Nathan Taylor
July 23, 2020
Darnell Hoskins
- Nationality: USA
- Date of Birth: 29/5/75
- Place of Birth: Dayton, Ohio (USA)
- Position: GRD
- Height (CM): 183
- Weight (KG): #N/A
- Junior Assoc:
- College: Wisconsin (1993-1996) / Dayton (1996-97)
- NBL DEBUT: 30/01/98
- AGE AT DEBUT: 22
- LAST NBL GAME: 29/03/98
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 22
- NBL History: North Melbourne 1998
- Championships: 0
- None
BIO: Darnell Hoskins was born in Dayton, Ohio (USA).
NBL EXPERIENCE
Darnell Hoskins made his NBL debut with the North Melbourne Giants at 22 years of age. He scored 15 points in his first game.
After being eliminated by Melbourne in the 1997 semifinals, North Melbourne moved into what became its final Giants season with the club’s financial pressure still growing. Mike Mitchell, Paul Rees (to Adelaide), Rod Johnson (to Canberra), Stephen Hoare (to West Sydney) and Matthew Reece all exited the team, while Brett Brown retained Darryl McDonald, Pat Reidy, David Stiff, Andrew Goodwin and Matthew Shanahan. Paul Maley also returned after missing the previous season with a back injury, with Ben Pepper (via Newcastle), David Close (via Canberra), rookie David Smith (via AIS) and new import Darnell Hoskins added to round out the roster.
North Melbourne opened the season at Beaton Park on January 30 without McDonald, losing to Wollongong 109-96 as Hoskins (15 points) made his Giants debut, with Reidy (21 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists) and Goodwin (15 points and 7 rebounds) leading North Melbourne in the loss.
With McDonald sidelined for the opening 13 games, Brown added Nate Driggers to cover the backcourt while Hoskins (17 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.2 steals) tried to settle into the import spot. North Melbourne lost its first five games before defeating Melbourne 102-82 on February 27, with Hoskins (29 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists), Reidy (22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block) and Stiff (17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists) helping the Giants claim their first win of the season.
Hoskins (25 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists) followed with another strong game in Townsville on March 7 as North Melbourne defeated the Crocodiles 104-95, with Reidy (20 points and 7 rebounds) and Smith (13 points and 8 rebounds) helping the Giants claim what became their only road win of the season.
Hoskins’ best game of the season came against Sydney on March 14, where Hoskins (40 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals) and Reidy (21 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists) led North Melbourne to a 97-91 win over the Kings. Goodwin (19 points and 8 rebounds) also provided support as the Giants claimed one of their few early-season wins.
Driggers (6 points and 3.3 rebounds) played seven games before being released after failing to provide the cover needed during McDonald’s absence. Despite his 40-point game two weeks earlier, Hoskins played his final game on March 29, finishing with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists as North Melbourne defeated Wollongong 110-92 behind Pepper (28 points, 27 rebounds, and 2 blocks) and Smith (16 points). Brown then released Hoskins and brought NBL legend Butch Hays (8.9 points and 3.4 assists) out of retirement in a cost cutting move.
Reidy (17.9 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists) led North Melbourne in scoring, while Pepper (13.7 points and 8.2 rebounds) gave the Giants a new interior focal point after arriving from Newcastle. Maley (12.7 points and 4.9 rebounds) returned from injury and became one of the team’s steadier scorers, while McDonald (12.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 2.3 steals), Stiff (11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals), Goodwin (10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds) and Smith (7.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.3 steals), who earned Rookie of the Year, were the other key contributors.
North Melbourne finished 10th with a 9-21 record, including only one road win, before merging with South East Melbourne at the end of the season after several years of financial instability.
Darnell Hoskins played one season in the NBL. He averaged 17 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 11 NBL games.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 23 | North Melbourne | 9-21 (10) | 11 | 403 | 187 | 38 | 41 | 10 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 42 | 33 | 60 | 128 | 47% | 18 | 44 | 41% | 49 | 58 | 84% | 60% | 54% | 40 | Totals | 11 | 403 | 187 | 38 | 41 | 10 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 42 | 33 | 60 | 128 | 46.9% | 18 | 44 | 40.9% | 49 | 58 | 84.5% | 61% | 54% | 40 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 23 | North Melbourne | 9-21 (10) | 11 | 36.6 | 17.0 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 5.5 | 11.6 | 47% | 1.6 | 4.0 | 41% | 4.5 | 5.3 | 84% | 60% | 54% | 40 | Total | 11 | 36.6 | 17.0 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 5.5 | 11.6 | 46.9% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 40.9% | 1.6 | 4.0 | 84.5% | 61% | 54% | 40 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 40 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
|---|
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Latvia - BK Ventspils (1999–2000) | France - SIG Strasbourg (2001–2002) | Germany - SSV Ratiopharm Ulm (2000–2001) | Greece - Iraklis Thessaloniki (2001–2002) | Poland - Pekaes Pruszków (1998–1999) | Venezuela - Marinos de Oriente (2001)
Hoskins joined Pekaes Pruszków for the 1998–99 Polish first division season, playing his first season in Poland, and he later appeared in the 1999 Saporta Cup with the club listed as Mazowiecki KS, averaging 9.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists across two games in that competition.
