Did you guys know Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania? The Flying Dutchmen are going to play in two cities in the same state. How is that even possible? Are we constantly going in and out of Pittsburgh throughout the season yes or no?
OK, now it’s really time to consider playing all Flying Dutchmen games at least in the state of Pennsylvania — especially if the Dutchmen return to their winning ways today when they visit Pittsburgh of the Big East, I mean, Atlantic Coast Conference. Sure, Pittsburgh isn’t near the Atlantic coast, but just wait until you see who the ACC adds later!
Anyway, as will hopefully remain the routine following all games this year (not just CAA clashes), I ran down the boilerplate material from Wednesday’s loss to Columbia in last night’s Keep It Perky. Today will be about the individual news and notes from that defeat as well as a preview of the Panthers. Enjoy!
WIRE-TO-WIRE LOSS
The Dutchmen never led Wednesday night. It was their second wire-to-wire loss of the season, following an 81-73 loss to Iona on Nov. 7.
WIRE-TO-WIRE LOSS (but not by much)
The Dutchmen never led but only lost by two points Wednesday night. It was the narrowest loss in which they never led since way back on Feb. 22, 2015, when the Dutchmen fell to William & Mary, 80-78. Oh well I’m sure we’ll get revenge on the Tribe in the CAA Tournament! Anyway, that was 336 games ago.
STAYING SINGLE (digits)
The Dutchmen have yet to lose a game by more than nine points this season. It’s the farthest the Dutchmen have gone into a season without losing a game by at least 10 points since th 2006-07 campaign, when they were 6-3 through nine games before falling to Syracuse, 85-60. Those three losses — all to open the season against Charlotte, Manhattan and Hawaii, talk about a random trio — were by a combined nine points.
BACK-TO-BACK IVIES
The Dutchmen fell to Columbia three days after beating Pennsylvania. I twas the first time the Dutchmen played consecutive non-conference games against schools from the same league since Dec. 19-22, 2020, when they split with a pair of Atlantic 10 foes by falling to St. Bonaventure 77-69 before beating Richmond 76-71.
SECOND HALF, BETTER THAN THE FIRST
This now seems to be a trend for the Dutchmen, who scored 38 points in the second half Wednesday after collecting 32 points in the first half. The Dutchmen have scored more points in the second half than in the first half in six of their nine games this season. Nice? The only exceptions are Molloy, against whom the Dutchmen scored 48 points in the first half and 47 points in the second half, and the Cathedral Classic combo #Alliteration of La Salle (34 points first half, 29 points second half) and Merrimack (45 points first half, 35 points second half). Ironically, in that it’s just a coincidence, the Dutchmen are 3-0 when they score more in the first half then the second half. Overall, the Dutchmen are averaging 34.7 points in the first half and 42.3 points in the second half.
CRUZ-IN
Cruz Davis continued his impressive season Wednesday, when he scored 24 points and added two assists and two steals despite playing a season-low 32 minutes due to foul trouble. Davis has scored in double figures in all nine games this season, the longest streak by a Hofstra player since Jean Aranguren scored in double figures in 15 straight games from Dec. 9 through Feb. 8. The nine straight double-figure scoring efforts are a career-high for Davis, who previously scored in double figures in eight straight games from Jan. 20 through Feb. 13. Davis has scored in double figures in 30 of the 41 games in which he’s played for Hofstra after reaching double figures just five times over 28 games in his first two seasons at Iona and St. John’s. The Dutchmen are 17-13 when Davis scores in double figures.
PRESTO!
Freshman Preston Edmead recovered from a slow start to fuel the comeback bid Wednesday, when he scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. Edmead hit his first basket of the game but then missed his next eight shots before scoring 11 points while Cruz Davis was on the bench for five-plus minutes due to foul trouble. Edmead has scored in double figures in eight of his first nine games. His 135 points (15.0 ppg) through nine games are the most by a Hofstra freshman in the Defiantly Dutch era (1993-pres) and two points more than Speedy Claxton and Antoine Agudio had during their freshman seasons in 1996-97 and 2004-05. The best of some pretty good company.
