Mac is no Eric Lindros.
Jalen Ray joined some select company Saturday afternoon, but the Flying Dutchmen could not climb all the way back from a 17-point deficit and Ray missed a potential game-tying running layup just before time expired in a 73-71 loss to Drexel. The Dutchmen, who had their five-game winning streak snapped, will hope to salvage a split of the weekend series this afternoon, when they are scheduled to face the Dragons again. Here’s a look back at the loss to Drexel and a hopeful look ahead to the game against…Drexel. (yup, still weird indeed)
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Jalen Ray tied Brian Bernardi’s single-game school record by draining eight 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 30 points, but a potential epic comeback by the Dutchmen fell just short. The Dutchmen missed 16 (!!!) straight shots during a nearly 12-minute run by Drexel that staked the Dragons to a 41-24 lead before Ray sparked the rally by scoring 19 points in the second half, during which the Dutchmen pulled within one point three times. Ray missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with under 10 seconds left before driving the length of the court following a missed free throw by Tim Perry Jr., but his floating layup bounced off the rim. Ray also added three assists and three steals, Isaac Kante had 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds while Caleb Burgess finished with eight points and seven assists. Tareq Coburn had nine points and five rebounds but was just 2-of-8 from the field. KVonn Cramer added six points and six rebounds. Drexel shot a blistering 61.9 percent from the field (26-of-42), including 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from 3-point land.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Drexel 2/6)
3: Jalen Ray
2: Isaac Kante
1: Caleb Burgess
SEASON STANDINGS
Jalen Ray 34
Isaac Kante 26
Tareq Coburn 19
Caleb Burgess 14
KVonn Cramer 11
Omar Silverio 3
Kevin Schutte 1
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER EIGHTEEN GAMES
With Saturday’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 11-7, which is tied for the 32nd-best start in school history. Four other teams have opened 11-7, most recently the 2017-18 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 17 games.
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 9-9
1976-77: 13-5
1999-2000: 13-5 (Hernandez?)
2000-01: 14-4 (marked sixth win in program-record 18-game winning streak)
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 13-5
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 12-6
2004-05: 12-6
2005-06: 14-4
2006-07: 13-5
2015-16: 12-6
2018-19: 15-3 (marked 11th win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 13-5
1961-62: 16-2 (most recent 16-2 start)
1962-63: 12-6 (win in 18th game was first in 11-game winning streak into the NCAAs)
1963-64: 15-3
Some other notable 18-game starts:
2016-17: 9-9 (most recent 9-9 start, last time at .500)
2014-15: 13-5 (most recent 13-5 start)
2013-14: 6-12 (most recent 6-12 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2012-13: 5-13 (most recent 5-13 start)
2003-04: 8-10 (most recent 8-10 start)
1997-98: 10-8 (most recent 10-8 start)
1995-96: 7-11 (most recent 7-11 start)
1994-95: 4-14 (most recent 4-14 start, wins in games 17-18 marked first winning streak for Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 2-16 (only 2-16 start, VBK’s last team)
1987-88: 4-14 (loss in 18th game was eighth loss of program-record 13-game losing streak)
1964-65: 9-9 (last time at .500)
1959-60: 17-1 (most recent 17-1 start & Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise; win in 18th game was seventh win of season-ending 13-game winning streak)
1938-39: 10-8 (lost season finale)
Hofstra has never been 18-0, 3-15, 1-17 or 0-18 through 18 games.
Two seasons were completed in fewer than 18 games:
1937-38: 10-4
1936-37: 10-7
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1957-58.
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.
RAY’S BIG DAY (part one)
Jalen Ray tied the school record for 3-pointers in a single game Saturday afternoon, when he hit eight shots from beyond the arc. He is the second Hofstra player with eight 3-pointers in a game, following in the footsteps of Brian Bernardi, who was 8-of-11 from 3-point land against Canisius on Nov. 13, 2015. Ray actually hit eight of his first 10 attempts Saturday before missing his last three 3-point shots, including two that rimmed out.
RAY’S BIG DAY (part two)
With his 30 points, Ray became the first Hofstra player to score 30 points in a game this season and the first since Eli Pemberton scored a career-high 35 points against James Madison last Feb. 29. Ray is the first Dutchman to score at least 30 points in a loss since Justin Wright-Foreman scored 33 points in an overtime loss to James Madison on Feb. 23, 2019.
