With Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play resuming this past weekend to carry the remainder of the season, MAAC Monday returns as well for the first time in 2024. In this super-sized edition, Iona and Quinnipiac will share the team spotlight section, with Pete Janny pitching in to handle the Bobcat profile with a co-byline. From there, we’ll take a look at some quick hits from around the conference before shifting gears to stat leaders and a new set of power rankings that could be the most diverse yet. With that being said, the curtain raises on the trials and tribulations of rebuilding a perennial champion.
Iona entered 2024 with momentum from a pair of non-conference wins over Colgate and Harvard, leading many to think the Gaels had begun to turn the corner just in time for the return of conference play.
Unfortunately for Iona, the new year has yielded the same results. Back-to-back losses to Saint Peter’s and Niagara this past weekend, the former a contest where the Gaels were stymied by Bashir Mason’s suffocating defense while the latter was a seesaw battle, served as the latest reflection of a Jekyll and Hyde team that takes two steps back every time it appears to have moved forward.
“We’ve become very much a make-shot, miss-shot team, which I do not like at all,” head coach Tobin Anderson intimated Friday. “If we make shots, we play how we play, we play with some energy, we play with some toughness, we play well. When we miss shots, we don’t. You can’t do that.”
“It’s been a struggle for us all year long. It’s the same thing, we have to be mentally tough enough to play through those episodes when we’re not making shots and keep making the plays that matter to put us in position. I’m really frustrated with our approach and our next-play mentality.”
Iona offered more of an effort Sunday against Niagara, leading by 10 before surrendering a 17-0 run and then giving up a game-winning three to Braxton Bayless after fighting back to retake the lead in the final seconds.
“It’s hard because we got ourselves down and had to fight so hard to get back into it,” Anderson assessed. “It takes a lot of energy. (Niagara) going small hurt us. But it’s a finicky thing, right? That shot by Bayless doesn’t go in, and we’re winning and it’s a gritty effort to get back in the game. But in the overall sense of the game, we didn’t do enough good things.”
Iona now has a week off before it returns to the floor on Sunday against Mount St. Mary's, a hiatus that Anderson said he would rather play through when asked if the respite had come at an opportune time. Such is life for a program that has shown flashes of being a juggernaut, but has been unable to string them in a consistent fashion amid a 1-3 start to MAAC play.
“We thought we’d made some strides,” Anderson recounted Friday. “It was a good chance for us to show that we’ve matured as a team, and we have not. We’re not very mature at this level is being able to handle the ups and downs of a 40-minute game, when things don’t go your way, calls don’t go your way, shots don’t go your way. It’s not like we haven’t seen this in general, so we’ve gotta get better at that. We’ve gotta become a good team, and right now, we’re not. We’re just not mentally tough enough to make the next play.”
***
At the start of the new year, Quinnipiac has so much to build from after running roughshod through most of its non-conference schedule. The carry over effect was real this past weekend, with a pair of home wins over preseason favorite Rider on Friday and a downtrodden Manhattan team without sharpshooter Shaquil Bender Sunday.
The Bobcats were once again led by point guard Savion Lewis and forward Paul Otieno, who left both visiting teams guessing against arguably the conference’s best pick-and-roll duo. On Friday, Lewis and Otieno got off to a hot start by beating a vulnerable Rider back line multiple times, setting the stage for Lewis' 17 assists against the Broncs, a mark which tied for the second-highest assist output in Division I this season.
“Our offense is based on movement, and when we’re moving it’s easier for him to find us,” fifth-year guard Matt Balanc said about his backcourt mate Lewis, who leads the country with 8.1 assists per game. “He loves basketball and studies the game.”
Rider blitzed Quinnipiac with a 20-0 run midway through the second half from which the Bobcats were able to battle all the way back. The comeback was guided by timely plays from Lewis and Balanc, a recurring theme all year. With Quinnipiac still down 12 early in the second half, Balanc mustered a four-point play to pick up the slack. Later on, he added a signature chase-down block on DJ Dudley before closing the scoring with a fast-break dunk with seven seconds left that officially ended Rider’s hopes.
