Totally my answering machine GOOGLE IT CRAIN theme during Jay Wright's first year!
The Flying Dutchmen continued their dominance of California Sunday night, when they never trailed in a 79-57 win over Cal State Fullerton. The Dutchmen will look to make it a perfect trek through the golden state tonight, when they visit San Diego — the school, not the Padres — in aThanksgiving Eve clash. Here’s a look back at the win over the Titans and a look ahead to…what are Toreros? (They are bullfighters)
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Eli Pemberton scored eight of his game-high 19 points during a game-opening 15-2 run by the Dutchmen, who never led by fewer than eight points the rest of the way. Pemberton, who added eight rebounds led five players in double-figure scoring for the Dutchmen, who also received 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals from Jalen Ray. Desure Buie had 14 points, five assists and four steals while Isaac Kante had 10 points and eight rebounds and Omar Silverio added 10 points off the bench. Tareq Coburn had eight rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Cal State Fullerton 11/24)
3: Eli Pemberton
2: Jalen Ray
1: Desure Buie
SEASON STANDINGS
Tareq Coburn 10
Desure Buie 9
Eli Pemberton 8
Jalen Ray 6
Isaac Kante 3
THIS IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIENDS’ FIRST SEASON, WHAT WOULD THIS GAME BE TITLED IF IT WAS AN EPISODE OF FRIENDS?
The One Without A Letdown
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No! Booo. But the dream of a unicorn season perished in noble fashion, as this was the Dutchmen’s first 79-57 win since the season opener over Roanoke way back in 1952-53, when the Flying Dutchmen really were the Flying Dutchmen and my parents were barely or not even in preschool yet. The Dutchmen have three unicorn scores this season after recording 10 unicorn scores last season. 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.
WIRE-TO-WIRE WIN
The win over Cal State Fullerton marked the second game this season in which the Dutchmen never trailed and their first since a 111-69 win over New York Tech on Nov. 15. The Dutchmen enjoyed five wire-to-wire wins last season.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIX GAMES
With the win Sunday, the Dutchmen improved to 4-2. This ties the 2019-20 team for the 18th-best record through five games. Eighteen other teams began 4-2, most recently the 2015-16 team. Here is how some other notable Hofstra teams have fared through two games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 3-3
1976-77: 5-1
1999-2000: 3-3
2000-01: 5-1
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 2-4
2004-05: 6-0 (most recent 6-0 start)
2005-06: 4-2
2006-07: 3-3
2015-16: 4-2
2018-19: 3-3
Some other notable six-game starts:
2013-14: 2-4 (most recent 2-4 start)
2012-13: 3-3 (last time at .500 that season because…well, you know)
2008-09: 5-1 (most recent 5-1 start)
1994-95: 1-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-5 (VBK’s last team)
1973-74: 0-6 (most recent 0-6 start, Hofstra won game no. 7 and has never started 0-7)
This feature is also inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.
HARDWARE FOR BUIE
Desure Buie earned CAA Player of the Week honors for the week ending Sunday. Buie, of course, scored a career-high 29 points in the upset of UCLA. He finished the week with 43 points, 12 assists and seven steals in two games.
Buie is the first Hofstra player to earn CAA Player of the Week honors since some guy named Justin Wright-Foreman did so Feb. 11. Wright-Foreman earned six solo honors and shared the honor one other time last season. Buie is the first Hofstra player other than Wright-Foreman to earn at least a share of Player of the Week honors since Eli Pemberton shared the award with Northeastern’s Vasa Pusica for the week ending Jan. 21.
SO WHO HAS A DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK NOW?
Justin Wright-Foreman, as you may or may not recall, ended his Hofstra career by scoring in double figures in each of his last 88 games. With his graduation, the longest streak of double-digit scoring efforts now belongs to Jalen Ray, who scored in double digits for the seventh straight time Sunday.
1010101010 WINS
The Dutchmen put five players in double figures for the third time this season Sunday. Earlier, they had six players score in double figures against Monmouth on Nov. 9 and five players in double figures against New York Tech on Nov. 15. The Dutchmen had six games last season in which five players scored in double figures.
THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST
The Dutchmen won a game in which they held the opponent under 60 points for the 23rd straight time Sunday. Under Joe Mihalich, the Dutchmen are 25-1 when holding opponent to fewer than 60 points. The only loss was absorbed Feb. 10, 2014, when the Dutchmen fell to James Madison, 59-53.
