This is a little terrifying.
Well, this is turning into a problem. The Flying Dutchmen authored a third straight inconsistent performance Thursday night, when they overcame a 21-point first-half deficit and held a trio of one-point leads in the second half before missing four of their final five shots and falling to Northeastern, 71-68. The Dutchmen are now in must-win mode now on the back end of the worst planned road trip in CAA history this afternoon, when they visit Campbell — located a mere 735 miles form Northeastern! — for the first time. Here’s a look back at the loss to the Huskies and a look ahead to…the Fighting Camels? Now this is a matchup of two cool nicknames.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Tyler Thomas scored 26 of his game-high 32 points in the second half Thursday but missed a pair of potential game-tying 3-pointers in the final seconds as the Dutchmen came up short in their comeback bid. Darlinstone Dubar opened the game with a dunk for the Dutchmen, but Northeastern scored the next 10 points and later mounted a 17-0 run to take a 42-21 lead. Dubar ended the half with a dunk #Bookending to begin a 33-11 surge for the Dutchmen that ended with Thomas converting a nostalgic 3-point play to give the visitors their a 54-53 lead with 8:57 left. The Huskies scored nine of the next 13 points before Thomas mounted his own 7-2 run to put the Dutchmen ahead 65-64 with 2:33 remaining. Chris Doherty hit a pair of free throws to give Northeastern the lead for good and Bryce Washington and Dubar each missed shots, after which Luka Sakota — the new Vasa Pusica or Matt Janning! — drained a 3-pointer. Thomas responded with a 3-pointer and Masai Troutman missed the front end of a 1-on-1, but Washington stepped out of bounds on what would have been the go-ahead layup with 24 seconds remaining. Sakota hit two free throws and Thomas missed a contested 3-pointer and a desperation heave in the final six seconds. Jaquan Carlos had 13 points, three assists and five steals while Dubar added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Northeastern, 1/11)
3: Tyler Thomas
2: Jaquan Carlos
1: Darlinstone Dubar
SEASON STANDINGS
Tyler Thomas 34
Darlinstone Dubar 32
Jaquan Carlos 17
Jacco Fritz 8
Bryce Washington 3
Silas Sunday 1
KiJan Robinson 1
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIXTEEN GAMES
With Thursday’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 8-8. This ties the 2023-24 team for the 46th-best record in school history through 15 games. This is the first time the Dutchmen have opened 8-8 since 1990-91 — my senior year of high school! — and the seventh time overall in school history. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 16 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 8-8
1976-77: 11-5
1999-2000: 11-5
2000-01: 12-4
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 11-5 (most recent 11-5 start)
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 10-6
2004-05: 11-5
2005-06: 12-4
2006-07: 12-4
2015-16: 11-5
2018-19: 13-3 (most recent 13-3 start, win in 16th game marked ninth win in the 16-game winning streak)
2022-23: 9-7 (most recent 9-7 start)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 11-5
1961-62: 15-1 (most recent 15-1 start)
1962-63: 11-5
1963-64: 13-3
Some other notable 16-game starts:
2020-21: 10-6 (most recent 10-6 start)
2014-15: 12-4 (most recent 12-4 start)
2013-14: 5-11 (most recent 5-11 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2011-12: 6-10 (most recent 6-10 start)
2007-08: 4-12 (most recent 4-12 start)
2001-02: 7-9 (most recent 7-9 start)
1994-95: 3-13 (only 3-13 start in program history, Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 2-14 (VBK’s last team, most recent 2-14 start)
1973-74: 2-14 (first 2-14 start)
1960-61: 14-2 (only 14-2 start in program history)
1959-60: 15-1 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise; win in 16th game was fifth win of season-ending 13-game winning streak)
Hofstra has never been 16–0, 1-15 or 0-16 through 16 games.
Quirky quirkiness: The only other 16-game record combinations the Dutchmen haven’t experienced this century are 3-13 and 2-14. Let’s not do either one of those anytime soon!
One season was completed in fewer than 16 games:
1937-38 (10-4)
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-THREE
With Thursday’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 54-29 (.651) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 83 games at the helm.
Paul Lynner 57-26 (.687, 83rd game was the 24th game of his third season in 1964-65)
Frank Reilly 56-27 (.675, 83rd game was the 12th game of his fourth season in 1950-51)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 54-29 (.651, 83rd game was the 16th game of his third season in 2023-24)
Butch van Breda Kolff I 52-31 (.627, 83rd game was the eighth game of his fourth season in 1957-58)
Dick Berg 43-40 (.518, 83rd game was the first game of his fourth season in 1982-83)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 41-42 (.494, 83rd game was the 26th game of his third season in 1990-91)
Joe Mihalich 41-42 (.494, 83rd game was the 16th game of his third season in 2015-16)
Mo Cassara 36-47 (.434, 83rd game was the 18th game of his third season in 2012-13)
Roger Gaeckler 32-51 (.386, 83rd game was the 11th game of his fourth season in 1975-76)
Jay Wright 32-51 (.386, 83rd game was the first game of his fourth season in 1996-97)
Tom Pecora 30-53 (.361, 83rd game was the 22nd game of his third season in 2003-04)
Two! Two ties through 83 games as Joe Mihalich moves into a tie with Butch van Breda Kolff II and Jay Wright matches Roger Gaeckler.
