Did you know? The Flying Dutchmen did not play Drexel on a Tuesday during the 1984-85 season, which preceded the release of "Voices Carry."
The rare Tuesday night regular season finale brings with it the even rarer game with no CAA Tournament implications for the Flying Dutchmen, who are locked into the no. 3 seed regardless of how they fare against Drexel in a clash of ECC rivals. Perhaps next Tuesday night will be far more stressful!
As will hopefully become the routine once again the rest of the season, I ran down the boilerplate material from Saturday’s win over Stony Brook in last night’s Keep It Perky. Today will be about the individual news and notes from that win as well as a preview of the Dragons. Enjoy!
TWENTY'S THE MAGIC NUMBER…
…for pitchers (well, back when wins mattered) and college basketball programs. The Dutchmen returned to the 20-win club Saturday night, when they improved to 20-10 with the victory over Stony Brook. This is the Dutchmen’s 27th 20-win season in program history, including the 18th in the Division I era (dating back to 1966-67), the 13th since joining the CAA in 2001-02, the sixth in the last eight seasons and the fourth in five seasons for Speedy Claxton. Pretty good run!
No other current CAA school has as many 20-win seasons as a member of the CAA and only Charleston (15 20-win seasons, including eight as a member of the Southern Conference) has more 20-win seasons since 2001-02. And among former CAA members, only VCU (19 20-win seasons) has as many or more 20-win seasons since 2001-02. Once again, pretty good.
ONE POSSESSION OBSESSION
The Dutchmen never trailed by more than three points Saturday night, when Stony Brook opened its biggest lead at 35-32 on Andrej Shoshkikj’s 3-pointer with 19:23 left in the game. It was the third straight game in which the Dutchmen never trailed by more than one possession and the seventh time they’ve never fallen behind by more than one possession in the last eight games. After earning wire-to-wire wins over Monmouth (73-57 on Jan. 31) and Northeastern (80-63 on Feb. 5), the Dutchmen trailed just once against Towson in a 71-49 win on Feb. 7, trailed five times but never by more than three points in a 66-62 win over Charleston on Feb. 12, trailed twice by two points in a 79-43 win over Hampton on Feb. 19 and trailed twice but never by more than three points against Northeastern in an 82-68 win on Feb. 21.
FIT TO BE TIED
The Dutchmen and Stony Brook were tied 32-32 at the half Saturday night. This is the second time the Dutchmen have been tied at the half this season and the first time since Dec. 22, when they were tied 31-31 with Quinnipiac on their way to a 74-66 win. Wow! Spanning two years! The Dutchmen are now 2-0 in games in which they were tied at the half this season (obvs) and 18-11 in such games dating back to the 2002-03 season.
CRUZ HOLDS STEADY
Cruz Davis, the newest member of the Hofstra 1,000-point club, remained in 38th place on the all-time scoring list last Saturday afternoon, when he finished with eight points to increase his career total to 1,082 points. It marked the first time in four full games as a member of the 1,000-point club that Davis has not moved up the list. Davis enters tonight nine points shy of surpassing Ameen Tanksley for 37th place and 26 points away from moving past Richie Swartz for 36th place.
35.) Mike Moore 1,128
36.) Richie Swartz 1,107
37.) Ameen Tanksley 1,090
38.) CRUZ DAVIS 1,082
39.) Derrick Flowers 1,069
40.) Darius Burton 1,060
41.) Percy Johnson 1,045
42.) James Shaffer 1,022
43.) John Irving 1,018
BIGGIE OFF THE BENCH
Biggie Patterson once again provided plenty of energy off the bench Saturday night, when he led all players with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. The double-double was the team-leading fourth of the season for Patterson, who has recorded three of his double-doubles as a reserve. Patterson is the first Hofstra player with multiple double-doubles off the bench since Stephen Nwaukoni had three of his six double-doubles in a reserve role during the 2013-14 season. The 17-point effort continued a quirky season-long statistical trend for Patterson, who has played in 26 games and has 13 double-digit scoring efforts while scoring six points or fewer 12 other times. Speaking of season-long trends, the Dutchmen are now 11-1 when Patterson comes off the bench and 7-7 when he starts.
