Turns out my favorite live action TV show wasn’t lying to me. It is always sunny in Philadelphia — or at least for the Flying Dutchmen, who completed a perfect weekend in the home of the gang and won the Cathedral Classic by riding a dominant second half Sunday afternoon to a 77-60 victory over Pennsylvania.
(Sunday was the championship game because both the Dutchmen and Quakers were 2-0 entering the game, but who would have won the title if everyone split their first two games? How would a champion be determined? Oh well, not my concern, I don’t have to ponder such existential questions this time)
With the Cathedral Classic and the three-games-in-as-many-days flurry behind us, I’ll try to return to what will hopefully remain the norm throughout the season by producing Keep It Perky, featuring the postgame boilerplate material. The individual news and notes from the win over the Quakers and a preview of Columbia (we’re Ivy Leaguers now!) will be posted Wednesday. Enjoy!
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
German Plotnikov scored seven of his 12 points during a decisive 21-6 run spanning the halves for the Flying Dutchmen, who trailed by two at intermission before cruising to a win over Pennsylvania in the Cathedral Classic championship game, The Dutchmen opened their biggest lead of the first 20 minutes at 18-14 on a layup by Cruz Davis before Pennsylvania ended the half on a 19-13 run. The Quakers led by as many as six and missed a pair of 3-pointers with a chance to expand the lead to nine points before Biggie Patterson’s 3-pointer with 33 seconds left cut the halftime deficit to 33-31. Plotnikov opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Victory Onuetu followed with a jumper before Pennsylvania tied the score for the last time on a 3-pointer by TJ Power with 18:26 left. Patterson answered with a 3-pointer (spoiler alert!) as the Dutchmen scored 13 of the next 15 points during a surge capped when A.J. Willis hit a jumper to extend the lead to 49-38. Pennsylvania cut the gap to nine points twice before the Dutchmen maintained a double-digit lead for the final 12-plus minutes. Davis led all scorers with 18 points while adding five assists and two steals, though he also committed five turnovers. Plotnikov added four rebounds, three blocks and one steal while Preston Edmead (11 points, eight assists, six rebounds) flirted with a triple-double and did most of his offensive damage from the free throw line, where he was 9-of-10. Onuetu (10 points, nine rebounds) also nearly posted a double-double and added two steals and two blocks. Patterson had 10 points and five rebounds while Wills added five points and three rebounds in a season-high 25 minutes.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Pennsylvania, 11/30 )
3: Cruz Davis
2: German Plotnikov
1: Preston Edmead
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 18
Preston Edmead 13
Biggie Patterson 6
Victory Onuetu 4
German Plotnikov 3
Silas Sunday 2
Joshua DeCady 1
Silas Sunday 1
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No! This is starting to become a trend. Of course, as I was told as a kid, it’s better to have won without a unicorn score than to never have won at all. Or something like that. The Dutchmen previously earned a 77-60 victory on Jan, 22, 2014, when they upset William & Mary to improve to 3-1 in the CAA in Joe Mihalich’s first season as head coach. They won just three more leagues games, counting the CAA Tournament, but I fondly remember that win over William & Mary as the first time it felt like the Dutchmen were beginning to emerge from the darkness of the previous two seasons,
The Dutchmen have no unicorn score victories this season 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
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?
Biggie Patterson made a bit of Keith Hernandez history Sunday, when he hit the tie-breaking 3-pointer to give the Dutchmen the lead for good at 39-36 with 18:03 left. All four Keith Hernandezes collected via a field goal this season have been 3-pointers. Patterson is the first player to ever record multiple Keith Hernandezes in a tournament setting (at least since the 2022-23 season) and the first player with two Keith Hernandezes in a three-game span since Jean Aranguren had back-to-back Keith Hernandezes in wins over Seton Hall and Massachusetts from Nov. 13-16, 2024.
German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Molloy, 11/10/25 (18:47 left 1H)
Preston Edmead go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Bucknell, 11/14/25 (13:30 left 2H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking free throw vs. La Salle, 11/28/25 (1:35 left 2H)
Preston Edmead tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Merrimack, 11/29/25 (15:25 left 1H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Pennsylvania, 11/30/25 (18:03 left 2H)
SEASON STANDINGS
Biggie Patterson 2
Preston Edmead 2
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
Biggie Patterson 2
Preston Edmead 2
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 EIGHT GAMES
The Dutchmen improved to 5-3 with Sunday’s win. This ties the 2025-26 team for the 25th-best record in school history through eight games. This is the second straight season the Dutchmen have opened 5-3 and the 18th time overall in program history. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through eight games:
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 4-4
1976-77: 6-2
1999-2000: 4-4
2000-01: 6-2
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 5-3
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 4-4
2004-05: 8-0 (most recent 8-0 start)
2005-06: 6-2
2006-07: 5-3
2015-16: 6-2
2018-19: 5-3 (marked second win in the 16-game winning streak)
2022-23: 6-2 (most recent 6-2 start)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 4-4
1961-62: 7-1
1962-63: 6-2
1963-64: 7-1
Some other notable eight-game starts:
2021-22: 4-4 (most recent 4-4 start)
2013-14: 2-6 (most recent 2-6 start)
2012-13: 3-5 (most recent 3-5 start)
2008-09: 7-1 (most recent 7-1 start)
2002-03: 1-7 (most recent 1-7 start)
1994-95: 2-6 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-7 (VBK’s last team)
1960-61: 8-0
1959-60: 8-0
1955-56: 8-0
1951-52: 8-0
1947-48: 8-0
The Dutchmen have never opened 0-8.
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 FORTY-ONE
With Sunday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 86-55 (.610) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 141 games at the helm.
Butch van Breda Kolff I 104-37 (.738, 141st game was the 15th game of his sixth season in 1960-61)
Frank Reilly 101-40 (.716, 141st game was the 12th game of his sixth season in 1952-53)
Paul Lynner 88-53 (.624, 141st game was the sixth game of his sixth season in 1967-68)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 86-55 (.610, 141st game was the eighth game of his fifth season in 2025-26)
Joe Mihalich 74-67 (.525, 141st game was the eighth game of his fifth season in 2017-18)
Dick Berg 72-69 (.511, 141st game was the second game of his sixth season in 1985-86)
Tom Pecora 72-69 (.511, 141st game was the 21st game of his sixth season in 2005-06)
Roger Gaeckler 71-70 (.504, 141st game was the ninth game of his sixth season in 1977-78)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 70-71 (.496, 141st game was the 27th and final game of his fifth season in 1992-93)
Jay Wright 70-71 (.496, 141st game was the 28th game of his fifth season in 1998-99)
With nine coaches at or above .500 and the last-place coaches just one game under the break-even mark, this really IS the closest the all-time Hofstra men’s basketball standings look like modern-day NHL standings. The most notable game no. 141 occurs for the two men who coached the Flying Dutchmen during my stint on campus as Butch van Breda Kolff II falls under 500 for good by losing the final game of the 1992-93 season and perpetual slacker Jay Wright ties him for ninth place by winning the 28th game of the 1998-99 season. This is the closest Wright has been to .500 since he was 1-2 to open the 1994-95 season, Long time, 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment