Keep It Perky: Molloy

This rainy day Monday didn't actually get us down at all!

Bad news: The Dutchmen are no longer the highest-ranked winless team at KenPom.com. Good news: Well, that’s the good news.

The Dutchmen climbed into the victory column as morning turned into afternoon Monday, when they took care of business against Division II Molloy with a 95-61 win. A return to the Division I ranks awaits tonight, when the Dutchmen begin getting their mail in Pennsylvania by visiting Bucknell (seriously, their next five games and six of their next seven are in the Keystone State).

As will hopefully become the norm throughout the non-conference season, here’s Keep It Perky, featuring the victorious postgame boilerplate material. The individual news and notes from Monday’s win and the Bucknell preview will be posted in the morning. Enjoy!

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Cruz Davis (28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists) flirted with a triple-double and five players overall scored in double figures as the Dutchmen eased past Molloy. Cruz, German Plotnikov and Biggie Patterson combined to score all the points in a game-opening 23-13 run by the Dutchmen, who led by double figures for the final 32-plus minutes. Plotnikov and Preston Edmead teamed up for a half-ending 7-1 run to give the Dutchmen a 48-31 lead at intermission. Molloy pulled within 16 points twice early in the second half before the Dutchmen ended the game on a 24-8 run, during which they opened up a trio of 36-point leads. Victory Onuetu (10 points, 12 rebounds) posted his first double-double while Plotnikov had 15 points and three blocks. Edmead finished with 12 points, six assists and two steals while Patterson had 11 points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes. A.J. Wills (eight points) just missed becoming the sixth player in double figures.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Molloy, 11/10)

3: Cruz Davis

2: Victory Onuetu

1: German Plotnikov

SEASON STANDINGS

Cruz Davis 6

Preston Edmead 5

Victory Onuetu 3

Biggie Patterson 2

German Plotnikov 1

Silas Sunday 1

WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?

No! Bummer. Usually the non-Division I games are good candidates for unicorn scores, but Molloy’s last basket not only cost us a palindrome final but also a unicorn score. Somewhat surprisingly, the Dutchmen had two previous 95-61 wins — first over Wagner during the 1961-62 season and then again over Maine on Dec. 20, 1969. 

The Dutchmen have no unicorn score victories this season (duh) and 60 unicorn score victories since the start of the 2018-19 season, when we first started tracking unicorn scores.

2025-26: Zero unicorn scores

2024-25: Seven unicorn scores

2023-24: Seven unicorn scores

2022-23: 12 unicorn scores

2021-22: 11 unicorn scores

2020-21: Zero unicorn scores (really)

2019-20: 13 unicorn scores

2018-19: 10 unicorn scores

This marks the first time in the unicorn score era the Dutchmen have not earned a unicorn score victory in a game against a non-Division I foe. They were 8-for-8 in such games before Monday. Thanks a lot, Molloy!

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?

The Dutchmen didn’t lead wire-to-wire Monday, but they didn’t play from behind for long thanks to German Plotnikov, who drained the 3-pointer that put the Dutchmen ahead for good at 5-4 with 18:47 left in the first half. That’s the earliest Keith Hernandez for the Dutchmen since…well, their last one way back on Mar. 7, when Cruz Davis opened the game with a 3-pointer 24 seconds into a 77-55 win over North Carolina A&T in the first round of the CAA Tournament. If these trends continue…

SEASON STANDINGS (duh)

German Plotnikov 1

ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)

Tyler Thomas 16

Darlinstone Dubar 14

Jean Aranguren 5

German Plotnikov 4

Aaron Estrada 4

Cruz Davis 3

Michael Graham 3

Warren Williams 3

Silas Sunday 2

Jacco Fritz 2

Jaquan Carlos 2

Eric Parnell 1

KiJan Robinson 1

Bryce Washington 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 THREE GAMES

As you may have gathered by now, the Dutchmen improved to 1-2 with Monday’s win. This ties the 2025-26 team for the 47th-best record in school history through three games! Thirty-six other teams began 1-2, most recently the 2023-24 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through three games:

NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1975-76: 2-1

1976-77: 2-1

1999-2000: 1-2

2000-01: 3-0

2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 1-2

NIT TEAMS

1998-99: 1-2

2005-06: 2-1

2006-07: 0-3 (most recent 0-3 start)

2015-16: 3-0

2018-19: 2-1 (most recent 2-1 start)

2022-23: 3-0 (most recent 3-0 start, obvs)

NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1958-59: 1-2

1961-62: 2-1

1962-63: 1-2

1963-64: 3-0

Some other notable three-game starts:

2013-14: 1-2 (under .500 for good in Joe Mihalich’s first year as head coach)

2011-12: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

2008-09: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

2007-08: 1-2 (under .500 for good)

2005-06: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

2002-03: 1-2 (win over Lehigh in third game was only win in the non-conference schedule)

2001-02: 2-1 (loss in third game was Tom Pecora’s first as head coach) 

1997-98: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1995-96: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1994-95: 1-2 (under .500 for good, fire Jay Wright)

1987-88: 1-2 (under .500 for good)

1980-81: 2-1 (loss in third game was Dick Berg’s first as head coach, over .500 for the last time)

1974-75: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1970-71: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1957-58: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1955-56: 3-0 (Butch van Breda Kolff improves to 3-0)

1947-48: 3-0 (Frank Reilly improves to 3-0)

1946-47: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1943-44: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1942-43: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1938-39: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1936-37: 1-2 (IT HAS HAPPENED: 42-40 overtime win over Staten Island is first win in program history)

This feature is inspired by Mets superfan and blogger 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 THIRTY-SIX

With Monday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 82-54 (.603) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 136 games at the helm.

Butch van Breda Kolff I 101-35 (.741, 136th game was the 10th game of his sixth season in 1960-61)

Frank Reilly 97-39 (.719, 136th game was the sevnth game of his sixth season in 1952-53)

Paul Lynner 86-50 (.630, 136th game was the first game of his sixth season in 1967-68)

SPEEDY CLAXTON 82-54 (.603, 136th game was the third game of his fifth season in 2025-26)

Joe Mihalich 72-64 (.526, 136th game was the third game of his fifth season in 2017-18)

Roger Gaeckler 69-67 (.511, 136th game was the fourth game of his sixth season in 1977-78)

Dick Berg 69-67 (.511, 136th game was the 26th game of his fifth season in 1984-85)

Butch van Breda Kolff II 67-69 (.496, 136th game was the 22nd game of his fifth season in 1992-93)

Tom Pecora 67-69 (.496, 136th game was the 16th game of his sixth season in 2005-06)

Jay Wright 66-70 (.481, 136th game was the 23rd game of his fifth season in 1998-99)

Butch van Breda Kolff earns career win no. 101 as the Flying Dutchmen record the final victory of their school-record 23-game winning streak spanning two seasons. Paul Lynner opens out his sixth season with a win while ties are the name of the game thereon as Dick Berg and Roger Gaeckler each fall to 69-67 to remain tied for sixth place and VBK II and Tom Pecora each fall to 67-69 and continue sharing eighth place. But Jay Wright, still mired in last place, wins the 23rd game of his fifth season to climb within four games of .500 and within one game of VBK II and Pecora. Perhaps we may not be able to dub him a perpetual slacker for long? Perpetual slacker!

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.