John Gallagher is 4-4 through first month at Manhattan, and remains confident in what Jaspers can become. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
The return of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play this past weekend brings with it the return of MAAC Monday. In this 2023-24 season premiere installment, the usual information will be laid out the same way as last season, with a team spotlight, quick hits from around the league — a little more than usual this week given the first conference matchups and abundance of postgame quotes — stat leaders and the first set of power rankings for the new season. With that being said, the first in-depth profile of the year goes to one of the four teams in the MAAC to undergo a coaching change, and with it an overhaul of its roster at the same time.
Arguably the most tumultuous program in the MAAC last season, Manhattan College was commanding headlines before the season even began, as former athletic director Marianne Reilly abruptly and shockingly fired Steve Masiello. The decision, made less than two weeks before the Jaspers were to tip off a campaign, sent shockwaves through the conference after a preseason in which they were picked second in the league poll and boasted the preseason player of the year in Jose Perez.
However, former Jasper point guard RaShawn Stores — made the interim coach after Masiello’s dismissal — rallied the troops and got Manhattan to fight for one another amid the adverse circumstances. Manhattan entered the final day of the regular season with a chance to finish in the top half of the standings, a massive credit to Stores and his staff — which included former teammates Tyler Wilson and Rhamel Brown — for making the best of a year where most critics had written the program off after the coaching change.
Stores did not have the interim tag removed, though, as Reilly tabbed John Gallagher to lead the program this past March before her resignation later in the offseason. Gallagher, who led the University of Hartford for 12 seasons before having the rug pulled out from under him when Hartford’s administration moved to deemphasize athletics and compete at the Division III level, quickly set out to work assembling a roster. Seven months later, his boundless energy and invigorating breath of fresh air appears to have lifted the Jaspers out of the proverbial abyss, but even he concedes more work remains unfinished.
The first month of his maiden voyage in Riverdale has seen Manhattan battle each of the last two national champions in Kansas and UConn, and compile a 4-4 record in that stretch. The mark has not come without its share of low points, as point guard Brett Rumpel was lost for the season after tearing his ACL in the UConn game on November 24, but Gallagher insists he is content with how the first steps of the process and journey have turned out.
Freshmen Jaden Winston and Seydou Traore have been the most integral pieces to the puzzle to date, as has sophomore forward Daniel Rouzan, a Las Vegas native who transferred from Weber State. The trio, along with Gallagher’s former Hartford player Briggs McClain, has shepherded a group of freshmen through their first taste of college basketball. Role players like Shaq Bender, who tallied 18 points in Sunday’s loss to Marist, and Rokas Jocys, the hero of Friday’s win against Mount St. Mary’s, have also had their moments in the sun. For Gallagher, the necessity of learning on the fly is not a challenge, but considering what the coach went through as his run at Hartford was prematurely cut short, a welcome adjustment.
“This offense, we have to tweak it because traditionally, our fours and fives shoot it at a high rate from three,” he said. “(With this team), not so much. We do a great job finishing, so we have to tweak some things offensively, which we will do. There’s two ways to look at this. You could look at this as, ‘oh no, we’re in trouble,’ or we need to work on these things to get very good here. We can do that, and I think we control that destiny. These guys are starting to get how I call timeouts, and we call different stuff out of timeouts, stuff you’ll never see. I credit these guys, they’re really starting to understand our system. These guys are going to figure it out, and when they start figuring me out, we won’t lose that lead. They’ll understand what I’m calling.”
“When you have a guy like Brett Rumpel, every single game you go into, you have the toughest guy on the floor. I don’t care where, when, what day of the week. We lost that, and I knew going into the season (that) we were going to surprise some people because of him. We could still have a great year, but it’s gonna have to be through guys like Rokas through guys like Briggs, and we’re going to have to figure out when we go big.”
When the Jaspers do go big, Rouzan figures to be a significant part of the attack in the paint. The 6-foot-8 forward has already shown a knack to bang in the post, as well as knock down mid-range jumpers, a confidence boost he credited his coaching staff for instilling in him.
Daniel Rouzan (23) shoots jumper against Fordham. Jasper forward is being counted on to be one of best big men in MAAC. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
“Since day one, Coach put the ball in my hands running this offense,” Rouzan declared. “I gotta make reads, be strong with it. He told me he expects me to the best big in the MAAC, so I’m putting on my hard hat every day to do that. He trusts me, my guys trust me, so I gotta perform for my guys.”
