Back in my day, baseball players had to be in the majors to get a rookie card.
What’s the level above superstar? Tyler Thomas may have found it on Thanksgiving Eve, when he scored a career-high 40 points — breaking the career-high he’d set just the night before! — as the Flying Dutchmen survived a frantic last-minute High Point comeback attempt in regulation and some more officiating to earn a 97-92 overtime victory and win the Gulf Coast Showcase championship. After a well-earned break, the Dutchmen will make a rare non-conference appearance at the Arena tonight, when they host South Florida in the return game of a home-and-home set. Here’s a look back at the big win over the Panthers and a look ahead to the Bulls.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Tyler Thomas scored 33 of his 40 points in the second half before Darlinstone Dubar and Bryce Washington came up with the biggest plays in overtime as the Dutchmen earned their first true regular season tournament title since 2006. The Dutchmen never trailed after Silas Sunday’s jumper with 13:50 left in the first half gave them an 11-9 lead but could never shake the Panthers despite taking a pair of double-digit leads later in the first and extending their lead to nine points twice in the second half, the last time at 84-75 on a pair of German Plotnikov free throws with 1:33 left. But High Point, which outscored the Dutchmen 61-55 in the second half, ended regulation on a 13-4 run and tied the game on a four-point play LARRY JOHNSON BIAS by Duke Miles with 18 second left. Thomas missed a jumper just before the buzzer. Dubar scored the first four points in overtime for the Dutchmen, who held the Panthers scoreless from the field in the extra session. Washington, whose turnover led to Miles’ four-point play, dunked for the Dutchmen’s final field goal to extend the lead to 94-91 with 42 seconds left. Denzel Hines split a pair of free throws — High Point had a lot of those — on the Panthers’ next possession and Jaquan Carlos turned the ball over before the Panthers missed three potential game-tying shots. Washington then hit one of two free throws and Hines missed a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining. Thomas sank all 10 of his free throw attempts and added eight rebounds and five assists while Carlos (18 points, eight assists, seven rebounds) came even closer to a triple-double while figuring out a way to not foul out! Dubar had 12 points and six rebounds before fouling out in overtime, when he joined big men Sunday and Jacco Fritz as well as Plotnikov on the bench. Plotnikov, pressed into action with the earlier exits of Sunday and Fritz, had eight points and four rebounds over a season-high 27 minutes while Washington finished with seven points and three rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. High Point, 11/22)
3: Tyler Thomas
2: Jaquan Carlos
1: Darlinstone Dubar
SEASON STANDINGS
Tyler Thomas 14
Darlinstone Dubar 10
Jaquan Carlos 7
Jacco Fritz 3
KiJan Robinson 1
Bryce Washington 1
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
Yes! The Dutchmen came closest to a 97-92 win in another wild overtime classic on Jan. 21, 2016, when they needed three extra sessions to edge Northeastern 96-92. The Dutchmen also earned a 95-92 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 3, 1980, back when the Flying Dutchmen really WERE the Flying Dutchmen!
This is the Dutchmen’s third unicorn score victory of the season. The Dutchmen recorded 12 unicorn score victories last season after recording 11 unicorn score victories in 2021-22, no unicorn scores in 2020-21, 13 unicorn scores in 2019-20 and 10 unicorn scores in 2018-19. 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.
11/6/23: 101-48 over St. Joseph’s (NY)
11/20/23: 102-68 over Buffalo
11/22/23: 97-92 (OT) over High Point
WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?
Darlinstone Dubar became the first player this season with multiple Keith Hernandezes when he gave the Dutchmen the lead for good by opening overtime with a jumper with 4:47 left. It’s the second overtime Keith Hernandez in history, or at least since we started tracking this stat last season. Tyler Thomas sank the tie-breaking jumper with 9.2 seconds left in overtime of the epic 88-86 win over Rutgers in the first round of the NIT on Mar. 14.
