"Snowy, how do you feel about this potentially being the last league game Hofstra ever plays against Delaware?"
Congratulations to the Flying Dutchmen, who outscored Charleston by 16 points over a span of almost 29 minutes and were thus awarded the win in Thursday night’s CAA opener! Wait. That’s not how it works? No, no it’s not. Charleston opened and closed the game with decisive runs Thursday on its way to a 73-61 win. The Dutchmen, who have dropped three straight, are now in must-win mode going into this afternoon’s game against Delaware. Isn’t conference play season the best? Here’s a look back at the loss to the Cougars and a look ahead to the lone meeting this season — and perhaps the last conference clash ever — with the Blue Hens.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Charleston reminded everyone its system still works — and that the defending champ is the favorite until it’s knocked off — by opening the game on an 18-6 run and ending it on a 20-4 run. But in between was pretty good for the Dutchmen, who outscored the Cougars 51-35! Let’s talk about that. Charleston opened the game by hitting six of its first seven shots but was just 15-of-43 with 12 turnovers during the next 28-plus minutes. The Dutchmen got within two points twice in the first half, the last time at 34-32 on Jaquan Carlos’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer, and opened the second half on a 13-5 run in which Carlos, Tyler Thomas and Darlinstone Dubar combined to score 11 points (this will be a theme). The cougars scored the next eight points to begin a 12-2 run, after which the Dutchmen scored six straight points to spark a 9-2 run that ended with Thomas sinking a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 57-53. But the Dutchmen went 2-of-10 — including 0-for-4 from 3-point land — the rest of the way. With a chance to extend the lead to six or seven, Carlos missed a 3-pointer and Jacco Fritz missed the front end of a one-and-one after being fouled on the rebound with 6:31 remaining. CJ Fulton hit a 3-pointer on the next trip to begin the fateful run for the Cougars, who were 6-of-9 (not nice) the rest of the way. Ante Brzovic, who hadn’t scored since opening the game with consecutive baskets, scored nine points and hit a pair of dagger 3-pointers down the stretch. Dubar (20 points, 12 rebounds) posted another double-double while Thomas led all scorers with 21 points, though he was 3-of-15 from 3-point land and hoisted 26 shots overall. Carlos had 14 points and five assists while Fritz had four points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Bryce Washington (two points via a fast-break dunk) was the only other player to score for the Dutchmen. I smell some quirkiness!
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Charleston, 1/4)
3: Darlinstone Dubar
2: Tyler Thomas
1: Jaquan Carlos
SEASON STANDINGS
Tyler Thomas 30
Darlinstone Dubar 28
Jaquan Carlos 15
Jacco Fritz 6
Bryce Washington 3
Silas Sunday 1
KiJan Robinson 1
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER FOURTEEN GAMES
With Thursday’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 7-7. This ties the 2023-24 team for the 47th-best record in school history through 14 games. This is the first time the Dutchmen have opened 7-7 since 1995-96 — so long ago, I was still in school! — and the ninth time overall in school history. Folks, you don’t want to know how that ’95-96 season unspooled. (They were below .500 every game thereafter) Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 14 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 7-7
1976-77: 10-4
1999-2000: 9-5
2000-01: 10-4
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 10-4 (most recent 10-4 start)
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 9-5
2004-05: 10-4
2005-06: 11-3
2006-07: 10-4
2015-16: 10-4
2018-19: 11-3 (most recent 11-3 start, win in 14th game marked eighth win in the 16-game winning streak)
2022-23: 8-6 (most recent 8-6 start)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 10-4
1961-62: 13-1 (most recent 13-1 start)
1962-63: 10-4
1963-64: 12-2 (most recent 12-2 start)
Some other notable 14-game starts:
2016-17: 9-5 (most recent 9-5 start)
2013-14: 4-10 (most recent 4-10 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2012-13: 4-10 (won game no. 14 to snap eight-game losing streak)
2011-12: 6-8 (most recent 6-8 start)
2007-08: 3-11 (most recent 3-11 start)
2002-03: 2-12 (most recent 2-12 start)
1996-97: 5-9 (most recent 5-9 start)
1994-95: 2-12 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-13 (VBK’s last team, most recent 1-13 start)
1988-89: 6-8 (win in 14th game was a 48-34 victory over Rider that still stands as the fewest points allowed by Hofstra in the last 33 seasons)
1986-87: 7-7 (last time at .500)
1966-67: 7-7 (last time at .500)
1961-62: 13-1 (most recent 13-1 start)
1959-60: 13-1 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise; win in 14th game was third win of season-ending 13-game winning streak)
1937-38: 10-4 (season complete)
Hofstra has never been 14-0 or 0-14 through 14 games.
