Pirates-only on the grid!
Sure, it’d be nice to be unbeaten right now. But there are 143 unbeaten teams in the country and just 63 winless teams — and the Flying Dutchmen are the highest-rated winless team at KenPom.com this morning. So being winless is the new market inefficiency! We’re Moneyballing college basketball!
Let’s hope the market inefficiencies vanish today, when the Flying Dutchmen play their home opener against Division II Molloy. Because let’s face it, losing to a non-Division I team is as market inefficient as it gets and we don’t need that.
Anyway. As will hopefully become the routine following all games this year (not just CAA clashes), I ran down the boilerplate material from Friday’s loss to Iona in a Sunday night Keep It Perky. Today will be about the individual news and notes from that defeat as well as a preview of *once again looks up the previous Molloy IBQ to find out their nickname* the Lions. Enjoy!
NOT TWICE AS NICE
The Dutchmen fell to 0-2 Friday for the first time since the 2012-13 season and the 17th time in program history. The Dutchmen have finished with a winning record after starting 0-2 just twice — in 1965-66, when they went 16-10, and 2006-07, when they went 22-10 and made a third straight trip to the NIT. In addition, the Dutchmen finished .500 after an 0-2 start in 1969-70 (13-13) and 1990-91 (14-14).
WIRE-TO-WIRE LOSS
The Dutchmen never led Friday. It was their first wire-to-wire loss of the season and their first such defeat since last Nov. 22, when then-no. 7 Houston rolled to an 80-44 win.
1010101010…LOSES?
The Dutchmen lost Friday despite putting five players in double figures. Starters Preston Edmead (18 points), Biggie Patterson (16 points), Cruz Davis (13 points) and Silas Sunday (10 points) all scored at least 10 points along with reserve Victory Onuetu (13 points). In a quirky twist, the Dutchmen have lost their last two games in which at least five players have scored in double figures — their only such losses under Speedy Claxton. Jean Aranguren (14 points), Davis (13 points), Michael Graham (12 points), German Plotnikov (11 points) and Khalil Farmer (11 points) all scored in double figures Jan. 25, when the Dutchmen squandered an 18-point lead and suffered a 69-67 overtime loss to Campbell, The Dutchmen are 11-2 under Claxton when at least five players score in double figures.
SPUTTERING START
The Dutchmen were buried in a hurry Friday night, when they fell behind 20-2 fewer than five minutes into the game. Iona’s run was the largest surrendered by the Dutchmen to open a game since Dec. 7, 2022, when then-no. 4 Purdue also raced out to a 20-2 lead. Ironically, in that it’s coincidence, German Plotnikov ended both runs. He drained a 3-pointer with 13:59 against Purdue before hitting a layup with 14:25 left against Iona. Quirky!
CLOSE BUT NO VICTORY CIGAR
The Dutchmen trailed by as many as 23 points at 35-12 before losing by eight points Friday. It was the first time the Dutchmen trailed by at least 20 points in a game they lost by single digits since Dec. 19, 2020, when they trailed St. Bonaventure by 23 points in a 77-69 loss. The Dutchmen actually roared back to take the lead in that game, when they roared back from the 30-7 deficit NICE FOOTBALL SCORE to take a 64-59 lead with about six minutes left before the Bonnies came back.
PRESTO!
Freshman guard Preston Edmead continued the impressive start to his career Friday night, when he led the Dutchmen with 18 points and six assists, Edmead is the first Hofstra freshman to score in double figures in each of his first two games since Eli Pemberton scored 20 and 23 points, respectively, against Coppin State and Sacred Heart from Nov 11-15, 2016. Pemberton opened his career with five straight double-digit scoring efforts.
BIGGIE’S BIG SECOND HALF
Biggie Patterson recovered from a slow start against his former school Friday, when he scored all 16 of his points in the second half. Patterson is the first Hofstra player to score in double figures after being held scoreless in the first half since last Dec. 1, when Michael Graham had all 14 of his points after halftime in a 68-66 win over Arkansas State.
VICTORY!
Junior newcomer Victory Onuetu once again offered intrigue in a small sample size Friday night, when he finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block over 21 minutes. Onuetu collected most of his stats over the final seven minutes, when he had 11 points, four rebounds and one steal.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!
Senior Silas Sunday #Alliteration continued opening the season in solid fashion Friday, when he had 10 points, four rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes. Sunday, who also had 10 points in last Monday’s 81-73 loss to Central Florida, has scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time in his career. The 20 points, not surprisingly, are the most Sunday has scored in back-to-back games He had 16 points against Drexel and Delaware from Jan. 20-23.
DAVIS’ DIFFICULTIES
Cruz Davis struggled Friday night, when he scored 13 points but shot jus t5-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-10 from inside the 3-point line. Davis had six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal but also committed six turnovers, his most since he had seven turnovers n a 69-67 overtime loss to Campbell on Kan. 25. Davis has scored in double figures in 23 of the 34 games in which he’s played for Hofstra after reaching double figures just five times over 28 games in his first two seasons at Iona and St. John’s.
