We are MAAC Stans here, the Metro was the conference that birthed Conference USA and/or a song by Berlin.
Sure, the Flying Dutchmen suffered their most lopsided defeat in almost two years on Tuesday night, when Arizona State rolled to an 85-63 win, But the Dutchmen are home tonight to host Iona and raise the 2026 NCAA Tournament banner, which is awesome and a reminder that nothing should or can bother any of us this season.
As will hopefully remain the routine following all games this year, I ran down the boilerplate material from Tuesday’s loss in Keep It Perky earlier today. This is all about the individual news and notes from that defeat as well as a preview of the Gaels, who still play in the MAAC no matter what anybody tells you. Enjoy!
WIRE-TO-WIRE LOSS
The Dutchmen never led Tuesday night. It was their first wire-to-wire loss of the season and their first since a 72-70 loss to Columbia last Dec. 3.
A RARE LOPSIDED LOSS
The 22-point margin of defeat Tuesday was the largest for the Dutchmen since way back on Feb. 1, 2025, when they suffered a 75-52 loss to Campbell. The Dutchmen’s largest margin of defeat last season was set in a 90-70 loss to Alabama in the NCAA Tournament, Last season marked the first time the Dutchmen did not suffer a 20-point regular season loss since the 2020-21 campaign, which was limited to 23 games due to the pandemic. The previous full season in which the Dutchmen didn’t lose a game by at least 20 points was 2018-19, when they went 27-8 and reached the NIT.
ALL SINGLES FOR THE STARTERS (part one)
Guess I should play some Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains here GOOGLE IT CRAIN. The Dutchmen didn’t have a starter reach double figures in scoring Tuesday night for the first time since Dec. 6, 2024, when five reserves got into double figures in a 114-46 win over Division III St. Joseph’s (NY). Prior to Tuesday, the Dutchmen last had no starters reach double figures a Division I foe on Jan. 9, 2013, when Daquan Brown had a team-high 13 points off the bench in a 69-54 loss to Delaware. Bet you didn’t expect a Daquan Brown reference today!
ALL SINGLES FOR THE STARTERS (part two)
The loss Tuesday night marked just the fifth time since the 2002-03 season — which is as far back as my boxscores go at home — that a Dutchmen starter didn’t score in double figures. In addition to the aforementioned games against Delaware and St. Joseph’s (NY), the Dutchmen also didn’t get a starter into double figures in a 73-50 loss to Northeastern on Jan. 5, 2009 and a 44-39 win over Manhattan on Dec. 9, 2009. Wow! Spanning two seasons!
ALL SINGLES FOR THE STARTERS (part three)
Starters Sideshow Trey Boyd III (eight points), Tanner Thomas (six points), Justin Moore (four points), Spence Wewe (two points) and Joshua DeCady (one point) combined for just 21 points Tuesday night. That’s the fewest points scored by Dutchmen starters dating back to the 2002-03 season. The previous low for a quintet was 22 points against St. Joseph’s (NY) on Dec. 6, 2024, when Cruz Davis scored seven points and Jean Aranguren, TJ Gadsden and Michael Graham added five points apiece while Jaquan Sanders was scoreless.
NICK MOVIN’ ON UP
Sophomore Nick Jefferson had another solid game off the bench Tuesday night, when he scored 11 points and led the Dutchmen with five rebounds and five assists in a team-high 30 minutes. Jefferson is the first Hofstra player to collect at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench since Dec. 6, 2024, when KiJan Robinson finished with 28 points, five rebounds and seven assists in a 114-46 win over Division III St. Joseph’s (NY). He is the first Hofstra player with at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench against a Division I foe since Jalen Ray had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists in a 91-82, double-overtime win over Towson on Feb, 21, 2019. Jefferson, a transfer from Salt Lake Community College, has scored in double figures in each of his first two games with the Dutchmen.
DEYWILK IN DOUBLE DIGITS
Senior Deywilk Tavarez, a transfer from Loyola Chicago, scored 12 points and added four rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench Tuesday night. The points and minutes were both season-highs for Tavarez, who had 10 points over 26 minutes combined against St. Joseph’s (NY) and Princeton.
ANYTHING ELSE, X?
Another Singles reference! Freshman Xavier Blake shared the team lead in scoring with Deywilk Tavarez by collecting 12 points off the bench Tuesday night. Blake scored all of his points in the final 11:40. Blake didn’t play against Princeton after scoring eight points — also all in the second half — against St. Joseph’s (NY) in the season opener on Nov. 2.
TREYS FOR TREY
Senior Sideshow Trey Boyd III scored eight points while going 2-of-4 from 3-point land and 3-of-6 from the field overall Tuesday night. Boyd III is 8-of-15 from beyond the arc in his first three Division I games. He leads the Dutchmen in both 3-pointers and 3-point attempts.
