I'll Be Quirky: Rice

THIS WAS A CATCH!!!

OK, so I guess we’ll have to be satisfied with 38-2. The Flying Dutchmen ran into a team on another level last Friday night, when then-no. 7 Houston rolled to an 80-44 win. That win vaulted the Cougars to no. 1 in the KenPom rankings, though they slipped following Tuesday’s loss to Alabama. Something something Aaron Estrada!

The Dutchmen will return to action against another Houston-based opponent tonight, when they face Rice in the first of three games they’ll play over the next three days in the Baha Mar Hoops: Nassau Championship in the Bahamas. There are worse places to spend thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, sort of, I never got to the Houston Keep It Perky in the busy week ahead of the holiday, so you get an old-fashioned I’ll Be Quirky today! And maybe the next two days too, depending on how late those games go, Anyway, without further ado, here’s a look back at the loss to the Cougars and a look ahead to…the Owls? The Owls.

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

There would be no near-upset of Houston this time around as the Cougars scored the first seven points and never looked back on their way to the decisive victory. The Dutchmen mounted their best threat when Cruz Davis and Jaquan Sanders hit consecutive 3-pointers following Houston’s opening run, but Sanders missed a potential go-ahead jumper and the Cougars scored the next eight points. Houston went ahead by double digits for good at 20-12 with 11:19 left and buried the Dutchmen with a 19-0 run that lasted more than six minutes and extended their lead to 48-15. TJ Gadsden hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to begin a 12-6 run for the Dutchmen, but Houston responded by scoring 12 straight points. The Cougars led by at least 34 and by as many as 44 over the final nine-plus minutes. Cruz led the Dutchmen with 18 points and four assists while Sanders added eight points. KiJan Robinson had another solid game off the bench with seven points. Jean Aranguren’s hot start ended as he was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in 25 minutes.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Houston, 11/22)

3: Cruz Davis

2: Jaquan Sanders

1: KiJan Robinson

SEASON STANDINGS

Jean Aranguren 15

Cruz Davis 9

Jaquan Sanders 9

KiJan Robinson 2

TJ Gadsden 1

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIX GAMES

With last Friday’s loss, the Dutchmen fell to 4-2 this season. This ties the 2024-25 team for the 18th-best record in school history through six games. It’s the third straight season in which the Dutchmen have opened 4-2 and the 21st time overall in school history. 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 ONE HUNDRED AND SIX

With last Friday’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 70-36 (.660) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 106 games at the helm.

Butch van Breda Kolff I 72-34 (.679, 106th game was the fourth game of his fifth season in 1959-60)

Frank Reilly 72-34 (.679, 106th game was the sixth game of his fifth season in 1951-52)

Paul Lynner 71-35 (.670, 106th game was the 22nd game of his fourth season in 1965-66)

SPEEDY CLAXTON 70-36 (.660, 106th game was the sixth game of his fourth season in 2024-25)

Joe Mihalich 56-50 (.528, 106th game was the fifth game of his fourth season in 2016-17)

Butch van Breda Kolff II 54-52 (.509, 106th game was the 21st game of his fourth season in 1991-92)

Dick Berg 53-53 (.500, 106th game was the 24th game of his fourth season in 1983-84)

Roger Gaeckler 48-58 (.453, 106th game was the fourth game of his fifth season in 1976-77)

Jay Wright 46-60 (.434, 106th game was the 24th game of his fourth season in 1997-98)

Tom Pecora 45-61 (.425, 106th game was the 16th game of his fourth season in 2004-05)

With back-to-back losses, Claxton drops from a tie for first to all alone in fourth place. Tough crowd! To be fair, I DID say the teams directed by VBK I and Reilly are in the midst of lengthy season-opening winning streaks, so these Dutchmen needed to keep winning for Claxton to retain a share of the top spot.

Everyone else remains in the spot he occupied after 105 games. Including, of course, those perpetual slackers Jay Wright and Tom Pecora continuing to bring up the rear. Perpetual slackers!

The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenure of Jack Smith (1943-46).

Smith finished 27-32 in his three seasons while Mo Cassara finished 38-59 in his three seasons. 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.

LOPSIDED LOSS

We take the good and we take the bad here, so it’s my solemn duty to report last Friday’s 36-point loss was the most lopsided defeat for the Dutchmen since way back on Nov. 18, 2010, when then-no. 8 North Carolina rolled to a 107-63 victory in Mo Cassara’s second game at the helm. That was 457 games ago!

In addition, the 44-point deficit the Dutchmen faced late in the second half last Friday was their largest deficit since North Carolina led by 47 points late in the second half of the aforementioned game.

BACK-TO-BACK AND WIRE-TO-WIRE 

The Dutchmen didn’t lead last Friday for the second straight game. It marks the first time the Dutchmen have trailed wire-to-wire in at least two consecutive games since Nov. 21 through Dec. 1, 2012, when the Dutchmen never led in three straight losses to Manhattan, George Washington and SMU. Those were, of course, the last two games before the quintet that shall never be named again got arrested and the game immediately after they tanked the season. The Dutchmen have just seven wire-to-wire losses since the start of the 2018-19 season.

