Keep It Perky: Arizona State

Like the Simpsons, I assume the Dutchmen are still welcome in Arizona.

We will not go nine months between post-loss Keep It Perkys (Perkies?). The Flying Dutchmen suffered their most lopsided regular season defeat in 22 months Tuesday night, when they trailed wire-to-wire in an 85-63 loss to Arizona State. 

As will hopefully remain the case for the rest of the season, here’s the Keep It Perky featuring the usual postgame boilerplate material. The individual news and notes from the loss to the Sun Devils and a preview of Iona will be posted later today. Enjoy!

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Arizona State mounted a 26-5 run spanning the halves to end any upset hopes for the Dutchmen in the desert. The Dutchmen remained within single digits throughout the first half and got within a possession eight times, the last time at 33-30 on Deywilk Tavarez’s 3-pointer with 3:05 left. But the Dutchmen had three straight empty possessions, including one that ended with Sideshow Trey Boyd III’s 3-pointer rimming out, and Arizona State scored eight of the final 10 points of the half to take a 41-32 lead. Joshua DeCady opened the second half with a free throw before the Sun Devils took control with an 18-2 surge. The Dutchmen got no closer than 20 thereafter. In a quirky bit of quirkiness, a trio of reserves were the only players to score in double figures for the Dutchmen. Tavarez had 12 points, as did Xavier Blake, who scored all his points in the second half. Nick Jefferson had another strong game with 11 points and a team-high five rebounds and five assists. 

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Arizona State, 11/10)

3: Nick Jefferson

2: Deywilk Tavarez

1: Xavier Blake

SEASON STANDINGS

Nick Jefferson 6

Tanner Thomas 3

Trey Boyd III 3

Deywilk Tavarez 2

Joshua DeCady 2

Xavier Blake 1

Justin Moore 1

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER THREE GAMES

The Dutchmen fell to 1-2 with Tuesday night’s loss. This ties the 2026-27 team for the 47th-best record in school history through three games! Thirty-six other teams began 1-2, most recently the 2025-26 squad. If those trends continue… Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through three games:

NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1975-76: 2-1

1976-77: 2-1

1999-2000: 1-2

2000-01: 3-0

2019-20 (it still counts to us): 1-2

2025-26 (IT HAS HAPPENED!!!!): 1-2

NIT TEAMS

1998-99: 1-2

2005-06: 2-1

2006-07: 0-3 (most recent 0-3 start)

2015-16: 3-0

2018-19: 2-1 (most recent 2-1 start)

2022-23: 3-0 (most recent 3-0 start, obvs)

NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1958-59: 1-2

1961-62: 2-1

1962-63: 1-2

1963-64: 3-0

Some other notable three-game starts:

2013-14: 1-2 (under .500 for good in Joe Mihalich’s first year as head coach)

2011-12: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

2008-09: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

2007-08: 1-2 (under .500 for good)

2005-06: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

2002-03: 1-2 (win over Lehigh in third game was only win in the non-conference schedule)

2001-02: 2-1 (loss in third game was Tom Pecora’s first as head coach) 

1997-98: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1995-96: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1994-95: 1-2 (under .500 for good, fire Jay Wright)

1987-88: 1-2 (under .500 for good)

1980-81: 2-1 (loss in third game was Dick Berg’s first as head coach, over .500 for the last time)

1974-75: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1970-71: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1957-58: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1955-56: 3-0 (Butch van Breda Kolff improves to 3-0)

1947-48: 3-0 (Frank Reilly improves to 3-0)

1946-47: 2-1 (over .500 for good)

1943-44: 2-1 (over .500 for the last time)

1942-43: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1938-39: 1-2 (under .500 for the last time)

1936-37: 1-2 (IT HAS HAPPENED: 42-40 overtime win over Staten Island is first win in program history)

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 SEVENTY-ONE

With Tuesday night’s loss, Speedy Claxton fell to 106-65 (.620) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 171 games at the helm.

Butch van Breda Kolff I 130-41 (.760, 171st game was the 20th game of his seventh season in 1961-62) 

Frank Reilly 122-49 (.713, 171st game was the 15th game of his seventh season in 1953-54) 

SPEEDY CLAXTON 106-65 (.620, 171st game was the third game of his sixth season in 2026-27) 

Paul Lynner 102-69 (.596, 171st game was the 11th game of his seventh season in 1968-69) 

Tom Pecora 94-77 (.549, 171st game was the 18th game of his sixth season in 2006-07) 

Joe Mihalich 92-79 (.538, 171st game was the seventh game of his sixth season in 2017-18) 

Jay Wright 90-81 (.526, 171st game was the 26th game of his fifth season in 1998-99) 

Dick Berg 88-83 (.515, 171st game was the second game of his seventh season in 1986-87) 

Roger Gaeckler 81-90 (.474, 171st game was the 12th game of his seventh season in 1978-79) 

With game no. 171 completed and Butch van Breda Kolff’s second stint at Hofstra complete after his 170th game, Speedy Claxton becomes the 10th-longest tenured head coach in program history in terms of games coached. His peers included two of the men who recruited him and one under whom Claxton served as an assistant coach before taking over. Neat!

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

Van Breda Kolff finished 79-91 over six seasons in his second stint with the school. 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.