MAAC Monday: Iona’s opening weekend, stat leaders, power rankings

Daniss Jenkins (5) drives to hoop during Iona’s win over Canisius Sunday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

MAAC Monday returns for the first time in the 2022-23 season, and will be back again in three weeks on December 26 with a look at each Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference program through its non-conference season and first games of league play. In this season premiere, it will once again feature a team spotlight, stat leaders and power rankings, but will also feature quick hits from around the MAAC as gathered in postgame press conferences in future editions. Without further ado, the first stop in the in-depth profiles is in New Rochelle, where Iona opened its MAAC slate with convincing victories over Niagara and Canisius.

Very rarely do you find a head coach who is unsatisfied after back-to-back wins of 22 and 30 points, respectively. Then again, not every team has Rick Pitino for a head coach.

The always candid and brutally honest Hall of Fame mentor has been open about his Iona team’s struggles this season with six newcomers in the rotation replacing last year’s veteran core. In losses to Hofstra and Santa Clara, he lamented the Gaels’ inability to effectively close out the 3-point line against the Pride and Broncos, who shot a combined 46 percent from long distance against Iona. He has also lamented a tendency of his unit to foul too much, something he has viewed as the lone consistent negative through six contests so far this year. In Friday’s win over Niagara and Sunday’s victory over Canisius, the Gaels limited the Western New York invaders to 2-for-11 and 7-for-22 from deep, which went a long way toward establishing transition opportunities and fueling the ever-present offense in emphatic 78-56 and 90-60 triumphs at the Hynes Athletics Center.

“(Niagara’s) a difficult group to play against because they’re the slowest pace in the nation, and regardless of what the score is, they stick with their game plan,” Pitino said Friday of Greg Paulus’ Purple Eagles. “Against Maryland and St. John’s, they came back in the game because of the 3-point shot. We told our guys, whatever pace we have to play, we’re going to stop the three. We lost to Hofstra and Santa Clara because of the three. That was the best half of defense we’ve played here in two-and-a-half years. It was absolutely spectacular. Not one time did they get a clean look at the rim.”

“He’s not playing about it,” Berrick JeanLouis added Sunday, emphasizing Pitino’s almost militant instructions to prevent the three. “He’s not playing about it at all. If you look at all our losses, we gave up a lot of threes, and in our wins, we gave up less threes. So he’s big on it, he’s huge on it.”

Amid the schematics and finer points of the game plans has been the rise of Daniss Jenkins, a junior college transfer who played his freshman season in Division I at Pacific. Jenkins stole the show Friday with 31 points against Niagara, but was more understated on Sunday in the win over Canisius, tallying only 10 markers but making his presence known as a facilitator with nine assists against only one turnover.

“I really don’t try to think about if it’s my night or not,” Jenkins said after the Niagara game. “I just try to come out aggressive every game. Last game, early on, I got down on myself and I thought I was hurting the team, so this game, I tried to come out and just be positive with the guys. My shots were just falling.”

The Dallas native, who looks like the early favorite for MAAC Player of the Year honors, was described by his head coach early on as someone who could have played significant minutes in the backcourt at Kentucky or Louisville. Needless to say, that lofty praise has yet to dissipate six games into his tenure donning the maroon and gold.

“Daniss Jenkins is a special player,” Pitino gushed. (He’s) playing great for us. We knew right away we were getting something special.”

Iona hopes to have an equally special season this year, and is doing so with an arduous non-conference schedule that Pitino purposely designed to be light in November and heavy in December to better acclimate his new personnel to the college game. The veteran coach explained his rationale yet again Friday, citing a desire to place his players in tough environments early so that it pays off later in the form of an outfit unfazed by an atmosphere that some other, less experienced teams may find to be biting off more than they can chew.

“We were hoping to come out of this 6-5, 7-4 in the non-conference,” Pitino admitted. “If we could do that, we thought we’d have a hell of a year. But when you play Santa Clara at 2:00 in the morning and you’re getting ready to play teams like Saint Louis and New Mexico, and you’re going to play SMU and Utah State out in Hawaii, you’ve made the schedule the toughest it’s ever been in the history of the school. But we did it for a reason. We knew we had an inexperienced young team, and I learned a long time ago from Howard Garfinkel. He said, ‘take a young team on the road. Let them go have all the adversity in the world. If they can handle the adversity come February, you’ll have a good team.’ And I took that advice this year because we had a lot of players coming back, and I wanted them to play a great schedule, so we tried to pick the winner of every league.”

“Last year, we were 19-3 and 10-0 in conference, but we weren’t being challenged. (This year), we’re going to be challenged. If we stop the three like we did (Friday), we’re going to be a hell of a basketball team.”