PRESTON VS. SPEEDY
Speaking of which…Preston Edmead’s first nine games as a true freshman point guard have been just as impressive as Speedy Claxton’s first nine games as a true freshman point guard way back in 1996-97.
Speedy Claxton: 14.8 points per game/2.1 assists per game/4.8 rebounds per game
Preston Edmead: 15.0 ppg/5.3 apg/1.7 rpg
Pretty quirky and neat!
FINALLY FEW DIMES FOR EDMEAD
A subhead consisting of words beginning with D, E and F! That’s got to be a first. Anyway, one impressive streak ended for Preston Edmead Wednesday, when he finished with one assist. Edmead had at least five assists in each of the first eight games this season, the longest streak by a Hofstra player since Caleb Burgess had at least five assists in 10 straight gams from Jan. 17 through Mar. 7. 2021.
DECADY DANCE
Joshua DeCady, who played a season-low 11 minutes against Pennsylvania last Sunday, took advantage of Biggie Patterson’s struggles Wednesday to stake another claim as the Dutchmen’s sixth man by scoring 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting while collecting three rebounds and two steals over 29 minutes. The 12 points and 29 minutes logged were each the second-highest marks of the season for DeCady, who scored 13 points against Temple on Nov 19 and played 30 minutes in the season opener against Central Florida on Nov. 3. The 13 field goal attempts were a career-high, easily exceeding the seven field goal attempts he had against Not Twitter Guy on Jan. 30 and again against Molloy on Nov. 10. DeCady has scored in eight of nine games this season after scoring in 14 of the 25 games in which he played last season.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!
Silas Sunday built on his impressive Cathedral Classic performance and provided key minutes in place of a struggling Victory Onuetu Wednesday, when Sunday had five points and a team-high nine rebounds to go along with two assists and two blocks in 21 minutes. The nine rebounds were the most for Sunday since Mar. 1, when he had nine rebounds in the regular season finale against North Carolina A&T, while the 21 minutes were his most since he played 23 minutes in the season opener against Central Florida on Nov. 3. Sunday has scored in all nine games this season, his longest such streak since he scored in a career-high 10 games from Jan. 9 through Feb. 8.
GERMAN FOR STARTERS
German Plotnikov played all 40 minutes Wednesday, when he finished with nine points, five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. The five rebounds tied a season-high for Plotnikov, who also had five rebounds against Bucknell on Nov. 14 while the 40 minutes were the most he’s logged since he also played ll 40 minutes against Delaware on Feb. 22. Plotnikov, who purposely missed a free throw in the final second to try and set up a miracle game-tying or game-winning basket, has scored at least 10 points in five of the Dutchmen’s nine games this season after doing so seven times in 31 games last season.
VICTORY LOOKS TO REBOUND
Junior newcomer Victory Onuetu had a quite game Wednesday, when he was scoreless with six rebounds in 19 minutes. Onuetu exited for good in favor of Silas Sunday with 15:35 left and the Dutchmen down 51-38, The scoreless effort was the first of the season for Onuetu, who took just one shot, while the six rebounds were tied for his third-fewest single-game total. Onuetu is the first Hofstra player to finish scoreless with at least six rebounds in a game since Feb. 10, 2024, when Silas Sunday had no points and six rebounds in an 81-49 win over North Carolina A&T.
BIGGIE GOES QUIET
Biggie Patterson also struggled Wednesday, when he finished with four points and four rebounds in a season-low 11 minutes. Patterson exited for good in favor of Joshua DeCady with 14:35 left and the Dutchmen down 54-41. The four points were tied for the second-fewest of the season for Patterson, who has scored in double figures six times in nine games. Again, nice.
WHERE THERE’S A WILLS THERE’S A WAY
AJ Wills continued to establish himself as a valuable backup guard Wednesday, when he was scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting over 11 minutes. But Wills was on the court in place of Cruz Davis, who was saddled with four fouls, when the Dutchmen outscored Columbia 13-5 over a stretch of seven-plus minutes to pull within 62-58 with 5:03 left. Wills has played 36 minutes over the last two games after playing just 52 minutes in the first seven games of the season.
