The first half Thursday night: As ill-advised as the ninth season of Scrubs! (Please don't make the reboot this bad, Bill)
Yup, it took just 10 minutes to travel the entire gamut of emotions in the CAA opener Thursday night. It’s getting late early for the Flying Dutchmen, who raced out to an eight-point lead and then fell behind by a whopping 30 points in the first half before settling in for a simply discouraging 74-56 loss to William & Mary. Not the ideal way to start a potentially season-defining four-game stretch after playing just four games in the 31 days prior to Thursday.
Anyway, as will hopefully remain the case throughout the CAA season, here’s the postgame boilerplate material in Keep It Perky form. The individual news and notes from Thursday night (eek) and preview of Northeastern will be posted (very) early Saturday. Without further ado, the William & Mary Keep It Perky! (For mature audiences only)
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The Dutchmen outscored William & Mary for a longer period of time than the Tribe outscored the Dutchmen, so therefore Hofstra won the game! That’s how we’re doing things again in this country, right? Anyway, Jaquan Sanders snapped out of his month-long slump by scoring the final eight points in a game-opening 10-2 run for the Dutchmen, but it was all downhill after that in a discouraging defeat. William & Mary responded with a 16-0 run to begin a 46-8 spurt (!!!) that none of us have ever seen outside of a video game. The Dutchmen were 3-for-18 with six turnovers during the 46-8 run, which ended with 11 unanswered points by the Tribe. German Plotnikov hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Dutchmen scored the final nine points of the half to begin a 32-17 run that ended with TJ Gadsden sinking a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 65-50 with 9:47 left. But the teams combined for 10 straight empty trips, a span in which the Dutchmen missed four shots. Chase Lowe, one of three players remaining from the 2022-23 Tribe team that was routed by the Dutchmen 94-46 in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals, finally hit a layup with 6:28 left to end any hopes of the miracle comeback. Sanders finished with 15 points and four assists — five more points and as many assists as he had in December combined. He also had the Dutchmen’s lone offensive rebound. Gadsden, who all but fell out of the rotation last month, had 12 points and two rebounds — five more points and as many rebounds as he had in December combined. Plotnikov had eight points and six rebounds in 34 energized minutes while Joshua DeCady played the entire second half at center in place of the benched Michael Graham and collected six points, four rebounds and a career-high three blocks in a career-high 22 minutes. Jean Aranguren had 10 points and seven assists with no turnovers, though he was 1-of-12 from 3-point land.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. William & Mary, 1/2)
3: Jaquan Sanders
2: German Plotnikov
1: TJ Gadsden
SEASON STANDINGS
Jean Aranguren 28
Cruz Davis 17
Jaquan Sanders 12
KiJan Robinson 9
Michael Graham 6
TJ Gadsden 3
Khalil Farmer 3
German Plotnikov 2
Silas Sunday 2
Eric Parnell 2
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER FOURTEEN GAMES
With Thursday night’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 8-6 this season. This ties the 2024-25 team for the 36th-best record in school history through 14 games. It’s the first time the Dutchmen have opened 8-6 since 2022-23 and the 12th time overall in school history. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 14 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 7-7
1976-77: 10-4
1999-2000: 9-5
2000-01: 10-4
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 10-4 (most recent 10-4 start)
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 9-5
2004-05: 10-4
2005-06: 11-3
2006-07: 10-4
2015-16: 10-4
2018-19: 11-3 (most recent 11-3 start, win in 14th game marked eighth win in the 16-game winning streak)
2022-23: 8-6
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 10-4
1961-62: 13-1 (most recent 13-1 start)
1962-63: 10-4
1963-64: 12-2 (most recent 12-2 start)
Some other notable 14-game starts:
2023-24: 7-7 (most recent 7-7 start)
2016-17: 9-5 (most recent 9-5 start)
2013-14: 4-10 (most recent 4-10 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2012-13: 4-10 (won game no. 14 to snap eight-game losing streak)
2011-12: 6-8 (most recent 6-8 start)
2007-08: 3-11 (most recent 3-11 start)
2002-03: 2-12 (most recent 2-12 start)
1996-97: 5-9 (most recent 5-9 start)
1994-95: 2-12 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-13 (VBK’s last team, most recent 1-13 start)
1988-89: 6-8 (win in 14th game was a 48-34 victory over Rider that still stands as the fewest points allowed by Hofstra in the last 33 seasons)
1986-87: 7-7 (last time at .500)
1966-67: 7-7 (last time at .500)
1961-62: 13-1 (most recent 13-1 start)
1959-60: 13-1 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise; win in 14th game was third win of season-ending 13-game winning streak)
1937-38: 10-4 (season complete)
Hofstra has never been 14-0 or 0-14 through 14 games.
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 FOURTEEN
With Thursday night’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 74-40 (.649) as head coach. That’s tied for the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 114 games at the helm.
Frank Reilly 79-35 (.693, 114th game was the 14th game of his fifth season in 1951-52)
Butch van Breda Kolff I 79-35 (.693, 114th game was the 12th game of his fifth season in 1959-60)
Paul Lynner 74-40 (.649, 114th game was the fourth game of his fifth season in 1966-67)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 74-40 (.649, 114th game was the 14th game of his fourth season in 2024-25)
Joe Mihalich 62-52 (.544, 114th game was the 13th game of his fourth season in 2016-17)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 61-53 (.535, 114th game was the 29th and final game of his fourth season in 1991-92)
Dick Berg 58-56 (.509, 114th game was the fourth game of his fifth season in 1984-85)
Roger Gaeckler 54-60 (.474, 114th game was the 12th game of his fifth season in 1976-77)
Tom Pecora 51-63 (.447, 114th game was the 24th game of his fourth season in 2004-05)
Jay Wright 50-64 (.439, 114th game was the first game of his fifth season in 1998-99)
Claxton and Paul Lynner remained tied for third and Frank Reilly and VBK I remain tied for first for at least one more game as the ’59-60 team begins its season-ending 13-game winning streak that will of course end without an NCAA Tournament bid. Speaking of no NCAA Tournament bids, the most successful season of the VBK II era ends with a loss to Towson State in the ECC title game, which ends any hope of an NIT bid (because the ECC had lost its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament) and is the first bit of what-have-we-done-to-ourselves heartbreak for Generation X Hofstra fans. Not me though, I was at a junior college in Connecticut!
Anyway, Joe Mihalich wins his 13th game in 2016-17 to break the tie with VBK II and Tom Pecora wins the 24th game in 2004-05 to break a tie for last place with fellow perpetual slacker Jay Wright, whose 1998-99 squad drops its season opener. 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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