Did you know? The Flying Dutchmen have more ACC wins this season than Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia, Notre Dame (is Notre Dame still in the ACC after Sunday?) or anyone else in that far-flung hodgepodge of a league. What? It’s true!
The Dutchmen pulled off their nearly annual upset of a power four or five program (we’ll count the ACC as a power conference for the purposes of this piece) Sunday afternoon, when they rode Cruz Davis’ career-best game to a nearly wire-to-wire 80-73 win over Pittsburgh. Invite us to your lousy league, you cowards!
As will hopefully remain the norm throughout the season, here’s Keep It Perky, featuring the postgame boilerplate material from a statement win. The individual news and notes from the win over the Panthers and a preview of Old Westbury (whose nickname is also Panthers, now that’s quirky!) will be posted overnight. Enjoy!
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Cruz Davis scored 36 points — the most by a Hofstra player in more than two years, the most by a CAA player this season and tied for the third-most against a power conference foe this season — as the Dutchmen withstood a second-half rally by Brandin Cummings and Pittsburgh. Davis scored 12 straight points for the Dutchmen as they took the lead for good by the under-12 timeout in the first half and then sparked a 16-4 run by collecting three assists and draining the 3-pointer that gave the Dutchmen their biggest first-half lead at 36-20. Pittsburgh scored the final three points of the half before Davis had two assists and 3-pointer to extend the Dutchmen’s lead to 43-26 with 17:35 left. Pittsburgh responded with a 26-12 run in which it pulled within three points three times, the last at 55-52 with 9:42 remaining, But German Plotnikov hit a transition 3-pointer to begin a 12-2 run and the Dutchmen never led by fewer than seven the rest of the way. Davis finished 14-of-25 from the field, including 5-of-11 from 3-point land, and also led the Dutchmen with seven assists and their lone block. Victory Onuetu had 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting while Plotnikov scored all eight of his points in the second half while adding five rebounds. Preston Edmead scored six of his eight points in the second half while Jaeden Roberts saw his first rotation minutes and finished with seven key points, including five points during the decisive first-half run.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Pittsburgh, 12/7)
3: Cruz Davis
2: Victory Onuetu
1: German Plotnikov
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 24
Preston Edmead 15
Victory Onuetu 6
Biggie Patterson 6
German Plotnikov 4
Silas Sunday 3
Joshua DeCady 2
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No! But while it’d be neat to record a unicorn score in an upset win, we’re not complaining. (Not yet, anyway) The Dutchmen previously earned an 80-73 win on Dec. 28, 2015, when they overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to edge Sacred Heart, which finished the season ranked 300th at KenPom. That was one of the first times I realized that season was going to be a grind.
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?
Who else but Cruz Davis? The star guard delivered his first Keith Hernandez of the season Sunday, when he hit the tie-breaking jumper to give the Dutchmen the lead for good at 18-16 with 8:38 left in the first half. It’s the first time this season the Dutchmen have gone ahead for good with a traditional two-point field goal and the third time this season they’ve recorded the Keith Hernandez in the first half.
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)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Pittsburgh, 12/7/25 (8:38 left 1H)
SEASON STANDINGS
Biggie Patterson 2
Preston Edmead 2
Cruz Davis 1
German Plotnikov 1
ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)
Tyler Thomas 16
Darlinstone Dubar 14
Jean Aranguren 5
Cruz Davis 4
German Plotnikov 4
Aaron Estrada 4
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 TEN GAMES
The Dutchmen improved to 6-4 with Sunday’s win. This ties the 2025-26 team for the 29th-best record in school history through 10 games. Seventeen other teams began 6-4, most recently the 2023-24 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 10 games:
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 5-5
1976-77: 7-3
1999-2000: 6-4
2000-01: 7-3
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 6-4
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 6-4
2004-05: 9-1 (most recent 9-1 start, loss to Syracuse in 10th game was first of season)
2005-06: 8-2
2006-07: 6-4
2015-16: 6-4
2018-19: 7-3 (most recent 7-3 start, marked fourth win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 6-4
1961-62: 9-1
1962-63: 7-3
1963-64: 9-1
Some other notable eight-game starts:
2024-25: 7-3 (most recent 7-3 start)
2021-22: 5-5 (most recent 5-5 start)
2013-14: 3-7 (most recent 3-7 start)
2008-09: 8-2 (most recent 8-2 start)
2007-08: 2-8 (most recent 2-8 start)
2003-04: 4-6 (most recent 4-6 start)
2002-03: 1-9 (most recent 1-9 start)
2001-02: 5-5 (at .500 for the last time)
1994-95: 2-8 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-9 (VBK’s last team)
1960-61: 10-0 (most recent 10-0 start)
1959-60: 10-0
1955-56: 10-0
1947-48: 9-1 (loss to Brooklyn Polytech in 10th game was first of season)
The Dutchmen have never opened a season 0-10.
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-THRE
With Sunday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 87-56 (.608) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 143 games at the helm.
Butch van Breda Kolff I 106-37 (.741, 143rd game was the 17th game of his sixth season in 1960-61) 91-35
Frank Reilly 103-40 (.720, 143rd game was the 14th game of his sixth season in 1952-53) 92-37
Paul Lynner 90-53 (.629, 143rd game was the eighth game of his sixth season in 1967-68) 85-50
SPEEDY CLAXTON 87-56 (.608, 143rd game was the 10th game of his fifth season in 2025-26) 81-52
Joe Mihalich 76-67 (.531, 143rd game was the 10th game of his fifth season in 2017-18) 69-64
Dick Berg 73-70 (.510, 143rd game was the fourth game of his sixth season in 1985-86) 70-69
Tom Pecora 73-70 (.510, 143rd game was the 23rd game of his sixth season in 2005-06) 55-65
Roger Gaeckler 72-71 (.503, 143rd game was the 11th game of his sixth season in 1977-78) 68-64
Jay Wright 72-71 (.503, 143rd game was the 30th game of his fifth season in 1998-99) 50-63
Butch van Breda Kolff II 70-73 (.490, 143rd game was first game of his sixth season in 1993-94) 70-71
IT HAS HAPPENED! Perpetual slacker Jay Wright FINALLY climbs above .500 for the first time as Hofstra head coach as the Dutchmen beat Vermont, 69-59, in Wright’s 143rd game at the helm. Alas, that’ll be the final win of the season for the Dutchmen, who won’t be able to overcome a hobbled Speedy Claxton in the America East semifinals or the NIT. So maybe Wright is a perpetual slacker anyway! But for now, Wright ties Roger Gaeckler for eighth place. One spot further up the standings, Dick Berg wins his 143rd game to tie Tom Pecora, whose red-hot 2005-06 team loses to UNC Wilmington 77-68 in his 143rd game.
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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