In addition, Ray is the 19th Hofstra player with a 30-point game since the 1988-89 season, which is as far back as my individual points-rebounds-assists records go at home, and the seventh to do so since Joe Mihalich arrived prior to the 2013-14 season. Here is the full list of 30-point games dating back to 1988-89:
Justin Wright-Foreman 23
Demetrius Dudley 12
Charles Jenkins 12
Antoine Agudio 10
Speedy Claxton 8
Loren Stokes 7
Zeke Upshaw 3
Mike Moore 3
Ameen Tanksley 2
Rick Apodaca 2
John Mavroukas 2
Desure Buie 2
Carlos Rivera 1
Norm Richardson 1
Nathaniel Lester 1
Lawrence Thomas 1
Juan’ya Green 1
Eli Pemberton 1
Jalen Ray 1
THE 30/3/3/3 CLUB (or: he must really like products of 3)
In addition to collecting 30 points Saturday afternoon, Jalen Ray also finished with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. He is just the third Hofstra player to finish with at least 30 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in a single game since 2010-11, the start of the Play Index era at CollegeBasketballReference.com, and the first since Juan’ya Green scored 30 points and added eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals against William & Mary on Jan. 24, 2016. Charles Jenkins also did it when he had 32 points, five rebounds, eight assists and three steals against George Mason in the Jim Larranaga is pouting game on Jan. 5, 2011. That was a fun game!
RAY MOVIN’ ON UP
Jalen Ray needed a monster game Saturday to continue his streak of gaining ground on the Hofstra all-time scoring list. As you know by now, he got it. With his 30 points, Ray moved past Demetrius Dudley and John Mills and into sole possession of 23rd place. Ray’s got a pretty good chance to keep moving up, too. He needs just two points to move past Carlos Rivera into 22nd place and 17 points to surpass Roberto Gittens for 21st place.
21.) Roberto Gittens 1,240
22.) Carlos Rivera 1,225
23.) JALEN RAY 1,224
24t.) Demetrius Dudley 1,220
24t.) John Mills 1,220
26t.) Juan’ya Green 1,186
26t.) Brian Bernardi 1,186
28.) Rokas Gustys 1,184
29.) Ted Jackson 1,159
30.) Nathaniel Lester 1,139
31.) Wandy Williams 1,132
32.) Mike Moore 1,128
33.) Richie Swartz 1,107
34.) Ameen Tanksley 1,090
35.) Derrick Flowers 1,069
36.) Darius Burton 1,060
37.) Percy Johnson 1,045
38.) James Shaffer, 1,022
39.) John Irving 1,018
Since joining the 1,000-point club on Dec. 22, Ray has gained at least a half-spot on the all-time scoring list in every game.
Dec. 22: Tied for 38th place
Jan. 2: 38th place
Jan. 3: 37th place
Jan. 7: 36th place
Jan. 9: 35th place
Jan. 15: 34th place
Jan. 17: 33rd place
Jan. 23: 29th place
Jan. 24: Tied for 28th place
Jan. 30: 28th place
Jan. 31: 25th place
Feb. 6: 23rd place
TOP FIVE IN THREES
Jalen Ray caught Carlos Rivera in one category Saturday afternoon. The eight 3-pointers increased Ray’s career total to 201, which ties him for fifth on Hofstra’s all-time list with Rivera. Eli Pemberton is fourth with 215 3-pointers.
FUN WITH NUMBERS, THE 3-POINT RECORD EDITION
While the 3-pointer has become omnipresent in college basketball, Saturday marked just the eighth time since 2000 the single-game school record has been matched or broken. Frank Walker, the first Hofstra player to drain seven 3-pointers in a game on Dec. 10, 1987, held sole possession of the record for 355 games until Jason Hernandez tied it against Northeastern on Jan 28, 2000. Hernandez and Walker shared the record for another 317 games until Cornelius Vines hit seven 3-pointers against UNC Wilmington on Feb. 13, 2010. The mark was tied four more times (once apiece by Mike Moore and Taran Buie and twice by the late great Zeke Upshaw) over the next 171 games before Bernardi broke it. And Bernardi held sole possession of the record for 182 games, a span in which four players had at least one game with seven 3-pointers (Justin Wright-Foreman 3, Tareq Coburn 2 and Bernardi and Desure Buie with one apiece).
