Dunne, Marist making most of learning experience as 2020 draws to a close

John Dunne and Marist stand 4-1 and forwardly placed through first two weeks of MAAC play. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — With all the upside-down insanity 2020 has wrought over the past nine months, the well-traveled Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference fan could take a look at the league standings, see Marist at 4-1 on the year, and concur that it stands to reason the Red Foxes would be in their current position.

After all, for all the unpredictability in the world today, one constant remains: John Dunne stifling opposing teams and taking them out of their element.

Such was the case Saturday, when a Dunne-led Marist team came into Draddy Gymnasium and held Manhattan to just 29 percent shooting and only a pair of 3-point field goals on the day, conceding a mere 16 points in the second half on the way to a 61-39 victory that epitomized the concept of a John Dunne special.

“We just knew if we didn’t turn it over, we’d have a good opportunity with their playmaking to get some clean makes,” Dunne reflected after Marist furthered its best start to a season since the 2001-02 campaign — when Dave Magarity still patrolled the sidelines in Poughkeepsie — and surrendered its lowest point total to an opponent since Vanderbilt mustered just 33 markers against the Red Foxes in 2013. “I’m just proud of them. We knew, win or lose, that this was going to be a learning experience for our backcourt, and that’s kind of how we went into the weekend.”

Far too often in and around the MAAC, Dunne’s savvy in the player development field gets overlooked, leading he and his staff to ultimately prove the naysayers wrong on a seemingly annual basis. This season, with freshmen Hakim Byrd and Ricardo Wright taking turns running the offense, Marist has perhaps its steadiest hand at the point guard spot since Khallid Hart graduated in 2017, with the duo’s combined 32 points and seven assists against Manhattan’s matchup zone and pressure defense serving as an encouraging harbinger of things to come considering Michael Cubbage is likely out for the remainder of the season with a broken foot.

“I think we have three talented guys back there, and they’re all going to split the minutes in the backcourt,” Dunne intimated, also including junior Raheim Sullivan in the conversation. “They just want to win, and Hak Byrd’s just playing at a really nice level for a freshman. They understand it might not be their night finishing, but another night might, and I think they’re buying into that. Obviously without Cubbage, those three are going to play a lot of minutes during the course of the year.”

This entire season will need to be navigated on the fly more often than not, and Marist has already taken steps to prepare for an endgame better than some other schools in similar predicaments. Unable to access the facilities in McCann Arena after the program paused in November, Dunne had the foresight to schedule a home-and-home series with Binghamton on consecutive days to better condition the Red Foxes for the back-to-back contests presented within the MAAC schedule. Having won both tuneups before splitting the two games against Canisius, and now one game to the good on Manhattan, the information gleaned from this unusual gauntlet has been more positive than negative.

“You could talk all you want about it, but until they’re going through it, I’m not sure they quite believe it,” Dunne said of the challenges presented by the schedule. “They just have to go through it. We came in basically saying, win or lose, this was going to be a great learning experience for our guys.”

“We know we’re not the finished product or where we want to be in five, six weeks, but we certainly like our potential.”