Darlinstone Dubar go-ahead layup vs. St. Joseph’s (NY), 11/6/23 (14:30 left 1H)
Jaquan Carlos tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Buffalo, 11/20/23 (19:33 left 1H)
Tyler Thomas tie-breaking free throw vs. Wright State, 11/21/23 (4:16 left 2H)
Darlinstone Dubar tie-breaking jumper vs. High Point 11/22/23 (4:47 left OT)
SEASON STANDINGS
Darlinstone Dubar 2
Tyler Thomas 1
Jaquan Carlos 1
ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since last season)
Tyler Thomas 11
Darlinstone Dubar 7
Aaron Estrada 4
Warren Williams 3
Jaquan Carlos 2
German Plotnikov 2
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 SIX GAMES
With the win on Nov. 22, the Dutchmen improved to 4-2. This ties the 2023-24 team for the 18th-best record in school history through six games. Twenty other teams began 4-2, most recently the 2022-23 squad. So that means the Dutchmen have been tied for the 18th-best record in school history through six games in two straight years. Neat! Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through six games:
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 3-3
1976-77: 5-1
1999-2000: 3-3
2000-01: 5-1
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 4-2
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
2022-23: 4-2
Some other notable six-game starts:
2021-22: 2-4 (most recent 2-4 start)
2020-21: 3-3 (most recent 3-3 start)
2013-14: 2-4 (Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2012-13: 3-3 (last time at .500 that season because…well, you know)
2010-11: 3-3 (Mo Cassara’s first team)
2008-09: 5-1 (most recent 5-1 start)
2007-08: 1-5 (most recent 1-5 start)
2002-03: 1-5 (loss in sixth game was third loss in eight-game losing streak, tied for the longest of the Tom Pecora era)
2001-02: 4-2 (Tom Pecora’s first team)
1994-95: 1-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-5 (VBK’s last team)
1982-83: 6-0
1978-79: 3-3 (last time at .500)
1973-74: 0-6 (most recent 0-6 start, Hofstra won game no. 7 and has never started 0-7)
1969-70: 0-6 (first 0-6 start)
1960-61: 6-0
1969-60: 6-0
1955-56: 6-0 (Butch van Breda Kolff improves to .500)
1954-55: 6-0
1952-53: 5-1 (first loss in sixth game)
1951-52: 6-0
1948-49: 6-0
1947-48: 6-0 (Frank Reilly improves to .500)
1943-44: 3-3 (last time at .500)
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43.
This feature is inspired by Mets superfan and blogger Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.
NUMBER TEN THROUGH SEVENTY-THREE
With the win on Nov. 22, Speedy Claxton improved to 50-23 (.685) as head coach. That’s the second-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 73 games at the helm. The last 19 games mark the highest Claxton has been in the all-time game-to-game standings since he became head coach in 2021-22.
Paul Lynner 55-18 (.750, 73rd game was the 14th game of his third season in 1964-65)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 50-23 (.681, 73rd game was the sixth game of his third season in 2023-24)
Butch van Breda Kolff I 48-25 (.653, 73rd game was the 21st game of his third season in 1957-58)
Dick Berg 38-35 (.514, 73rd game was the 18th game of his third season in 1982-83)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 35-38 (.486, 73rd game was the 16th game of his third season in 1990-91)
Mo Cassara 34-39 (.472, 73rd game was the eighth game of his third season in 2012-13)
Joe Mihalich 34-39 (.458, 73rd game was the sixth game of his third season in 2015-16)
Roger Gaeckler 28-45 (.375, 73rd game was the first game of his fourth season in 1975-76)
Jay Wright 27-46 (.361, 73rd game was the 18th game of his third season in 1996-97)
Tom Pecora 25-48 (.333, 73rd game was the 12th game of his third season in 2003-04)
With the 2012-13 team unfortunately at the start of its eight-game post-arrests losing streak, this will be the last time Mo Cassara and Joe Mihalich will be tied in the all-time standings.
The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenures of Jack Smith (1943-46) and Frank Reilly (1947-55).
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.
THIS IS TITLE TOWN
The Gulf Coast Showcase championship is the first in-season tournament-style title for the Dutchmen since 2019, when they won the Naismith Bracket of the Boca Raton Classic by beating Holy Cross and Canisius (with a freshman named Jacco Fritz). But the Dutchmen later lost a “campus round” game to St. Bonaventure in said tournament, so this is their first true tournament victory since way back in 2006, when they won the Holiday Festival by beating Saint Joseph’s and St. John’s. (The 2012 2K Sports Classic, in which the Dutchmen beat South Dakota State, District of Columbia and Marshall for the very last good thing to happen that season, was preceded by a campus round loss to Purdue, which is great because it means we don’t have to count it as a tournament win anymore)
Thus, this is the Dutchmen’s fifth in-season tournament title of the Defiantly Dutch era. Each of the first four in-season titles happened during seasons in which the Dutchmen qualified for either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. Well they’d better win the CAA this year since the NIT is only for the big boys now!