RUN RUNAWAY

Houston put the game away with a 19-0 run in the first half last Friday. I believe that’s the longest run mounted against the Dutchmen since St. Bonaventure went on a 20-0 run in a 73-45 win on Dec. 7, 2019.

STUCK IN THE ‘40S

As you may have gathered by now, the Dutchmen were limited to 44 points last Friday night. That’s their fewest points since Feb. 13, 2013, when the Dutchmen fell to Georgia State 61-43. The Dutchmen have scored at least 40 points in each of their last 803 games dating back to a 55-37 loss to Drexel in the America East tournament semifinals on Feb. 28, 1999. Speedy Claxton missed that game with an injury. 

CRUZ-IN

Cruz Davis was the Dutchmen’s bright spot last Friday, when he scored a game-high 18 points and added a team-high four assists. Davis has scored in double figures in four of his first six games this season — and scored nine points in the other two games — after reaching double figures five times in his first 28 games the previous two seasons at Iona and St. John’s.

CRUZ THE ONE IN DOUBLES

Cruz Davis was the lone player to reach double figures for the Dutchmen last Friday. It was the first time since Jan. 16, 2023, when Aaron Estrada had 10 points in a 68-47 loss to Towson, that just one Hofstra player reached double figures. At least one Hofstra player has reached double figures in each of the last 511 games dating back to Jan. 5, 2009, when Cornelius Vines led the way with eight points in a 73-50 loss to Northeastern.

CRAZY EIGHTS

Jaquan Sanders was limited to a season-low 22 minutes due to foul trouble last Friday, when he finished with eight points while going 2-of-6 from 3-point land. Sanders has at least two 3-pointers and at least eight points in all six games this season after draining at least 3-pointers nine times and scoring at least eight points six times in his previous two seasons at Seton Hall. 

HERE’S TO YOU MR. ROBINSON

KiJan Robinson continued to look like the Dutchmen’s version of The Microwave (GOOGLE IT AGAIN CRAIN) last Friday night, when he scored seven points in 25 minutes. Robinson has scored at least six points in five of the Dutchmen’s first six games after reaching six points just five times in 32 games last season.

BLUE JEAN

The season-opening surge ended last Friday night for Jean Aranguren, whose streak of double-digit scoring efforts was snapped at five after he was scoreless while going 0-for-5 from the field in a season-low 25 minutes. Aranguren was the first Hofstra player to begin his career by scoring at least 10 points in each of his first five games games since Zach Cooks scored in double figures in his first 11 games in 2021-22.

SCORELESS IN TWENTY-FIVE

Jean Aranguren was the first Hofstra player to go scoreless while playing at lest 25 minutes since Feb. 8, when German Plotnikov was 0-for-2 from the field in 28 minutes in a 63-58 win over Hampton.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

Silas Sunday continued establishing himself as the 1A at the five last Friday night, when he pulled down a team-high five rebounds over 20 minutes. Sunday, who played at least 14 minutes in three straight games just once in his first two seasons with Iona and Hofstra, has played at least 14 minutes in each of the last five games after being limited to five minutes at the end of the season-opening 89-62 win over Old Westbury on Nov. 4. 

POBODY’S NERFECT

(Simpsons reference)

However, Silas Sunday’s bid for a perfect shooting season ended last Friday, when he missed both of his field goal attempts Sunday opened the season by hitting each of his first eight shots over the previous four games.

GRAHAM GOES FOURTH

Michael Graham finished with four points and four rebounds last Friday night, when he scored on consecutive possessions during the Dutchmen’s mini-run spanning the halves. Graham has scored at least four points in alls ix games this season and has pulled down at least four rebounds four times.

TJ TO THE EXTREME

TJ Gadsden’s hot-and-cold season continued last Friday night, when he had four points and four rebounds in 28 minutes. He has just 12 points and 17 rebounds in the five games outside of a 75-71 win over Massachusetts on Nov. 16, when Gadsden finished with nine points and 11 rebounds in the 75-71 overtime victory. Gadsden has yet to reach double figures in six games this season after scoring at least 10 points in 11 of 25 games last season for Canisius.

FARMER’S FIRST

Khalil Farmer scored his first points of the season last Friday night, when he sank a  3-pointer with 2:17 left for the Dutchmen’s penultimate basket. The basket was the first for Farmer since Feb. 24, when he had a 3-pointer in an 87-64 win over Not Twitter Guy.

GERMAN’S SLUMP

German Plotnikov, the lone returning player who made a start last season for the Dutchmen, continued his quiet start to the season last Friday night, when he was scoreless while going0-fr-2 from the field in 12 minutes. Plotnikov has gone scoreless in five of the first six games this season after scoring in all but five of the 29 games in which he played last season.

OVER THE AIR

Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on FloHoops. For subscription options, click here. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.

WHAT IS THE BAHA MAR HOOPS NASSAU CHAMPIONSHIP?

It’s one of those MTEs that’s a tournament without a winner — though if my perusal of the website is correct, this will be the first Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship that isn’t bracketed and constructed to crown a champion. These things are confusing, Anyway, this is the seventh edition of the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship, a mid-major showcase event which debuted in 2017 and has been held every year since then aside from the pandemic season in 2020-21. UNC Wilmington won the title in 2021.

