Worst way ever to lose a national championship.
After opening the season with two relatively comfortable wins at home, the Flying Dutchmen will embark upon a legendary road trip tonight, when they…walk across the street to Nassau Coliseum and a rare game against Seton Hall in the back end of the Icons of the Game doubleheader. Wait. Nassau Coliseum is still a thing?
As I’ll try to do this season in order to make IBQ less unwieldy, I ran down the boilerplate postgame material from last Friday’s 90-76 win over Iona in Sunday’s Keep It Perky. Today will be about the individual news and notes from that victory as well as a preview of the Pirates. Enjoy!
TWICE AS NICE
The Dutchmen are 2-0 for the first time since 2022-23, when they opened 4-0, and for the 29th time in program history.
ONE POSSESSION OBSESSION
The Dutchmen trailed for just 23 seconds and one possession last Friday, when Iona scored six straight points to take a 6-5 lead before Why Can’t Iona Get Guys Like Silas Sunday hit a layup with 17:49 left. It’s the first time the Dutchmen have trailed once by one point since Feb. 25, 2023, when Northeastern held a 21-20 lead for 22 seconds before Warren Williams’ jumper put the Dutchmen ahead for good in an 84-52 win.
1010101010 WINS
The Dutchmen had five players score in double figures last Friday for the second straight game. Starters Jaquan Sanders (24 points), Jean Aranguren (18 points), Cruz Davis (15 points) and Michael Graham (14 points) were joined by reserve Silas Sunday (14 points). This is the first time five players have scored in double figures in consecutive games for the Dutchmen since Nov. 24-27, 2021, when they beat Molloy and Detroit Mercy. The Dutchmen are now 10-0 under Speedy Claxton when at least five players score in double figures.
MESSED AROUND AND ALMOST GOT A TRIPLE-DOUBLE
Why Can’t Iona Get Guys Like Jean Aranguren flirted with a triple-double Friday, when he finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists (how many rebounds and assists did he have?). That's the closest a player has come to producing the second triple-double in program history since Jaquan Carlos had 11 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a 72-71 win over Stony Brook on Feb. 1. Carlos also had 10 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in a 72-53 win over Northeastern on Feb. 8, 2023.
The only other player in the Defiantly Dutch Era (1993-pres) to come as close to a triple-double as Aranguren and Carlos without completing it is…Speedy Claxton, who had 10 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in a 71-54 win over Maine on Feb 22, 1998. As always, I love it when a quirky stat comes together.
Juan’ya Green recorded the lone triple-double in program history Dec. 28, 2014, when he had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in an 88-62 win over Long Island University at Barclays Center.
BACK-TO-BACK
Jean Aranguren has scored in double figures in each of the first two games of the season. Aranguren scored in double figures in back-to-back games for Iona three times last season, most recently from Feb. 8-10, when he had 14 points in a 74-71 win over Niagara and 21 points in a 73-69 loss to Canisius.
SHARP-SHOOTING SANDERS
Jaquan Sanders continued looking like a volume shooter in all the best ways Friday, when he scored a career-high 24 points while going 5-of-9 from 3-point land. It was the second straight game in which Sanders drained five 3-pointers. His previous career high for 3-pointers in game was three set Apr. 2, when he tied his career high with 11 points while going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc in Seton Hall’s 84-67 win over Georgia in the NIT semifinals. Seton Hall? That sounds familiar!
CRUZ-IN
Why Can’t Iona Get Guys Like Cruz Davis had a second straight strong game Friday, when he finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. The back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts are the first for Davis since Jan. 29-Feb. 3, 2023, when he had 13 points in a 78-72 win over Quinnipiac before scoring 12 points in an 81-51 victory over Mount St. Mary’s.
THE 15/5/5 CLUB
Jean Aranguren (19 points, nine rebounds, nine assists) and Cruz Davis (15 points, five rebounds, five assists) each had at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists Friday night. They are the first Hofstra teammates with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in the same game since Tyler Thomas (40 points, eight rebounds, five assists) and Jaquan Carlos (18 points, seven rebounds, eight assists) did so in the 97-92 overtime win over High Point in the Gulf Coast Showcase championship game last Nov. 22.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
Why Can’t Iona Get Guys Like Silas Sunday picked the most opportune time for the best game of his career last Friday, when he scored 14 points in 14 minutes while filling in at the five as Michael Graham and Joshua DeCady battled foul trouble. Sunday, who was scoreless in four-plus minutes of mop-up duty in the season-opening 89-62 win over Division III Old Westbury, entered after Graham picked up his second foul just 1:48 into the game and scored the next six points for the Dutchmen. He broke his previous career-high of eight points — set in a 69-57 win over Drexel on Feb. 22 — by sinking a pair of free throws with 10:26 left and finished the first half with 13 points before Graham manned the five for most of the second half.
