MAAC Monday: Advanced stat wrapup, Part III

The final piece of our three-part MAAC Monday advanced stat wrapup looks at ball handling in the form of assist rates and assist-to-turnover ratios, and gives a detailed breakdown on the shots each team took and gave up, on a percentage basis. This follows separate installments that detailed tempo and efficiency, as well as the Four Factors and how each team performed. For the purposes of this review, only the 20-game conference regular season was taken into account; and as always, any and all statistics reflected within MAAC Monday were gleaned from the individual stat pages or final game notes of each school:

Assist rates, from highest to lowest:
1) Canisius (61.5 percent)
2) Fairfield (57.7)
3) Rider (54.5)
4) Iona (54.4)
5) Saint Peter's (53.6)
6) Siena (52.6)
7) Niagara (52.4)
8) Quinnipiac (50.7)
9) Marist (46.2)
10) Manhattan (45.3)
11) Monmouth (44.3)

Assist-to-turnover ratios, from highest to lowest:
1) Canisius (1.41:1)
2) Iona (1.27:1)
3) Fairfield (1.22:1)
4) Saint Peter's (1.20:1)
5) Rider (1.05:1)
6) Quinnipiac (1.048:1)
7) Niagara (1.02:1)
8) Siena (0.99:1)
9) Monmouth (0.98:1)
10) Marist (0.87:1)
11) Manhattan (0.73:1)

Analysis: Just as Canisius was heralded for its ability to play consistent team defense, at least from a metrics standpoint, so too are they for their proficiency in sharing the ball. The Golden Griffins had far and away the best ball handling and assist ratios in the MAAC, a credit to the steady hand of freshman point guard Malik Johnson, an All-Rookie selection who was able to spread the wealth on a team that possessed a quartet of double-figure scorers in Reggie Witherspoon's first season at the helm. Johnson will have a greater onus on him as a sophomore, as three of the Griffs' top four scorers have either graduated or moved on, but the emergence of Isaiah Reese in the backcourt and evolution of Jermaine Crumpton should allow the Virginian to evolve even further in his second season. Iona, Fairfield and Saint Peter's are all adamant about sharing the ball and creating space on both ends of the floor, so to see each within the top half of the charts is no surprise. The anomaly here, however, is Manhattan. The Jaspers were plagued by turnover woes throughout the conference season, a large part of which were attributed to point guard Zavier Turner. As a result, Steve Masiello saw an uncharacteristically inefficient offense under his watch for the first time in his six-year tenure, and is hopeful that a season of baptism by fire for eight newcomers into his system a year ago will enhance the skill set of the most experienced roster in the MAAC going into next season.

Percentage of shots, with schools listed in alphabetical order, followed by a breakdown of two-point field goals, three-point field goals and free throws, from left to right:
Canisius: 46.2% 2-pt FG, 30.7% 3-pt FG, 23.2% FT
Fairfield: 45.7% 2-pt FG, 33.6% 3-pt FG, 20.7% FT
Iona: 47.0% 2-pt FG, 28.3% 3-pt FG, 24.7% FT
Manhattan: 46.8% 2-pt FG, 24.6% 3-pt FG, 28.6% FT
Marist: 41.6% 2-pt FG, 29.1% 3-pt FG, 29.3% FT
Monmouth: 45.0% 2-pt FG, 25.9% 3-pt FG, 29.0% FT
Niagara: 50.0% FG, 26.0% 3-pt FG, 24.0% FT
Quinnipiac: 49.2% 2-pt FG, 25.4% 3-pt FG, 25.4% FT
Rider: 53.6% 2-pt FG, 18.9% 3-pt FG, 27.4% FT
Saint Peter's: 45.6% 2-pt FG, 31.3% 3-pt FG, 23.1% FT
Siena: 52.8% 2-pt FG, 20.2% 3-pt FG, 27.1% FT

Percentage of shots against, with schools listed in alphabetical order, followed by a breakdown of two-point field goals, three-point field goals and free throws, from left to right:
Canisius: 49.0% 2-pt FG, 25.3% 3-pt FG, 25.7% FT
Fairfield: 50.7% 2-pt FG, 25.0% 3-pt FG, 24.3% FT
Iona: 49.2% 2-pt FG, 28.3% 3-pt FG, 22.5% FT
Manhattan: 44.3% 2-pt FG, 21.8% 3-pt FG, 34.0% FT
Marist: 47.7% 2-pt FG, 26.0% 3-pt FG, 26.3% FT
Monmouth: 45.3% 2-pt FG, 28.3% 3-pt FG, 26.3% FT
Niagara: 48.8% 2-pt FG, 27.8% 3-pt FG, 23.4% FT
Quinnipiac: 50.0% 2-pt FG, 23.7% 3-pt FG, 26.2% FT
Rider: 43.7% 2-pt FG, 28.2% 3-pt FG, 28.2% FT
Saint Peter's: 46.6% 2-pt FG, 32.2% 3-pt FG, 21.1% FT
Siena: 49.5% 2-pt FG, 26.6% 3-pt FG, 24.0% FT

Analysis: Keeping with the unusually high-octane Saint Peter's offense, the Peacocks took the second-most three-pointers of any school in the conference, buoyed in large part by the arrival of Nick Griffin, who will head into his senior season as the focal point of John Dunne's attack. Only Fairfield took a higher percentage of long distance shots, and the Stags will need to replace two-thirds of a trio of guards who each attempted more than 100 triples in conference play, as both Curtis Cobb and Jerry Johnson, Jr. have transferred. Tyler Nelson will return for his senior season, but Sydney Johnson has his work cut out for him in finding a consistent knockdown shooter to pair alongside the likely MAAC Preseason Player of the Year. Once again, Rider and Siena took the least amount of threes, but the Broncs also allowed the lowest percentage of shots inside the paint to opposing teams, who were forced to use the deep ball and the foul shot to stymie Kevin Baggett's group. Conversely, Fairfield surrendered the highest amount of two-point shots, in large part due to the foul trouble of Jonathan Kasibabu, often leaving Amadou Sidibe alone to defend the rim.