Quirky quirkiness: The only other 14-game record combinations the Dutchmen had gone longer without achieving (for lack of a better word) prior to this season were 13-1 and 12-2. Outside of 14-0 and 0-14, the only other 14-game records the Dutchmen haven’t experienced this century are 5-9 and 1-13. Let’s not do either one of those anytime soon!
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43.
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.
NUMBER TEN THROUGH EIGHTY-ONE
With Saturday’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 53-28 (.654) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 81 games at the helm.
Paul Lynner 56-25 (.688, 81st game was the 22nd game of his third season in 1964-65)
Frank Reilly 55-26 (.675, 81st game was the 10th game of his fourth season in 1950-51)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 53-28 (.654, 81st game was the 14th game of his third season in 2023-24)
Butch van Breda Kolff I 52-29 (.638, 81st game was the sixth game of his fourth season in 1957-58)
Dick Berg 42-39 (.525, 81st game was the 26th game of his third season in 1982-83)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 40-41 (.488, 81st game was the 24th game of his third season in 1990-91)
Joe Mihalich 40-41 (.488, 81st game was the 14th game of his third season in 2015-16)
Mo Cassara 36-45 (.438, 81st game was the 16th game of his third season in 2012-13)
Roger Gaeckler 32-49 (.388, 81st game was the ninth game of his fourth season in 1975-76)
Jay Wright 31-50 (.375, 81st game was the 26th game of his third season in 1996-97)
Tom Pecora 28-53 (.350, 81st game was the 20th game of his third season in 2003-04)
The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenure of Jack Smith (1943-46). But not Frank Reilly (1947-55) anymore!
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.
SIXTY-ONE IS A GOOD NUMBER FOR HOMERS BUT NOT POINTS
This is stretching a quirky stat a little bit, but alas, it is relevant. With Thursday’s loss, the Dutchmen have now dropped their last 11 games in which they’ve scored 61 or fewer points. The Dutchmen last won a game when scoring 61 or fewer points on Jan. 2, 2021, when they edged William & Mary 61-56. That win means the losing streak in games in which the Dutchmen have scored 61 or fewer points is shorter than the losing streak in games in which they’ve scored 60 or fewer points! So we’ve got that going for us. The Dutchmen have lost their last 14 games in which they’ve scored 60 points or fewer dating back. They last won a game when scoring fewer than 60 points on Dec. 31, 2016, when the Dutchmen beat Delaware 58-56.
OH NO THE THREES AREN’T FALLING
The Dutchmen shot just 20 percent (6-of-30) from 3-point land Thursday. It was the Dutchmen’s worst performance from beyond the arc since Jan. 16, 2023, when they shot 14.8 percent (4-of-27) in the 68-47 loss to Towson.
DOUBLE DOUBLE-DIGIT DEFICITS
This stat is going to sound familiar: The Dutchmen overcame a double-digit deficit to take a lead before losing by double digits (that’s a lot of double digits) for the first time since way back on Dec. 21, when they overcame a 13-point first-half deficit to take a brief second half lead against UNLV before falling, 74-56. Wow! Spanning two years! Prior to Dec. 21, the Dutchmen hadn’t overcome a double-digit deficit, taken the lead and then lost by double digits in a game since Jan. 9, 2021, when they trailed Northeastern by 12 points in the first half and went ahead by eight points in the second half before suffering a 67-56 loss in Boston.
THREE IS NOT ENOUGH (or: I was told there’d be no math)
Tyler Thomas (21 points), Darlinstone Dubar (20 points) and Jaquan Carlos (14 points) combined to score 55 points Thursday night. That works out to 90.2 percent of the Dutchmen’s 61 points, which is the largest share of points scored by a trio of Dutchmen since way back on Feb. 27, 2020, when Tareq Coburn (21 points), Isaac Kante (20 points) and Eli Pemberton (18 points) accounted for 59 points — or 90.8 percent of the total output — in a 76-65 loss to Towson. That was the last loss of the season for the Dutchmen so they must have won the national title!
NO BENCH BRIGADE
While Charleston got 29 points from its bench players Thursday — including a team-high 18 points from Bryce Butler — Dutchmen reservers Khalil Farmer, German Plotnikov, Silas Sunday and KiJan Robinson were scoreless while taking just three shots from the field over 36 minutes. It was the first time the Dutchmen received no points from their bench since Jan. 15, 2021, when Vukasin Masic and Stafford Trueheart were scoreless in 21 minutes in a 74-56 loss to Delaware.
