Eight days later, it's still surreal. Holy shit! The Dutchmen are dancing! (We hope)
It has happened. It has actually happened.
This is a Keep It Perky recapping last Tuesday’s 75-69 win over Monmouth that win the clinched the CAA championship for the Flying Dutchmen, who are (HOPEFULLY, cut the shit, warmongering dictators) going to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001. Twenty-something me would have wondered what a Keep It Perky is. Even 50-something me would have wondered. But here we are, writing the perkiest recap of all! On one hand, who needs this recap? We all know what happened. On the other, if ever a game deserved the recap treatment, it’s this one.
As will hopefully remain the case for the rest of the season however long it lasts (INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT!!!!), here’s the Keep It Perky featuring the usual postgame boilerplate material. The individual news and notes from the incredible win over the Hawks and a preview of Friday’s NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME AGAINST ALABAMA will be posted on Friday. Tomorrow, I’ll have some fun stories tying together the Flying Dutchmen’s past and present NCAA Tournament appearances. Ahhh!!! Enjoy!
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Preston Edmead (a game-high 26 points) completed perhaps the greatest CAA Tournament ever by a freshman as he locked up Most Outstanding Player honors, but the Dutchmen got contributions from everyone on the floor in a back-and-forth and eventually cathartic championship-clinching victory. The Dutchmen, perhaps feeling the effects of the previous night’s dramatic overtime win over Towson, opened the game by missing their first three shots and fell behind by six points four times. But Edmead scored 14 points as the Dutchmen finished the half on a 26-16 run to take a 35-32 lead into the locker room. Monmouth opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take a 45-39 lead, but I didn’t throw Snowy and the Dutchmen responded to my newfound maturity by taking the lead for good with a 10-0 run. The Dutchmen, who led by as many as seven points twice down the stretch, never pulled away, but they scored on the subsequent possession all six times Monmouth cut the deficit to two points or fewer. Justin Ray’s 3-pointer pulled the Hawks within 66-65 with 1:18 left, after which all-time Hofstra legend German Plotnikov drained a 3-pointer. Edmead appeared to ice the win by draining two free throws with 14 seconds remaining, but Monmouth’s Kavion McClain did his best horror movie villain imitation by converting a four-point play five seconds later. Cruz Davis and Plotnikov then salted the game away for real by going 4-of-4 from the line over the final eight seconds to begin the wild celebrations in Washington D.C. and certain living rooms on Long Island. Edmead added four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Silas Sunday (eight points, 12 rebounds, one block over 25 minutes) continued his terrific senior season. Plotnikov had 10 points and three rebounds. Davis finished with 12 points on just 3-of-13 shooting, including 1-of-5 from 3-point land, but he also had five assists, four rebounds and one steal. Victory Onuetu (eight points, six rebounds) produced a much-needed throwback performance.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Monmouth, 3/10)
3: Preston Edmead
2: Silas Sunday
1: German Plotnikov
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 71
Preston Edmead 55
Biggie Patterson 27
German Plotnikov 15
Silas Sunday 13
Joshua DeCady 8
Victory Onuetu 6
Joshua Aaron Reaves 3
Jaeden Roberts 3
A.J. Wills 2
Alex Tsynkevich 1
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
Nope! And who cares?! We said we’d take one more non-unicorn score and we meant it. Now we want at least one more. The Dutchmen previously earned a 75-69 win on Jan. 3, 2011, when they knocked off Drexel to begin a 5-0 start in CAA play. But the Dutchmen did come within one free throw of winning 76-69 — the same score by which they won the 2000 America East title game over Delaware. Now THAT would have been super quirky and cool.
The Dutchmen have recorded seven unicorn score victories this season and 67 (six seven!) unicorn score victories since the start of the 2018-19 season, when we first started tracking unicorn scores.
2025-26: Seven unicorn scores
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?
Shout out to Silas Sunday, who waited until the best time possible to record his first Keith Hernandez of the season by hitting the tie-breaking layup to give the Dutchmen the lead for good at 47-45 with 14:29 left in the game. It was the first Keith Hernandez recorded via layup this season and the first Keith Hernandez for Sunday since Nov. 8, 2024, when his first-half layup gave the Dutchmen the lead for good in a 90-76 win over Iona. Wow! Spanning THREE years! The 486 days between Keith Hernandezes is the second-longest stretch between Keith Hernandezes ever (or at least since the start of the 2022-23 season). German Plotnikov went a whopping 742 days — from Jan. 11, 2023 through Jan. 23, 2025 — between the first and second Keith Hernandez of his career. Pretty neat and telling that both longtime glue guys played huge roles in the CAA clincher.