GERMAN FOR STARTERS
German Plotnikov put together a third straight solid glue guy game Saturday night, when he finished with 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting — including 3-of-6 from 3-point land — while adding seven rebounds, one block and one steal over 38 minutes. Plotnikov has 42 points on 14-of-27 shooting, including 7-of-18 from 3-point land, over the last three games after he had 21 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including 6-of-15 from 3-point land, in his previous three games from Feb. 7-14. Plotnikov has scored in double figures 12 times this season after doing so just 17 times in his first 95 games over the previous three seasons.
GERMAN’S 10/7 SPLIT
Bowling reference! As you may have just read, German Plotnikov had 15 points and seven rebounds Saturday night. It was the second time this season Plotnikov has recorded at least 10 points and seven rebounds and the first time since Dec. 21, when he had 12 points and seven rebounds in a 74-66 win over Quinnipiac. Once again, wow, spanning two years!
GERMAN’S FAST START
German Plotnikov wasted no time getting going Saturday night, when he scored the Dutchmen’s first eight points. Plotnikov had eight or fewer points in 88 of his first 122 games with the Dutchmen. Quirky! Plotnikov’s streak was the second-longest consecutive stretch of points by a Hofstra player to begin a game this season. Cruz Davis scored the Dutchmen’s first 12 points Dec. 21 in a 74-66 win over Quinnipiac. We’re referencing that game a lot today!
PRESTO!
Preston Edmead continued the most impressive freshman season by a Hofstra player this decade — or maybe a lot longer — Saturday night, when he overcame two first-half fouls to finish with 14 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal over 25 minutes. Edmead, who scored 11 of his points in the final 9:33, has scored in double figures in 24 games this season, the most double-figure scoring efforts by a Hofstra freshman since Charles Jenkins scored in double figures 27 times in 29 games in 2007-08. That’s…that’s pretty good. So is this: Edmead’s 459 points (15.3 ppg) through 30 games are seven more than Antoine Agudio had during his freshman season, which lasted 30 games in 2004-05. Edmead also had nine more points through 29 games than Jenkins did in his freshman season and 11 more points through 27 games than Speedy Claxton did in 1996-97, when his freshman season ended after 27 games. Pretty good company.
PRESTON VS. SPEEDY
Speaking of pretty good company and something very quirky and cool: Speedy Claxton played the third game of his sophomore season on Nov. 27, 1997, when he scored 13 points in a 75-66 loss to no. 19 Louisville. So that means Edmead (459 points) has ONE MORE POINT than Claxton (458 points) through the first 29 games of their Hofstra careers. Edmead and Claxton are separated by one point through 29 games after they both had 445 points through 29 games and 426 points through 28 games. What’d I tell you? Quirky and cool! Not surprisingly, their stats through 30 games are remarkably similar.
Speedy Claxton: 15.3 points per game/3.7 assists per game/4.5 rebounds per game
Preston Edmead: 15.3 ppg/4.7 apg/3.5 rpg
One point apart and Claxton had 28 more rebounds while Edmead has 30 more assists. Wild.
CRUZ-IN
Cruz Davis had a rare quiet game Saturday night, when he finished with eight points on 2-of-8 shooting — including 1-of-4 from 3-point land — while adding six assists, two rebounds and five turnovers in 40 minutes. It was just the second time this season Davis has been held to fewer than 10 points and snapped a streak of seven straight double-digit scoring performances. The Dutchmen are now 4-9 when Davis is held to fewer than 10 points, including 1-1 this season, and 31-18 when he scores in double figures. The six assists were the most for Davis since he had eight assists in an 80-63 win over Northeastern on Feb. 5 while the five turnovers were his most since he committed six turnovers in a 89-82 loss to William & Mary on Jan. 24,
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!