1998 Holiday Festival (invited to the NIT)
1999 Holiday Festival (won the America East’s automatic bid to the NCAAs)
2000 Florida International Tip-Off Classic (won the America East’s automatic bid to the NCAAs)
2006 Holiday Festival (invited to the NIT)
HONOR ROLL
To the surprise of no one on the planet, Tyler Thomas was named the Gulf Coast Showcase’s MVP after scoring a whopping a tournament-record 91 points, breaking the previous mark by nine points. Jaquan Carlos was also named to the all-tournament team.
GET TO THE WORKIN’ OVERTIME PART
With the win on Nov. 22, the Dutchmen improved to 3-3 in overtime under Speedy Claxton. This also marked the first time the Dutchmen were extended to overtime despite not trailing in the second half since Claxton’s debut on Nov. 9, 2021, when the Dutchmen fell to nationally ranked Houston 83-75.
FIRST TO FORTY
Let’s dive into Tyler Thomas’ latest career game, shall we? With his 40 points on Nov. 22, Thomas became the first Division I player this season to score 40 points in a game. Alas, he’s no longer the only player to do so, but in a truly great quirky connection, the second player to do so has a connection to Hofstra. La Salle’s Jhamir Brickus scored 41 points last night in La Salle’s 106-99 TRIPLE overtime loss to Temple in a Big 5 classic. The special assistant to the head coach at La Salle is none other than the great Joe Mihalich, who had players total four 40-point games (three for Justin Wright-Foreman and one for Desure Buie) during his seven-season tenure. No other Hofstra coach has presided over more than three 40-point games. I smell another quirky stat brewing!
SPEEDY’S STARS
With Thomas’ 40-point effort, Speedy Claxton became the first coach in program history to coach three different players who scored at least 40 points in a game. Omar Silverio scored 40 points in a 97-64 win over Elon on Feb. 15, 2022 while Aaron Estrada had 40 points in an 82-65 win over Elon on Jan. 26, 2023. Mihalich and Roger Gaeckler (Rich Laurel twice and Bernard Tomlin once) are the only other coaches in program history to coach two players who scored at least 40 points in a game.
THE 40/40/40/40/40 CLUB
This tremendous stat comes courtesy of ace Hofstra SID Stephen Gorchov, whose research reveals the Dutchmen are the only Division I team in the nation to have five players score at least 40 points in a game at least once over the last five seasons.
Justin Wright-Foreman 42 pts vs. Northeastern, 1/5/19
Justin Wright-Foreman 48 pts vs. William & Mary, 2/9/19
Justin Wright-Foreman 42 pts vs. Delaware, 3/11/19
Desure Buie 44 pts vs. Elon. 1/4/20
Omar Silverio 40 pts vs. Elon. 2/15/22
Aaron Estrada 40 pts vs. Elon, 1/26/23
Tyler Thomas 40 pts vs. High Point, 11/22/23
Another way to put this: Fifteen players have combined to produce 19 40-point game in program history…which means one-third of the players to score 40 points in a game and 37 percent of the 40-point games in program history have happened in just the last five seasons! These are the good ol’ days, folks.
THE 30/30 (AND 30/40) CLUB
Tyler Thomas became the first Hofstra player to score at least 30 points in consecutive games since Feb. 23-28, 2019, when Justin Wright-Foreman scored 33 points against James Madison and 32 points against Drexel. Not surprisingly, Thomas is the first Hofstra player to follow a 30-point game with a 40-point game since Dec. 30, 2018-Jan, 5, 2019, when Wright-Foreman scored 34 points against Drexel and 42 points against Northeastern. (In a cool bit of Quirky, Speedy Claxton scored 30 points against Vermont on Jan. 14, 2000 and 40 points against Hartford two days later)
THE 40/5/5 CLUB
Tyler Thomas added eight rebounds and five assists to go along with his 40 points on Nov. 22. He’s the first Hofstra player to finish with at 40 points, five rebounds and five assists since the great Charles Jenkins had 40 points, five rebounds and six assists in the 89-85 overtime win over Binghamton on Dec. 8, 2010.
