Fairfield still trying to find itself after decisive loss to Yale

By Ray Curren (@currenrr)

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — In the postgame press conference after Saturday’s 91-66 loss to Yale, Fairfield coach Chris Casey heard the question about who gave his Fairfield team unlikely quality minutes, but he didn’t hear the name, so needed a clarification.

That makes sense, as there were a few players it could have been. Casey used 12 in the first half alone as the Stags (2-5) tried in vain to contain the defending Ivy League champs.

“I thought for the last 30 minutes, we competed very well,” Casey said. “That’s a very good, well-coached team. Our guys are still trying to figure their way and learn what we’re doing. We have a lot of new guys. We’ll just keep working hard and trying to get better.”

But it’s also just a sign of the way it is in college basketball in the modern era, particularly at low-majors like the MAAC. By all accounts, Casey’s first season was a rousing success at Fairfield, taking over just a couple weeks before the campaign (after Jay Young resigned) and posting 24 wins, including having a 10-point lead in the MAAC final before eventually falling to Saint Peter’s.

In the old days, you could build on that with the same talent, but it’s a new era. Of the six players that got major minutes in that contest: Caleb Fields and Alexis Yetna graduated, Jasper Floyd is at North Texas, Jalen Leach is at Northwestern, and Brycen Goodine is at Oklahoma (his fourth school).

That leaves Louis Bleechmore and a cast of new characters for Casey to try to meld, and it’s been a bit of a struggle so far. The most highly acclaimed newcomer is Deon Perry, who led the Patriot League in scoring at Loyola last season and hit 147 three-pointers with the Greyhounds in two years. Perry was also named a second team All-MAAC honoree in the preseason.

But at just 5-foot-8, Perry has had trouble finding space to operate. Saturday against Yale marked his first start, and through six games, he is just 3-for-22 from behind the arc. He had just five points in 22 minutes and has yet to be in double figures.

Prophet Johnson (with one the best names in college basketball) comes from Southern Utah and has been a defensive presence, but has just six career threes. Jamie Bergens was on Oral Roberts’ Sweet Sixteen team in 2021, but moved on to Drexel and now Fairfield. He is also more of a defensive specialist, just a 29.7 percent career three-point shooter, but Casey thinks he has the ability to take some pressure off Perry.

Braden Sparks comes from Mercer, but does not have much game experience and looks to have potential, however it’s been tough to play Sparks (at just 6-feet) and Perry together. Kyle Jenkins—who does bring size at 6-foot-7–comes as a graduate transfer after a very successful career at Lafayette, but has not played since the opener against Rhode Island and is day-to-day.

Who returns? Other than Bleechmore, pretty much just center Peyton Smith, who did play in 33 games last season and started all seven this season, although he got just 10 minutes against Yale.

Still, in another sign of the times, even with all this turnover, Fairfield was picked fourth in the preseason MAAC poll and got a first-place vote. It’s also important to remember that the Stags started off 1-6 (0-6 against Division I teams) before putting everything together in 2023-24. 

“I don’t think you adjust, you just have to keep coaching and try to get your team better individually and collectively just like it’s always been,” Casey said. “You just have to control the things you can control.”

It does seem unlikely that—as it did last season— offense will be what propels Fairfield to the top of the MAAC. The Stags posted an amazing 1.142 points per possession in conference play in 2023-24, leading the conference by a wide margin. This season, they are currently 356th nationally in effective field goal percentage, 349th (24.8 percent) from three.

Which leads us to who Casey was asked about postgame Saturday. It was unheralded freshman Makuei Riek, who had eight minutes of Division I action prior to the Yale game, but posted 13 points in 22 minutes. Co-leading scorer Noah Best is a sophomore Fordham transfer who got his 13 points in just 14 minutes, more than doubling his point total in his entire season with the Rams.

It’s unlikely that any MAAC team will have a shooter like John Poulakidas, who buried Auburn in last year’s NCAA Tournament and hit his first five threes Saturday to get Yale to a big lead. When Fairfield tried to chase him around, it made it easier for the Bulldogs (who do have plenty of consistency in their roster) to dominate inside.

So where do the Stags, who have dropped 58 spots in KenPom, go from here? If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware that the non-conference season means little in the MAAC, and Casey has been in the conference for a long time. The lack of offense is obviously concerning, but Perry didn’t score that many points at Loyola by accident, and Jenkins is a wild card that could improve things dramatically if healthy. And maybe Best is a guy that just needed to get on the court.

“We need to figure out combinations and who the best guys are out there, and I think we have some guys that are emerging that play consistently that will determine that,” Casey said. “We’ll just keep working on it as conference play approaches. We have to find the five guys that will be best for us.”

And then this entire article will be forgotten as Fairfield—who last went to the NCAA Tournament in 1997–rolls in Atlantic City again.