“Going forward the rest of the season, we’ll have the best low-post scorer going into the game,” Gallagher gushed. We’ve gotta throw it down there to him.”
Manhattan has a puncher’s chance to head into the new year and the return of MAAC play over .500 when it hosts Niagara on January 5. Gallagher has already said he would hold a mini-camp of sorts to drill down on how the Jaspers will play in the absence of Rumpel, something he and his players are still learning as they go. But regardless of the need to temper, or in this case, perhaps alter the expectations in year one in the Bronx, the big picture remains constant in its brightness.
“Everyone’s won here,” Gallagher said of Manhattan. “We’re going to win here, and games like this give you a taste of where you need to get to. When you come to Manhattan, we’ve won NCAA Tournament games. Steve Masiello, the former coach, he won back-to-back (MAAC) championships, great coach. Steve Lappas, great coach. Fran Fraschilla, great coach. Bobby Gonzalez, great coach. They’re all great coaches. We’re going to win here, and you come to Manhattan to play in these games. We are going to get to an NCAA tournament shortly with this group, with these freshmen and with these sophomores. There’s not a more confident guy (than me). I feel so good about where this program is headed because of the players in here.”
Quick Hits Around the MAAC
“Both of us played far from our best. Some of our turnovers and some of our misses had to do with their intensity on the defensive end. I think Iona slowed down a little bit with their intensity, which enabled us to get some drives and kicks. And then we made some threes and got up eight, then they fought back. They never quit.”
— John Dunne on Marist’s MAAC opener at Iona
“I threw a pass to Zay, and he’s mad athletic. He caught the ball and he dunked it.”
— Jadin Collins on his sideline out-of-bounds pass that led to Isaiah Brickner’s go-ahead dunk at Iona
“Full disclosure, we’ve got a long way to go. We really, really do, and I think these two guys right here did enough to win (Wednesday’s) game, but I think in two years, they dominate this game. It’s just a growth. Everything is a process, you have to go through it. You gotta get punched in the face, sometimes you gotta fail to learn how to succeed. We have a really long way to go, but I thought the second half was growth for us already.”
— Dunne on Collins and Brickner leading Marist’s resurgence
“I thought Marist played well, they came in with an edge to them. Every conference game’s going to be like this, it’s going to be a dogfight. We gotta come out fighting, that’s all there is to it. There’s a lot of season to go, so there’s not an ounce of us feeling sorry for ourselves. There better not be. This team is a lot better than we’re playing, and we gotta start playing better.”
— Tobin Anderson after Iona’s loss to Marist
“We’re letting missed threes, open threes, free throws affect us defensively. Defense wins games. If we get more stops, eventually the ball’s gonna get in the hoop. The times we didn’t score, we let those missed layups and threes affect us defensively and it stopped us from getting key stops down the stretch. It was poor execution on our part.”
— Joel Brown on what plagued Iona against Marist
“At the end of the day, I know Iona had won last year, but our goal is to raise our own banner. We’re still looked upon as champions, but we want to create that for ourselves.”
— Brown on Iona’s mindset this season
“I like what we did at the end, but God, I did not like the way we played. I told the guys, we gotta do a better job. This can’t happen. We are better than we’re playing, and that’s my frustration. We’re not doing that right now, it’s gotta connect. No one’s gonna feel sorry for Iona and where we’re at right now. We gotta dig ourselves out of this.”
— Anderson on his frustration with Iona’s play despite a late 14-3 run to retake the lead
“We miss Os, because Os is a guy that — when he plays — doesn’t care about scoring. We need a cooler guy out there who’s not looking for shots. We’re hoping, man. He’s doing stuff in practice, and when he starts moving in practice, we all start getting excited. But there’s enough guys in that locker room that are good enough for us to win.”
— Anderson on Osborn Shema and his potential return
“I’m really — if you go back to our first point guard, Andres Torres, who now runs Puerto Rican basketball for the youth — I’m hard on my point guards because I want them to think like me, execute like me. He’s doing such a good job, and he does it without any emotion. He’s going to be a great guard in the MAAC, he is a great guard now. Ten assists against that type of pressure? He was really good.”
— John Gallagher on Jaden Winston’s baptism by fire against Mount St. Mary’s
“It’s tough to keep losing these close ones. This is three in a row, one-possession games we’ve been in. The turnovers early really hurt us and we put ourselves in a big hole, and we just didn’t play with the grit that’s needed to win league games. The second half was like a whole brand-new basketball team, and I’m proud of that team. That team showed up the second half, fought, got back in it, had our opportunities. Credit (Manhattan), they had a great play at the end and made a big shot. That’s league play.”