Silas Sunday had what is turning into his usual solid game Saturday night, when he was scoreless without attempting a shot while adding eight rebounds, one steal and a career-high four blocks over 23 minutes. Sunday has recorded at least eight rebounds in a game 10 times this season after doing so just twice in his first 92 games between Hofstra and Iona. He has also logged at least 20 minutes in a game 17 times after doing so just seven times over the previous three seasons.
SILAS’ BLOCK PARTY
The four blocks for Silas Sunday on Saturday night tied the single-game high this season by a Hofstra player and were the most since Dec. 21, 2025, when Victory Onuetu had four blocks in a 74-66 win over Quinnipiac. There’s that game again! Sunday has recorded at least three blocks in a game seven times this season, the most by a Hofstra player in a single season since Nelson Boachie-Yiadom recorded at least three blocks in a game seven times during the 2023-24 season.
SILAS’ SCORING STREAK SNAPPED
#Alliteration! Silas Sunday’s season-long 29-game scoring streak was snapped Saturday, when he didn’t attempt a shot over 23 minutes. Sunday scored in 26 of 33 games last season.
DECADY DANCE
Joshua DeCady continued his emergence as a glue guy Saturday night, when he finished with six points, two steals, one rebound and one assists in 18 minutes. DeCady scored the final five points of a 7-0 run early in the second half that gave the Dutchmen the lead for good (and provided DeCady his third straight Keith Hernandez). He has scored at least six points 14 times in 28 games this season after doing so just four times in 25 games last season. The Dutchmen are 13-5 this season when DeCady starts and 6-4 when he comes off the bench.
SEVEN-UP FOR VICTORY
Junior newcomer Victory Onuetu had a solid game while battling foul trouble Saturday night, when he had seven points and seven rebounds over 17 minutes. The seven-point, seven-rebound effort marked the second time Onuetu has collected at least seven points and seven rebounds in a CAA game and the first time since he had eight points and a season-high 13 rebounds in an 89-82 loss to William & Mary on Jan. 24. He had five such games in 13 non-conference games. Onuetu also collected four fouls Saturday, which marked the 14th time in 17 CAA games he’s either fouled out, drawn at least three fouls or been ejected. He has also come off the bench in each of the last nine games after starting 17 of the first 21 games.
JAEDEN JUMPS INTO ACTION
Freshman Jaeden Roberts saw his most extensive playing time in more than a month Saturday night, when he was scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting from 3-point land while finishing with two assists over nine minutes. The nine minutes were the most for Roberts since he logged 12 minutes in an 89-82 loss to William & Mary on Jan. 24. Roberts has been scoreless in five of his last seven appearances after he averaged 7.5 points over 13.6 minutes per game in the 11 previous games in which he played from Dec. 7 through Jan. 24. The Dutchmen are 17-4 in Roberts’ appearances this season.
JUST JOSH-IN
Graduate student Joshua Aaron Reaves had another quiet game last Saturday afternoon, when he was scoreless without recording a stat over 1:27 in the first half. Reaves has been scoreless in five of the last seven games since he scored a season-high 17 points in a 73-57 win over Monmouth on Jan. 31. He has 33 points and 23 rebounds over the last 10 games after recording just 10 points — all against non-Division I foes — over 71 minutes in his first 12 appearances of the season. Reaves played in each of the Dutchmen’s first five games this season before sitting out 10 of the next 15 games from Nov. 28 through Jan. 22. The 10 consecutive appearances for Reaves marks his longest streak since he played in all 32 games for Mount St. Mary’s during the 2023-24 season.
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on FloHoops.com (subscription required, click here for options) as well as on MSG if you are in the New York area and/or somehow paid one billion dollars (approx) for the Gotham Sports app. Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
SENIOR NIGHT
File this under things we no longer take for granted in the pandemic era — and things that are different in the NIL/instant transfer era. The Dutchmen will honor their five seniors — graduate students German Plotnikov, Joshua Aaron Reaves and Alex Tsynkevich as well as seniors Biggie Patterson and Silas Sunday — in a ceremony scheduled to begin at 6:40 PM. Read our feature about the rare tenured Senior Night duo of Plotnikov and Sunday here.