A PRETTY WHOLE HALF
Tyler Thomas scored 33 points in the second half on Nov. 22, the most points by a Hofstra player in a half since Justin Wright-Foreman scored 37 of his single-game, record-tying 48 points in the second half of a 93-87 win over William & Mary on Feb. 9, 2019. Thomas’ 33-point second half is almost surely the second most prolific half in program history, though there’s no way to confirm the distribution of points by players with 33 points in the pre-Internet or microfiche era. Ask your parents what microfiche is, kids.
A PERFECT TEN
Tyler Thomas pulled the Bo Derek (again, ask your parents, kids) on Nov. 22 by going 10-for-10 from the line. He’s the first Hofstra player to enjoy a perfect game from the line while taking at least 10 free throws since Eli Pemberton was 10-for-10 from the line in a 78-62 win over Delaware on Feb. 22, 2020.
NO DOUBTING THOMAS
Tyler Thomas had little difficulty extending his streak of double-digit scoring performances on Nov. 22, when, as you may have read by now, he scored a career-high 40 points. It was the 21st straight double-digit effort for Thomas, who has scored at least 10 points in 30 of his last 31 games and 35 times in 41 games overall since joining the Dutchmen last season. He has scored at least 20 points five times in six games this season and 17 times overall.
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE (part one)
Tyler Thomas was named the CAA’s Player of the Week on Monday after, well, you’ve just read the last 800 or so words. It is the second CAA weekly honor for Thomas, who also earned the honors for the week ending Feb. 5, and the 44th time a Hofstra player has been named the CAA Player of the Week since 2013-14, the beginning of the Joe Mihalich/Mike Farrelly/Speedy Claxton era. That’s by far the most in the league and almost double the number of honors earned by Charleston (24). Here’s the list of Hofstra honorees and the number of Player of the Week honors earned:
Justin Wright-Foreman (12)
Aaron Estrada (8)
Juan’ya Green (6)
Desure Buie (4)
Eli Pemberton (3)
Ameen Tanksley (2)
Rokas Gustys (2)
Jalen Ray (2)
Tyler Thomas (2)
Zeke Upshaw (1)
Brian Bernardi (1)
Isaac Kante (1)
Tareq Coburn (1)
Zach Cooks (1)
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE (part two)
Tyler Thomas was also named one of the five winners of the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week award on Monday. Thomas joins Purdue’s Zach Edey, Kansas’s Kevin McCullar Jr., Colorado State’s Isaiah Stevens and Florida State’s Jamir Watkins as last week’s honorees. Thomas is the second Hofstra player to receive the award and the first since Justin Wright-Foreman received it for the week ending Dec. 30, 2018.
THE 18/7/7 CLUB
Thomas wasn’t a one-man show on Nov. 22. Jaquan Carlos had a second straight impressive game by finishing with 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. He’s the first Hofstra player to have at least 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in a game since Aaron Estrada recorded 21 points, seven assists and eight rebounds in a 76-73 win over Northeastern on Feb. 19, 2022.
D-STONE DEALING
Darlinstone Dubar’s impressive season continued Nov. 22, when he finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Dubar has scored in double figures in all six games this season, which is the second-longest stretch of consecutive double-figure efforts in his career. He scored at least 10 points in seven straight games from Nov. 13 through Dec. 1, 2021. But Dubar scored more than 14 points in a game just once in that span (18 points against Richmond on Nov. 22, 2021). He’d scored at least 16 points in every game this season prior to the High Point outing.
LUCKY SEVENS
Bryce Washington scored seven points in a career-high 41 minutes on Nov. 22. Washington has scored at least seven points in five of the first six games this season after doing so just four times in 28 games last season.
MARATHON MAN
With big men Jacco Fritz and Silas Sunday limited to a combined 37 minutes due to foul trouble, German Plotnikov scored eight points while playing a season-high 27 minutes on Nov. 22 before he, too, fouled out. Plotnikov entered the game having played 28-plus minutes in the Dutchmen’s first four games against Division I foes this season. The eight points were Plotnikov’s most against a Division I foe this season and his most against a Division I foe since he had nine points in an 84-52 win over Northeastern on Feb. 25. Plotnikov hadn’t played more than 27 minutes against anyone since Nov. 30, 2022 — that’s a year ago today! — when he played 32 minuets in the 81-77 overtime loss to George Mason in a game in which Darlinstone Dubar suffered a concussion and Aaron Estrada battled a late ankle injury.
