Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc.

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EvanJ
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Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc.

Post by EvanJ »

All of this is for Men's Basketball, but you can post for any sport you want. Here are 43 notes about the 26 games I've been to.

First game: A 70-69 loss to Stony Brook on December 13, 2003

Last game: A 70-67 win over William & Mary in a CAA Semifinal on March 6, 2016

Season opener (1): A 64-51 win over Florida International on November 19, 2005

Last game of a season: Never (I've seen regular season finales)

Games not at Hofstra (3): 76-63 win at Binghamton on November 27, 2004, 80-67 win over Drexel in a CAA Quarterfinal on March 5, 2016, and the CAA Semifinal I already listed

Best attendended games: 5,047 each for a 70-68 win over Drexel on February 25, 2006 (the game before the CAA Tournament) and a 65-64 win over Holy Cross in a BracketBuster on February 17, 2007

Worst attended games: 783 in an NIT Season-Tip Off 80-72 loss to Charlotte on November 24, 2009. That's less than half the next worst attendandance of a game I've been to which was 1,628 for a 75-71 win over College of Charleston on January 11, 2014. The Charlotte game was part of a doubeleheader with the first game being Yale vs. Elon. At that point nobody knew Elon would later come to the CAA.

Games I've seen against opponents who went to the NCAA Tournament that season (2): A 75-64 loss to Old Dominion on January 15, 2011 and an 80-63 loss to Virginia Commonwealth on January 2, 2012

Dates I've been to games in multiple years (2 pairs of 2): December 13, 2003 vs. Stony Brook (mentioned already) and a 68-52 win over St. Francis (NY) on December 13, 2008; a 92-90 win over James Madison on January 24, 2011 and a 69-63 loss to James Madison on January 24, 2015

Overtime games (3): An 84-81 loss to Drexel on January 8, 2005, a January 24, 2011 game I mentioned in the previous section, and an 81-78 win over William & Mary on February 15, 2011

Buzzer beaters (at least 2, there might be more that I didn't keep track of): A 76-73 loss to UNC Wilmington on January 17, 2004 ended with a Hofstra three-pointer when they were down 6 and the William & Mary game in the previous section ended with a buzzer beater by Jenkins

Latest game-winning free throws (this is one game I remember but it's possible another game was decided later): Two free throws by Rivera with 1.7 seconds left on February 17, 2007 to beat Holy Cross 65-64

Only CAA team I haven't seen: Elon (I saw the end of their game against Yale I already mentioned, and I don't remember how much time was left when I arrived, but would guess between 5 and 10 minutes)

Total games: 26 (15-11 for a .577 winning percentage)

Biggest margin of victory: A 75-50 win over Delaware on January 6, 2007

Biggest margin of defeat: An 90-72 loss to George Mason on January 19, 2010

Average point differential per game: +2.1

Average amount the games were decided by using positive numbers regardless of who won: 8.2

Games decided by 1 or 2 possessions (6 or fewer points): 14 (53.8 percent of the games)

Most points by either team: 92 in a 92-90 win over James Madison on January 24, 2011

Most points by an opponent: 90 by James Madison in the game above and by George Mason when they won 90-72 on January 19, 2010, the James Madison game went overtime and George Mason has the most points without overtime by either team

Most combined points: 182 in the above 92-90 win over James Madison

Most combined points without overtime: 162 vs. George Mason mentioned two sections above

Fewest points by either team: 50 by Delaware in Hofstra 75-50 win on January 6, 2007

Fewest points by Hofstra: 51 in a 57-51 loss to UNC Wilmington on January 26, 2013

Fewest combined points: 108 in the January 26 game above

Fewest combined points in a Hofstra win: 120 in a 68-52 win over St. Francis (NY) on December 13, 2008

Fewest points by a winning team: The January 26 game above

Only game I saw on my birthday: The January 26 game above

Closest opponent: St. Francis (NY) (34.4 miles according to Google Maps)

Farthest away opponent: Florida International (1,320 miles according to Google Maps)

Religious opponents I've seen (2): Holy Cross and St. Francis (NY)

Most common opponent for Hofstra starting with 2003-2004 that I've never seen: My guess is Manhattan, who Hofstra has played 10 times, but I didn't check every possibility

Most common opposing conference for Hofstra starting with 2003-2004 that I've never seen: My guess is the Metro Atlantic Athletic (MAAC)

Only opponent I've seen at least twice without Hofstra winning: A 76-73 loss to UNC Wilmington on January 17, 2004 and a 57-51 loss to UNC Wilmington on January 26, 2013

Only opponent I saw twice in a row: An 82-71 win over James Madison on March 1, 2014 and a 69-63 loss to James Madison on January 24, 2015

Opponent I've seen the farthest apart: Drexel, with January 8, 2005 and March 5, 2016 being 4,074 days apart

Only time I saw consecutive games Hofstra played: A 72-63 win over College of Charleston on February 27, 2016 and the CAA Tournament on March 5 and 6

Opponents by conference (going by the conference the teams were in when I saw them): 20 in the CAA (including teams once for each time I saw them), 2 in the America East (Stony Brook and Binghamton), 1 in the Atlantic 10, 1 in the Northeast, 1 in the Patriot League, and 1 in the Sun Belt

Note about Conference USA: I have seen three teams currently in Conference USA who weren't in Conference USA when I saw them. They are Old Dominion, Charlotte, and Florida International.