This will mark the fifth straight Senior Day (or Night) after the scheduled home finale was canceled due to, well, you know, in February 2021. The Dutchmen’s final home game of that season turned out to be a 79-74 win over Drexel on Feb. 7, 2021. The 2022 Senior Day was held prior to the penultimate home game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 26, two days before a makeup game against Charleston.
While Senior Day (or Night) is a bittersweet afternoon for players and coaches, the game itself has traditionally been a happy occasion for the Flying Dutchmen. The Dutchmen are 26-5 in home finales in the DD Era (1994-present) with losses absorbed in 1994 (Army won 87-76), 2002 (Towson won 61-60), 2013 (Delaware won 57-56), 2017 (UNC Wilmington won 83-76) and 2019 (James Madison won 104-99 in overtime). However, there were no seniors on the roster in 2002, which means the Dutchmen didn’t TECHNICALLY lose on Senior Day that year.
Not surprisingly, teams with Speedy Claxton either playing on the court or strolling the sideline have fared well on Senior Day. Claxton’s teams are 13-2 on Senior Day — 4-0 when he was in uniform from 1997 through 2000 and 9-2 since he joined the coaching staff for the 2013-14 season, including 4-0 as a head coach.
SCOUTING DREXEL
The Dragons, under 10th-year head coach Zach Spiker, are 16-14 overall and 10-7 in the CAA after beating Campbell, 65-60, last Thursday night. It was the third straight win and the 10th victory in 14 games since an 0-3 CAA start for Drexel, which has a chance at the no. 4 seed and the final double bye with a win tonight and some help.
The Dutchmen and Dragons had three common opponents during non-league play. The Dutchmen earned wins over La Salle (63-58), Pennsylvania (77-60) and Syracuse (70-69), all of whom beat Drexel. In CAA play, both teams swept Northeastern, beat Hampton, split with Stony Brook and lost to UNC Wilmington. The Dutchmen swept Towson and Monmouth and won their lone meeting with Campbell, all three of whom split with Drexel. Hofstra split with Charleston, which beat Drexel, and lost to William & Mary, North Carolina A&T and ELO, all of whom the Dragons defeated.
The Dutchmen, who were picked to finish tied for eighth in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked a CAA- and season-best 92nd at KenPom.com. That’s 70 spots higher than they were to open the season, two spots higher than they were prior to Saturday’s win over Stony Brook and 25 spots higher than they were while carrying a five-game losing streak into the Jan, 31 game against Monmouth. The Dragons, who were picked to finish 10th, are ranked 220th, 18 spots higher than their preseason ranking, 11 spots lower than their season-high entering their Jan. 24 game against Northeastern and a whopping 77 spots higher than their season-low prior to their game against Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 19.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank first in the CAA in conference-only offensive efficiency (114.0 points per 100 possessions) and third in defensive efficiency (102.6 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 64.8 possessions per 40 minutes, the 11th-most in league play. The Dragons rank 12th in the CAA in offensive efficiency (102.6 points per 100 possessions) and first in defensive efficiency (101.2 points per 100 possessions) while averaging 64.4 possessions per 40 minutes, the 13th-most (also known as fewest) in league play.
The Dragons return nine players from last year’s team, which might be some kind of modern record. Junior Shane Blakeney, a preseason all-CAA honorable mention selection, leads Drexel with 14.5 points per game and is second with 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Senior Victor Panov, who is in his second season at Drexel after a season apiece at Cal State Fullerton and Daytona State College, a junior college, ranks second on the team with 9.7 points per game and third with 4.9 rebounds per game. Junior Kevon Vanderhorst, who is in his second season at Drexel after opening his career at Brunswick Community College, is averaging 9.2 points and a team-high 2.6 assists per game. Graduate student Garfield Turner, who opened his career with one season at Odessa College before spending two years at Drexel and redshirting last year, leads the Dragons with 5.3 rebounds per game.
KenPom.com predicts a 72-62 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 17-11 against the spread this season after winning but not covering Saturday night.