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.
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK (because it wasn’t)
The Dutchmen nearly pulled off what likely would have been the biggest comeback in the Defiantly Dutch era (1993-pres) Thursday, when they trailed by 21 points before taking a trio of one-point leads in the second half. If my research is correct, the biggest comeback win over the last 30-plus seasons happened Feb. 25, 2016, when the Dutchmen overcame an 18-point deficit to beat UNC Wilmington, 70-69.
WELL, IT SORT OF WAS A COMEBACK
As it was, taking the lead after falling behind by 21 points marks the Dutchmen’s biggest comeback in a loss since Dec. 19, 2020, when they overcame a 23-point first-half deficit to take a five-point lead in the second half against St. Bonaventure before falling 77-69.
NOT ON THE REBOUND
The Dutchmen finished with just 19 rebounds Thursday, their fewest boards in a game since they had 19 reboudns in the 85-66 loss to Purdue on Dec. 7, 2022.
TYLER’S THIRD WITH THIRTY
Tyler Thomas posted his third 30-point game of the season and of his Hofstra career Thursday, when he finished with 32 points. Thomas is the 10th player since the 1989-90 season to record at least three 30-point games for the Dutchmen.
Justin Wright-Foreman 23
Demetrius Dudley 12
Charles Jenkins 12
Antoine Agudio 10
Speedy Claxton 8
Aaron Estrada 8
Loren Stokes 7
Mike Moore 3
Zeke Upshaw 3
Tyler Thomas 3
TYLER’S TORRID HALF
Tyler Thomas was especially prolific in the second half Thursday, when he scored 26 points. Remarkably, that’s only his second-best second half (or any half) of the season. Thomas scored 33 points in the second half of a 97-92 overtime victory over High Point on Nov. 22. Those are the two most prolific halves by a Hofstra player 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.
TWENTY AGAIN IN TWENTY-FOUR FOR THOMAS
Tyler Thomas, obviously, produced another 20-point game Thursday, when he finished with 32 points. Thomas has scored at least 20 points in each of his last four games and in 24 of his his 51 games with the Dutchmen dating back to last season. He has scored in double figures in 39 of his last 41 games and 44 times overall in the last two seasons.
CARLOS SHOPS AT THE FIVE-AND-DIME (but a different one)
Jaquan Carlos finished 13 points and five steals Thursday night. The five steals were the most by a Hofstra player since Carlos had five steals in an 86-62 win over Delaware on Jan. 14, 2023.
THREE IS NOT THE MAGIC NUMBER
Jaquan Carlos, who leads the CAA with 6.6 assists per game, had a season-low three assists Thursday. The three assists were the fewest for Carlos since he finished with two assists in a 79-73 overtime loss to UNC Wilmington in the CAA semifinals on Mar. 6, 2023.
D-STONE DEALING
Darlinstone Dubar had his quietest game of the season Thursday but still maintained a pair of impressive streaks by finishing with 10 points. Dubar has scored in double figures in all 16 games this season, which is his longest single-season stretch of consecutive double-figure efforts, and in 18 straight games overall dating back to the 88-86 overtime win over Rutgers in the first round of the NIT on Mar. 14.
DUBAR MOVIN’ ON UP
Darlinstone Dubar moved into a tie for 40th place on the all-time Hofstra scoring list Thursday, when his 10 points increased his career total to 1,018 points and pulled him even with John Irving. Dubar is five points shy of moving past James Shaffer into 39th place and 28 points away from surpassing Percy Johnson for 38th place.
36.) Derrick Flowers 1,069
37.) Darius Burton 1,060
38.) Percy Johnson 1,045
39.) James Shaffer 1,022
40t.) John Irving 1,018
40t.) DARLINSTONE DUBAR 1,018
SEVEN WISHES (part one)
As Jacco Fritz goes, so go the Dutchmen? The graduate student center was limited to three points, five rebounds and two assists while committing three turnovers Thursday. The Dutchmen are 5-1 this season when Fritz scores at least seven points and 3-7 when he doesn’t.
SEVEN WISHES (part two)
Then again, is it as Bryce Washington goes, so go the Dutchmen? Washington had four points, one rebound and one block while committing two turnovers Thursday. The Dutchmen fell to 0-7 this season when Washington doesn’t score at least seven points.
A SPARK FROM PLOTNIKOV
German Plotnikov continued serving as the Dutchmen’s sixth man Thursday, when he scored four points in 15 minutes. But Plotnikov was also whistled for a technical foul after he tried wresting the ball away from Chris Doherty following a foul. Doherty hit both technical free throws.