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)
German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Syracuse, 12/13/25 (:31.9 left 2H)
Cruz Davis nostalgic 3-point play vs. Quinnipiac, 12/21/25 (3:54 left 2H)
Preston Edmead go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Campbell, 12/29/25 (12:05 left 1H)
German Plotnikov tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Drexel, 1/3/26 (18:27 left 1H)
German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Towson, 1/8/26 (3:33 left 1H)
A.J. Wills tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Monmouth, 1/10/26 (4:31 left OT)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Monmouth, 1/31/26 (19:50 left 1H)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Northeastern, 2/5/26 (12:38 left 1H)
Cruz Davis tie-breaking jumper vs. Towson, 2/7/26 (16:21 left 1H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking jumper vs. Charleston, 2/12/26 (6:44 left 1H)
Joshua DeCady go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Hampton, 2/19/26 (15:29 left 1H)
Joshua DeCady tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Northeastern, 2/21/26 (6:00 left 1H)
Joshua DeCady go-ahead 3-pointer vs. Stony Brook, 2/28/26 (17:50 left 2H)
Biggie Patterson tie-breaking dunk vs. Drexel, 3/3/26 (15:27 left 2H)
German Plotnikov tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. William & Mary, 3/8/26 (18:33 left 1H)
Preston Edmead tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Towson 3/9/26 (0.3 left OT)
Silas Sunday tie-breaking layup vs. Monmouth 3/10/26 (14:29 left 2H)
SEASON STANDINGS
Cruz Davis 6
German Plotnikov 5
Preston Edmead 4
Joshua DeCady 3
Silas Sunday 1
A.J. Wills 1
ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)
Tyler Thomas 16
Darlinstone Dubar 14
Cruz Davis 9
German Plotnikov 8
Jean Aranguren 5
Preston Edmead 4
Aaron Estrada 4
Silas Sunday 3
Biggie Patterson 3
Joshua DeCady 3
Michael Graham 3
Warren Williams 3
Jacco Fritz 2
Jaquan Carlos 2
A.J. Wills 1
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER THIRTY-FOUR GAMES
The Dutchmen improved to 24-10 with last Tuesday night’s win. This is tied for the fourth-best record in school history through 34 games — a point in the schedule reached by just seven teams. The previous five teams to open 24-10 or better either made the NCAA Tournament or NIT or qualified for the NCAA before, well, you know. Here is how ALL those Hofstra teams have fared through 34 games:
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT TEAMS
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 26-8 (CAA champs! Win in 34th game was a 70-61 victory over Northeastern that clinched the Dutchmen’s first CAA championship and first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001. And now we HOPEFULLY get to actually see the Dutchmen play a 35th game in the NCAA Tournament)
The 1975-76 team, Hofstra’s first to reach the NCAA Tournament, completed its season in 30 games (18-12), as did the 1976-77 team (23-7). The 1999-2000 NCAA Tournament team completed its season in 31 games (24-7), as did the 2000-01 team (26-5).
All four Hofstra teams to reach the NCAA Tournament at the Division II level completed their seasons in 30 games or fewer. The 1958-59 team finished 20-7 while the 1961-62 team ended up 24-4, the 1962-63 team finished 23-7 and the 1963-64 team went 23-6.
NIT TEAMS
2022-23: 25-9 (only 25-9 start, beat Rutgers 88-86 in overtime in first round of the NIT)
2018-19: 27-7 (lost to Northeastern in the CAA championship game)
2015-16: 24-10 (first 24-10 start, season ended with 80-78 loss to George Washington)
The 2005-06 NIT team completed its season at 26-7. The 2004-05 NIT team completed its season at 21-9 while the 1998-99 and 2006-07 teams both finished at 22-10 following first-round NIT losses.
Some other notable 34-game records — in fact, all of them!
2014-15: 20-14 (season ended with loss to Vermont in the blasted CBI)
2009-10: 19-15 (season ended with loss to IUPUI in the blasted CBI, hmm, I’m starting to see a pattern here)
Hofstra has never been 34-0, 33-1, 32-2, 31-3, 30-4, 29-5, 28-6, 23-11, 22-12, 21-13, 18-16, 17-17, 16-18, 15-19, 14-20, 13-21, 12-22, 11-23, 10-24, 9-25, 8-26, 7-27, 6-28, 5-29, 4-30, 3-31, 2-32, 1-33 or 0-34 through 34 games.