— Dan Engelstad on Mount St. Mary’s effort at Manhattan Friday
“Every game’s been a little bit different, but the one thing that’s happened is we’ve had two big threes hit on us when we’re up. It happened at Howard in the first overtime and it happened (at Manhattan). We don’t give up, we keep competing, but we gotta tighten up some things to be the team we need to be.”
— Engelstad on the stigma of losing close games
“We think (Dola Adebayo’s) a guy that’s gonna keep coming on and on. He’s got all the physical tools, athletic, can shoot it, really put a lot of effort this offseason to getting better. We know (De’Shayne’s) talented as heck and it was good to see him get some big stops late, get his hands on some deflections. He had five steals in this game and makes things happen in the open floor, so I’m excited about what De’Shayne is becoming.”
— Engelstad on Dola Adebayo and De’Shayne Montgomery after Friday’s loss at Manhattan
“We had 17 assists, that’s been a major issue for us the last couple games, not sharing the ball enough. Right now we’re still building, so any win, any chance to make progress and get better is huge for us.”
— Anderson on Iona’s ball movement at Fairfield
“I definitely help guys out. It spaces the floor because guys like Idan (Tretout) and (Joel Brown) get to the rim because it plays more open. It definitely helps a lot.”
— Wheza Panzo on how his skill set contributes to Iona’s system
“There are a lot of intricacies to it. People might think it looks like it’s all over the place, but it’s not. We’re just learning it and we’re gonna continue to get better with it.”
— Idan Tretout on Iona’s press
“It’s great. It makes my job easier, makes everybody’s jobs easier. It’s really fun to play when Whez is hot out there.”
— Tretout on Panzo’s 3-point shooting
“Any road conference win is huge, especially as we move forward building this thing. At least we passed the ball and shared the ball, played together and unselfishly. Since Marist, it was a long 48 hours. To be honest, it’s slower than it would be, it really has been. Maybe my expectations are too high.”
— Anderson on Iona’s progress
“The good part about Os being out is Sultan’s getting better and better. We have not gotten overmatched in the post one time this year. Not one time. Sultan hasn’t scored a bunch, but he’s played great defense (and) he’s rebounding. That part is really encouraging because I think now when we get Os back, Sultan’s way ahead of schedule from where he would be if Os was playing.”
— Anderson on Shema’s absence aiding Sultan Adewale’s development
“We’d love to be 2-0, but you can’t go backwards. It is what it is. I think by the time you see us again on January 5, if we can be patient, this team will be a whole lot better. For us, it’s all about the conference.”
— Anderson on Iona’s opening weekend of MAAC play
“I think what hurt us more defensive rebounding. I thought we had some open looks we need to make, and then the other thing is we messed up a couple switches on Panzo and left him open too many times. I thought that hurt us a lot.”
— Chris Casey on Fairfield’s effort Friday vs. Iona
“He was good (Friday) and he’s starting to get his legs back under him. What did he have, 21? I thought he played pretty well, and we’re gonna need him to play well to have a chance to win.”
— Casey on Caleb Fields
“It’s gonna help us obviously, because we’ll have depth in the frontcourt. How it’s gonna look, it’s hard for me to tell because I haven’t coached them, they haven’t practiced at all and they haven’t played. There’s no question they’re gonna help us, how much remains to be seen, but they’ll certainly be welcomed back when they’re healthy.”
— Casey on Alexis Yetna and Birima Seck returning
“We need everybody to play better, that’s the bottom line. It’s not just one single guy. I think we’re competing extremely hard and playing hard, and I think we’re playing for each other, which is great. We gotta go from being competitive to learning how to win games. That’s what we have to do.”
— Casey on what Fairfield needs to do to improve
“I said this at the end of last year: They love each other, they play well together and as long as they share in each other’s success, we can have nights like this.”
— Reggie Witherspoon on Canisius’ camaraderie contributing to its versatility
“It was motivation for us. We knew (Friday) was going to be hard. We learned from Albany and we executed.”
— Zek Tekin on Siena’s win vs. Rider
“We were just focused on us. There’s a whole bunch of injuries, there’s lots of guys that are out. At the end of the day, we just come together as a collective because we know no matter what, it’s the next man up and that’s what we really lived through today.”