A PERFECT SUNDAY
Silas Sunday was 5-of-5 from the field Friday. He’s the first Hofstra player to enjoy a perfect game from the field (minimum five attempts) since Jan. 6, when Jacco Fritz scored 15 points while going 6-of-6 from the field in a 76-71 win over Delaware.
SECOND HALF GRAHAM
After sitting most of the first half with two fouls, Michael Graham scored all 14 of his points and collected all but one of his seven rebounds in the second half Friday. The 14 points were the most for Graham since Feb. 4, 2023, when he scored 14 points for Loyola Marymount in an 87-79 loss to San Diego.
TJ’S TURNOVERS
Senior TJ Gadsden, who spent the last two seasons at Canisius after opening his career at George Mason (booo!), stuffed the boxscore (Tom Pecora patent pending) in unusual fashion Friday. Gadsden, who was scoreless against Old Westbury on Nov. 4, finished with five points, five rebounds, four assists and seven turnovers against Iona. The seven turnovers are the most for a Hofstra players since Feb. 11, 2023, when Aaron Estrada had seven turnovers in an 86-57 win over Monmouth.
FIVE FOR FOULING
Freshman Joshua DeCady made some quirky history Friday night, when he fouled out while playing just four first-half minutes. DeCady is the first Hofstra player to foul out in five minutes or fewer since Jan. 16, 2016, when Malik Nichols drew five fouls in five minutes during an 86-82 overtime loss to James Madison. But Nichols played in both halves against the Dukes.
Per Stathead at College Basketball Reference, the only player who has fouled our faster than DeCady is Jorge Lebron, who picked up five fouls in the final 1:07 of a 77-68 loss to UNC Wilmington on Feb. 15, 2006. A Jorge Lebron reference! In 2024!
STRUGGLES FOR ROBINSON AND PLOTNIKOV
KiJan Robinson and German Plotnikov, two of the five returning players from last season’s team, were scoreless while going a combined 0-for-3 from the field over 13 minutes Friday. Robinson’s eight scoreless minutes were his most since he didn’t score over 12 minutes in a 76-71 win over Delaware on Jan. 6.
Plotnikov’s five minutes were his fewest since last Dec. 16, when he returned after missing four games due to injury and was scoreless over four minutes in a 74-58 win over Norfolk State. Plotnikov has gone scoreless in consecutive game for the first time since Nov. 26-27, 2022, when he played a total of 23 minutes in wins over UNC Greensboro and Quinnipiac in Canada.
WHY CAN’T IONA GET GUYS LIKE…
As our friend Guy Falotico noted on Twitter (yeah that’s what I’m still calling it) Friday, there were as many as eight former or current Iona players on the floor during the Dutchmen’s win. Jean Aranguren (18 points) played for Iona last season under Tobin Anderson while Cruz Davis (15 points) and Silas Sunday (14 points) played for the Gaels under Rick Pitino in 2022-23.
As far as I can tell, eight Hofstra players have opposed their former teams a total of 10 times. This total is sure to increase in the portal/instant transfer era. In fact, it will increase tonight, when Jaquan Sanders opposes Seton Hall!
Stevie Mejia 3 pts/2 assists/1 rebound/1 steal vs. Rhode Island, 11/25/11
Dion Nesmith 10 pts/5 assists/2 rebounds vs. Monmouth, 11/8/13
Kenny Wormley 0 pts/3 assists vs. Siena, 11/25/17
Tareq Coburn 4 pts/4 rebounds vs. St. Bonaventure, 12/7/19
Tareq Coburn 9 pts/2 rebounds/2 assists vs. St. Bonaventure, 12/19/20
Abayomi Iyiola 18 pts/14 rebounds/1 assist vs. Arkansas, 12/18/21
Silas Sunday 2 pts/2 rebounds vs. Iona, 12/6/23
Jean Aranguren 18 pts/9 rebounds/9 assists vs. Iona, 11/8/24
Cruz Davis 15 pts/5 rebounds/5 assists vs. Iona, 11/8/24
Silas Sunday 14 points/4 rebounds vs. Iona, 11/8/24
ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A VICTORY?
