Live look at all of us screaming at Division I teams to sack up and face Hofstra.
The Flying Dutchmen produced another Bachman Turner Overdrive special (once again. GOOGLE IT CRAIN), when they set a school record for margin of victory while allowing the program’s fewest points in more than 75 years with a 92-23 win over Division III Old Westbury. Playing this game in between visits to ACC schools tells you all you need to know about how impossible it is for a reasonably good mid-major to draw up a schedule, but that’s a rant for another time.
Anyway, as will hopefully remain the norm throughout the season, here’s Keep It Perky, featuring the postgame boilerplate material from the lopsided win. The individual news and notes from the victory over the Panthers (that’s two in a row over Panthers!) and a preview of Syracuse will be posted early tomorrow. Enjoy!
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Biggie Patterson (17 points, 12 rebounds) posted a double-double and freshman Jaeden Roberts (17 points, seven rebounds) continued his emergence as the Dutchmen cruised to a wire-to-wire victory. Old Westbury inched within 8-5 with 14:21 left before Patterson scored 10 points during a 16-0 run that erased any doubt about the outcome. The Dutchmen went ahead for 20 points by good with 6:35 left in the first half and rode a 13-0 run over the last 4:24 to take a 47-10 lead at intermission. The Dutchmen took a 40-point lead with 17:21 left, went ahead by 50 points with 11:07 to go, extended the lead to 60 with 4:25 remaining and scored the final seven points to break the program record for margin of victory, set in 114-46 win over Division III St. Joseph’s on Dec. 6, 2024. The 23 points allowed were the fewest for Hofstra since a 60-22 win over Webb Institute on Jan. 26, 1949. Cruz Davis added 15 points before sitting out the final 15:15. All 12 players to suit up scored for the Dutchmen who received nine rebounds from Victory Onuetu and six assists from Preston Edmead.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Old Westbury, 12/10)
3: Biggie Patterson
2: Jaeden Roberts
1: Cruz Davis
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 25
Preston Edmead 15
Biggie Patterson 9
Victory Onuetu 6
German Plotnikov 4
Silas Sunday 3
Cruz Davis 2
Joshua DeCady 2
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
Well geez, I’d sure hope so, considering the Dutchmen set a program record with the 69-point victory and allowed just 23 points! This is FINALLY the Dutchmen’s first unicorn score victory of the season and their 61st unicorn score victory since the start of the 2018-19 season, when we first started tracking unicorn scores. This is also the deepest the Dutchmen have gone into a season before recording a unicorn score since they didn’t record ANY unicorn scores during the 2020-21 season.
2025-26: One unicorn score (duh)
2024-25: Seven unicorn scores
2023-24: Seven unicorn scores
2022-23: 12 unicorn scores
2021-22: 11 unicorn scores
2020-21: Zero unicorn scores (really)
2019-20: 13 unicorn scores
2018-19: 10 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. You may also know it as a “Scorigami,” a term popularized in the NFL.
WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?
The Dutchmen ended AND began Wednesday’s win in historic fashion! Cruz Davis wasted little time putting the Dutchmen ahead for good by hitting a free throw with 19:50 left in the first half to snap a scoreless tie and, err, put the Dutchmen ahead for good. This is the first time ever (or at least since the start of the 2022-23 season) that the Dutchmen have gone ahead for good on a game-opening free throw! Happy happy joy joy!
This is also the second-earliest Keith Hernandez ever (or at least since the start of the 2022-23 season). Darlinstone Dubar opened the scoring by hitting a layup with 19:52 left in the first half of a wire-to-wire 66-52 win over Drexel on Feb. 13, 2023. AND it’s the second straight Keith Hernandez for Davis, who is the first player with back-to-back Keith Hernandezes since Jean Aranguren produced the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good against Seton Hall and Massachusetts from Nov. 13-16, 2024.
