Bobcats open MAAC play with dominant win at Iona

Jaden Zimmerman led Quinnipiac with 19 points as Bobcats used six double-figure scorers to rout Iona in MAAC opener for both teams. (Photo by Quinnipiac Athletics)

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Over the past two seasons, Quinnipiac has defined its ultimate goal with one word:

Finish.

That singular mantra represents the unresolved business of winning a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament after repeating as regular season champions, only to come up short in the semifinals each time. With that in mind, Friday’s league opener for the Bobcats was just as intriguing for how they would look as it was for their opponent, an Iona team that overachieved in its first month by winning six of its first eight contests.

While the first half was a tight affair, the conclusion was anything but close.

Leading by just two points at halftime, Quinnipiac jumped on the accelerator out of the intermission, overwhelming Iona in transition and making up for Amarri Monroe’s foul trouble by placing six players in double-figure scoring totals in an 89-68 pasting of the Gaels.

“We wanted to send a statement in the MAAC,” sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman, who led the way with 19 points, said. “We’re coming to play and we’re gonna come compete every day and give it our all.”

“I was very impressed with the way our guys stepped up, especially JZ, who’s had a good week in practice,” head coach Tom Pecora echoed. “And when you have a night where Amarri Monroe only gets nine (points) and seven (rebounds), and you have other guys step up like they did, I think it’s impressive.”

Monroe’s limited action opened the door for another sophomore, Grant Randall, to affect the game as Quinnipiac (6-3, 1-0 MAAC) scored 53 points in the second half to drive away to the victory. Randall ended the evening with 13 points and 10 rebounds, causing problems for Iona with his size and mismatches.

“It’s huge, and he’s a veteran,” Pecora said of Randall’s effort. “We forget we have Amarri — and he’s our true veteran because he’s been with us for three years and he’s our senior — but we’ve got all these young bucks and they play so many minutes. I remember when I was coaching at Hofstra, the football coach’s name was Joe Gardi, he’s a legend. He used to tell his assistants about all the freshmen, ‘just get ’em old, ya know?’ And that’s the expression I use all the time.”

“We just want to get these young guys old and get them the experience playing in tough situations, and we try to put them in situations constantly in practice that, hopefully, carry over into games.”

Pecora challenged his team, quietly yet forcefully at the same time, after a first half in which Iona (6-3, 0-1 MAAC) attempted to set the tempo with its usual fast pace. The Bobcats had other ideas, keying in on getting back to basics over the final 20 minutes as assistant coach Shaun Morris, Quinnipiac’s offensive coordinator — as Pecora referred to him — went to work on establishing an interior presence.

“We just have to play to our strengths,” Zimmerman remarked. “We lead the MAAC in transition points, so we’re saying we’re gonna get stops and get out in transition and score. Coach (Shaun) Morris put a big emphasis on paint touches. We came out and got ten paint touches in a row, and scored ten times in a row.”

“I talked to them about, ‘look, we had a poor half,’” Pecora recounted. “We talked about how we were gonna stay disciplined and not get ourselves in foul trouble, and we didn’t do that. So we really just talked about that and said, ‘let’s focus on what we talked about doing,’ controlling the backboards and getting defensive stops. Shaun’s an offensive savant. He’s very, very good at the way he gets guys moving and getting them playing to their strengths, and that’s important.”

Zimmerman, in addition to being Quinnipiac’s leading scorer, showcased another underutilized facet of his game Friday, answering his coach’s call to rebound the basketball more. The sophomore contributed six boards to a cause that saw the Bobcats outrebound Iona by 13, despite the Gaels receiving 27 points and 14 caroms from Lamin Sabally.

“My teammates had a little joke, like, Cam Thomas had 18 points, one rebound and one assist, and they’ll say I play like Cam Thomas,” Zimmerman revealed. “So I wanted to change that narrative and get some rebounds, get some assists, and get my teammates the ball.”

“The first thing he said as we were coming out of the locker room was, ‘I had six rebounds tonight,’” Pecora added. “He’s obviously concentrated on it and he’s a complete player. I tell him all the time, why not fill up a box score?”

Quinnipiac returns to action Sunday at home, welcoming Rider into Hamden as it looks to start MAAC play with a 2-0 record. Pecora balked at the notion that his team feels as though it has something to prove, but at the same time, was confident in the Bobcats’ raising of the curtain being a harbinger of more positives to come throughout the year.

“We don’t really talk much about showing it to anyone but ourselves,” he said. “We know what we’re capable of, and there’s ways you can win games sometimes on talent. Bobby Cremins used to tell me, ‘it’s fool’s gold.’ You gotta get them to play the way you want them to play in big games every night if you’re gonna be able to build off it, so hopefully, this is something we can build off.”