Music trading cards, like so many things, used to be a thing.
It wasn’t pretty, but if there was ever a season in which there’s no need for style points, it’s 2020-21. The Flying Dutchmen squandered all of an early double-digit lead Sunday but eventually pulled away from William & Mary, 82-73, to complete a weekend sweep (still weird typing that). The Dutchmen are one of two 2-0 teams in the CAA and are scheduled to face the other one tonight…and who else would it be but Northeastern? At least some things stay the same this year.
Alas, it’s been quite the year already, so this will be an abbreviated look back at the win over the Tribe and a look ahead to the Huskies. I’ll aim to have a more comprehensive IBQ comprising Sundays game and tonight’s game in advance of Saturday’s scheduled rematch against Northeastern in Boston.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Jalen Ray bounced back from Saturday’s struggles by scoring 21 points to lead five players in double figures for the Dutchmen, who didn’t allow William & Mary to score in the first 6:26 and trailed briefly later in the first half before ending the game on a 22-14 run over the final five minutes. Ray scored 13 points in the second half, but the biggest baskets were drained by the emerging Caleb Burgess (a career-high 15 points and eight assists), who began the final run by sinking a jumper and a 3-pointer on consecutive trips to extend the Dutchmen’s lead to 65-59. Isaac Kante (13 points, 14 rebounds) posted his fourth straight double-double. Tareq Coburn scored 12 points despite hitting just one field goal — a 3-pointer he turned into a 4-point play — and Vukasin Masic added a career-high 11 points off the bench. David Green tied his career-high with eight points.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. William & Mary 1/3)
3: Jalen Ray
2: Isaac Kante
1: Caleb Burgess
SEASON STANDINGS
Jalen Ray 17
Isaac Kante 14
Tareq Coburn 12
Caleb Burgess 6
KVonn Cramer 3
Kevin Schutte 1
COACHSPEAK: “Really lost my love for other sports, my ability to watch other sports, so I’m probably going to get the reference wrong. But was it Herm Edwards that said you play to win the games? That’s what we did. It's not pretty, but it doesn’t matter when you win.”—acting head coach Mike Farrelly (Mike, you got it right)
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No and what does a guy have to do around here to get a unicorn score?! It’s getting to the point where I should list the NON-unicorn scores. Anyway, like a couple times already this season, it took some deep diving to find this one. The Dutchmen’s previous 82-73 win came way back in the 1958-59 season, when they beat Penn Military College by that score. I bet Litos thinks I made that school up.
Once again, the Dutchmen have yet to record a unicorn score this season. *makes begging motion* he Dutchmen recorded 13 unicorn score victories last season, three more than in 2018-19, which was when we first started tracking 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.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER NINE GAMES
With the win Sunday, the Dutchmen improved to 6-3, which is tied for the 18th-best start in school history. Fourteen other teams began 6-3, including each of the last five. That’s even wilder than the previous five teams opening 5-3! Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through nine games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 5-4
1976-77: 7-2
1999-2000: 5-4 (over .500 for good)
2000-01: 7-2
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 6-3
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 5-4 (over .500 for good)
2004-05: 9-0 (most recent 9-0 start)
2005-06: 7-2
2006-07: 6-3
2015-16: 6-3
2018-19: 6-3 (marked third win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 5-4 (over .500 for good)
1961-62: 8-1
1962-63: 7-2
1963-64: 8-1
Some other notable eight-game starts:
2014-15: 7-2 (most recent 7-2 start)
2013-14: 3-6 (most recent 3-6 start)
2010-11: 5-4 (most recent 5-4 start)
2008-09: 8-1 (most recent 8-1 start)
2007-08: 2-7 (most recent 2-7 start)
2003-04: 4-5 (most recent 4-5 start)
2002-03: 1-8 (most recent 1-8 start)
2001-02: 5-4 (over .500 for the last time)
1994-95: 2-7 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-8 (VBK’s last team)
1960-61: 9-0
1959-60: 9-0
1955-56: 9-0
1947-48: 9-0
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.
OVER THE AIR
Hofstra will provide a video feed (with a FloHoops subscription) and radio feed of today’s game, as well as live stats, at the Pride Productions hub.
SCOUTING NORTHEASTERN
The Huskies, under 15th-year head coach Bill Coen, are 3-5 overall and 2-0 in the CAA after sweeping Elon at home last weekend with a 75-52 win on Saturday and a 66-58 victory on Sunday.
The Dutchmen and Huskies had no common foes in non-league play.
The Dutchmen, who were picked first in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 148th at KenPom.com. The Huskies, who were picked seventh, are ranked 161st.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank first in the CAA in offensive efficiency (103.4) and third in defensive efficiency (101.8). The Huskies are tied for sixth in the CAA in offensive efficiency (99.7) and first in defensive efficiency (99.6).
Sophomore guard Tyson Walker, who was named to the preseason all-CAA second team, leads Northeastern with 16.3 points and 5.3 assists per game. Freshman forward Jahmyl Telfort, the reigning CAA rookie of the week, is averaging 12.6 ppg while junior forward Jason Strong is averaging 9.4 ppg. Junior guard Shaquille Walters is averaging 9.3 ppg and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.
KenPom.com predicts a 71-68 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 3-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 5-4 against the spread this season.
ALL-TIME VS. NORTHEASTERN
Hofstra is 26-23 against Northeastern in a series that began during the 1949-50 season. All but three of the meetings have come in conference play since the 1994-95 season, when Hofstra joined the North Atlantic Conference. The Dutchmen went 3-0 in memorable fashion last season, when Eli Pemberton hit a layup just before the buzzer to lift Hofstra to a 74-72 win in Boston on Jan. 9 before Hofstra came back from a 16-point first half deficit to earn a 75-71 victory on Feb. 8. And then, of course, Hofstra pulled away late in the CAA title game to earn a 70-61 win on the very last night of normal on Mar 10.
THE BARONE BOWL
The Barone Bowl was established by me and Northeastern graduate Mike Brodsky during the 2009-10 season, after Northeastern and Hofstra dropped football within two weeks of one another (Hofstra’s decision, of course, was reached after a multi-year study, wink wink nudge nudge). Did you know? Hofstra hosted Northeastern last season in our first Winter Homecoming!
The Barone Bowl pays homage to the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which a Hofstra kicker boots a 68-yard field goal against Northeastern but Frank Barone catches the ball and refuses to give it up. Apparently that wasn’t the type of publicity either school liked. Anyway.
Northeastern leads the Barone Bowl series, 13-12, but lost possession of the trophy last spring because Hofstra swept the regular season series before dethroning the Huskies as champs. A split of the season series would allow Hofstra to retain the trophy, unless the two teams meet in the title game again. Which would be wild. This, unfortunately, is a purely symbolic trophy, one which you will not find displayed by either school. But you can find me and Brodsky talking about it on Twitter!
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Matt Janning and Vasa Pusica can’t hurt us anymore bias! (Demons be gone!)
Jim Calhoun bias! (Bill Coen has a chance to surpass him as Northeastern’s all-time winningest coach this season)
Tom Brady made Bill Belichick and not vice versa bias! (duh)
Bell Biv Devoe bias! (The New Edition offshoot hails from Boston, because, well, so does New Edition)
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