Besides his mesmerizing passing display, Lewis also added two 3-pointers in one game for the first time in his career. The lineup mainstays are rising to the occasion, which makes for a huge positive, but head coach Tom Pecora is cognizant about the number of minutes played by the troika of Lewis, Balanc and Otieno. After Lewis and Balanc played all but one and two minutes respectively against Rider, the successful proceedings on Sunday afternoon allowed for Pecora to rest them a little more than usual in a wire-to-wire 76-59 victory over Manhattan.
“If Sav, Matt, and Paul are playing 35 minutes every night, that’s going to beat you late in the year no matter how many days off I give them,” Pecora said. “You can only take so many ice baths.”
Pecora said Monday will be a full off day for the starters, while getting the bench players some additional work. There are some players feeling under the weather and Pecora hopes the sickness will be past the surging Bobcats by next weekend’s set of games. But if Quinnipiac is to reach its full potential, Pecora wants a rotation that can go ten-deep on any given night, which will keep the starters fresher. At different points this season, it has been the likes of Doug Young, Daemar Kelly and Khaden Bennett who have stepped up off the bench. On Sunday against Manhattan, it was Kelly’s turn to do the dirty work, and it didn’t go unnoticed by his peers. He finished with a final line of three points, three steals, two blocks, two assists, and four rebounds.
“At the end of the game we gave out two hard hats and a set of work gloves,” Pecora said. “Daemar Kelly got a hard hat as well. He really defended well and did some good things as a freshman.”
Defensively, Pecora signaled for a full-court press to try to overwhelm both Rider and Manhattan. It is still a work in progress, but this weekend’s steps were pointed in the right direction, which included forcing 17 first-half turnovers against Manhattan and a parade of Rider miscues in the Broncs’ own backcourt during the early portion of Friday night’s second half.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever coach a veteran team again with the portal nowadays,” Pecora mused. “But with a young group to get good at doing all those things off the basketball, it takes time.”
Led by Balanc, a bona fide all-MAAC player right now, and Lewis, the conference’s breakout player, the 11-4 Bobcats seem to believe this is their time.
“Personally I feel like we are the best team in the MAAC right now,” Otieno said.
Quick Hits Around the MAAC
“We took up the challenge of that explosive offensive team and I thought we made them struggle, which is really difficult to do.”
— Bashir Mason on defending Iona
“I wasn’t happy in that game, and I give Kean all the credit in the world. My disappointment with our team that day was we didn’t play hard and we didn’t defend. Those are my team staples. We’ve gone about our days addressing that.”
— Mason on Saint Peter’s close call against Division III Kean on December 22 being a driving force behind the Peacocks’ recent momentum
“When we miss shots, it affects us. We turned (Saint Peter’s) over 19 times, but the shots didn’t go in. That’s been the biggest problem. We miss shots and we just let it affect the rest of the game.”
— Tobin Anderson on Iona’s inconsistency
“I liked a lot of what I saw. We have to clean up things on the defensive end. I feel like we’re coming. For us, it’s playing to our strengths and not our weaknesses. That being said, there’s a lot of basketball left to be played.”
— John Gallagher after Manhattan’s loss to Niagara
“We just want to keep growing. We’re a different team than we were a few months ago, and that’s what we want to do. We just want to keep growing and getting better.”
— Greg Paulus on Niagara getting its first MAAC win Friday at Manhattan
“George didn’t miss this summer, so we knew at some point it was going to happen. He just likes the months of January and February, so I’m just glad he’s getting going at the right time.”
— Dan Engelstad on George Tinsley’s breakout against Canisius
“We had our chances, and defensively, we were a step late. We fought through it and had our chances at the end. We had some good looks, but we didn't capitalize.”
— Reggie Witherspoon on Canisius’ performance at Mount St. Mary’s
“We’ve just gotta play smarter basketball. That’s all it comes down to at the end. You’ve got to execute better late in the game, and when teams are making their run, you can’t panic. Again, that’s on me. I’ve gotta do a better job of putting these guys in a position to finish games out.”
