By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)
The Knights, who faced nationally ranked Iowa State to open up their 2025-26 campaign, were a new-look team and were poised to make a big statement on the road. Led by a flurry of transfers, including 7-foot-tall Cyril Martynov of Eastern Kentucky, FDU has become a much taller, more put-together team since last season’s final buzzer.
The intense game started off slow, with not a single field goal being made for over four minutes of action until redshirt senior Brent Bland was able to get the party started for the Peacocks with a big three that was certainly a sign of what was to come.
Bland, one of the few returning players for Saint Peter’s, was injured for much of last season but is set to be one of the Peacocks’ most important players for the season ahead. He finished the matchup versus FDU with a career-high 27 points, along with seven rebounds and five steals.
“He played great. He played like a senior leader,” head coach Bashir Mason said. “He played the way we kind of talked about in the summer. He worked tremendously hard to be able to have a game like this today, not just in preparation for the game, but throughout the summer. So I couldn't be more happy for him.”
As the first half continued, the fierce battle got closer and closer as FDU was able to continuously work itself back into the game despite consistent back-to-back scoring runs by the Peacocks, though they never gave up the lead once over the whole afternoon. Still, Mason was critical of his team’s defensive play postgame, but did mention that he had committed to a new zone defense for the season that the team still needed to learn fully.
“You know what? We are all learning together,” he assessed. “This is my first time I'm committed to playing zone all season. We haven't practiced possession of man-to-man. I think it's really just the IQ and the better field thing for us. FDU or Seton Hall didn't do anything that we weren't expecting.”
FDU gained 14 points off turnovers and 16 second-chance points, both numbers that Mason is looking to improve as the season goes on.
Bryce Eaton, a returning sophomore for Saint Peter’s, came off the bench against FDU and has clearly stepped into a new role on the court. The six-foot guard threw up two alley-oops throughout the game, and has become a lot more comfortable with slinging the ball around, a skill that Mason had been looking to develop throughout the team.
“One of our themes this year is strength in numbers,” said Mason. “We could play all 13 guys in uniform. Bryce right now is like a super sophomore in the game. It's slowed down for him a lot. Now he's not just thinking score, he's thinking facilitate, and he can see the game a little bit better now.”
Eaton finished with 13 points and a new career high of eight assists. The one Eaton was throwing lobs to, JUCO transfer Jahki Gupton, had an incredible showing in his home debut with 11 points and three blocks.
“Jahki was a guy that we recruited for a really long time,” Mason said. “Since January, we stayed in contact with him. We watched every game he played and we were kind of on the fence if he was like a legit guard or if he was a four because of his size and his length. But we got him here on campus for his visit. Myself and my staff, we were all just kind of laughing at each other, saying we almost messed this up because this kid's a really good basketball player. So I'm happy to have him and hope to hold on to him for a long time.”
Gupton did have to enter the locker room mid-game with what appeared to be a leg injury, however, Mason confirmed that it was cramping and that he was able to later return to the bench prior to the game’s conclusion.
Ending the first half, Saint Peter’s started what would be a 13-0 run stretching from the end of the first into the second half, and gave the Peacocks a commanding 44-29 lead over the Knights. They kept rolling as well, and about three minutes into the second, Bland began hitting his big shots, going on to score 21 of his 27 points in the second half alone.
Freshman TJ Robinson is another great player that Mason has brought into a team that features seven newcomers, with Robinson being the only true freshman of the bunch. Robinson, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, had a nice opening night at Seton Hall, but quickly overshadowed his debut with 16 well-fought points, many of which came in crunch time as the clock wound down in the second half.
“TJ is a super talented player,” Mason reflected. “Great feel, unbelievable work ethic, great person. So I'm proud that he's able to play the way he's been playing, but the goal for TJ is really just to throw him into the fire of college basketball, let him get beat up by it in this early part of the season. And the hope is by January, games like this will become just the standard.”
FDU began to make a run about halfway into the second half as the Knights jumped 12 points in the span of a minute, with the Peacocks only being able to muster two in response. Eventually, though, Saint Peter’s was able to get the game back under its control and quickly ran away with it again, backed by late pushes from Robinson, Bland, and more.
For FDU, Chattanooga transfer Noah Melson kept the Knights fighting strong with his 16 points, along with Taeshaud Jackson’s double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jackson also transferred into FDU from Northern Colorado this offseason.
Saint Peter’s will head to VCU on Wednesday, as the Peacocks try to gain big statement wins as the non-conference slate pushes forward. Mason expects another key transfer and former four-star Akil Watson to make his Peacocks debut sometime in the coming week as well, after he was sidelined by injury.
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