20/20 NOT ENOUGH (again)
The Dutchmen fell Thursday even though Tyler Thomas (21 points) and Darlinstone Dubar (20 points) each scored at least 20 points. It was the second straight game in which Thomas and Dubar scored at least 20 points in a defeat. Thomas had 24 points and Dubar finished with 23 points in the 84-79 loss to St. John’s last Saturday. Once again, spanning two years! The consecutive losses with at least two 20-point scorers are the first such back-to-back defeats for the Dutchmen since way back on Nov, 11-18, 2006, when the Dutchmen opened the season with an 88-82 loss to Charlotte and a 79-77 loss to Manhattan. Loren Stokes had 24 points against Charlotte and 28 points against Manhattan while Antoine Agudio had 22 points in each game. Let’s not make it three straight!
D-STONE DEALING
Darlinstone Dubar continued his impressive season Thursday, when he finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Dubar has scored in double figures in all 14 games this season, which is his longest single-season stretch of consecutive double-figure efforts, and in 16 straight games overall dating back to the 88-86 overtime win over Rutgers in the first round of the NIT on Mar. 14.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR D-STONE
As you may have surmised by now, Darlinstone Dubar posted a double-double Thursday. The double-double is the fourth this season for Dubar and his first since he had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the 71-67 loss to Saint Louis on Dec. 9. All four of Dubar’s double-doubles this season have come in his last eight games after he had just two double-doubles in his fist 73 games at Hofstra.
SECOND HALF D-STONE
Darlinstone Dubar also continued his penchant for performing his best after halftime Thursday, when he scored 10 of his 20 points and pulled down eight of his 12 rebounds in the second half. Dubar has scored 256 points this season, including 147 in the second half or overtime. Shades of Justin Wright-Foreman’s breakout season in 2016-17.
D-STONE 1K?
Darlinstone Dubar scored 20 points Saturday and now has 990 points for the Dutchmen. According to my super sharp math skills, he needs 10 points to become the 41st player in school history to score 1,000 points. Quirky fact: Five players — Carlos Rivera, Nathaniel Lester, Juan’ya Green, Ameen Tanksley and Rokas Gustys — had 990 points entering the game in which they collected their 1,000th point at Hofstra.
TWENTY AGAIN IN TWENTY-FOUR FOR THOMAS
Tyler Thomas produced another 20-point game Thursday, when he finished with 21 points. Thomas has scored at least 20 points in 22 of his his 49 games with the Dutchmen dating back to last season. He has scored in double figures in 37 of his last 39 games and 42 times overall in the last two seasons.
INEFFICIENT THOMAS
However, the 21-point effort was not the most efficient one for Tyler Thomas, who finished 9-of-26 from the field, including 3-of-15 from 3-point land. The 26 field goal attempts were the most by a Hofstra player since Thomas hoisted 26 shots in the 97-92 overtime win over High Point on Nov. 22 and the most by a Hofstra player in regulation since Jan. 5, 2019, when Justin Wright-Foreman took 30 shots, including the buzzer-beating 34-footer to give the Dutchmen the dramatic win in a 75-72 victory over Northeastern. Thomas and Wright-Foreman are the only Hofstra players to hoist at least 26 shots in a game since 2010-11, the first year of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference.
CARLOS SHOPS AT THE FIVE-AND-DIME
Jaquan Carlos finished with 14 points and five assists Thursday night. It was the 10th time this season Carlos has collected at least 10 points and five assists in a game. The Dutchmen are 6-4 in those games.
PUTTING ON THE FRITZ
Jacco Fritz returned from a one-game absence due to injury Thursday, when he pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds. The double-digit rebounding effort was the first for Fritz since Dec. 10, 2022, when he had 12 reboudns for Canisius in a 69-68 loss to Toledo.
DOUBLE DOUBLE-DIGIT REBOUNDERS NOT ENOUGH
The Dutchmen lost Thursday even though Darlinstone Dubar (12 rebounds) and Jacco Fritz (10 rebounds) both had at least 10 rebounds. Prior to Thursday, the Dutchmen hadn’t lost a game in which two players had at least 10 rebounds since Feb. 14, 2021, when Isaac Kante had 12 rebounds and Kvonn Cramer added 10 rebounds in a 74-70 loss to James Madison.
BRYCE’S DEUCE
Bryce Washington ensured the Dutchmen would avoid a quirky bit of history Thursday, when he dunked after stealing the ball form Reyne Smith with 37 seconds left in the first half. Without that basket, the Dutchmen would have had just four players score for the first time since the loss to Towson on Feb. 27, 2020. That was the only field goal attempt for Washington, who has been limited to four points over 55 minutes in the last three games after he averaged 7.5 points and 26 minutes per game over the first 11 games of the season.
