The Hofstra men’s basketball team has finally spent some extended time in New York state over the last two weeks. Following a five-game trip to California and Florida, the Pride fell at St. Bonaventure on Dec. 7 and returned home to beat local rival Stony Brook four days later before embarking on a break for exams. 

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Hofstra completes its non-conference schedule this week by visiting Princeton tomorrow night and hosting Manhattan Sunday. Here’s a look at some of the facts and figures from the Pride’s games against St. Bonaventure and Stony Brook.

New York State Of Mind

The Pride played its first game in New York in 22 days when it fell to St. Bonaventure, 73-45. Hofstra then went home for the first time since Nov. 15 when it beat Long Island rival Stony Brook, 71-63, on Dec. 10. 

Oh No Olean

The loss to St. Bonaventure was notable for a whole lot of unpleasant reasons for the Pride. 

The 28-point margin of defeat was tied for the most lopsided loss under Joe Mihalich. Hofstra fell to third-ranked Louisville, 97-69, in his third game as head coach Nov. 12, 2013. The 45 points were the fewest Hofstra has scored under Mihalich and the Pride’s fewest since a 61-43 loss to Georgia State on Feb. 13, 2013. 

The Pride scored just 19 points in the second half against St. Bonaventure loss, its fewest in a half since an 18-point first half in a 73-49 loss to SMU on Jan. 19, 2014. And St. Bonaventure’s 20-0 run in the first half was the longest against the Pride since Tulane mounted a 20-0 run to start the second half of an 83-62 win on Dec. 22, 2012.

All Streaks Must Come To An End

The St. Bonaventure game also marked the end of Desure Buie’s historic stretch from the free throw line. Buie missed his final free throw attempt against the Bonnies to snap his streak of consecutive makes at 35. 

It is the longest streak of the Joe Mihalich era, breaking Brian Bernardi’s mark of 32 straight free throws during the 2016-17 season, and is tied for the seventh-longest streak in CAA history.

Bouncing Back

The Pride ensured it wouldn’t lose back-to-back games for the first time this season by beating Stony Brook, 71-63, last Wednesday night. Some of us may consider that the single must-win game of the year. 

Possibly. 

Hofstra is now 23-5 all-time against Stony Brook, including 5-1 since the two teams began playing each other again in 2014. Five of the six games have been decided by single digits. 

The Pride is also 24-21-1 in all sports against Stony Brook since the spring of 2014, including 19-10-1 since the start of the 2016-17 school year. 

Fifty Miss, But One Win

The Pride beat Stony Brook despite shooting just 22-of-72 from the field. Per the research of Hofstra fan Evan Jones (@EvanJ3535), it is the first time the Pride has won a game in which it missed 50 shots since Nov. 15, 2008, when Hofstra was 20-of-70 from the field in a 71-68 overtime win over Western Michigan.

A New Double-Double Club

Eli Pemberton (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Tareq Coburn (10 points, 12 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles against Stony Brook. 

It’s the first time two Pride players have registered double-doubles since Feb. 17, 2018, when Pemberton (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Rokas Gustys (10 points, 17 rebounds) each did so in an 88-76 win over Drexel. 

It’s also the first time the Pride had two players with double-doubles — and one wasn’t Gustys — since Dec. 10, 2014, when Juan’ya Green (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Malik Nichols (10 points, 15 rebounds) had double-doubles in a 105-64 win over Coppin State. Gustys finished his career with 48 double-doubles. 

This One Goes To 11

The Pride is 7-4 through 11 games, which is tied for the 23rd-best record through 11 games in program history. Fourteen previous teams started 7-4, making it Hofstra’s most common 11-game start.

KenPom Ponderings

The Pride’s rollercoaster ride at KenPom.com continued over the last two games. Hofstra fell from 122 to 147 with the loss to St. Bonaventure and entered today at 150. The Pride is third in a remarkably jam-packed CAA. Hofstra is just five spots behind top-ranked Northeastern and one spot ahead of Towson.

Who Has The Longest Double-Digit Scoring Streak Now?

As you may have heard, Justin Wright-Foreman enjoyed a monstrous final three seasons at Hofstra before he graduated and was drafted by the Utah Jazz in June. Wright-Foreman ended his Pride career by scoring in double figures in his final 88 games, a school and CAA record. The longest streak of consecutive double-digit scoring efforts now belongs to Desure Buie, who has scored at least 10 points in seven straight games. 

What's A Unicorn Score & How Many Do The Pride Have Now?

A unicorn score is a score by which the Pride have never won before. Six of the seven wins this season have been via unicorn scores, including the 71-63 win over Stony Brook.

11/9/19: 94-74 over Monmouth

11/15/19: 111-69 over New York Tech

11/21/19: 88-78 over UCLA

12/1/19: 91-69 over Holy Cross

12/2/19: 64-57 over Canisius

12/10/19: 71-63 over Stony Brook

Hofstra had 10 unicorn scores last season. The term unicorn score was coined by New York Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won. 

Hofstra's CAA-Era Scoring List

The all-time last is still a work a progress, but here’s the movement in Hofstra’s CAA-era scoring list that took place over the last three games. 

33.) Tareq Coburn 421

34.) Deron Powers 417

Coburn’s 10 points against Stony Brook lifted him past Powers.

66.) Isaac Kante 101

67.) Matt Grogan 98

68.) Omar Alston 91

Kante scored six points against St. Bonaventure to move past Alston and then scored five points against Stony Brook to surpass Grogan.

76t.) Andre Walker 50

76t.) Omar Silverio 50

Silverio scored five points against St. Bonaventure to move into a tie with Walker.

Eli Pemberton (fifth with 1,559 points), Desure Buie (16th with 876 points), Jalen Ray (25th with 629 points) and Jermaine Miranda (87th with 13 points) all scored over the last two games without moving up the charts.

(How Is This Already) A Quarter Century Ago...

Jay Wright began his head coaching career at Hofstra 25 years ago this fall. The then-Flying Dutchmen lost their fourth straight game and fell to 1-5 on the season 25 years ago today, when Dartmouth earned an 80-70 win at the Physical Fitness Center. 

The Dutchmen previously fell to Colorado (96-77 on Dec. 3), Lehigh (67-66 on Dec. 7) and North Atlantic Conference foe Northeastern (74-54 on Dec. 18).

What's Next?

Hofstra faces Princeton on Thursday night for the first time in 28 years. As Hofstra SID Stephen Gorchov notes, Hofstra’s head coach in its previous game against Princeton — a 54-42 loss on Dec. 6, 1991 — was Butch van Breda Kolff, a Princeton grad who was also Hofstra’s head coach in its first game between the schools in 1955, when the Dutchmen earned a 69-60 win. How wild is that? 

Hofstra is 2-3 all-time against Princeton. 

On Sunday, the Pride completes its non-conference schedule by hosting a far more familiar foe, Manhattan. Hofstra is 23-42 all-time against Manhattan, whom it has faced more than any other non-conference foe.