— Michael Evbagharu on Siena defeating Rider despite an injured Michael Eley
“The good thing is guys were used to not playing with Michael at American and Richmond, and then I thought we found some toughness and inner strength against Milwaukee and Central Michigan. Like I said, it’s a process with these guys and I’m proud of their effort.”
— Carmen Maciariello on Siena playing without Eley
“Everybody’s trying, but we have too many breakdowns, then we don’t make free throws and they make most of theirs. When you’re struggling, you can’t have these breakdowns that we’re having. That’s what’s happening to us. Every possession matters. We had some turnovers, some missed free throws. You’re trying to get off this losing streak and win at home, you gotta be able to come up with these rebounds, 50-50 (balls), make free throws, guard the 3-point line. It’s been our Achilles’ heel.”
— Kevin Baggett on Rider’s 0-2 start to MAAC play
“We just have to be able to understand what we’re doing, how we’re playing, how we move the ball, how we screen, how we cut. I feel like a broken record at times. There’s times when we show flashes of it.”
— Maciariello on Siena's inconsistency
“Michael has to be able to figure out what’s going on and how much of it is him worrying about his ankle and not feeling 100 percent.”
— Maciariello on Eley’s availability
“It made a big impact for us to be able to turn that defense to offense. De’Shayne got in transition a lot and got us going. We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be, and that’s the thing I don’t think our team fully understands. If we stop turning the basketball over, we’re gonna create a lot more possessions for ourselves. Our record isn’t indicative of what this team can become. We have to keep the main thing and focus on the future, because this group has a lot of potential. If you look at the history of Mount St. Mary’s, we sometimes come out of the gate too slow, and this group’s capable of having a really good run.”
— Engelstad on Mount St. Mary’s turning the page against Siena
“Establishing a rhythm is important, and when we don’t, we get frustrated offensively. So it’s something we gotta learn from.”
— Witherspoon after Canisius’ loss to Saint Peter’s
“I’m just really proud of our guys and how we’ve stayed focused and selfless. We’ve had a great start, a hard win at Iona and then to come back and not get complacent, come out at home strong and play the way we did, I’m super proud of our guys. We gotta keep it going.”
— Isaiah Brickner on Marist's 2-0 MAAC start
“That’s three games in a row where I thought we had really good intensity, really good effort for the better part of the entire games. I thought we were in a good spot at halftime with us being up six, (Manhattan) playing Friday night and us having the day off. I thought that our energy and the fact that we were subbing a little bit more would win us the game in the second half. We have things we have to clean up, but I’m really proud of the guys.”
— Dunne on Marist’s opening weekend sweep
“Listen, he could shoot the ball. He’s gonna be a really good player in this league, and I think he gave you a glimpse (Sunday) of what he could become. He’s gonna be a good one for us.”
— Dunne on freshman Josh Pascarelli
“I’m really disappointed with the score (Sunday), not disappointed with the effort. I thought we gave good effort, we just didn’t have the legs. It could have got to 30 (points), to be honest with you, and the way we competed just tells you who we’re gonna be in a month. I told the team, we’ve got 32 days before league play. Offensively, I think we were just a step slow, but that being said, 1-1 in the league, 4-4 overall, a lot of positives for this program.”
— Gallagher on Manhattan’s loss to Marist
“I think his physicality getting to the rim is good. We have to look at where we’re gonna get him the ball in certain spots.”
