Fairfield looking to complete hat trick to open MAAC tournament

Jay Young heads into first MAAC tournament as Fairfield meets Manhattan Tuesday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

First-year head coaches have commanded much of the recent attention in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Between Carmen Maciariello at regular season champion Siena and the job Greg Paulus has done at Niagara, the coaching neophytes have made short work of the perceived learning curve.

Jay Young is lost in the shuffle, but sometimes, the best work is that which accomplished living in the shadows.

Technically, Young is not a rookie coach, having had a prior stint at the Division II University of New Haven, but the former Steve Pikiell assistant is making the most of his maiden voyage at the Division I level, turning a Fairfield program few expected to contend into one that has blended defense, youth and experience to conclude the regular season on an upswing, raising confidence heading into the MAAC tournament.

“This being my first season, I thought we had a lot of good moments,” Young remarked as he and the Stags descend upon Atlantic City to open the tournament Tuesday against Manhattan, a team from whom Fairfield swept both regular season meetings. “I certainly would like to have won a few more games, but I really like the group, how hard they respond and how hard they work. I think all eleven teams will head down today thinking they have a chance to win the tournament, and that’s a great thing.”

Fairfield will take the floor Tuesday just four days removed from its last encounter with Manhattan, a 66-50 victory at Draddy Gymnasium in which the Stags held a double-digit lead for the majority of the evening. Drawing two-time MAAC champion Steve Masiello and his Jaspers is no easy task, especially right out of the gate for a coach making his conference tournament debut, but Fairfield’s defense has posed an interesting conundrum for Manhattan in recent years, something that would be noticeable on the floor regardless of who lines up against the Stags.

“I treat it like a separate game,” said Young. “You throw it out, you’ve got to execute, you’ve got to play well. It’s easier on the scout because we just played them and we kind of know who they are and they know who we are. They’re in the same boat as we are, and on Tuesday at 5, we’ll just find out. Hopefully we’ll get a couple more baskets than they do and come out on top, but we’re playing a good Manhattan team. Steve does a great job. They play so hard and they’re difficult to play against.”

Young will attempt to combat Manhattan’s intense ball pressure with his dual-point guard attack, as Taj Benning and Aidas Kavaliauskas, both of whom have done solid work breaking down defenses in MAAC play, will be on the front line against the Jaspers and their frenetic, in-your-face approach.

“Manhattan just comes at you in waves,” Young shared. “They make every pass difficult, so to have two guys on the floor — they played together the last game and we only had 11 turnovers — it was a huge key for us going into the game. That certainly is something we’re probably going to do again, have both those guys on the floor for a considerable amount of time, and our ability to bring pressure, handle the zone and have good passers out there is certainly huge.”

The winner of Tuesday’s opener will face Siena in the quarterfinals Wednesday, and will do so approximately 24 hours after taking the floor for the opening round. The short turnaround is not a concern to Young, however, based solely upon how his team has performed throughout the year.

“I just think we’ve competed every night, for the most part,” he said. “We’ve been in every single game with a chance to win, or at least close in the last five minutes, so I like the way we’ve bought in on that end of the floor, with our defense and our rebounding. We came in and we tried to establish those two things, and for the most part, we’ve shown a lot of progress on that end of the floor. I like our fight, I like our resiliency, and we’re hoping that that travels with us down to Atlantic City.”