Hoskins moved to BK Ventspils for the 1999–2000 season in Latvia and was part of the roster that won the Latvian championship that year.
In the summer of 2000, Hoskins signed with SSV Ratiopharm Ulm for the 2000–01 German Bundesliga season, where he teamed with Jarvis Walker and finished with 98 total assists while averaging 7.0 assists per game before an injury ended his season in January 2001.
Hoskins played for Marinos de Oriente in Venezuela during the 2001 offseason, then made a brief stop with Iraklis Thessaloniki in Greece early in the 2001–02 season, where he was on the roster alongside Tito Maddox before moving on again.
He joined SIG Strasbourg during the 2001–02 French ProA season and appeared in five league games, averaging 9.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 29 minutes per night, with teammates including Kornel David, J.R. Reid, Frederic Forte, David Gautier and Keith Jennings, before being replaced in February 2002 by Khalid El-Amin.
COLLEGE
Hoskins played college basketball at Wisconsin during the 1993-94 season before transferring to Dayton, where he competed during the 1996-97 season after departing Madison in mid-December of his junior year.
Hoskins suited up for Wisconsin during the 1993-94 season, which the program’s year-by-year records list as an 18-11 campaign under head coach Stu Jackson, and he appeared in 22 games as a freshman guard without a start while Wisconsin went 8-10 in Big Ten play and reached the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
In that 1993-94 season, Hoskins totaled 60 points (2.7 per game) while shooting 18-for-51 from the field (35.3%), going 5-for-23 on three-pointers (21.7%), and making 19-of-26 free throws (73.1%) across 245 total minutes (11.1 minutes per game).
Across those 22 freshman appearances, he recorded 27 total rebounds (1.2 per game) and 46 assists (2.1 per game), along with 15 steals, no blocks, 30 turnovers, and 23 personal fouls while providing reserve ball-handling on a Wisconsin team that earned an at-large NCAA Tournament bid and won its opening-round game before falling in the round of 32.
As a sophomore in 1994-95, Hoskins moved into the starting lineup under head coach Stan Van Gundy, starting all 27 games and playing 798 minutes (29.6 per game) while Wisconsin finished 13-14 overall and 7-11 in Big Ten play.
In that 1994-95 season, he totaled 183 points (6.8 per game) on 55-for-142 shooting from the field (38.7%), hit 18-of-49 from three-point range (36.7%), and went 55-for-71 at the free-throw line (77.5%), with 85 total rebounds (3.1 per game) and 92 assists (3.4 per game).
Hoskins’ 1994-95 stat line also included 32 steals and two blocks, and with 80 turnovers and 77 fouls over 27 games he handled a high-usage point guard workload for a Badgers team that played a full Big Ten slate but did not return to the postseason that year.
Hoskins opened 1995-96 as Wisconsin’s incumbent point guard for first-year head coach Dick Bennett and started the first nine games before transferring to his hometown University of Dayton in mid-December with the Badgers holding a 5-4 record at the time of his departure.
Over those nine games at Wisconsin in 1995-96, Hoskins played 277 total minutes (30.8 per game) and scored 85 points (9.4 per game) while shooting 26-for-57 from the field (45.6%), going 9-for-27 on three-pointers (33.3%), and making 24-of-31 free throws (77.4%).
In that nine-game stretch, he added 18 rebounds (2.0 per game), 35 assists (3.9 per game), and 15 steals (1.7 per game), and he posted one of his signature Wisconsin performances on December 5, 1995 when he scored 22 points in a 94-91 win over Wright State.
Hoskins then finished his college career at Dayton in 1996-97 under head coach Oliver Purnell, starting all 23 games for the Flyers as the team went 13-14 overall and 6-10 in Atlantic 10 play.
In the 1996-97 season at Dayton, Hoskins averaged 14.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game while playing 760 total minutes (33.0 per game), totaling 324 points on 106-for-250 shooting from the field (42.4%), hitting 27-of-92 from three (29.3%), and converting 85-of-105 free throws (81.0%).
That Dayton season included 69 total rebounds, 109 assists, 31 steals, four blocks, 81 turnovers, and 61 fouls, and he earned All-Atlantic 10 recognition while finishing as one of the Flyers’ primary creators alongside frontcourt leader Ryan Perryman and rookie center Mark Ashman.
Across his NCAA career at Wisconsin and Dayton, Hoskins played in 81 games with 50 starts, totaled 652 points, 199 rebounds, and 282 assists, and he made 59 three-pointers on 191 attempts (30.9%) while shooting 205-for-500 overall (41.0%) and 183-for-233 from the free-throw line (78.5%).
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