— Kevin Baggett on Rider’s late-game struggles
“Our offense is based on movement. When we’re all moving and helping him out, it’s easier for him to find us. He loves basketball, he studies the game, he’s got great vision.”
— Matt Balanc on Savion Lewis
“I’m trying to put a finger on it. We have to make sure we understand how hard we have to play all the time. We have too many inconsistent guys, and right now, that’s hurting us.”
— Carmen Maciariello after Siena’s loss to Fairfield
“He got into a zone, and credit to our guys, they were looking for him. They knew he was in a zone, and our guys are pretty good about knowing it’s different guys different nights, and (Friday) was his night.”
— Chris Casey on Brycen Goodine’s 40-point game in Fairfield’s win at Siena
“Hey, look: It’s one of those games where they’re without their best player, a kid who had almost 30 the other night. It was a trap game, we came off that big win on Friday, but we stayed focused. We weren’t perfect, it wasn’t an oil painting, but it was a W and we continue to get better. It’s a marathon, so we’ve got a long way to go.”
— Tom Pecora after Quinnipiac's win over Manhattan
“This is an extremely frustrating loss for us. We had our chances, more than our fair share, honestly, but going 9-for-25 from the free throw line is just not good enough.”
— Witherspoon after Canisius’ overtime loss at Rider
“I was trying to get somebody else involved and then I noticed the shot clock was going down. I was like, ‘I gotta make it,’ and I just believed in myself.”
— Corey McKeithan on his late heroics in Rider’s win Sunday
“We didn’t have the appropriate intensity or defensive mindset, and then we just didn’t attack them offensively well enough for how they were playing us. At the end of the day, it’s just a tough afternoon.”
— John Dunne on Marist’s effort Sunday at Fairfield
“When you’re injured, you’ve got a lot of time to sit and think. I was able to watch our team last year and I just used that year to learn, find points in my game I needed to work on and keep my strengths.”
— Brycen Goodine on his perspective and journey at Fairfield
“Just break the press and go. Luke (Bumbalough) trusted me, my guys trusted me, and I made the shot.”
— Niagara’s Braxton Bayless on his game-winning 3-pointer Sunday at Iona
“I think one thing that helped set the tone for our team is Braxton started a lot of games for us last year. Now he comes off the bench for our team, and for him to embrace the role, he’s playing at a really high level. For him to be able to give of himself for the team speaks a lot about him. I think he learned a lot last year, and he continues to put the work in.”
— Paulus on Bayless’ growth serving Niagara well
“I learned a lot from Noah last year. He kept me poised in a lot of situations, games like these, and that helped.”
— Bayless on Noah Thomasson’s influence
“I think that we’ve cemented ourselves, in my opinion. We’re gonna press 40 minutes a game, we’re gonna try to fight and claw, make games tough. We’ve gotta let our press help us when we can’t score, and then limit their ability to score. There’s some things we have to build on, for sure.”
