mike Farrelly went 13-10 in 2020-21.
WINNING IN THE NEW YEAR
The win Thursday night improved the Dutchmen to 13-11 in their first game of the calendar year since 2000. The Dutchmen have won three straight January openers, which means their last loss in a January opener was…in 2020. Yeah. Let’s never lose a January opener ever again.
WIRE-TO-WIRE WIN
The Dutchmen never trailed Thursday. It was their second wire-to-wire win of the season and the second in seven days following an 87-73 win over Delaware on Dec. 29.
ONE POSSESSION OBSESSION
The Dutchmen have trailed for just 63 seconds in their last four games, a span in which they’ve gone (scratches head because this is still hard to believe) 3-1. Old Westbury led 2-0 for 15 seconds in the Dutchmen’s 96-48 win on Dec. 22 and the Dutchmen led wire-to-wire in their aforementioned victory over Delaware before North Carolina A&T led by one point twice for a total of 48 seconds early in the first half Dec. 31 before breaking a tie at the buzzer of the Aggies’ 81-79 win. If my research is correct, this is the longest stretch the Dutchmen have gone without trailing by more than one possession since at least the start of the 2005-06 season, which is as far back as the play-by-play logs go at the Hofstra athletics site.
A BETTER FIRST IMPRESSION
With the win Thursday night over new CAA member Hampton, the Dutchmen are now — depending on how you count Northeastern’s CAA debut — either 9-11 or 9-12 in their first game against a new league foe in the Defiantly Dutch era (1993-present).
The Dutchmen fell to all three of their one-year-only East Coast Conference foes — Troy State, Chicago State and Northeastern Illinois — in 1993-94. I very likely came up with this stat just to mention the ECC. The Dutchmen were 2-4 in their first games new North Atlantic Conference opponents in 1994-95, with wins over Maine and Boston University and losses to New Hampshire, Northeastern, Vermont and Hartford.
The Dutchmen are now 7-4 in their first games against new league foes in the CAA. The Dutchmen went 3-3 in their first games against the CAA’s old guard in 2001-02 — with wins over Old Dominion, VCU and William & Mary and losses to UNC Wilmington, James Madison and George Mason — before earning wins over new CAA programs Georgia State in 2005-06, Charleston in 2013-14 and Elon in 2014-15. That winning streak, of course, ended with last Saturday’s loss to North Carolina A&T.
THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST (part one)
The 51 points allowed by the Dutchmen were a season low and the fewest they’ve surrendered since a 72-50 win over Northeastern on Jan. 22, 2022. The Dutchmen are 3-0 this season when giving up fewer than 60 points and have won 35 straight games when surrendering fewer than 60 points. The Dutchmen last lost when giving up fewer than 60 points on Feb. 10, 2014, when they fell to James Madison, 59-53.
THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST (part two)
The Dutchmen limited Hampton to 27.6 percent shooting (16-of-58), which is the lowest shooting percentage by a Division I opponent since Delaware shot 26.2 percent (16-of-61) in the Dutchmen’s 91-46 win on Feb. 28, 2018. Division III Old Westbury shot 27.5 percent (19-of-69) in the Dutchmen’s 96-48 win on Dec. 22.
THURSDAY, NEVER LOOKING BACK
The Dutchmen extended a pretty unique win streak Thursday night. Per Hofstra SID Stephen Gorchov, the Dutchmen have now won 19 straight road or neutral site Thursday games dating back to a 96-82 win over William & Mary on Feb. 23, 2017. That’s almost six years! The Dutchmen are slated to play one more road game on Thursday night — against Elon on Jan. 26 — this season.
ESTRADA’S STAT STUFFER (the good and the…)
Aaron Estrada had a unique line Thursday night, when he finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and seven turnovers. It’s the second time Estrada’s had at least 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and five turnovers in a game — he also had 28 points, six rebounds, seven assists and seven turnovers in an 89-84 win over Charleston on Feb. 28, 2022 — and just the third time a Hofstra player’s had such a line since 2010-11, the start of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference. Juan’ya Green finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six turnovers in a 70-67 loss to UNC Wilmington on Feb. 4, 2016.
STILL NO DOUBTING THOMAS
Tyler Thomas had another solid game Thursday, when he scored 16 points and went 4-of-7 from 3-point land. It was the fifth straight game in which Thomas scored in double digits, his longest streak since he scored at least 10 points in six straight games for Sacred Heart from Jan. 23-Feb. 12, 2022 as well as the second straight game in which he’s hit at least four 3-pointers. Thomas, who sank five 3-pointers last Saturday, hadn’t hit at least four 3-pointer in back-to-back games since Dec. 5-7, 2021, when he had four 3-pointers against Brown and seven 3-pointers against Rhode Island.
DUBAR’S 7/10 SPLIT
Bowling reference! Darlinstone Dubar finished with 13 points and seven rebounds Thursday. It marked the second straight game in which he had at least 10 points and seven rebounds and the sixth time this season he’s had at least 10 points and seven rebounds.
CAN’T MISS WILLIAMS
Warren Williams tied a season high by scoring 12 points Thursday night, when he was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. It was Williams’ first perfect shooting effort (minimum five attempts) since he scored 16 points while going 8-for-8 from the field for Manhattan in a 72-63 loss to Niagara on Jan. 18, 2022.