Note about the Sun Belt: The only current Sun Belt team I have seen is Georgia State. I saw Florida International when they were in the Sun Belt. As I said above, they're not in Conference USA

Game on a day notable for another reason: A 71-68 win over Towson on February 7, 2009, which was the day it was announced that Alex Rodriguez used steroids

Only opponent I haven't mentioned yet: Northeastern when they beat Hofstra 62-57 on February 6, 2013
HofstraPride1
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by HofstraPride1 »

First game was win against Towson in the PFC my freshman year in January 1999. Best games were no doubt the two America East titles in 2000 and 2001. Best regular season game was a comeback from six down with under 3 mins left to beat Maine in 2000 regular season finale, which set up home-court advantage for the America East title game (Speedy Claxton had huge steal and basket to swing momentum in Hofstra's favor).
HUSID80
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by HUSID80 »

First game was against Temple in the last year of Caulkins Gym...I was a "Young" freshman. I've been to all four of our conference winning games to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. First was against Temple at the Palestra in '76, the next year we beat LaSalle (with Joe Mihalich) in Easton, PA at Lafayette and of course the two AE championships won at the Mack.
HU87
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by HU87 »

First game was season opener against Lehigh at PFC in 1993-- Darius Burton's freshman year. The Darius Burton ---> Speedy pass-off is when I really started paying attention... loved watching Speedy and guys like Tim Beckett bring this program to a new level at the time.
Dooku25
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by Dooku25 »

My first game is also one of the best games I have ever been to. January ’99 against Delaware at the PFC. Huge battle between Pegues and Speedy. HU won on a Speedy buzzer beater with Dave DeBusschere watching courtside. I left the arena pleasantly surprised to see such a high quality basketball game and began wondering why nobody was there to see it and why nobody on campus knew we had a team. I had been wanting to check out a game since I saw highlights on MSG one night that we had beaten Georgia Tech at the Garden. I’ve been going to games and following the team ever since.

Best game I have been to.. there are many.

-Both AE champ games in 00-01 against Delaware. Cactus and I stormed the court from the student section.

-’99 NIT game at Rutgers. It was thrill just to be there and see HU in the postseason. Speedy was out with an injury otherwise we would have won. We got our revenge against Rutgers by beating them the next 2 seasons which I was also at.

-HofstraPride1, I am with you on the Maine game in 2000 to clinch the 1 seed. I believe that was close to a sellout crowd and I remember that Speedy steal at the end, that was a great college basketball game and victory.

-beating St Johns for the first time ever in 2000 at the Nassau Coliseum. I was in attendance for every other win against SJU except the one at the Mack.

-Sat courtside at MSG in 2000 against Penn St in Holiday Festival. Lost by 2 but it was a great experience.

-2006 win vs George Mason at the Mack and NIT vs Nebraska, our first ever postseason win.

-2007 Loren Stokes buzzer beater vs St Joe’s at Madison Square Garden

-2011 Charles Jenkins final game at the Mack

-2015 CAA Semifinal in Baltimore double OT loss to W&M, probably the most incredible basketball game I ever saw in person. That loss still stings.

-I’ll even throw in 2016 vs Kentucky at Barclays. It was nice to see the team play in a big time atmosphere with a nice Hofstra turnout. And we gave them a game for the first 17 minutes.

Last game is Siena tonight until the next home game :lol:
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Flying Dutchmen
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by Flying Dutchmen »

1st Game - 2/3/98 Hofstra vs. UD at the PFC, UD got that one 92-77, big loss, but I got hooked though.

Best/Favorites- Dooku is right on the money, I'll add a few for fun though, haha.

- '98 ECAC Holiday Festival vs. Georgia Tech - Bobby Cremins' family was smack-talking my Dad and I (I was 12 lol) at the Roy Rogers across from the Garden for wearing Hofstra gear, we got the last laugh though haha.

- '03 vs. UNCW - We had an epic 2nd half comeback in an empty Hofstra Arena, ended up losing 74-70. Marc Petit air-balled a 3 in the corner to tie with 5 seconds left, funny ending though because I don't think Petit ever imagined taking a three-pointer before or after that moment. First game I thought we really belonged in the CAA.

- '06 vs. ODU - We blew a 10 point lead late, down 1, Stokes to Kieza for the Buzzer Beater, that shot is so burned in my head, it's like it happened yesterday. Pure joy from the student section, we spontaneously stormed the court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9OmQCSY_nQ

- '11 vs George Mason - Best game of Jenkins' career. Love that dude.
Captain
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by Captain »

First game(s) were probably 1964 watching the great Steve Nisenson light it up for Hofstra. A great pure shooter and prolific scorer without the advantage of the 3 point shot. Most of you missed a terrific college ball player.
Most recent game Dec. 22nd vs. Siena
Best game the Kieza shot to beat ODU.
Favorite player...Loren Stokes
EvanJ
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by EvanJ »

I saw Hofstra lose to William & Mary and Elon last season, to make 28 games with Hofstra having a 15-13 record. Tonight will be the second time I see a team with "State" in the name, and both of them, Georgia State and Kennesaw State, are in Georgia. The Atlantic Sun will be the seventh conference I've seen an opponent from. Within 6 years of my first game, I had seen opponents in six conferences. This is the first time since I saw Charlotte on November 24, 2009 than I saw Hofstra play a team not in the CAA.
EvanJ
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Re: Games You Went To: First Game, Last Game, Best Game, etc

Post by EvanJ »

Hofstra's win by 18 moved their point differential in games I saw to +56, which is the highest it has been since 16 games I saw ago on January 19, 2010. It was the fewest points I have seen Hofstra allow since a 68-52 win over St. Francis (NY) on December 13, 2008. The four games I saw Hofstra allow fewer than 57 points were all among the first 10 games I saw. It was Hofstra's second biggest margin of victory in a game I saw behind a 75-50 win over Delaware on January 6, 2007. It was the first November game I saw since an 80-72 loss to Charlotte on November 24, 2009 and the first November win I saw since a 64-51 win over Florida International on November 19, 2005.
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