Quinnipiac's long-distance call to Rigoni continues to yield massive payoff

Jacob Rigoni looks to shoot Quinnipiac back into MAAC contention as a sophomore. (Photo by Vincent Simone/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Vincent Simone (@VTSimone)

When Jacob Rigoni takes the floor for Quinnipiac Saturday night against defending national champion Villanova, he’ll be a little closer to home.

Emphasis on “a little.”

You see, the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia is about 150 miles from Quinnipiac’s campus in Hamden, Connecticut but you’d have to travel approximately 10,500 more to wind up at Rigoni’s home in Adelaide, Australia.

Rigoni was a pleasant surprise for a rebuilding Bobcat squad last season under new head coach Baker Dunleavy. As a freshman in 2017-18, he averaged 9.8 points per game while setting himself apart as one of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s top three-point shooters. Rigoni averaged over 50 percent from behind the arc for a majority of his rookie campaign before ending the year at 45.5 percent, second-best in the MAAC and among the top 50 nationally. His 75 made three-pointers rank second on Quinnipiac’s Division I single-season list.

“I would say he was the biggest surprise,” Dunleavy said of Rigoni’s freshman year impact. “I knew he was a good player and I knew that one day he would be able to play at that level, but I wasn’t sure that he would have the confidence to get it done right away.”

“It’s a different role,” the 6-foot-6 Rigoni added of his perimeter play. “Back home I didn’t take as many threes as I probably took here, but it’s just the mindset of knowing that if my shot’s there, that’s the shot I’ve got to take.”

For Rigoni to wind up at Quinnipiac, Dunleavy had to break one of his own rules mere months into his first stint as a head coach.

“My goal was to not recruit any guys that I hadn’t seen play live in person,” Dunleavy said. “But I had a really trusted source coaching here in the United States at a higher level refer his tape to me, basically saying ‘I don’t know if he’s a need and fit for us, but at your level I think he’d be tremendous.’”

Due in large part to a lack of depth from outgoing transfers after the coaching change, Rigoni was pressed into action early and often, more than most freshmen at the Division I level. Rigoni appeared in all 33 of the Bobcats’ games last season, starting 14 of their final 15 to finish out the year.

Making the move to Division I basketball is a huge adjustment to any new collegiate player, but to make that change while living halfway around the world for the first time in one’s life adds an entirely new wrinkle to the equation.

“I think because you know you’re going to be here for so long, you’re just excited to be here,” Rigoni said, shirking thoughts of homesickness. “The toughest part is the ups and downs of the season. Sometimes when you’re down a little bit, you look at the negative side of things.”

After joining the Bobcats in the summer of 2017, Rigoni did not have an opportunity to return to Australia until this past May. His closest ties to home came from the occasional phone conversation and a well-timed Christmas visit from his parents during which they were able to see Jacob play in person a handful of times.

Rigoni’s breakout game came in the heart of New York City last December, when he notched a season-high 20 points while shooting 4-for-6 from three-point range in a thrilling 89-87 win over Columbia. Fellow freshman Rich Kelly led all scorers with 22 in that contest, and from then on out, the two became a tight pair.

“His family has done a lot for me; they’ve probably been my family away from home,” Rigoni said of Kelly. “We’ve had each others’ backs through the ups and downs of our freshman year. We both really believe in each other and I think we’re going to do some special things together.”

Much like Rigoni, Kelly was thrown into the fire last season. As the team’s primary point guard, Kelly’s test was even stiffer as he was tasked with starting all but one of Quinnipiac’s games all season, leading the squad with 34.2 minutes per game. However, going through those struggles last season will hopefully benefit both moving forward into their sophomore campaigns.

“I thought both of those guys at their own time hit mental and physical walls and pushed through them to where they both played very well at the end of the year,” Dunleavy said of the duo. “I think that’s natural for a first-year player. We can work on as many drills as we want, but there’s nothing that can help a guy develop more than just being thrown out there in really difficult situations.”

There are few situations more difficult than facing the defending national champions to open your season, but when Dunleavy stands across the court coaching against his mentor Jay Wright for the first time on Saturday, the chance he took on Rigoni will be one well worth the risk.