GERMAN FOR STARTERS
German Plotnikov also had a quiet game Friday, when he finished with two points, four rebounds and one assist over 16 minutes. The two-point outing ended a career-long streak of three straight double-digit scoring efforts dating back to last season for Plotnikov while the 16 minutes were his fewest since he was held scoreless in 15 minutes in a 77-68 loss to Northeastern on Feb. 6.
NO JOSH-IN
Joshua DeCady again saw extensive action off the bench Friday night, when he had one point and a career-high six rebounds to go along with two steals and one assist before fouling out in 22 minutes. DeCady collected five rebounds in a game three times prior to Friday, most recently against William & Mary on Feb. 13. He has played at least 20 minutes in each of the first two games this season, the first such stretch of his career. In addition, DeCady finished with one point for the fourth time — the most such games by a Hofstra player since Stephen Nwaukoni had six point-games from 2010-11 through 2013-14.
REAVES KEEPS SHAKING OFF THE RUST
Graduate student Joshua Aaron Reaves was scoreless with four rebounds over 17 minutes Friday — his longest action against a Division I foe since Mar. 12, 2024, when he played 27 minutes for Mount St. Mary’s in a 77-61 loss to Canisius in the MAAC Tournament. Reaves played 28 minutes for Illinois-Chicago against non-Division I St. Mary’s (MN) last Nov. 16.
CLUB TRILLION
Junior AJ Wills didn’t collect a stat over four minutes Friday. He’s the first Hofstra player to post the Club Trillion line since KiJan Robinson didn’t register a stat while playing less than a minute against Delaware on Feb. 22.
WHY CAN’T IONA GET GUYS LIKE…
In a true reflection of college hoops circa 2025, the Dutchmen had more players who’d played for Iona prior to this season (three) than Iona itself (one). Quirky! Former Gaels Cruz Davis, Biggie Patterson and Silas Sunday combined for 39 points in Friday’s loss. This was the second straight season in which three former Iona players suited up for the Dutchmen against the Gaels. Davis and Sunday, each of whom played under Rick Pitino in 2022-23 (where’d that guy end up anyway) were joined last year by Jean Aranguren, who played under Tobin Anderson in 2023-24.
As far as I can tell, 11 Hofstra players have opposed their former teams a total of 15 times. This total is sure to increase in the portal/instant transfer era, though I believe this is the only time it’ll happen this season.
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
Jaquan Sanders 12 pts/4 rebounds vs. Seton Hall, 11/13/24
Michael Graham 15 pts/13 rebounds vs. Not Twitter Guy, 1/30/25
Cruz Davis 13 pts/6 rebounds vs. Iona, 11/7/25
Biggie Patterson 16 pts/4 rebounds vs. Iona, 11/7/25
Silas Sunday 10 pts/4 rebounds vs. Iona, 11/7/25
THIRD TIME THE CHARM?
Let’s hope so. The Dutchmen are looking to avoid their first 0-3 start since the 2006-07 season and the ninth 0-3 start in program history.
OVER THE AIR
This afternoon’s game is slated to be carried live on FloHoops.com (subscription required, click here for options) as well as on MSG Networks if you are in the New York area and/or somehow paid one billion dollars (approx) for the Gotham Sports app. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
MOLLOY AND HOFSTRA VS. NON-DIVISION I FOES
Molloy, a Division II school located in Rockville Centre, is slated to open tis season this morning under first-year head coach Joe Conefry. This is the third straight team that will be opening its season against the Dutchmen, which has to be a first. The Lions were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team East Coast Conference, which, once again, I have been telling you is a real thing for more than 30 years now.
Junior Bryce Merchant, who averaged 17.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season, is the lone returning starter for Molloy, though Manu Alford, Dylan Kopp, Joshua Malcolm, Seydina Mohamed Dieng, Saba Beroshvili, Chris Stokel and Sebastian Bosquez combined to make 29 starts last year for the Lions.
The Flying Dutchmen have won their last 26 games against non-Division I foes dating back to a 70-54 loss to Florida Southern during the 1988-89 seasons. This marks the 10th time in the last 11 seasons the Dutchmen have played at least one non-Division I foe. There were no non-Division I games in 2020-21 due to the pandemic.
There is no line on this game, because even degenerate gamblers do not bet on Division I vs. non-Division I games. The Dutchmen are 1-1 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER (OR BLUESKY) IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Still not my daughter’s school bias! (That’s still Molly)
You sorta ripped off our mascots bias! (They’re lions, we’re lions, sorta)
Shea Spitzbarth bias! (The Molloy grad made five appearances with the Pirates in 2021 and only played for the Pirates, in case it ever comes up)
This really shouldn’t be that hard bias! (As always and please, for the love of all that is holy)
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