Couldn't find a pic of Steve Sanders draining a half-courter at a Lakers game, so you'll have to get by with the Walshes' exuberant reaction. Which, I shouldn't need to remind you, did not match the Beaches' reaction Thursday night.
So let’s see. On Dec. 29, I didn’t watch a second of the NFL until after 7 PM, by which time I’d locked up my fantasy football title. Last Saturday, I didn’t watch a second of the Flying Dutchmen as they beat Northeastern. And yet the last two Thursdays, I watched the Flying Dutchmen lose to William & Mary and Charleston. I clearly am the problem, so my high school better schedule another alumni function Saturday.
Anyway, the Dutchmen’s bid to knock off two-time defending CAA champion Charleston fell short Thursday night, when a buzzer-beating 60-footer to end the first half sparked the decisive run that lifted the Cougars to a 67-61 win. The Dutchmen drop to 1-2 with another borderline must-win game awaiting tomorrow against UNC Wilmington.
As will hopefully remain the case throughout the CAA season (2-for-2 so far!), here’s the postgame boilerplate material in Keep It Perky form. The individual news and notes from Thursday night and preview of UNC Wilmington will be posted early Saturday morning. Without further ado, the Charleston Keep It Perky! (Which is less grisly than the William & Mary one but less joyful than the Northeastern one)
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Jean Aranguren (19 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists) and Michael Graham (16 points, 13 rebounds) each posted double-doubles and the Dutchmen racked up 16 offensive boards, but Deywilk Tavarez’s half-court heave started a 13-0 run for Charleston, which never trailed again. After a fast start — the score was tied 11-11 STONEHENGE BIAS as the under-16, which didn’t arrive until the 13:47 mark — the game slowed to a Dutchmen-friendly grind as the teams combined to miss 18 of their next 20 shots before KiJan Robinson sank a 3-pointer to put the Dutchmen ahead 16-14. That began an 18-10 run ended when Aranguren sank a corner 3-pointer with three seconds left to give the Dutchmen a 31-24 lead, but Tavarez’s banked buzzer-beater began #Alliteration a sequence of five straight successful trips for Charleston, which went ahead 37-31 on a layup by Ante Brzovic (23 points, 11 rebounds) with 18:08 left. The Dutchmen got within one or two points four times, but Charleston scored on the subsequent possession every time. The Cougars extended their lead to nine points, the last time at 55-46, before the Dutchmen scored eight of the next 10 points to pull within 57-54 on Aranguren’s 3-pointer with 3:36 remaining. Brzovic answered with another layup and the Dutchmen’s last beset chance evaporated with 1:30 left, when German Plotnikov had his pass picked off to end a possession in which the Dutchmen pulled down two offensive rebounds while trailing 61-56. Plotnikov (eight points, seven rebounds) had another strong glue guy game #YetMoreAlliteration, though Cruz Davis struggled with five points on 2-of-10 shooting, including 0-for-4 from 3-point land. Robinson had seven points and six rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Charleston, 1/9)
3: Jean Aranguren
2: Michael Graham
1: German Plotnikov
SEASON STANDINGS
Jean Aranguren 33
Cruz Davis 20
Jaquan Sanders 12
Michael Graham 9
KiJan Robinson 9
German Plotnikov 3
TJ Gadsden 3
Khalil Farmer 3
Silas Sunday 2
Eric Parnell 2
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIXTEEN GAMES
With Thursday night’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 9-7 this season. We’re gonna win the NFC Central! This ties the 2024-25 team for the 37th-best record in school history through 15 games. It’s the first time the Dutchmen have opened 9-7 since 2022-23 and the 10th time overall in school 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)
2022-23: 9-7
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:
2023-24: 8-8 (most recent 8-8 start)
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)
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.
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 ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN
With Thursday night’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 75-41 (.647) as head coach. That’s tied for the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 116 games at the helm.
Butch van Breda Kolff I 81-35 (.698, 116th game was the 14th game of his fifth season in 1959-60)
Frank Reilly 80-36 (.690, 116th game was the 16th game of his fifth season in 1951-52)
Paul Lynner 75-41 (.647, 116th game was the sixth game of his fifth season in 1966-67)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 75-41 (.647, 116th game was the 16th game of his fourth season in 2024-25)
Joe Mihalich 63-53 (.543, 116th game was the 15th game of his fourth season in 2016-17)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 61-55 (.526, 116th game was the second game of his fifth season in 1992-93)
Dick Berg 59-57 (.509, 116th game was the sixth game of his fifth season in 1984-85)
Roger Gaeckler 55-61 (.474, 116th game was the 14th game of his fifth season in 1976-77)
Tom Pecora 53-63 (.457, 116th game was the 26th game of his fourth season in 2004-05)
Jay Wright 51-65 (.440, 116th game was the third game of his fifth season in 1998-99)
The standings remain the same as they were through 115 games, though the longest losing streak of the Joe Mihalich era begins with Daniel Dixon 2: Electric Boogaloo sending the Dutchmen on a season-ruining six-game skid. And Tom Pecora wins his 116th game at the helm to move two games ahead of fellow perpetual slacker Jay Wright, who loses his 116th game at the helm. Perpetual slackers!
The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenure of Jack Smith (1943-46).
Smith finished 27-32 in his three seasons while Mo Cassara finished 38-59 in his three seasons. Three coaches had one-season tenures lasting 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.
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