After facing Rice tonight, the Dutchmen will play Tarleton State Saturday afternoon before concluding the tournament against Arkansas State on Sunday afternoon. The other teams in the field are Iona (hey we know you!) and Indiana State. At least we won’t get flashbacks of that terrible last-second loss to Indiana State during the 2015 Paradise Jam. No, YOU have a problem! 

This marks the Dutchmen’s first MTE that’s not a tournament since 2022, when they went 2-1 in the Northern Classic in Canada with wins over UNC Greensboro and Quinnipiac (hey Tom!) and a loss to Middle Tennessee State. The Dutchmen who won the Gulf Coast Showcase last November, have played in an MTE/preseason tournament in each of the last three seasons after pausing most non-conference travel due to the pandemic in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and 15 times in the last 19 seasons overall.

RICE AND THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Rice, under first-year head coach Rob Lanier, is 5-1 this season. The Owls have also been off since last Friday, when they also played Houston…Christian, whom they edged 61-58.

Rice was picked to finish last in the 13-tam American Athletic Conference, whose membership shrunk by one when SMU joined the ACC. Because that makes sense. Also, SMU began the wild coaching carousel when the Mustangs fired Lanier, who was replaced by USC’s Andy Enfield, who was replaced at USC by Arkansas’ Eric Musselman, who was replaced at Arkansas by Kentucky’s John Calipari. Viva la butterfly effect!

Anyway! Rice’s top four scorers thus far, not surprisingly, are all new to the program this season. Graduate student Trea Broadnax, who began his career at Navy and spent the previous two seasons at USC Upstate, leads the Owls with 13.8 points per game and 4.3 assists per game while ranking second with 5.7 rebounds per game. Graduate student Kellen Amos, who played two seasons apiece at Binghamton and Central Connecticut State (hey, that’s my parents’ alma mater!) is averaging 10.8 points per game and 3.7 assists per game. Academic junior Denver Anglin, who played his freshman season at Georgetown in 2022-23 before red-shirting at SMU last year and whose last name you may recognize as the last name of one of the players Whom We Shall Never Mention (small world), is averaging 10.0 points per game. True junior Caden Powell, who played his first two seasons at Wyoming, is averaging 10.0 points per game and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game.

Per KenPom.com, Rice ranks 213th nationally in offensive efficiency (103.1 points per 100 possessions) and 158th in defensive efficiency (104.5 points per 100 possessions) while ranking 304th in tempo (66.3 possessions per 40 minutes).

The Dutchmen and Owls have four common opponents this season. Rice is scheduled to oppose Arkansas State on Saturday before concluding the tournament Sunday against Iona, whom the Dutchmen beat 90-76 on Nov. 8. The Owls also fell 73-65 to Florida State on Nov. 9, a mere 10 days before the Seminoles beat the Dutchmen 79-61. Rice is slated to play a conference game Jan. 11 against Temple, which is scheduled to visit Hofstra on Dec. 15. Temple is also nicknamed the Owls. There’s three teams in the American nicknamed the Owls!

This marks the first meeting between Hofstra and Rice in men’s basketball and just the fifth all-time meeting between the schools in any sport. The Flying Dutchwomen basketball and volleyball teams are each 1-1 against Rice. The Dutchwomen basketball team beat Rice 68-58 at the Arena on Dec. 19, 2008 before 90-71 in Texas on Dec. 30, 2009. The Dutchwomen volleyball team beat Rice 3-1 on the road Oct. 13, 1985 before falling 3-1 at the Best Western Invitational at Bowling Green on Sept. 19, 2008.

The Flying Dutchmen are 18-25 all-time against schools currently in the American, which has been a symbol of rapid realignment since it formed once the Big East dropped football following the 2012-13 season. The Dutchmen actually improved their record against the American once SMU (2-0 all-time against Hofstra) exited for the ACC. Another way to put realignment into context: The only current American school the Dutchmen have played when that opponent was in the American is South Florida, against whom the Dutchmen improved to 1-3 all-time with an 82-63 win last Nov. 30.

This marks the third straight season in which the Dutchmen have faced at least one American team. Cincinnati earned its final win as a member of the American Mar. 18, 2023, when the Bearcats ended the Dutchmen’s season with a 79-65 win in the second round of the NIT at the Arena. 

At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 159th while Rice is ranked 177th. KenPom.com predicts a 67-66 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 2 1/2-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

Your school once owned Yankee Stadium bias! (True story, I learned this writing the Subway Series book in 2019)

Not that George Bush bias! (George P. Bush, the grandson of George H.W. Bush and the nephew of George W. Bush, graduated from Rice) 

Lance Berkman bias! (The former Astros star and underrated Immaculate Grid glue guy went to Rice)

Bert Emanuel caught the ball bias! (The receiver whose key catch in the waning moments of the 1999 NFC title game was overturned because the NFL didn’t want the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl is a Rice alum)

We’ll never utter Denver’s brother’s name bias! (#IYKYK)