SUNDAY ON WEDNESDAY
Silas Sunday played a career-high 16 minutes before fouling out Nov. 22, when he scored six points. The six points matched his most against a Division I foe. He also scored six points for Iona in an 80-78 win over Rider on Mar. 4.
FOUL FEST (part one)
The Dutchmen had four players foul out on Nov. 22. Four! That’s the most players to foul out for Hofstra in a single game since way back on Feb. 15, 2006, when Greg Johnson, Jorge Lebron, Loren Stokes and Adrian Uter all fouled out of a 77-68 loss to UNC Wilmington. Ahh thats OK I’m sure we’ll get them back in the CAA title game. Lebron managed to pick up his five fouls while playing fewer than two minutes! I thought that had to be a misprint, but I found the boxscore and sure enough, he was inserted into the game in the waning moments just to commit foul after foul after foul after foul after foul. He also managed to hoist three shots in that stint. Quirky!
FOUL FEST (part two)
The Dutchmen were whistled for a whopping 31 fouls, which yielded High Point a whopping 43 free throws. The 31 fouls by the Dutchmen were their most since at least 2010-11, the start of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference, while the 43 free throws for High Point were the most by a Hofstra opponent since Maryland hoisted an even more whopping 55 free throws in the Terrapins’ 87-72 win on Nov. 29, 2003. That’s 20 years ago last night!
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game will be carried live in the metro New York area on MSG2, which tonight is the overflow channel 205 in the Optimum/Altice Are Our Overlords Universe. You can also catch it on the MSG app if you have an Optimum/Altice Are Our Overlords subscription or somehow paid one billion dollars (approx) for the app. It will also be carried live on Flo Hoops. For subscription options, click here. Hofstra will also provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
SOUTH FLORIDA AND THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
South Florida, under first-year head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, is 2-2 this season following a 70-59 loss to Maine on Nov. 22.
South Florida was picked to finish ninth in the 14-team American. Senior guard Chris Youngblood, who accompanied Abdur-Rahim from Kennesaw State after last season, leads the Bulls with 16.9 points per game. Senior guard Selton Miguel, in his second season at South Florida after opening his career at Kansas State, ranks second on the Bulls with 12.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. Senior Kasean Pryor, who transferred from Northwest Florida State College after playing his first two seasons at Boise State, is pulling down a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Dutchmen and Bulls have no common opponents this season.
Hofstra is 0-3 all-time against South Florida following a 77-70 loss last Dec. 19, when the Dutchmen led by as many as six points in the second half before the Bulls mounted a comeback, Hmm. More family business to settle? The Bulls’ 79-60 win at the University Hoops Classic in Pittsburgh on Nov. 24, 2001 marked the first loss as a head coach for Tom Pecora. The Dutchmen squandered an eight-point lead in the final 2:48 of a 71-70 loss to South Florida on Nov. 25, 2014.
The Flying Dutchmen are 17-27 all-time against schools currently in the American, which was the symbol of this year’s rapid realignment when it added Alabama-Birmingham, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and UTSA after losing Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida to the Big 12. Another way to put realignment into context: The Dutchmen were 7-22 all-time against current American schools after they ended last season with a 79-65 loss to Cincinnati in the second round of the NIT. And yet another way to put it into context: The only current American schools the Dutchmen have played when those opponents were in the American are South Florida (0-3) and SMU (0-1 with a loss on Jan. 19, 2014).
At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 115th while South Florida is ranked 162nd. KenPom.com predicts a 77-70 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 3-point favorites. Hmm that’s an interesting gap. The Dutchmen are 2-3 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Greg Prince bias! (The oldie but goodie in honor of the good friend and inspiration for many I’ll Be Quirky features who is the enemy today because he graduated from South Florida)
Jason Pierre Paul bias! (The two-time Super Bowl winner played at South Florida)
Brother of the first Vancouver Grizzlies star bias! (Amir Abdur-Rahim’s older brother is Shareef Abdur-Rahim who was the Grizzlies’ first-round pick in 1996)
Shane McClanahan bias! (The injured Tampa Bay Rays ace went to South Florida)
2012 Softball College World Series bias! (An oldie but goodies and the real family business we’re hoping gets settled tonight on behalf of Olivia Galati, who got the Flying Dutchwomen within a base hit of the College World Series before falling to South Florida)