— Idan Tretout on Iona’s identity
Scoring Leaders
1) Mervin James, Rider (20.1 PPG)
2) Matt Balanc, Quinnipiac (18.7)
3) Dakota Leffew, Mount St. Mary’s (17.4)
4) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (16.3)
5) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (15.1)
6) Brycen Goodine, Fairfield (14.6)
T-7) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (13.8)
T-7) Jalen Leach, Fairfield (13.8)
9) Corey Washington, Saint Peter’s (13.5)
10) Idan Tretout, Iona (13.4)
Rebounding Leaders
1) Frank Mitchell, Canisius (10.5 PPG)
2) Seydou Traore, Manhattan (9.1)
3) Harlan Obioha, Niagara (7.9)
4) Mervin James, Rider (7.4)
5) Amarri Tice, Quinnipiac (6.7)
6) Tariq Ingraham, Rider (6.5)
7) Michael Houge, Saint Peter’s (6.3)
8) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (6.3)
9) T.J. Weeks, Rider (6.1)
10) Giovanni Emejuru, Siena (6.1)
Assist Leaders
1) Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac (7.9 PPG)
2) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (4.7)
3) Jaden Winston, Manhattan (4.3)
4) Dakota Leffew, Mount St. Mary’s (4.0)
5) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (3.8)
6) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (3.8)
7) Zek Tekin, Siena (3.7)
8) Corey McKeithan, Rider (3.5)
9) Dallas Hobbs, Mount St. Mary’s (3.4)
10) Jadin Collins, Marist (3.3)
Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (.607)
2) Max Allen, Marist (.595)
3) Frank Mitchell, Canisius (.573)
4) Giovanni Emejuru, Siena (.571)
5) Jean Aranguren, Iona (.570)
6) Harlan Obioha, Niagara (.570)
7) Greg Gordon, Iona (.556)
8) De’Shayne Montgomery, Mount St. Mary’s (.552)
9) Bryce Okpoh, Canisius (.533)
10) Mervin James, Rider (.530)
Free Throw Percentage Leaders
1) Jalen Leach, Fairfield (.970)
2) Matt Balanc, Quinnipiac (.904)
3) Braxton Bayless, Niagara (.872)
4) TJ Gadsden, Canisius (.848)
5) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (.844)
6) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (.838)
7) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (.837)
T-8) Jeremiah Quigley, Iona (.836)
T-8) Corey Washington, Saint Peter’s (.836)
10) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (.833)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Jean Aranguren, Iona (.531)
2) Brycen Goodine, Fairfield (.487)
3) Javon Cooley, Marist (.444)
4) Noah Harris, Marist (.425)
5) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (.400)
6) Shaq Bender, Manhattan (.393)
7) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (.386)
8) Matt Balanc, Quinnipiac (.382)
9) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (.374)
10) Amarri Tice, Quinnipiac (.366)
Steal Leaders
1) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (2.4 SPG)
2) Joel Brown, Iona (2.2)
3) De’Shayne Montgomery, Mount St. Mary’s (2.2)
4) Jaden Winston, Manhattan (2.1)
5) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (2.0)
Blocked Shot Leaders
1) Killian Gribben, Siena (1.5 BPG)
T-2) Jaden Daughtry, Marist (1.3)
T-2) Amarri Tice, Quinnipiac (1.3)
4) Seydou Traore, Manhattan (1.2)
5) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (1.1)
Power Rankings
1) Fairfield (9-6, 3-1 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 9
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 vs. Marist (W 82-61)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 at Niagara, 7 p.m.
2) Saint Peter’s (8-5, 4-0 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 5
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 vs. Mount St. Mary’s (W 70-64)
Next Game: Sunday 1/14 at Manhattan, 2 p.m.
3) Quinnipiac (11-4, 3-1 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 3
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 vs. Manhattan (W 76-59)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 at Marist, 7 p.m.
4) Marist (7-5, 2-1 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 1
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 at Fairfield (L 82-61)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 vs. Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.
5) Mount St. Mary’s (6-9, 2-2 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 7
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 at Saint Peter’s (L 70-64)
Next Game: Sunday 1/14 at Iona, 1 p.m.
6) Niagara (6-8, 2-2 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 8
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 at Iona (W 75-73)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 vs. Fairfield, 7 p.m.
7) Iona (6-9, 1-3 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 4
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 vs. Niagara (L 75-73)
Next Game: Sunday 1/14 vs. Mount St. Mary’s, 1 p.m.
8) Rider (4-11, 1-3 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 10
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 vs. Canisius (W 79-76)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 vs. Manhattan, 7 p.m.
9) Canisius (6-8, 1-3 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 2
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 at Rider (L 79-76)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 vs. Siena, 7 p.m.
10) Manhattan (4-9, 1-3 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 6
Last Game: Sunday 1/7 at Quinnipiac (L 76-59)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 at Rider, 7 p.m.
11) Siena (2-12, 1-2 MAAC)
Last Ranking: 11
Last Game: Friday 1/5 vs. Fairfield (L 93-69)
Next Game: Friday 1/12 at Canisius, 7 p.m.
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