OVER THE AIR
Today’s game will 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.
GETTING TO KNOW CAMPBELL
Today marks the Dutchmen’s first game against Campbell, which joined the CAA on July 1, 2023.
Campbell, located in Buies Creek, North Carolina (we’ll just assume it’s named after Desure), was founded as Buies Creek Academy 1887 by Baptist minister James Archibald Campbell. The school was renamed Campbell Junior College in 1926 before becoming Campbell College in 1961 and Campbell University in 1979. It has an enrollment of 5.622 students on an 850-acre campus.
Among Campbell’s alums are late Major General Jeffrey Bannister, late Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Green, the only set of brothers to win Cy Young Awards — Jim Perry, who won the honor for the Minnesota Twins in 1970, and the late Gaylord Perry, the Hall of Famer who was the first to earn a Cy Young in each league (with Cleveland in 1972 and the San Diego Padres in 1978) — as well as Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Cedric Mullins and Chris Clemons, a 2019 graduate who played part of a season with the Houston Rockets after ending his collegiate career by scoring in double figures in his final 115 games. That was the longest active streak at the time of Clemons’ graduation, ahead of…Justin Wright-Foreman, who ended his career by scoring in double figure sin his last 88 games. Quirky!
Campbell is the site of the Campbell Basketball School, which was founded in 1956 and is the oldest and largest summer basketball camp in the country. UCLA legend John Wooden was a regular instructor at the Campbell Basketball School.
In sports, Campbell fields nine men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. The school’s nickname is the Fighting Camels. There’s no definitive answer as to why Campbell is the Fighting Camels, but several fascinating theories, as explained in this alumni magazine article. (If any Campbell fans are reading this, Hofstra is the Flying Dutchmen because a student journalist — not me, I swear! — in the school’s early days sarcastically dubbed the basketball team the Flying Dutchmen while watching players practice)
Campbell moved from NAIA to Division I in 1977 and became a founding member of the Big South in 1985. The school moved to the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1994 and remained in the league — which was renamed the Atlantic Sun in 2001 — until rejoining the Big South in 2011.
The men’s basketball team made its first and thus far only NCAA Tournament appearance in 1992, when it was a no. 16 seed and fell to eventual national champion Duke in the first round. The Fighting Camels also reached the NAIA championship game in 1977.
The women’s basketball team has made two NCAA Tournaments while the baseball team won six Big South titles and reached the NCAA Tournament seven times. Campbell played football from 1925 through 1950 before shuttering the program until 2008, when the school began playing Division I-AA. Only 44 years to go for us!
SCOUTING CAMPBELL
The Fighting Camels, under 11th-year head coach Kevin McGeehan, are 7-9 overall and 1-2 in the CAA after falling to Delaware, 68-62, on Thursday night, Campbell raced out to a 16-2 lead before the Blue Hens mounted their comeback.
The Dutchmen and Fighting Camels had no common opponents in non-conference play. In CAA play, both teams have opposed Delaware, whom the Dutchmen edged, 76-71, on Jan. 6.
The Dutchmen, who were picked to finish fourth in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 121st at KenPom.com. The Fighting Camels, who were picked to finish 12th, are ranked 321st.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank fourth in the CAA in offensive efficiency (107.4 points per 100 possessions) and second in defensive efficiency (103.3 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 67.0 possessions per 40 minutes, the ninth-most in the league. The Fighting Camels rank 13th in the CAA in offensive efficiency (95.6 points per 100 possessions) and ninth in defensive efficiency (109.4 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 64.9 possessions per 40 minutes, the 12th-most in the league.
Sophomore Anthony Dell’Oroso, a native of Australia who was selected to the preseason all-CAA second team, leads the Fighting Camels with 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Senior Laurynas Vaistaras, a native of Lithuania, ranks second on the team with 9.7 points per game and 3.9 points per game while junior Jasin Sinani, who played his freshman season at Milwaukee, is averaging 7.7 points per game.
KenPom.com predicts a 70-62 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 8 1/2-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 6-9 against the spread this season. Not nice.
ALL-TIME VS. CAMPBELL
This marks the first game between Hofstra and Campbell. It’s the first first game for Hofstra against a new CAA foe since a 67-51 win over Hampton on Jan. 5, 2023. The Dutchmen played North Carolina A&T once and had longstanding regional rivalries with Monmouth (12 games) and Stony Brook (30 games) before those schools joined Hampton in moving to the CAA for the 2022-23 season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Chris Clemons cost Justin Wright-Foreman a cool Quirky stat bias! (A mouthful but true)
We’ve been to more Division I-AA tournaments than you bias! (It’s true)
Your nickname is almost as cool as our old nickname bias! (Also true)
Cedric Mullins bias! (Had a 30/30 season for the Orioles in 2022, in case it ever comes up in a certain grid game)
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