The Dutchmen are looking to start 3-0 for the first time since 2022-23, when they began 4-0, and the 20th time in program history.
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on MSG Network, which is channel 72 in the Optimum/Altice Are Our Overlords Universe, It wil also air on the Gotham Sports App, which can be yours for approximately one billion dollars. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
SETON HALL AND THE BIG EAST
Seton Hall, under third-year head coach and Pirates alum Shaheen Holloway, is 1-1 this season after suffering a 57-56 buzzer-beating loss to Fordham last Saturday. The defeat was the first regular season non-conference loss for Seton Hall at its on-campus Walsh Gymnasium since a 65-60 loss to Fordham on Dec. 16, 1989. I was a high school junior who didn’t even know what a Hofstra was!
Seton Hall, the defending NIT champions, was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team Big East.
Like the Dutchmen, the portal forced Seton Hall to undergo an almost complete overhaul following last season. The 2024-25 roster features just three returnees — starter Dylan Addae-Wusu, sixth man Isaiah Coleman and reserve David Tubek. The trio accounted for 25 percent of the Pirates’ minutes and 18.6 percent of their scoring
Graduate student Chaunce Jenkins, who played the previous two seasons at Old Dominion after opening his career at Wichita State, leads the Pirates with 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Junior Prince Aligbe, who spent the previous two seasons at Boston College, is averaging 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Graduate student Yacine Toumi, who spent the last two seasons at Evansville after beginning his career at Little Rock, is averaging 9.5 points per game. Addae-Wusu, who played his first three seasons at St. John’s, is averaging 8.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and a team-high 4.5 assists per game.
The Dutchmen and Pirates have one common opponent this season. Seton Hall will host the CAA’s Monmouth on Nov. 30 while the Dutchmen will play the Hawks Feb. 20.
Seton Hall leads the all-time series 4-1, though this is the first game between the teams since way back on Dec. 31, 1970, when the Pirates edged the Flying Dutchmen (who really WERE the Flying Dutchmen back then!) 60-58. I’m fairly sure my parents celebrated their first New Year’s Eve as a married couple by streaming that game.
Hofstra is 6-36 all-time against current Big East schools. This marks the second straight season in which the Dutchmen are opposing a Big East school at a Long Island arena. The Dutchmen fell to St. John’s, 84-79, at UBS Arena last Dec. 30.
At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 160th while Seton Hall is ranked 107th. KenPom.com predicts a 71-67 loss for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 4 1/2-point underdogs. The Dutchmen are 1-0 against the spread this season.
REUNITED (part one)
Jaquan Sanders, who opened his career with two seasons at Seton Hall, will oppose his former school tonight. Sanders averaged 2.5 points and 1.0 rebound over 57 games for the Pirates, whom he helped to the NIT title last spring.
REUNITED (part two)
Tonight will mark the first time the Dutchmen trek across the street to Nassau Coliseum (I can’t believe it’s still open either) for a game since Dec. 22, 2017, when they fell to then-no. 1 Villanova 95-71. Future #Knicks #Legends Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo all played that night for Villanova, whose coach was some guy named Jay Wright, I’m sure Villanova will remain a national powerhouse if he ever decides to retire!
The Dutchmen are 3-10 all-time at Nassau Coliseum, where they have played games dating back to the building’s opening in 1972, when the Dutchmen fell to Long Beach State and Oral Roberts in the Nassau Classic. Hofstra hasn’t won at Nassau Coliseum since recording an 86-80 upset of St John’s on Dec. 16, 2000. I’ll take that as a good sign for tonight!
The Dutchmen are 14-23 all-time at the four local arenas — Nassau Coliseum as well as Madison Square Garden (10-9), Barclays Center (0-3) and UBS Arena (0-1).
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
You lost a national title on the most ticky-tacky call of all-time in 1989 bias! (You think we have it bad, Rumeal Robinson was barely touched on the “foul” that yielded the championship-winning free throws)
Mo Vaughn bias! (He didn’t do a whole lot for the Mets, but this homer is still the most impressive homer I’ve ever seen in person)
Craig Biggio bias! (Did you know Vaughn and Biggio were teammates? You do now!)
Anthony Soprano dropped out bias! (A fictional bias!)
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