OH NO A DANIEL DIXON REFERENCE
Desure Buie had five assists, five steals and four turnovers against Cal State Fullerton. Loyal reader Evan Jones (@EvanJ3535) notes Buie is the first player with at least five assists, four steals and five turnovers since Juan’ya Green had seven assists, four steals and six turnovers against William & Mary in the CAA semifinals Mar. 8, 2015. Some of you may remember that more as the Daniel Dixon Game. *spasms*
UPDATING THE CAA-ERA SCORING LIST
The all-time last is still a work n progress, but here’s the movement in the CAA-era scoring list that took place Sunday night, when Desure Buie (14 points), Jalen Ray (18 points), Isaac Kante (10 points) and Omar Silverio (10 points) all moved up a spot.
16.) Desure Buie 788
17.) Dion Nesmith 776
26.) Jalen Ray 586
27.) Stephen Nwaukoni 576
74.) Isaac Kante 62
75.) Daquan Brown 56
79.) Omar Silverio 35
80.) Adam Savion 25
25 YEARS AGO TODAY
One of the biggest moments in New York sports history happened 25 years ago today, when Jay Wright made his head coaching debut for the Flying Dutchmen in a 104-97 (!!!!) loss to new North Atlantic Conference foe New Hampshire. I’m not sure which is weirder, the season not beginning until Nov. 27 — which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1994 — or the season beginning with a league game. Or scoring 97 points in a loss, which is something the Dutchmen didn’t do again until a 104-99 loss to James Madison on Feb. 26. That’s a span of 495 games.
Or maybe the weirdest/most remarkable thing was the Dutchmen’s biggest offensive output under Wright was…the 97 points his first and leanest team put up in his very first game. True story! A Wright-coached team didn’t exceed 97 points until Villanova beat VMI, 104-91, on Dec. 22, 2001.
A crowd of 1,247 turned out to the Physical Fitness Center for Wright’s debut. The new head coach and his assistant, Tom Pecora, tossed T-shirts to fans. I somehow did not catch one. You guys owe me. Three Dutchmen — Darius Burton (21 points), James Parisi (20 points) and Rob Ogden (19 points) set career highs for Hofstra, which led deep into the second half before New Hampshire went on a 15-4 run to turn a six-point deficit into a five-point lead. Scott Drapeau scored 33 points and Matt Alosa scored 31 points for New Hampshire, which went on to have its best season ever (a second-place finish in the NAC). I talked to Wright this morning and will have a story about his debut up on FloHoops by Friday.
Oh and I guess something else happened in the New York area while we were all at the PFC. Dan, give the Jets back their soul, I have work in the morning!
SAN DIEGO AND THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE
San Diego, under second-year head coach Sam Scholl, is 2-5 this season after suffering its third straight defeat, an 88-69 loss to no. 25 Washington on Sunday. The Toreros were tied for eighth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll. Sophomore guard Joey Calcaterra leads San Diego with 14.0 ppg while freshman forward James Jean-Marie is averaging a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game.
This is the start of the Boca Raton Classic for both teams, even though Boca Raton is not in California. In other words, this is one of those weird on-campus games in an exempt tournament,
The Dutchmen and Toreros have three common foes this season. As part of the Boca Raton Classic, the Dutchmen will face Holy Cross in Florida on Monday and visit St. Bonaventure Dec. 7. San Diego will play St. Bonaventure in Florida Sunday and host Holy Cross San Diego on Dec. 7. San Diego will also visit Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 11.
This is the second all-time meeting between Hofstra and San Diego, The Toreros earned a 78-49 win on Dec. 31, 1990. I was more concerned with trying to stay up at an all-night drug and alcohol free party. I was one of the few that partied within the spirit of the rule. Anyway. This marks the 12th all-time meeting in all sports between Hofstra and San Diego. Hofstra is 1-1 against San Diego in men’s and women’s soccer and 1-5 in volleyball.
The Dutchmen are 1-6 all-time against current West Coast Conference schools. The lone win was an 80-67 win over Santa Clara in the Cougar Classic at Brigham Young on Dec. 14, 1984, back when Brigham Young was not in the WCC. Robbie Bosco bias! Tonight marks Hofstra’s first game against a WCC school since a 69-61 loss to Gonzaga on Nov. 22, 2002.
At KenPom.com today, Hofstra is ranked 122nd while San Diego is ranked 179th. KenPom.com predicts a 73-72 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 1-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 3-2 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Simon & Simon bias! (My all-time favorite detective show with the all-time best theme song took place in San Diego)
A.J. Simon played baseball at San Diego bias! (Well, it’s true, he did)
Dan Fouts bias! (Duh)
At least you still play I-AA football bias! (Duh)
