Bobcats get rocked by Marist in early MAAC tourney exit

Despite quarterfinal upset at hands of Marist, Baker Dunleavy (seated, center) has bright future awaiting him if he returns to Quinnipiac next season. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

There was no six-game losing streak to end the season. Offensively, the total body of work was not a black mark, nor did this entail laying to rest a losing season for the fifth time in the last six years.

No, Quinnipiac was not Siena, Fairfield or Canisius, besides sharing the experience of each team losing its first and only games in Atlantic City. If the Bobcats were to wind up back in the semifinals, they had to get through Patrick Gardner and the surging Marist Red Foxes first. Their defense, however, was not up for it after emerging as a late-season Achilles heel for Quinnipiac. 

After going through a stretch of three games in January keeping opponents below 60 points, Quinnipiac lost any semblance of a defensive identity over the last month of the regular season and into Thursday night’s 75-59 quarterfinal loss to the Red Foxes.

Gardner did his normal work and made life difficult for Quinnipiac. As he has shown he could do, the senior center turned his game up another notch in the second half, with those heroics stretching the Marist lead to over 20 points and putting the icing on the cake. The damage got to as bad as 24 points down for the Bobcats.

After managing to limit Gardner to only six shots in the first half, Quinnipiac was left guessing in the second half whether Gardner would look to exploit them from mid-range or fire away from three. He did both on his way to finishing with 22 points with nine rebounds also to show for.

The scouting report on Marist also didn’t account for freshman Isaiah Brickner delivering 21 points, six rebounds, and six assists. That made for another thorn in Baker Dunleavy’s side. Brickner hit three 3-pointers in just over a span of three minutes in the second half, making for sweet revenge after Quinnipiac nailed 13 threes in Poughkeepsie this past Saturday. 

In Quinnipiac’s case, the scouting has changed on this Marist team, who is playing its best basketball at the absolute best time. The Red Foxes didn’t win a lot of games this year, but have won more of late. They have found a way to gel, not only execution-wise, but mentally as well. Just like the Red Foxes felt many times early in the season, Quinnipiac already looked deflated by the midway point of the second half due to the elite playmaking of Gardner and Brickner.

With the exception of home wins over Iona and Fairfield which stick out above the rest, the Bobcats struggled to perform in the second half in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. Ultimately, it was hard to separate this Quinnipiac team from the fact that it blew a 21-point lead at home to Manhattan and conceded a 17-point halftime lead at Iona. 

Hitting shots, too, never hurts to relieve pressure when the going gets tough. The Bobcats were stymied by the defensive prowess of Marist’s guards, and were hard pressed to even get good looks in the second half. Quinnipiac also couldn’t speed up the pace, with Marist making sure to get back in transition to defend. 

Dunleavy has wrapped up his sixth season in Hamden with rumors swirling that he and the Bobcats may go their separate ways this offseason. Thursday night’s game marked the final game of the five-year extension Dunleavy signed following the debut campaign in 2017-18 which ended in a loss to Fairfield in the semifinals. In the Dunleavy era, Quinnipiac has advanced to the MAAC semifinals twice, including last season’s improbable run as the No. 11 seed before getting upended by the even more improbable run of Saint Peter’s. 

Dunleavy has attracted a nice array of talent to Hamden, even grooming players like Rich Kelly and Kevin Marfo for bigger and better opportunities outside of the MAAC. The days of Cam Young are no longer around, but Dunleavy is fresh off his first 20-win season led by a burgeoning star in Dezi Jones. The 40-year-old coach has fostered a player-centric culture that has made players want to stay, and in the case of Marfo, choose to return for a second stint. 

No one truly knows what Dunleavy’s future holds at this point, and he wasn’t asked about it in the press conference following the loss to Marist. Right now, he is hurting for his seniors.

“These guys sitting next to me, Tyrese (Williams), Matt Balanc, and Savion (Lewis) were part of our first recruiting class here at Quinnipiac and took a chance on us and believed in us,” Dunleavy said. “I’m so proud of these guys.” 

With great responsibility can come great hardship. Ultimately, the version of the Quinnipiac Bobcats headlined by Williams, Balanc, and other talents didn’t achieve what they set out to do. It makes sense why it stings right now.

“When you sign up to do this job as players and coaches, this is what you sign up for. We love the glory, we love the fun moments and we love the praise,” Dunleavy said. “But the risk you take is this feeling right here that is gut-wrenching.”

Still, there is something to be said for the Bobcat core sticking around in Hamden despite not winning at a high level. Dunleavy believes that loyalty is harder to find now more than ever with the incessant activity of the transfer portal in today’s college basketball environment.

“In an era where when things don’t go your way, people leave, they stuck it out here at Quinnipiac and dedicated themselves to the university as students and athletes,” Dunleavy said. 

It remains to be seen if the other guys will stick it out. The future could be bright with Jones, Paul Otieno and Luis Kortright all still young and improving. But with the landscape quickly evolving, and Dunleavy without a contract, the offseason will be an unpredictable one in Hamden while the goal remains of taking this program to the next level.