LINE CHANGES WORK
Pat Kelsey keeps subbing like he’s a hockey coach — and it keeps working for Charleston, which didn’t have a player record more than 27 minutes of playing time Thursday. It was the fifth time this season nobody played more than 27 minutes in a game for the Cougars.
OVER THE AIR
Today’s game will be carried live in the metro New York area on MSG, which is channel 71 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.
SECOND TIME, BETTER THAN THE FIRST?
The Dutchmen are looking to avoid their first 0-2 start in CAA play since 2011-12, when they opened 0-7. Every other long-time CAA member has started 0-2 at least once since the Dutchmen last did so. (Stony Brook opened 2-0 while North Carolina A&T started 1-1 last season, when fellow newcomers Hampton and Monmouth each opened 0-2) The only other long-time CAA school without an 0-2 start in league play over the last eight (well, now nine) years is Charleston, which last began 0-2 in 2014-15.
SCOUTING DELAWARE
The Blue Hens, under eighth-year head coach Martin Ingelsby, are 9-5 this season after opening CAA play with an 80-53 win over Hampton on Thursday.
The Dutchmen and Blue Hens had two common opponents in non-conference play. The Dutchmen lost to Princeton 74-67 on Nov. 10 and fell to George Washington, 71-60, on Nov. 14. The Blue Hens also lost to both teams, dropping an 81-71 decision to George Washington on Nov. 26 and falling to Princeton 84-82 on Dec. 30.
The Dutchmen, who were picked to finish fourth in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 119th at KenPom.com. The Blue Hens, who were picked to finish tied for fifth with Towson, are ranked 133rd.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank second in the CAA in offensive efficiency (107.5 points per 100 possessions) and fourth in defensive efficiency (103.1 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 67.5 possessions per 40 minutes, the 10th-most in the league. The Blue Hens rank second in the CAA in offensive efficiency (107.7 points per 100 possessions) and fifth in defensive efficiency (104.8 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 68.9 possessions per 40 minutes, the seventh-most in the league.
Junior Jyare Davis, who was selected to the preseason all-CAA second team, leads the Blue Hens with 19.3 points per game and ranks second with 6.2 rebounds per game. Graduate student Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who opened his career with two seasons apiece at Pittsburgh and Albany, is averaging 11.9 points per game while senior Jalun Trent, a North Dakota transfer who spent his first two seasons at Cochise College in Arizona, is averaging 11.6 points per game. Trent is also the only CAA player to earn at least a share of the Player of the Week award twice this season. Sophomore Cavan Reilly is averaging 10.7 points per game while fifth-year senior Christian Ray, who played his first three seasons at La Salle, leads Delaware with 8.8 rebounds per game.
The Blue Hens also have a familiar face in Zion Bethea, who played three games for Hofstra during the 2020-21 season before missing 2021-22 due to injury and transferring to St. Francis (NY), where he appeared in 28 games last season before transferring to Delaware when St. Francis dropped all sports. Bethea has yet to play this season.
KenPom.com predicts a 74-70 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 5 1/2-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 6-7 against the spread this season.
ALL-TIME VS. DELAWARE
Hofstra is 67-34 against Delaware in a series that began during the 1954-55 season. The Dutchmen not only earned their second straight regular season sweep of the Blue Hens last year, they never trailed in either victory — an 87-73 win in New-ARK on Dec. 29, 2022 in which Aaron Estrada scored 31 points and an 86-62 win at the Arena on Jan. 14 in which Estrada and Warren Williams shared the team lead with 17 points apiece.
The Blue Hens are Hofstra’s most common foe. The Dutchmen and Delaware were rivals in the East Coast Conference and the North Atlantic Conference/America East before heading to the CAA, along with Drexel and Towson, for the 2001-02 season. I bet we’re together forever!
ONE TIME ONLY
The unbalanced schedule means this season marks the first time since 1982-83 — when I believe the ECC schedule consisted of just a single round-robin — that Hofstra and Delaware are in the same conference and playing each other just once in the regular season. They played each other twice apiece from 1983-84 through Delaware last year in the ECC in 1990-91 and twice a season every year from 1994-95 — Hofstra’s first season in the North Atlantic Conference, Jay Wright’s first season as head coach and my second year on campus — through 2022-23. That’s 29 straight seasons, including a campaign played in a pandemic as well as eight straight seasons (from 2005-06 through 2012-13) in which the CAA had more than 10 teams and played an unbalanced schedule. I know there’s a lot of balls to juggle in the air when scheduling a 14-team league, but given the history between Hofstra and Delaware and all the road trips so many of us have taken to Delaware, it’s a real bummer this streak ended. But, again, I bet we’re in the same league as Delaware forever so maybe the schools can play each other twice next year and every year thereafter! Right?
