QU Men's Basketball Concludes Buffalo Trip At Canisius Tonight (ESPN3)

Saturday, December 5

Koessler Athletic Center - Buffalo, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Canisius College

QU Men's Basketball Concludes Buffalo Trip At Canisius Tonight (ESPN3)

12/5/2015 9:36:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac Bobcats (2-4, 0-1 MAAC) vs.
Canisius Golden Griffins (3-3, 1-0 MAAC)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 5
Time: 7 PM
Location: Koessler Athletic Center (Buffalo, N.Y.)
All-Time Series vs. Canisius: Canisius 3-1
Last Meeting: Canisius 65-63, 2/21/15 at QU

Follow The Game
Live Audio: WQUN 1220 AM (PxP: Bob Mortali; Color: Bob Tipson)
Live Stats: GoGriffs.com
Live Video: ESPN3
QU MBB Twitter: @QU_MBB

Game Notes
Quinnipiac

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team concludes its MAAC-opening trip to Buffalo when it faces high-scoring Canisius in a Saturday night contest, which will be shown on ESPN3 beginning at 7 p.m.

The Bobcats opened up the trip with a tough 76-72 loss at Niagara, which was not decided until the Purple Eagles hit two pressure-packed foul shots with six seconds left to make it a two-possession game. Senior guard Giovanni McLean (21 points) and junior forward Donovan Smith (18 points - pictured) each set their personal bests in the loss, with McLean scoring 17 of his 21 points in the second half.

Quinnipiac entered the weekend leading the nation in two statistical categories, but fell out of the lead after the Niagara contest. The Bobcats were tied with Texas-Arlington for the national lead in offensive rebounds at 19.0 per game, and had s strong day on the glass but dropped percentage points behind with only 15. Quinnipiac also led the nation with 8.2 blocks per game but had only one, dropping into third place at 7.0 per game following the contest (Nevada leads at 7.4).

The Bobcats lost the game despite not giving up a single offensive rebound to a Niagara individual. The Purple Eagles finished the game with only two offensive rebounds, both of which were credited as team rebounds that went out of bounds. Niagara also earned a controversial deadball offensive rebound due to an inadvertent whistle in the final minute, giving it possession with 55 seconds left and a full shot clock up by three points. The Purple Eagles then scored just before the shot clock buzzer to go ahead by five while killing off almost a full minute of game clock after a three-pointer from junior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) had brought the Bobcats within 70-67.

Canisius comes in averaging a whopping 89.2 points per game, among the best in the nation, led by 23.3 points from guard Malcolm McMillan. Five Golden Griffins currently average in double figures overall, with Jamal Reynolds close to a double-double at 11.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Canisius is coming off an impressive 96-86 win over Monmouth in which seven players scored in double figures, led by 22 from McMillan. The Griffs will also give up points in their up-tempo style, as opponents are averaging 84.7 against them, while they will pose a challenge to Quinnipiac in the rebounding department, as they are currently +3.2 on the year on the boards (40.7-37.5).

After facing Canisius, Quinnipiac will play the next two games in its home state, traveling up I-91 to face Hartford for a non-league road contest on Wednesday before returning home to the TD Bank Center to meet Boston University on Sunday at 2 p.m.