German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Molloy, 11/10/25 (18:47 left 1H)
Preston Edmead go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Bucknell, 11/14/25 (13:30 left 2H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking free throw vs. La Salle, 11/28/25 (1:35 left 2H)
Preston Edmead tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Merrimack, 11/29/25 (15:25 left 1H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Pennsylvania, 11/30/25 (18:03 left 2H)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Pittsburgh, 12/7/25 (8:38 left 1H)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking free throw vs. Old Westbury, 12/10/25 (19:50 left 1H)
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 2
Biggie Patterson 2
Preston Edmead 2
German Plotnikov 1
ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)
Tyler Thomas 16
Darlinstone Dubar 14
Jean Aranguren 5
Cruz Davis 5
German Plotnikov 4
Aaron Estrada 4
Michael Graham 3
Warren Williams 3
Biggie Patterson 2
Preston Edmead 2
Silas Sunday 2
Jacco Fritz 2
Jaquan Carlos 2
Eric Parnell 1
KiJan Robinson 1
Bryce Washington 1
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 ELEVEN GAMES
The Dutchmen improved to 7-4 with Wednesday’s win. This ties the 2025-26 team for the 24th-best record in school history through 11 games. Sixteen other teams began 7-4, most recently the 2023-24 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through 11 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 5-6
1976-77: 8-3
1999-2000: 7-4
2000-01: 8-3
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 7-4
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 7-4
2004-05: 10-1 (most recent 10-1 start)
2005-06: 9-2 (most recent 9-2 start)
2006-07: 7-4
2015-16: 7-4
2018-19: 8-3 (victory marked fifth win in the 16-game winning streak)
2022-23: 6-5 (most recent 6-5 start)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 7-4
1961-62: 10-1
1962-63: 8-3
1963-64: 10-1
Some other notable 11-game starts:
2024-25: 8-3 (most recent 8-3 start)
2013-14: 3-8 (most recent 3-8 start, Joe Mihalich’s first team)
2011-12: 4-7 (most recent 4-7 start)
2007-08: 2-9 (most recent 2-9 start)
2002-03: 1-10 (most recent 1-10 start)
2001-02: 5-6 (Tom Pecora’s first team, most recent 5-6 start, never got back to .500 again)
1994-95: 2-9 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 2-9 (VBK’s last team)
1979-80: 5-6 (Joe Harrington’s only season, under .500 for the last time)
1965-66: 6-5 (over .500 for good)
1959-60: 10-1 (Hofstra’s winningest team, percentage-wise)
1955-56: 11-0 (most recent 11-0 start)
1951-52: 11-0 (first 11-0 start)
1940-41: 6-5 (over .500 for good)
The Dutchmen have never opened a season 0-11.
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 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR
With Wednesday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 88-56 (.611) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 144 games at the helm.
Butch van Breda Kolff I 107-37 (.743, 144th game was the 18th game of his sixth season in 1960-61)
Frank Reilly 103-41 (.715, 144th game was the 15th game of his sixth season in 1952-53)
Paul Lynner 91-53 (.632, 144th game was the ninth game of his sixth season in 1967-68)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 88-56 (.611, 144th game was the 11th game of his fifth season in 2025-26)
Joe Mihalich 76-68 (.528, 144th game was the 11th game of his fifth season in 2017-18)
Tom Pecora 74-70 (.514, 144th game was the 24th game of his sixth season in 2005-06)
Dick Berg 73-71 (.507, 144th game was the fifth game of his sixth season in 1985-86)
Roger Gaeckler 72-72 (.500, 144th game was the 12th game of his sixth season in 1977-78)
Jay Wright 72-72 (.500, 144th game was the 31st game of his fifth season in 1998-99)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 70-74 (.486, 144th game was the third game of his sixth season in 1993-94)
Game no. 144 is a notable one in Hofstra head coaching history. Tom Pecora continues his climb up the standings by winning his 144th game at the helm, a 76-62 BracketBuster rout of Siena in which Fran McCaffrey’s wife got ejected and the Dutchmen SURELY helped their NCAA Tournament at-large chances. And in an eerie coincidence, Roger Gaeckler is at .500 for the last time in his 144th game, a loss to La Salle — the alma mater of Joe Mihalich. Nearly 47 years later, the late Gaeckler was honored prior to Speedy Claxton’s 144th game, when his daughter Destini joined Claxton, Rick Cole Jr. and Old Westbury head coach Bernard Tomlin, who played for Gaeckler on Hofstra’s first NCAA Tournament as a Division I program.
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.
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