MAAC Monday: Back-to-backs, stat leaders, power rankings

The last MAAC Monday of February shifts away from team spotlights before transitioning into stat leaders and power rankings, instead focusing on the back-to-back series that are unique to this season’s schedule, a device installed by commissioner Rich Ensor as a means to cut back on travel and costs during the pandemic, yet still provide an efficient way of testing and completing games. For the most part, the effort has succeeded, save for a handful of games that will likely not be made up due to lack of time. Through ten weeks of the conference season and 37 back-to-back series, each team’s record in the second game of back-to-backs, as well as its subsequent point improvement (or regression), is listed below in order of most wins to least:

Siena: 6-0

Fairfield: 5-3

Manhattan: 4-3

Saint Peter’s: 4-3

Marist: 4-4

Monmouth: 4-4

Niagara: 4-4

Iona: 2-2

Canisius: 2-3

Quinnipiac: 2-4

Rider: 0-7

Average point improvement in second games of back-to-backs, from greatest to least:

Fairfield: +13.75

Manhattan: +8.71

Niagara: +7.13

Siena: +4.67

Saint Peter’s: +1.14

Marist: -1.75

Quinnipiac: -2.67

Monmouth: -7.33

Canisius: -8.8

Rider: -12.29

Iona: -14

Why the wide disparity between the first and second games? And how is it that the biggest beneficiaries of the back-to-back are teams in the middle of the MAAC standings? Rick Pitino attempted to explain after Iona opened MAAC play in December with a split against Fairfield, who saw a 43-point swing between losing game one and winning game two:

“It’s very, very difficult to play an opponent twice,” Pitino intimated. “One thing I could tell you, we would play the Nets on Friday night, go across the bridge to New Jersey, we’d have a lopsided win at home and go get our butts kicked the next night. If you have a great team, you could do it. I think in this league, parity is the magic word. I don’t think you can say one team is better than the other. We’re certainly just an average basketball team.”

Scoring Leaders

1) Isaiah Ross, Iona (20.5 PPG)

2) Deion Hammond, Monmouth (17.4)

3) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (14.9)

4) Kobi Nwandu, Niagara (14.5)

5) Manny Camper, Siena (13.3)

6) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (13.3)

7) Marcus Hammond, Niagara (13.2)

8) George Papas, Monmouth (12.9)

9) Jordan King, Siena (12.8)

10) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (12.7)

Rebounding Leaders

1) Manny Camper, Siena (10.5 RPG)

2) Warren Williams, Manhattan (7.9)

3) Malek Green, Canisius (7.3)

4) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (7.1)

5) Fousseyni Drame, Saint Peter’s (6.9)

6) Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan (6.8)

7) Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (6.7)

8) Jalen Pickett, Siena (6.7)

9) Jacco Fritz, Canisius (6.6)

10) Dylan van Eyck, Iona (6.5)

Assist Leaders

1) Manny Camper, Siena (4.3 APG)

2) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (4.2)

3) Jalen Pickett, Siena (4.2)

4) Asante Gist, Iona (4.0)

5) Matthew Lee, Saint Peter’s (3.4)

6) Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac (3.3)

7) Samuel Chaput, Monmouth (3.2)

8) Raheim Sullivan, Marist (3.2)

9) Luis Kortright, Quinnipiac (3.1)

10) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (3.1)

Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (.800)

2) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.658)

3) Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson, Rider (.631)

4) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (.612)

5) Jordan Jones, Marist (.595)

6) Warren Williams, Manhattan (.531)

7) Malek Green, Canisius (.500)

8) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (.497)

9) Isaiah Ross, Iona (.489)

10) Melik Martin, Monmouth (.475)

Free Throw Percentage Leaders

1) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (.868)

2) Doug Edert, Saint Peter’s (.860)

3) Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (.848)

4) Asante Gist, Iona (.846)

5) Isaiah Ross, Iona (.839)

6) Taj Benning, Fairfield (.833)

7) Ahamadou Fofana, Canisius (.821)

8) Jordan King, Siena (.810)

9) George Papas, Monmouth (.807)

10) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (.792)

3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) Ryan Myers, Iona (.459)

2) Jordan Henderson, Canisius (.429)

3) Isaiah Ross, Iona (.418)

4) Donovann Toatley, Monmouth (.417)

5) George Papas, Monmouth (.410)

6) Tymu Chenery, Quinnipiac (.397)

7) Daryl Banks III, Saint Peter’s (.391)

8) Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (.390)

9) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (.390)

10) Allen Powell, Rider (.389)

Steal Leaders

1) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (2.3 SPG)

2) Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan (1.9)

3) Myles Ruth, Monmouth (1.7)

4) Isaiah Ross, Iona (1.6)

5) Deion Hammond, Monmouth (1.4)

Blocked Shot Leaders

1) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (3.8 BPG)

2) Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (2.2)

3) Jordan Jones, Marist (2.2)

4) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (1.8)

5) Warren Williams, Manhattan (1.7)

Power Rankings

1) Siena (9-3, 9-3 MAAC)

Last Week: 1

Last Game: Sunday 2/21 at Niagara (W 68-66)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 vs. Manhattan, 7 p.m.

2) Iona (8-5, 6-3 MAAC)

Last Week: 5

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 vs. Monmouth (W 88-65)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 at Marist, 5 p.m.

3) Monmouth (10-7, 10-6 MAAC)

Last Week: 2

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 at Iona (L 88-65)

Next Game: Friday 2/26 vs. Fairfield, 5 p.m.

4) Saint Peter’s (11-8, 8-6 MAAC)

Last Week: 3

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 vs. Marist (L 51-50)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 at Quinnipiac, 4 p.m.

5) Canisius (6-4, 6-4 MAAC)

Last Week: 6

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 at Fairfield (L 66-53)

Next Game: Friday 2/26 vs. Manhattan, 7 p.m.

6) Marist (10-8, 8-8 MAAC)

Last Week: 4

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 at Saint Peter’s (W 51-50)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 vs. Iona, 5 p.m.

7) Quinnipiac (8-9, 6-7 MAAC)

Last Week: 11

Last Game: Sunday 2/21 vs. Rider (W 93-68)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 vs. Saint Peter’s, 4 p.m.

8) Niagara (8-10, 7-9 MAAC)

Last Week: 7

Last Game: Sunday 2/21 vs. Siena (W 68-66)

Next Game: Thursday 3/4 vs. Canisius, 4 p.m.

9) Manhattan (6-9, 5-9 MAAC)

Last Week: 8

Last Game: Saturday 2/13 at Iona (W 77-70)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/24 at Siena, 7 p.m.

10) Fairfield (6-15, 6-10 MAAC)

Last Week: 10

Last Game: Saturday 2/20 vs. Canisius (W 66-53)

Next Game: Friday 2/26 at Monmouth, 5 p.m.

11) Rider (4-13, 4-10 MAAC)

Last Week: 9

Last Game: Sunday 2/21 at Quinnipiac (L 93-68)

Next Game: Friday 2/26 at Saint Peter’s, TBA