Eighty-one seasons were completed in fewer than 34 games:
1936-37 (7-10)
1937-38 (10-4)
1938-39 (10-8)
1939-40 (12-9)
1940-41 (13-7)
1941-42 (15-6)
1942-43 (15-6)
1943-44 (7-12)
1944-45 (8-13)
1945-46 (12-7)
1946-47 (18-6)
1947-48 (13-6)
1948-49 (18-8)
1949-50 (17-9)
1950-51 (18-11)
1951-52 (26-3)
1952-53 (20-7)
1953-54 (15-9)
1954-55 (19-7)
1955-56 (22-4)
1956-57 (11-15)
1957-58 (15-8)
1958-59 (20-7)
1959-60 (23-1)
1960-61 (21-4)
1961-62 (24-4)
1962-63 (23-7)
1963-64 (23-6)
1964-65 (11-14)
1965-66 (16-10)
1966-67 (12-13)
1967-68 (13-12)
1968-69 (12-13)
1969-70 (13-13)
1970-71 (18-8)
1971-72 (11-14)
1972-73 (8-16)
1973-74 (8-16)
1974-75 (11-13)
1975-76 (18-12)
1976-77 (23-7)
1977-78 (8-19)
1978-79 (8-19)
1979-80 (14-14)
1980-81 (12-15)
1981-82 (12-16)
1982-83 (18-9)
1983-84 (14-14)
1984-85 (14-15)
1985-86 (17-13)
1986-87 (10-18)
1987-88 (6-21)
1988-89 (14-15)
1989-90 (13-15)
1990-91 (14-14)
1991-92 (20-9)
1992-93 (9-18)
1993-94 (9-20)
1994-95 (10-18)
1995-96 (9-18)
1996-97 (12-15)
1997-98 (19-12)
1998-99 (22-10)
1999-2000 (24-7)
2000-01 (26-5)
2001-02 (12-20)
2002-03 (8-21)
2003-04 (14-15)
2004-05 (21-9)
2005-06 (26-7)
2006-07 (22-10)
2007-08 (12-18)
2008-09 (21-11)
2010-11 (21-12)
2011-12 (10-22)
2012-13 (7-25)
2013-14 (10-23)
2016-17 (15-17)
2017-18 (19-12)
2020-21 (13-10)
2021-22 (21-11)
2023-24 (20-13)
2024-25 (15-18)
(Well) more than half the previous Hofstra seasons were completed by this point.
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951-52.
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 SIXTY-SEVEN
With last Tuesday night’s historic win, Speedy Claxton improved to 105-62 (.629) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 167 games at the helm.
Butch van Breda Kolff I 127-40 (.760, 167th game was the 16th game of his seventh season in 1961-62)
Frank Reilly 120-47 (.719, 167th game was the 11th game of his seventh season in 1953-54)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 105-62 (.629, 167th game was the 34th game of his fifth season in 2025-26)
Paul Lynner 101-66 (.605, 167th game was the seventh game of his seventh season in 1968-69)
Joe Mihalich 91-76 (.545, 167th game was the third game of his sixth season in 2017-18)
Tom Pecora 91-76 (.545, 167th game was the 14th game of his sixth season in 2006-07)
Jay Wright 87-80 (.521, 167th game was the 22nd game of his fifth season in 1998-99)
Dick Berg 86-81 (.515, 167th game was the 28th game of his sixth season in 1985-86)
Roger Gaeckler 79-88 (.473, 167th game was the eighth game of his seventh season in 1978-79)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 76-91 (.455, 167th game was the 26th game of his sixth season in 1993-94)
There’s no movement in the standings through game no. 167, which was already a pretty good one for Flying Dutchmen head coaches before Speedy Claxton made it historic last Tuesday night. The only head coaches to lose their 167th game at the helm were Roger Gaeckler and Butch van Breda Kolff II. And even VBK’s loss on Feb. 28, 1994 in the final game of the legendary ECC Chicago swing was momentous in a positive way, because it was the last of his career prior to the stirring three-game run to the ECC title. Speaking of the ECC, Dick Berg wins his 167th game on the sidelines as the Dutchmen begin their push to the 1986 title game with a 77-68 win over Rider in the ECC quarterfinals on Mar. 1, 1986.
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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