WE’RE NOT STREAKING ANYMORE
The loss Saturday snapped a trio of streaks for the Dutchmen, who saw their five-game winning streak ended as well as an eight-game winning streak against Drexel and a six-game winning streak at home against the Dragons. I believe those were the Dutchmen’s longest winning streaks since a 12-game winning streak against James Madison from Jan. 21, 2004 through Jan. 24, 2011 and a 10-game home winning streak against Delaware from Jan. 26, 2002 through Feb. 26, 2011. The Dutchmen’s longest active winning streaks are now against William & Mary, whom they have beaten six straight times overall, including five straight times at home.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Jalen Ray drew a really questionable #Editoralizing technical foul early in Drexel’s 24-4 run for having the audacity to point out to the stripes that he had his jersey yanked by a Drexel player when he was whistled for a foul. It was the second straight game in which a Hofstra player was issued a technical foul. Kevin Schutte got a really questionable T #EditoralizingAgain for hollering after a dunk last Sunday against UNC Wilmington. Schutte’s technical was the first issued to a Dutchman since Desure Buie was tagged with one against Charleston last DATE HERE and the back-to-back games with at least one technical were the first for Hofstra since Jan 26-Feb. 2, 2019, when Eli Pemberton got technicals in both games against Towson and Northeastern and the bench was issued a tech in the Northeastern game.
OVER THE AIR
Today’s game will be aired on FloHoops.com (subscription required). Hofstra will provide a radio feed and live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
SCOUTING DREXEL
The Dragons, under fifth-year head coach Zach Spiker, are 8-6 this season and 3-4 in CAA play after Saturday’s win.
The Dutchmen and Dragons had no common foes in non-league play.
The Dutchmen, who were picked first in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 163rd at KenPom.com, a drop of six places since yesterdayThe Dragons, who were picked third, are ranked 154th, up one spot.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank first in the CAA in offensive efficiency (105.2) and fifth in defensive efficiency (105.2). Hey those are the same figures! The Dragons are second in the CAA in offensive efficiency (103.4) and third in defensive efficiency (102.5).
Junior guard Camren Wynter, a native of Hempstead, had 16 points and five assists Saturday and leads the Dragons with 17.8 points and 5.4 assists per game. Senior forward James Butler is averaging 13.8 ppg and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game. Senior guard Zach Walton is averaging 11.2 ppg while sophomore forward T.J. Bickerstaff, who had a team-high 18 points Saturday, is averaging 10.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
KenPom.com predicts a 70-68 win for the Dutchmen (he predicted a 69-67 win yesterday, thanks for keeping the faith, Ken!). Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 4-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 8-10 against the spread this season, including 3-8 in CAA play.
THE ECC RACE
This is still a thing for me, even in this year of all years! Hofstra has more ECC wins than everyone else combined this season, but Drexel moved into first place yesterday by winning its ECC opener. Stop looking at me like that, Litos. With a win in their scheduled ECC finale today, the Dutchmen have go a long way towards earning at least a share of the mythical ECC title for the fourth straight season (though one could argue last year’s tie with Towson was broken because Hofstra won CAA Tournament games against Drexel and Delaware, in fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to argue). Stop looking at me like that, I’m telling you this is a real thing.
Drexel 1-0
HOFSTRA 3-2
Delaware 1-1
Towson 0-2
ALL-TIME VS. DREXEL
Hofstra is 46-47 against Drexel in a series that began during the 1958-59 season. The Dragons are looking to sweep the regular season series for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign. The last split between the teams happened in 2016-17.
The Dutchmen and Dragons have opposed one another as members of the East Coast Conference, the North Atlantic Conference/America East and the CAA. The only opponent Hofstra has faced more than Drexel is Delaware, whom the Dutchmen have played 95 times.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Mac’s big break bias! (Know your Sunny, kids)
Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid bias! (We get it, Jalen, the ref is a pro-Drexel jerk, but don’t give the Dragons more points than they need)
Bernie Bickerstaff’s grandson bias! (He’s T.J.’s grandfather)
Why aren’t any of your players balding anymore bias? (Tap into that demo, Zach)