FIVE DIMES FOR THE FIVE
Nelson Boachie-Yiadom made the type of quirky history we like here on Thursday night, when he tied Aaron Estrada for the team lead with five assists. A center having at least a share of the team lead isn’t unprecedented — in fact, on Feb. 2, 2019, centers Jacquil Taylor (two) and Dan Dwyer (one) were the ONLY Hofstra players with assists in a 75-61 loss to Northeastern — but Boachie-Yiadom’s five assists are the most by a Hofstra center since at least the 1994-95 season, which is as far back as Hofstra tracks single-game assists. The five assists tie a career-high for Boachie-Yiadom, who also had five assists for Davidson in a 93-64 win over St. Bonaventure on Feb. 14, 2020. But wait! There’s more!
BOACHIE-YIADOM’S STAT STUFFER
Boachie-Yiadom finished with two points as well as five rebounds, three blocks and two steals to go along with his five assists. He’s obviously the first Hofstra player to finish with at least five rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals in a single game since at least 1994-95 and just the 15th player to do so in a Division I game this season. New Mexico’s Jaelen House is the only player to do it twice. (Among those doing it once: Delaware’s Jyare Davis against DAVIDSON, I love it when a stat comes together)
ABC (All Boards for Carlos)
Now this is quirky: Jaquan Carlos shared the team lead with seven rebounds — tying a career-high — but didn’t score Thursday. Carlos, clearly with I’ll Be Quirky history in mind, went 0-for-4 from the field and missed both his free throw attempts. Hofstra SID Stephen Gorchov beat me to the Play Index to figure out Carlos is the first Dutchman player to finish with at least seven rebounds and no points since Dec. 9, 2017, when Rokas Gustys had 10 rebounds and no points in an 88-82 win over Rider. The last non-center to have at least seven rebounds and no points was Shemiye McLendon, who finished with 10 rebounds and no points in a 74-60 win over Towson on Jan, 12, 2011.
CARLOS VS. CLAXTON
If you’re like me (sorry again!) you wondered how many times Speedy Claxton had at least seven rebounds in a game. The answer is 27 times. Better get going, Jaquan.
REBOUNDING SLOT MACHINES
Jaquan Carlos, Darlinstone Dubar and Aaron Estrada shared the team lead in rebounding with seven apiece Thursday night. It was the second time this season three players have shared the rebounding lead for the Flying Dutchmen. Estrada, Dubar and Nelson Boachie-Yiadom all had six rebounds in an 83-78 win over Iona on Nov. 11. Iron Maiden bias!
FREE THROW WOES
The Dutchmen’s free throw shooting woes, at least by their recent standards, continued Thursday, when they were 6-of-13 from the line. It was the first time the Dutchmen have shot under 50 percent from the line since way back on Jan. 2. 2020, when they were 11-of-23 in an 88-61 loss to William & Mary. That was 89 games ago! The Dutchmen, who led the nation in free throw shooting over the last four seasons at 77.9 percent, are shooting 73.2 percent this season (167-of-228) to fall into second place behind Villanova in free throw shooting since 2018-19.
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on FloHoops.com (subscription required). Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY
The Tribe, under fourth-year head coach Dane Fischer, are 6-9 this season and 1-1 in CAA play following a 69-66 win over Northeastern on Thursday night.
The Dutchmen and Tribe had no common opponents in non-conference play.
The Dutchmen, who were picked to finish second in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 129th at KenPom.com. The Tribe, which was picked to finish eighth, is ranked 307th.
Due to the CAA’s expansion and the unbalanced schedule, today marks the only scheduled regular season game between Hofstra and William & Mary. The Dutchmen are also slated to face North Carolina A&T, UNC Wilmington, Elon, Charleston and Drexel just once apiece. Drexel? Really? This marks the first time since the 2011-12 season that Hofstra and William & Mary are scheduled to play just once in the regular season.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank second in the CAA in offensive efficiency (107.0 points per 100 possessions) and fifth in defensive efficiency (103.5 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 68.3 possessions per 40 minutes, the fifth-most in the league. The Tribe rank eighth in the CAA in offensive efficiency (98.0 points per 100 possessions) and ninth in defensive efficiency (109.1 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 64.9 possessions per 40 minutes, which ranks 11th in the league.
Graduate student guard Anders Nelson, who played last season at St. Thomas, leads the Tribe with 11.1 points per game. Junior forward Ben Wight, a preseason all-CAA honorable mention selection, ranks second on the team in both scoring (10.3 points per game) and rebounding (4.7 rebounds per game). Sophomore guard Gabe Dorsey, a Vanderbilt transfer, is averaging 10.0 points per game while junior forward Noah Collier, a Pittsburgh transfer, leads the Tribe with 8.5 rebounds per game.
KenPom.com predicts a 73-67 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 6-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 6-8-1 against the spread this season.
ALL-TIME VS. WILLIAM & MARY
Hofstra is 26-15 against William & Mary in a series that began when the Dutchmen joined the CAA prior to the 2001-02 season. The Dutchmen and Tribe split the season series last season, when the Tribe earned a stunning 63-62 win in the CAA opener on Dec. 29 — the 225-spot gap at KenPom.com between the teams prior to the game was the largest since at least the 2009-10 season — before the Dutchmen recorded an 83-67 win in Hempstead on Feb. 26.
The Hofstra-William & Mary series has lately been one of the CAA’s most exciting and competitive rivalries. Twelve of the last 21 games between the teams have been decided by six points or fewer or in overtime, including back-to-back barnburners in the CAA Tournament in 2015 (shudders) and 2016.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Kendrix Brown bias! (Because I mentioned him on Thursday)
Christopher Bram bias! (Per Wikipedia, which is never wrong, Bram wrote “Father of Frankenstein,” which was adapted for the movie “Gods and Monsters” in 1998)
Hulu bias! (Hulu co-founder Beth Comstock graduated from William & Mary)
Daniel Dixon really can't hurt us any more bias! (With only one scheduled game against the Tribe this season, better use the oldie but goodie)
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