Saint Peter's travels to Lafayette looking for 2-0 start

Flying high after season-opening win, John Dunne is still taking life one game at a time as Saint Peter's heads to Lafayette looking for first 2-0 start in three years. (Photo courtesy of Big Apple Buckets)

Less than 48 hours after closing out their season opener on a 30-9 run, Saint Peter's takes to the road for the first time in 2015-16, making the short trek across New Jersey just over the Pennsylvania border to take on Lafayette Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. inside the Kirby Sports Center in Easton.

"I don't know," a candid John Dunne stated when asked what could be expected as the Peacocks seek their first 2-0 start since the 2012-13 season, when Saint Peter's won each of their first three games before winning just six the rest of the year. "Are we going to be feeling ourselves after a home win? We're going to be playing on a Sunday afternoon after we've got to get on a bus for an hour and a half. It's a whole new test for a bunch of new guys, so we're going to go after the win. We're not going to play to not lose. I'm certainly looking forward to it."

One expectation has been made clear after Friday evening's 77-65 victory over Brown, that being the prodigious development of Antwon Portley, whose 30 points in his debut were the highest total by a freshman in Dunne's decade-long tenure.

"We knew we got a good one when he committed here," said Dunne of his budding star. "Sometimes you wonder when the lights come on, 'is he going to stay aggressive?' 'Is he going to make the shots?' We're certainly not expecting 30 points from him every game, he knows that, but he's a special guy because he knows he can continue to improve and he knows we're going to go through him to make plays."

In addition to Portley's riveting first impression, Trevis Wyche and Chazz Patterson each had significant efforts, Wyche chipping in with 14 points of his own and Patterson's 12-point, 8-rebound outing going a long way in replacing the dual threat of Marvin Dominique.

The Peacocks face a Lafayette team that is also young, welcoming five incoming freshmen into the fold. Junior guard Nick Lindner is the leading incumbent scorer for the reigning Patriot League champion Leopards, and began his campaign with 27 points in the Leopards' loss to George Washington this past Friday.

While expectations remain somewhat low even after a resounding win to start the year, Dunne is not making it a point to keep harping on that fact, insisting his team and its bright potential will speak for itself on the floor.

"We know where we were picked in the league," he responded when addressing Saint Peter's ninth-place standing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll. "We know no one's expecting big things out of us, and we know we're relying on freshmen and a lot of new faces, so at the end of the day, we have nothing to lose, and we're going to play like that all year."