— Gallagher on Shaq Bender
Scoring Leaders
1) Mervin James, Rider (19.0 PPG)
2) Dakota Leffew, Mount St. Mary’s (17.4)
3) Matt Balanc, Quinnipiac (17.0)
4) Idan Tretout, Iona (16.0)
5) Ahmad Henderson, Niagara (15.2)
6) Brycen Goodine, Fairfield (14.9)
7) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (14.4)
8) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (13.9)
9) Max Allen, Marist (13.4)
10) Zek Tekin, Siena (13.2)
Rebounding Leaders
1) Frank Mitchell, Canisius (9.7 RPG)
2) Seydou Traore, Manhattan (8.4)
T-3) Mervin James, Rider (7.5)
T-3) Harlan Obioha, Niagara (7.5)
5) Tariq Ingraham, Rider (6.6)
6) Michael Houge, Saint Peter’s (6.6)
7) T.J. Weeks, Rider (6.4)
8) Michael Evbagharu, Siena (6.3)
9) Greg Gordon, Iona (6.3)
10) Jedy Cordilia, Mount St. Mary’s (5.9)
Assist Leaders
1) Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac (8.1 APG)
2) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (4.8)
T-3) Isaiah Brickner, Marist (3.7)
T-3) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (3.7)
5) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (3.7)
6) Joel Brown, Iona (3.6)
7) Dakota Leffew, Mount St. Mary’s (3.4)
8) Jaden Winston, Manhattan (3.1)
9) Zek Tekin, Siena (3.0)
T-10) Corey McKeithan, Rider (2.9)
T-10) Jeremiah Quigley, Iona (2.9)
Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (.655)
2) Giovanni Emejuru, Siena (.638)
3) Frank Mitchell, Canisius (.595)
4) Bryce Okpoh, Canisius (.591)
5) Jedy Cordilia, Mount St. Mary’s (.583)
6) De’Shayne Montgomery, Mount St. Mary’s (.581)
7) Max Allen, Marist (.567)
8) Amarri Tice, Quinnipiac (.547)
9) Greg Gordon, Iona (.538)
10) Mervin James, Rider (.518)
Free Throw Percentage Leaders
1) Jeremiah Quigley, Iona (.955)
2) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (.950)
3) Jalen Leach, Fairfield (.933)
4) Alexis Reyes, Quinnipiac (.913)
T-5) Roy Clarke, Saint Peter’s (.857)
T-5) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (.857)
7) Max Allen, Marist (.833)
8) Matt Balanc, Quinnipiac (.829)
9) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (.826)
10) Marcus Randolph, Saint Peter’s (.818)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Michael Rogan, Fairfield (.522)
2) Javon Cooley, Marist (.467)
3) Rokas Jocys, Manhattan (.464)
4) Brycen Goodine, Fairfield (.463)
5) Noah Harris, Marist (.462)
6) Tre Dinkins, Canisius (.429)
7) Alexis Reyes, Quinnipiac (.423)
8) Rihards Vavers, Quinnipiac (.414)
9) Marcus Randolph, Saint Peter’s (.412)
10) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (.411)
Steal Leaders
1) De’Shayne Montgomery, Mount St. Mary’s (3.0 SPG)
2) Jasper Floyd, Fairfield (2.8)
3) Joel Brown, Iona (2.6)
4) Seydou Traore, Manhattan (2.5)
5) Siem Uijtendaal, Canisius (2.3)
Blocked Shot Leaders
T-1) Peyton Smith, Fairfield (1.4 BPG)
T-1) Amarri Tice, Quinnipiac (1.4)
3) Jaden Daughtry, Marist (1.3)
4) Killian Gribben, Siena (1.3)
5) De’Shayne Montgomery, Mount St. Mary’s (1.1)
Power Rankings
1) Marist (5-2, 2-0 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 vs. Manhattan (W 70-56)
Next Game: Saturday 12/9 at Dartmouth, 4 p.m.
2) Canisius (5-4, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 vs. Saint Peter’s (L 54-52)
Next Game: Wednesday 12/6 vs. Robert Morris, 7 p.m.
3) Quinnipiac (6-2, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 at Niagara (W 75-68)
Next Game: Friday 12/8 vs. Navy, 7 p.m.
4) Iona (3-5, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Friday 12/1 at Fairfield (W 78-67)
Next Game: Wednesday 12/6 vs. Hofstra, 7 p.m.
5) Saint Peter’s (3-4, 2-0 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 at Canisius (W 54-52)
Next Game: Friday 12/8 at Duquesne, 7 p.m.
6) Manhattan (4-4, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 at Marist (L 70-56)
Next Game: Friday 12/8 vs. FDU, 7 p.m.
7) Mount St. Mary’s (2-5, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 vs. Siena (W 80-48)
Next Game: Tuesday 12/5 at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
8) Niagara (1-5, 0-2 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 vs. Quinnipiac (L 75-68)
Next Game: Wednesday 12/6 vs. St. Bonaventure, 7 p.m.
9) Fairfield (2-6, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 at Rider (W 88-81)
Next Game: Wednesday 12/6 at Yale, 7 p.m.
10) Rider (1-7, 0-2 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 vs. Fairfield (L 88-81)
Next Game: Friday 12/8 vs. Stonehill, 7 p.m.
11) Siena (2-6, 1-1 MAAC)
Last Game: Sunday 12/3 at Mount St. Mary’s (L 80-48)
Next Game: Wednesday 12/6 vs. Bryant, 7 p.m.
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