THE CAA RACE
This game has plenty of potential postseason implications (nobody is in any danger!) for Drexel but none for th eDutchmen, who are locked into the no. 3 seed after taking care of business Saturday night. So this is the last game of the season that won’t be accompanied by crippling anxiety!
UNC Wilmington 14-3***
Charleston 14-4***
HOFSTRA 11-6***
Monmouth 10-7
Drexel 10-7
William & Mary 9-8
Stony Brook 9-8
Towson 8-9
Campbell 7-10
Hampton 7-10
ELO 6-11
North Carolina A&T 4-13***
Northeastern 2-15***
***seeds already clinched
With a win tonight, the Dutchmen will finish in sole possession of third place. I was told there’d be no math. With a loss, the Dutchmen will still win a two-way tie with Monmouth, by virtue of sweeping the season series, or Drexel by virtue of a win over no. 2 Charleston. The Dutchmen would also win a three-way tie at 11-7 by virtue of their 3-1 record in the head-to-head between the teams. Drexel would be the no. 4 seed in a three-way tie by virtue of going 2-2 in the head-to-head clashes while Monmouth would be the no. 5 seed by virtue of its 1-3 record against Hofstra and Drexel.
For Drexel, a loss all but locks up the no. 5 seed. For purposes of beginning to look ahead to the Dutchmen’s quarterfinal game at 8:30 PM Sunday (oh no), William & Mary is the most likely team to finish no. 6 (oh no). The no. 6 seed will oppose the no,. 11 seed, which will be either Campbell, Hampton or ELO, at 8:30 Saturday night. For all the tiebreaker scenarios, check out the exhaustive list put together by the CAA on Monday.
THE ECC RACE
Now here’s a race that is already decided, hello Litos. The Flying Dutchmen are ECC champs again! Delaware bolted to Conference USA in order to chase a billion to one shot at being the next James Madison in football, but Hofstra, Drexel and Towson remain and are playing an actual round-robin this season. And the Dutchmen will look to complete a perfect ECC season tonight. This is the third time in the last five years the Dutchmen have won the ECC title. Towson won it all in 2021-22 and 2024-25. Stop looking at me like that.
’TIL TUESDAY
If only the Dutchmen were playing Northeastern tonight! This marks the first time the Dutchmen are playing a home game on Tuesday since Dec. 10, 2019, when they beat Stony Brook (then in the America East), 71-63. They last played a league game on a Tuesday on Jan. 2, 2018, when the Dutchmen went on the road and edged Northeastern 71-70. And tonight marks the Dutchmen’s first home CAA game on a Tuesday since Feb. 14, 2012, when Delaware ruined Valentine’s Day with a 71-57 win. This is the info you come here to get, folks.
ALL-TIME VS. DREXEL
Hofstra is 52-49 against Drexel in a series that began during the 1958-59 season. The Dutchmen won the first game between the teams this season on Jan. 3, when Cruz Davis had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in a wire-to-wire 70-67 win. The Dutchmen have won 19 of the last 22 games in the series.
The Dutchmen and Dragons have opposed one another as members of the East Coast Conference, the North Atlantic Conference/America East and the CAA. Drexel is Hofstra’s second-most common opponent behind only Delaware, which closes out C-USA play this week against Sam Houston State and Louisiana Tech. Progress, I guess?
Last year marked just the second time since 1982-83 that Hofstra and Drexel were in the same conference but played each other just once in the regular season. The teams also played once apiece due to the unbalanced schedule in 2022-23.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER (OR BLUESKY) IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Frantz Massenat can’t hurt us from the sideline tonight bias! (The Drexel great and author of the all-time gut-wrenching half-courter buzzer beater at the Arena on Jan. 23, 2013 is an assistant on Zach Spiker’s staff)
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has started shooting season 18 bias! (We don’t have a lot going for us as a society right now so anytime you want to announce the indefinite renewal would be great)
Why did so many of Bruiser Flint’s good players have receding hairlines bias! (It really was uncanny)
Silas Sunday always got the best of Amari Williams bias! (And now Williams is in the NBA)
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