by Alan Babbitt
The Hope College men's basketball team tips off The Rivalry for the 206th time against Calvin University on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 8:09 p.m. at DeVos Fieldhouse.
The game will be televised on WGVU TV 35 and 52 in West Michigan and can be viewed online. It also will be broadcast on the radio on 92.7 The Van.
Hope shares the identical overall and league record as Calvin. The Flying Dutchmen are 17-6 overall and 10-2 in MIAA play after winning at Kalamazoo College, 85-79, on Monday in a makeup game.
Hope can clinch at least a share of the MIAA regular season title — and the 41st overall in team history — and the No. 1 seed for next week's league tournament with a victory against Calvin. The Flying Dutchmen would win a tiebreaker over Calvin because of two head-to-head victories. If Hope loses to Calvin, the Flying Dutchmen could still clinch a share of the title with a win at home against Kalamazoo College on Saturday and a Calvin home loss to Albion on Saturday.
Hope leads the all-time series in The Rivalry, 105-100. The Flying Dutchmen won the first meet of the season, 78-65, on January 12 at Van Noord Arena behind a game-high 25 points from junior guard Evan Thomas. Hope secured the win by outscoring the Knights, 47-36, during the second half.
Hope-Calvin history
MIAA Leaders
Hope and Calvin split their last two meetings when an MIAA title was within reach for both teams. In 2001, the Knights held a one-game lead over Hope with two games remaining before winning, 84-82 in overtime, at the Holland Civic Center to secure an outright championship. In 1997, Hope held a one-game lead over Calvin heading into the regular-season finale and won, 81-71 in regulation, at the Holland Civic Center.
The MIAA Tournament begins on Tuesday, Feb. 22, with first-round games at Hope, Albion, Calvin, and Trine. Winners advance to the semifinals on Friday, Feb. 25; the highest two remaining seeds will host those games. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game on Saturday, Feb. 26. The MIAA Tournament champion receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Evan Thomas tops the Flying Dutchmen in scoring at 18.8 points per game. He is one of Hope's four double-digits along with junior guard Clayton Dykhouse (13.4), senior guard Tyler George (12.0), and senior forward Jeff Bikus (11.5). In MIAA play, Thomas is the league's leading scorer at 21.6 points per game.
Hope ranks fourth in NCAA Division III in free-throw percentage at 80.39. The team record is 79.9 in 2014-15 Flying Dutchmen.
Hope scored 14,008 points against Calvin, an average of 68.33 per game. Calvin has scored 13,933 points, an average of 67.97 per game. The difference between the two teams is a meager 75 points in 205 meetings.
This is the 23rd Hope-Calvin game at DeVos Fieldhouse. The Flying Dutchmen are 12-10 against the Knights since the facility opened in the 2005-06 season.
Head coach Greg Mitchell is 7-10 against Calvin as the Flying Dutchmen's head coach. He is 2-2 against Bill Sall-coached Knights. As a student-athlete at Hope, Mitchell went 4-5 in The Rivalry against the Knights.
There have been 12 overtime games in The Rivalry. Hope and Calvin each have six overtime wins apiece.
