By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)
After cashing in on two wins over Towson and Evansville in Georgia, Fairfield has a chance to draw blood in conference play as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule takes the Stags to Draddy Gymnasium for a matchup with the Manhattan Jaspers Thursday to open the league slate.
Every Stag fan can only hope the advent of the MAAC calendar brings a fresh start that lifts the spirits of their team, and in doing so, puts everyone with an emotional investment in the program in a good mood this holiday season. For now, without looking ahead or harboring feelings of regret over the past, Fairfield will gladly take the hard-fought, gritty wins in Georgia and could now settle into the brand-new Leo D. Mahoney Arena with a couple wins under its belt. The current mood is different though, head coach Jay Young says, with the sole focus being on their opponent on Thursday night.
“We’re not talking about Saturday until the buzzer sounds at Manhattan,” Young said. “I’m sure it will be a great night and I know the game is already sold out, but I want our guys focused on the next game and what’s ahead of us because it’s league play now and these games are so important.”
Many different habits, both good and bad but sometimes more of the bad, can develop from playing seven straight games on the road to open the campaign. In the universe of Fairfield basketball, the adverse developments have come in the form of poor shot selection, fleeting ball movement, and an overreliance on 3-point shooting despite having only shot 29 percent from distance.
Supreme Cook and Caleb Fields have helped counteract that, though, to their credit. In Cook and Fields, the Stags deploy two all-MAAC caliber players that have put up a good fight on most nights, even when the rest of the team may not be carrying its weight.
Fields has been terrific in pretty much every facet and has shown his scoring versatility, especially in some big moments in games. While it is early still, it is noteworthy that he has been the only newcomer to consistently impact games while averaging a team-high 14.6 points per game. Other new members of the supporting cast, such as Brycen Goodine and James Johns, Jr., have enjoyed some exciting flashes, but have yet to appear in every game either for purposes related to schematics or for general lack of sharpness.
Sometimes, as crazy as college basketball is, it could take a trip to Georgia for a mid-major tournament with three games in three days to flip a couple of switches. The Stags benefitted from mini resurgences with Jake Wojcik and Jalen Leach, the latter being someone who seems to have settled back into the Fairfield rotation after scoring a season-high nine points, including four big free throws in the final minute, in the win over Towson. Wojcik finally got back on track for his team too by adding nine points on three 3-pointers, his first treys of the season. Despite not seeing his shot fall in the early portion of the season, Wojcik has still been a common fixture in the Stags lineup. He is logging 22 minutes per game, and brings a veteran presence and a few tours of the MAAC season that Young and his coaching can still leverage. According to Young, that maturity showed through in the win over Evansville when Wojcik scored one point but still found ways to impact the game, finishing with six rebounds.
“Last year, when he wasn’t making shots, that may have affected his game,” Young said of his fifth-year guard’s mature mindset. “I was really happy with the fact he really helped us and contributed to winning when he wasn’t making shots.”
Still, shooters will always shoot, even when the shots aren’t falling at a satisfactory rate. The Towson game is when the Stags finally reaped some rewards by hitting 11 threes, including three each from Wojcik and TJ Long. As long as they are getting good looks, the message in the locker room to shoot won’t change.
“The ball is gonna go in for Jake and TJ and it did a little bit last weekend,” Young said. “I just want them to stay confident.”
With the attention now on the Jaspers, the biggest concern is Josh Roberts, who Young says “is playing as good as anyone in the league.” The Manhattan big man is shooting a mind-boggling 80 percent from the field, which leads the country. Young emphasized the importance of his team’s guard play to eliminate the lobs to Roberts.
“I think that it’s more about the guards in this game, keeping the ball in front of you and Supreme will do a good job,” Young said. “But if Supreme is rotating over to help, and that ball is on the rim, Roberts is just gonna get anything around the basket.”
You don’t have to be a basketball guru to conclude that Manhattan is not nearly the same team it was a few weeks ago, when the sudden decision to part ways with Steve Masiello two weeks before the season began also led to the departures of Preseason MAAC Player of the Year Jose Perez, Omar Silverio, and Samba Diallo. Nevertheless, Young knows what the Jaspers are still capable of, having faced off plenty of times against familiar faces like Samir Stewart, Ant Nelson, Elijah Buchanan and Roberts.
“I think they have a lot of weapons and different guys who can hurt you,” Young said of a Jaspers team that has faced plenty of adversity. “We’re going to have to do a really good job defensively and the glass for us is going to be huge, especially with the rate that Roberts is getting offensive rebounds.”
In three of the past four seasons, both teams have faced off in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament, with the Jaspers holding a 2-1 advantage. There was almost a fight in the final matchup of the regular season two years ago at Draddy Gymnasium. On Thursday night, the intensity should be running high again, with both programs looking to start off conference play with a win.
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