DECADY DANCE
Junior Joshua DeCady, the lone returnee from last year’s CAA champions, finished with one point while drawing four fouls over 24 minutes Tuesday night. Since the start of last season, the Dutchmen are 18-8 when DeCady starts and 6-4 when he comes off the bench.
TANNER’S TROUBLES
Graduate student Tanner Thomas, the younger brother of former Hofstra star Tyler Thomas, was limited to six points and didn’t record a rebound before fouling out in 25 minutes Tuesday night. Thomas had 24 points and 16 rebounds in the Dutchmen’s first two games — his first action since the 2024-25 season with Sacred Heart.
JUSTIN NEEDS MOORE
Senior Justin Moore, a transfer from Loyola Chicago, struggled Tuesday night, when he had a season-low four points and one assist in a season-low 12 minutes. Moore was 0-for-2 from 3-point land and is 0-for-8 from beyond the arc in his last two games.
SPENCE STARTS
Junior Spence Wewe started his third straight game at center Tuesday night, when he had two points, three rebounds, one assist and one block in a season-high 22 minutes. Wewe, a transfer from Quinnipiac, is 5-of-6 from the field this season.
Z IN THE ROTATION
Graduate student Imanuel Zorgvol continued heading the center rotation with Spence Wewe Tuesday night, when he finished with five points, one assist and two blocks in 14 minutes. Zorgvol is 7-of-8 from the field and 8-of-11 from the free throw line this season. He leads the Dutchmen in both free throws and free throw attempts.
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on MSG if you are in the New York area and/or somehow paid one billion dollars (approx) for what is now the DAZN app. Cable was fine, people! Speaking of cable was and is fine, the game will also be streamed on FloHoops.com (subscription required, click here for options) as well as the FloSports Channel on Amazon Prime Video. As long as you have no other questions, yes, I know how to access Flo on Amazon Prime. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
IONA AND THE MAAC
Iona, under second-year head coach Dan Geriot, is 2-2 after falling to Fordham, 78-72, on Tuesday night.
Iona was picked to finish fourth in the 13-team MAAC. Yes, the MAAC was officially renamed the Metro Conference following last season, No I am not referring to it as the Metro Conference, The Metro Conference had Louisville, VCU, Memphis State and Cincinnati and was located mostly in the middle of the country when I was a kid, damnit!
Anyway, Iona returns four players from last year’s team, which finished 18-14 and fell to Sacred Heart in the first round of the MAAC Tournament. That’s what it was still called!
Senior guard Kevon Vanderhorst, who played the last two seasons at Drexel, leads the Gaels with 13.8 ppg and 3.8 apg. Graduate student Kosy Akametu, who is in his second season with Iona, is averaging 12.0 ppg. Senior Keyshawn Mitchell, a VCU transfer (not from the Metro Conference, though), is averaging 8.3 ppg and a team-high 7.8 rpg. Freshman Ore Odutayo is averaging 8.5 ppg while graduate student Sadiku Ibine Ayo, who opened his career at Iona before spending the previous three seasons at St. John’s, is averaging 7.5 ppg.
The Dutchmen and Gaels have five common foes this season. Iona opened its season with a 56-55 win over Vermont, whom the Dutchmen will play as part of the Island Invitational on Nov. 29. The Dutchmen will also host Colgate and the MAAC’s Merrimack in the event on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, respectively. Iona is slated to host Colgate on Dec. 12. The Dutchmen visit Saint Mary’s on Dec. 1, a mere 17 days before the Gaels host, err the Gaels. Who’s winning? Hofstra also faces the MAAC’s Quinnipiac on Dec. 12.
Iona tied the all-time series with Hofstra at 23-23 after earning a wire-to-wire 81-73 win last Nov. 7. Preston Edmead offered a sign of things to come for the Dutchmen by finishing with a team-high 18 points and six assists.
This marks the seventh straight season in which Hofstra has faced Iona, which is easily the longest active streak of annual games against a non-conference foe. Iona is Hofstra’s fourth-most frequent non-conference opponent behind only Delaware (105 games, sigh) Manhattan (66 games) and Wagner (53 games).
Hofstra is 109-120 all-time against current MAAC schools. The Dutchmen are playing at least two MAAC foes this season for the 18th time in the last 21 seasons.
At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 155th while Iona is ranked 207th. KenPom.com predicts a 72-67 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 7 1/2-point favorites. 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
Daniss Jenkins bias! (Jenkins, who played for Rick Pitino in his final season at Iona and his first season at St. John’s, is averaging 13.5 ppg and 4.3 apg for the Detroit Pistons)
You have a Drexel transfer too bias! (Though Kevon Vanderhorst and Justin Moore didn’t play together)
IonaGuyF is a degenerate gambler bias! (But he’s also better at it than me)
You’re still in the MAAC as far as I’m concerned bias! (Well yeah)