OVER THE AIR
Today’s game is slated to be carried live on ACC Network as well as on ESPNPlus, which you have if you have the Disney Bundle, which you have if you have a child under 18. (Alas mine mostly watches Max, Netflix and YouTube, sigh) Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
PITTSBURGH AND THE “ATLANTIC COAST” CONFERENCE
Pittsburgh, under eighth-year head coach Jeff Capel III, is 5-4 this season after falling to Texas A&M, 81-73, on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh was picked to finish 14th in the 18-team “Atlantic Coast” Conference, which is not only extremely overgrown but now also geographically challenged, to say the least, with the inclusion of California, Stanford and SMU. One of the most famous college football games of all-time would now be an ACC game. What a world.
Anyway, Pittsburgh returns four players from last year’s team. That seems like a lot these days! Senior Cameron Corhen, who began his career with two seasons at Florida State, leads the Panthers with 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Graduate student Damarco Minor, who began his career in junior college at South Suburban College before spending two seasons at SIU Edwardsville and one season at Oregon State, is averaging 11.7 points and is tied for the team lead with 3.1 assists per game. Senior Barry Dunning Jr. who spent one season apiece at Arkansas, Alabama-Birmingham and South Alabama, is averaging 11.2 points per game. Sophomore Brandin Cummings is averaging 10.3 points per game. Sophomore Papa Amadou Kante ranks second on the Panthers with 5.4 rebounds per game while freshman Omari Witherspoon is tied with Minor at 3.1 assists per game.
Per KenPom.com, Pittsburgh ranks 107th nationally in offensive efficiency (111.4 points per 100 possessions) and 92nd in defensive efficiency (103.5 points per 100 possessions) while ranking 347th in tempo (64.7 possessions per 40 minutes).
The Dutchmen and Panthers have three common opponents this season. Both teams lost to Central Florida, which opened the season by beating the Dutchmen 82-78 on Nov. 3 before defeating Pitt 77-67 on Nov. 20. Tom Pecora and Quinnipiac, who are slated to visit Hofstra on Dec. 21, upset Pitt, 83-75, on Nov. 23. Pitt is scheduled to play two ACC games against Syracuse, which hosts Hofstra next week. Pitt and Syracuse, in the ACC. In retrospect, our decline as a society has been in progress for a while.
Hofstra and Pittsburgh have never faced each other in men’s basketball. Hofstra is 4-18 all-time against Pittsburgh in all sports with one win apiece recorded by the baseball, softball, women’s soccer and volleyball teams.
Hofstra is 5-36 all-time against current ACC schools, though that ledger includes games against Syracuse, Boston College, SMU, Louisville, Notre Dame and California when they were all in their proper homes. This marks the third straight season Hofstra is playing at least one ACC foe. The Dutchmen fell to Duke, 89-68, on Dec. 12, 2023 before losing to Florida State, 79-61, on Nov. 19, 2024. The Dutchmen will visit Syracuse next Sunday, which means consecutive Division I games are against ACC teams. Neat! This marks the first time Hofstra is playing two ACC teams in the same season since 2003-04, when the Dutchmen beat Georgia Tech, 76-75, before losing to Maryland 87-72.
At KenPom.com, Hofstra is ranked a season-high 131st, up two spots from Wednesday, while Pittsburgh is ranked 97th. KenPom.com predicts a 71-65 loss for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 7 1/2-point underdogs. The Dutchmen are 6-2 against the spread this season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER (OR BLUESKY) IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Send it in Jerome bias! (The great Bill Raftery uttered this all-time great line after Jerome Lane shattered the backboard while dunking against Providence on Jan. 25, 1988)
Sean Miller bias! (Long before he was a shady head coach, Miller fed Lane for his historic dunk)
Dan Marino bias! (One of the greatest quarterbacks in history played at Pitt before somehow falling to the 27th spot in the 1983 draft, great job everyone)
Curtis Martin bias! (The Jets whiffed not getting Marino, but at least they signed Martin, who led them to the edge of the Super Bowl in 1998 and made the Hall of Fame)
Charlie Kelly still doesn’t know where he is bias! (One more Sunny reference in Pennsylvania)