Scoring Leaders

1) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (19.3 PPG)

2) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (19.0)

3) Javian McCollum, Siena (18.3)

4) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (18.2)

5) Patrick Gardner, Marist (17.3)

6) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (16.6)

7) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (15.3)

8) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (14.8)

9) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (14.6)

10) Jaylen Murray, Saint Peter’s (13.6)

Rebounding Leaders

1) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (9.7 RPG)

2) Patrick Gardner, Marist (7.8)

T-3) Malik Jefferson, Mount St. Mary’s (7.6)

T-3) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (7.6)

5) Supreme Cook, Fairfield (7.4)

6) Ike Nweke, Quinnipiac (7.2)

7) Javon Cooley, Marist (6.6)

8) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (6.5)

9) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (6.4)

T-10) Aaron Gray, Niagara (6.3)

T-10) George Tinsley, Mount St. Mary’s (6.3)

Assist Leaders

1) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (4.8 APG)

2) Javian McCollum, Siena (4.8)

3) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (4.7)

4) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (4.3)

5) Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac (3.7)

T-6) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (3.6)

T-6) Tahj Staveskie, Canisius (3.6)

T-6) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (3.6)

9) Luis Kortright, Quinnipiac (3.4)

10) Jaylen Murray, Saint Peter’s (3.4)

Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) Corey Washington, Saint Peter’s (.840)

2) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (.754)

3) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (.667)

4) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (.636)

5) Malik Jefferson, Mount St. Mary’s (.586)

6) Marques Watson, Manhattan (.583)

7) Supreme Cook, Fairfield (.545)

8) Andrew Platek, Siena (.525)

9) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.517)

10) Dezi Jones, Quinnipiac (.515)

Free Throw Percentage Leaders

1) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (1.000)

2) Mervin James, Rider (.875)

3) Javian McCollum, Siena (.870)

T-4) Isiah Dasher, Saint Peter’s (.833)

T-4) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (.833)

6) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (.824)

7) Jalen Leach, Fairfield (.810)

8) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (.786)

9) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.739)

10) Allan Jeanne-Rose, Fairfield (.722)

3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (.571)

2) Jaylen Murray, Saint Peter’s (.529)

3) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (.526)

4) Andrew Platek, Siena (.514)

5) Dezi Jones, Quinnipiac (.484)

6) Lance Erving, Niagara (.476)

7) Allen Betrand, Rider (.474)

8) Bryce Moore, Niagara (.467)

T-9) Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan (.444)

T-9) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (.444)

T-9) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (.444)

Steal Leaders

1) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (2.3 SPG)

2) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (2.2)

3) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (1.7)

4) Luis Kortright, Quinnipiac (1.7)

5) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (1.6)

Blocked Shot Leaders

1) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (2.9 BPG)

2) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (1.8)

3) Stephane Ingo, Marist (1.6)

4) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (1.5)

5) Jackson Stormo, Siena (1.4)

Power Rankings

1) Iona (4-2, 2-0 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 vs. Canisius (W 90-60)

Next Game: Tuesday 12/6 vs. Saint Louis, 7 p.m.

2) Siena (5-3, 1-0 MAAC)

Last Game: Friday 12/2 vs. Canisius (W 74-70)

Next Game: Wednesday 12/7 at Georgetown, 6:30 p.m.

3) Quinnipiac (7-2, 0-1 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 vs. Niagara (L 64-60)

Next Game: Wednesday 12/7 at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.

4) Rider (3-4, 1-0 MAAC)

Last Game: Saturday 12/3 at Mount St. Mary’s (W 68-65)

Next Game: Wednesday 12/7 at Stonehill, 7 p.m.

5) Mount St. Mary’s (4-5, 1-1 MAAC)

Last Game: Saturday 12/3 vs. Rider (L 68-65)

Next Game: Tuesday 12/6 vs. American, 7 p.m.

6) Manhattan (3-4, 1-0 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 vs. Monmouth (L 76-69)

Next Game: Wednesday 12/7 at Providence, 8:30 p.m.

7) Niagara (4-4, 1-1 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 at Quinnipiac (W 64-60)

Next Game: Sunday 12/11 vs. Eastern Michigan, 1 p.m.

8) Fairfield (3-6, 1-1 MAAC)

Last Game: Saturday 12/3 vs. Saint Peter’s (W 67-55)

Next Game: Wednesday 12/7 vs. Sacred Heart, 7 p.m.

9) Marist (4-4, 0-0 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 vs. Maine (W 62-61)

Next Game: Saturday 12/10 vs. Boston University, 7 p.m.

10) Saint Peter’s (4-4, 0-2 MAAC)

Last Game: Saturday 12/3 at Fairfield (L 67-55)

Next Game: Saturday 12/10 at Saint Joseph’s, 1 p.m.

11) Canisius (2-6, 0-2 MAAC)

Last Game: Sunday 12/4 at Iona (L 90-60)

Next Game: Saturday 12/10 at Toledo, 2 p.m.