Sacred Heart looking for improved defense, push from veterans to make jump to top of MAAC

Anthony Latina and Sacred Heart project to be forwardly placed in MAAC behind three preseason all-conference players and one of deeper rosters in conference. (Photo by the Albany Times Union)

Sacred Heart joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last year like several other NEC expatriates before it, yet the success that schools such as Monmouth and Quinnipiac enjoyed in their new conferences was not envisioned for the Pioneers immediately out of the gate.

Sacred Heart was picked last of 13 in the 2024-25 MAAC preseason poll, yet managed to finish seventh and remain in contention for a first-round conference tournament bye on the last day of the season. And a year of actually going through the wars — as cliched as that sounds — has proven to be beneficial to the Pioneers’ chances this coming season. With a returning core of senior Anquan Hill and sophomores Mekhi Conner and Nyle Ralph-Beyer, last year’s Connecticut newcomer is a legitimate contender in year two of MAAC basketball, picked third among the coaches behind only reigning regular season champion Quinnipiac and Siena.

“What it does is it shows that we’ve established a little credibility in the league, which is important because certainly, the expectations were very low externally, and rightfully so,” head coach Anthony Latina shared. “It was a good first step for us. We were proud that we were able to be competitive in the league, because you don’t know these things until you’re actually in it. And it did give a lot of our main guys the motivation to be like, ‘hey, if we come back, we have a legitimate chance to be a contender.’ I think it helped our program in a lot different ways, not only in retention, but in recruiting some transfers that we think are gonna be impact guys. Last year, we exceeded expectation and our hope is we can do that a little bit this year, by two spots.”

Battling in a new conference provided other teaching moments for Latina last season, as he navigated a shorter rotation amid various absences. This year, with sharpshooter Griffin Barrouk also back alongside Hill, Conner and Ralph-Beyer — plus rotation pieces in Taj Bryant and Fallou Gueye — the multitude of options is even greater.

“A lot of our identity didn’t have to be re-taught this year,” Latina proclaimed. “It helps that we have players that have had success in this league, that we’re comfortable with, that we know can have success for us and our style of play, and know what we’re all about. We think Anquan can be as good as anybody, Mekhi is an elite passer, and Nyle really came into his own the last 12 games of the year. They all have to take the next step, and then we sprinkle in some returning pieces and two transfers that we’re thrilled to death about in Dashon Gittens and Yann Farell, that have played basketball at a very high level, that are replacing two very good players in Amiri Stewart and Tanner Thomas. We think those guys are uniquely prepared to help us in their own way, and give us two high-level players that are used to be productive. We like our team, we like our depth. We gotta stay healthy, that’s a big key for all of us.”

“We thought we had decent depth. We had a lot of injuries last year, I think we had starters miss a combined 34 games. We knew that we needed depth and we needed size, but here’s the biggest thing: There are no off nights. If you don’t play well, you will get beaten. It’s very unforgiving in that way. We certainly need to do a better job being more of a complete team. We were a very good offensive team, us and Manhattan kept going back and forth for the two best offensive teams in the league, but we have to be a more complete defensive team if we want to move up to the front of the pack. Teams are too good and too physical, and they’re gonna stop you from scoring once in a while. It happened, at home against Saint Peter’s, at home against Siena. We gotta find a way to win those games if we want to go from middle of the pack to a top two or three team. We’ve gotta be ready to be a more versatile, more complete team.”

In Gittens and Farell, the Pioneers get a pair of high-level talents who can pay dividends immediately. Gittens, whose older brother Donte is on Latina’s coaching staff, arrives from Florida International and should join Conner and Ralph-Beyer in the starting backcourt for his final year of eligibility. Farell, a 6-foot-7 junior forward by way of St. Bonaventure, is fundamentally sound and even if his statistics are overlooked, has already earned plaudits for being a natural fit for how Sacred Heart intends to play.

“Yann was an all-rookie player in the Atlantic 10, had two really productive years at St. Bonaventure,” Latina said. “He’s our type of forward, he can make threes, he’s a very efficient player. He’s got good size and physicality, and he knows how to play. Tanner Thomas was so good at creating offense. I don’t think Yann is going to be as alpha as Tanner, but in terms of how we play, he fits perfectly, he fits a need.”

“Dashon Gittens is a local kid, a Hartford kid. He and I grew up in the same city, his brother Donte is on the coaching staff and he was a great player in his own right. (Dashon is) a wonderful player. Some guys are quick and some guys are fast, he’s quick and fast. He’s explosive, he’s a downhill driver, he’s going to help us defensively. He’s a ball hawk, he’s disruptive, he fits what we need, and I think he’s a better shooter than he showed at Florida International. I think he can be one of the better guards in the league and he’s going to be an important part of our success.”

Success will be defined by two constants by and large this year, depth and complete two-way play. Latina cited last season’s injury woes across the league for being crucial in how the final standings were shaped, and reiterated that Sacred Heart must make significant strides on the defensive end if it is to make its first NCAA Tournament since joining the Division I ranks.

“You look at Marist, before (Jackson Price) goes down, they were in position to win the league,” he said. “He goes down and they kind of hit the skids, and it’s not like they got worse. When you lose a player of that caliber, where Quinnipiac and Merrimack didn’t have that happen to them, health is a big part of it if you want to win it. Our goal is to put ourselves in the best position to win a conference championship in March.”

“We’re still going to be a good offensive team. You’re going to see a team that really shares the ball, a lot of assisted baskets. We were very good in our shot selection and taking care of the ball, but two things we want to see this year are we want to be an elite offensive rebounding team and we want to be an elite defensive rebounding team. If we can get that rebound piece together, offensively and defensively, I think some of those close losses that we took during the conference season, instead of going 10-10, maybe we can dig out two, three, four more wins and maybe that’ll be enough to put us in the one, two or three spot.”