SAY GOODBYE?
Well, actually, this could be the last time Hofstra and Delaware play each other as conference foes. As you no doubt know by now, it was announced Nov. 28 that Delaware will move to Conference USA and elevate its football program to Division I-A (sorry, I’m not calling it FBS) for the 2025-26 school year. But as you may recall, the America East four — Hofstra, Delaware, Drexel and Towson — were all supposed to leave for the CAA for the 2002-03 school year before all parties agreed just to do it for 2001-02. With Delaware needing a transition year before going I-A, chances are the Blue Hens will remain in the CAA this season and next. But you never know. Thus, just in case…
THE TOP FIVE HOFSTRA-DELAWARE GAMES OF THE LAST 30 YEARS
Because that’s how long I’ve been paying attention! This is off the top of my head in the middle of the night, so there’s a good chance I’m leaving off a good one.
5.) Feb. 20, 2020 (Hofstra 78, Delaware 62): Not the closest game, but a dominant second half by the Dutchmen (who outscored the Blue Hens 46-31) really stoked the belief that this was the year. And it was! This is best known as the Snowy Game, when we left Molly’s snow leopard at the Bob and extremely kind Delaware SID Kevin Tritt rescued him and mailed him home. Don’t tell anyone, but we still have Snowy and it will crush me if Molly ever outgrows him. It was also a game we traveled to even though Molly didn’t feel well with what turned out to be a bug that kept her home the next week. Imagine that, going somewhere when you didn’t feel good. Long time ago.
4.) Nov. 30, 2000 (Delaware 79, Hofstra 74): The Blue Hens get a bit of revenge for the America East title game loss eight-plus months earlier by ending Hofstra’s home winning streak at 27 games. Ajmal Basit, a UMass transfer, posted a double-double (24 points, 11 rebounds) and woofed the entire time as he began establishing himself as the best one-year villain we’ve ever encountered.
3.) Jan. 19, 1999 (Hofstra 78, Delaware 76): Duane Posey missed a jumper in the waning seconds, but some guy named Speedy Claxton soared into the lane and tipped it in at the buzzer to give the Dutchmen the dramatic win. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak against Delaware and set off something approaching pandemonium at the Physical Fitness Center, where the crowd spilled out of the bleachers and into the corner where the Dutchmen were mobbing Claxton. Good times.
2.) Mar. 10, 2001 (Hofstra 68, Delaware 54): The Dutchmen cement their mini-dynasty, return to the NCAA Tournament and officially establish the end of the Jay Wright era as one of the best two-year runs in North Atlantic Conference/America East history with a second straight America East title game win over the Blue Hens. I thought the Dutchmen had this one well in hand down the stretch, but upon looking at the media guide recap, it was a four-point game before the Dutchmen ended the game on a 10-0 run over the final 3:05. Jason Hernandez, the Desure Buie of his time opened the surge with consecutive baskets and a raucous celebration was enjoyed minutes later.
1.) Mar. 11, 2000 (Hofstra 76, Delaware 69): Nothing like your first time, at least for us Generation X’ers. This one was STRESSFUL. The Blue Hens led 49-41 with 14:04 left — and this is back in 2000, when an eight-point lead was usually a four-possession lead — but Norman Richardson scored 11 points in a 19-7 run before Delaware inched back and tied the score with five minutes left. Roberto Gittens hit a free throw with 3:36 remaining to give the Dutchmen a 67-66 lead and begin the game-ending 10-3 run. Speedy Claxton and Danny Walker hit layups on consecutive possessions and Richardson and Rick Apodaca iced the win by going 4-for-4 at the free throw line. The ever-stoic Claxton exulted before Apodaca’s free throws with 5.6 seconds left and the Flying Dutchmen were finally going back to the NCAA Tournament.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Enjoy those flights to UTEP and Sam Houston bias! (I don’t see this move working out for Delaware but what do I know?)
Why can’t the Jets get quarterbacks like Joe Flacco bias! (It’s undeniably hilarious the Delaware alum is playing the best football of his career at age 39 for the BROWNS)
Mike Brey at least wore a sport coast for you guys bias! (It’s true)
Brian Gorman bias! (The former Major League Baseball umpire went to Delaware)
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