QU Men's Basketball Faces No. 11 Gonzaga Thursday At AdvoCare Invitational (ESPN2)

Thursday, November 24

Orlando, FL

6:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

Gonzaga University

QU Men's Basketball Faces No. 11 Gonzaga Thursday At AdvoCare Invitational (ESPN2)

11/23/2016 12:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (0-2) vs.
Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-0)
Date: Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 (6:30 p.m.)
Location: AdvoCare Invitational | HP Field House (Orlando, Fla.)
All-Time Series vs. Gonzaga: First meeting
TV: ESPN2

Live Audio Link (WQUN) (Bill Schweizer, play-by-play; Bill Mecca, color)
Live Stats (ESPN)
Live Video (Watch ESPN)
AdvoCare Invitational Home Page
Quinnipiac Game Notes
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MOORE, FEW BACK ON OPPOSITE BENCHES
Quinnipiac and Gonzaga have never met, but the two head coaches were part of a classic NCAA Tournament battle 18 years ago. Moore was an assistant at Connecticut and Few was the top assistant at Gonzaga when the two teams met in an classic Elite Eight contest in 1999 (Moore was the assistant coach in charge of scouting Gonzaga). Connecticut had been knocking on the door for its first Final Four for the entire decade, while upstart Gonzaga was still only known nationally as John Stockton's alma mater. Top-seed UConn got all it could handle from 10-seed Gonzaga, and did not seal the win until the Bulldogs missed a tying three-pointer in the final seconds and Kevin Freeman got the rebound and made two foul shots. UConn would go on to defeat Duke for the first of its four national titles, while Gonzaga never left the national stage after the loss, reaching the NCAA Tournament in every year since.

MILESTONE YEARS FOR MOORE
Head Coach Tom Moore is in a pair of milestone seasons in his coaching career - his 10th as the head coach at Quinnipiac and his 30th in collegiate coaching (as both an assistant and a head coach). He currently has been a part of 593 wins, seven shy of 600, and 492 at the Division I level, seven away from 500.

LAST GAME
Quinnipiac placed five players in double figures but it wasn't enough to overcome an 18-point halftime deficit as it dropped an 86-78 home decision to Columbia on Monday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center. Freshman Mikey Dixon led the way with 17 points off the bench, while Chaise Daniels had 14, Abdulai Bundu had 13, Reggie Oliver tallied 12 and Daniel Harris chipped in with 11. Quinnipiac led 23-19 midway through the first half, but Columbia closed on a 29-7 run to take a 48-30 lead at the break. The Bobcats got the lead down to nine points with over 10 minutes to play, and as close as seven in the final two minutes, but the Lions were able to hang on for the win.

PROMISING START FOR NEW FACES
Quinnipiac has four new guards in the rotation this season, and all four of them have shown promise in the first two contests. Junior guard Reggie Oliver led the team in scoring on opening day against Vermont with 15 points, knocking down four three-pointers on the day (shooting 4-8 from beyond the arc). Junior guard Phil Winston had seven assists and two turnovers in 20 minutes, showing the ability to run the offense effectively. Freshman guard Mikey Dixon led the Bobcats with 17 points in Monday's loss to Columbia, shooting 4-6 from three, while freshman guard Peter Kiss has averaged 7.0 points off the bench in less than 20 minutes per game in his first two contests.

DANIELS PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Junior forward Chaise Daniels overcame an injury that kept him out of action for a month and closed out his sophomore season by scoring in double figures in each of his last seven games. He started the streak when he tallied a new career high 28 points on 11-17 shooting in a double-overtime defeat to Fairfield on Feb. 13 and ended it with 10 points in the MAAC Tournament against Rider. Daniels was injured in the opening minutes against Niagara on Dec. 4 and missed the seven full games following, before coming back to the lineup on January 9. He has kept his double-figure streak going this year (nine games) with 11 against Vermont and 14 against Columbia.

BUNDU BREAK THROUGH
Current sophomore forward Abdulai Bundu earned MAAC and ECAC Division I Rookie of the Week honors on Jan. 4 last season after a break through week. Bundu averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds in two games, including a 23-point, 15-rebound effort at Maine on Dec. 29. After averaging only 4.4 rebounds over the first 10 games, Bundu moved up to sixth in the MAAC in rebounding (6.6 rpg) by averaging almost eight boards in the final 20 games. He pulled down over half of his rebounds last year on the offensive end of the floor (105 of 198), which ranked him in first in the MAAC in offensive rebounding (3.5 pg) and 25th nationally, despite only playing 23.2 mpg. He had six offensive rebounds (out of nine total) in Monday's loss to Columbia.

HARRIS THREE-FOR-ALL
Senior guard Daniel Harris had some big performances from behind the arc in his first season with the Bobcats last year, shooting 6-9 in a win over Niagara on Jan. 30 and 5-5 in a Feb. 13 defeat at Manhattan. His 5-5 effort tied for the second-best in Quinnipiac's Division I history (since 1998-99) and is the best in Head Coach Tom Moore's nine seasons at the helm, while his six three-pointers in one game was the highest total for any Bobcat in 2015-16. Harris had two or more three pointers in 23 of 30 games in 2015-16 and ranked third in the MAAC in three-point percentage (40.7) and eighth in three-pointers made (2.3). He is 5-12 on threes so far this season and has had two or more treys in 25 of 32 games as a Bobcat.

Quinnipiac Top 5 Single-Game 3-pt Pct. (DI Era)
6-6   Rashaun Banjo vs. St. Francis (Pa.)   2/4/02
5-5   Daniel Harris vs. Manhattan   2/11/16
5-5   Jared Grasso vs. UMBC       2/3/00
5-5   Kason Mims vs. Monmouth   2/7/04
4-4   Four players

SMITH THIRD ON QU BLOCKS CHART
Senior forward Donovan Smith had 53 blocks in 2015-16 (1.8 per game, ranking him second in the MAAC), which is third on the single-season blocks mark at Quinnipiac during its Division I era (since 1998-99). Ousmane Drame has the top two totals (88 as a senior in 2014-15, 64 as a junior in 2013-14), while C.J. Vick is now fourth with 43 (2002-03). Junior Chaise Daniels finished with 39 (fifth place), ranking him fourth in the MAAC.

Quinnipiac Division I Single-Season Blocks Leaders
88   Ousmane Drame, 2014-15
64 Ousmane Drame, 2013-14
53. Donovan Smith, 2015-16
43 C.J. Vick 2002-03
39 Chaise Daniels, 2015-16

REBOUNDING DOMINANCE
Quinnipiac finished the 2015-16 season leading the nation in offensive rebounding, the fifth time in the last six years it has led the nation in that category. The Bobcats actually have a streak of six straight seasons leading the nation in at least one rebounding category. In 2014-15, Quinnipiac ranked second in offensive rebounds (16.4) to West Virginia, but still led the nation in total rebounds (45.4), defensive rebounds (29.0) and rebounding margin (12.4). In 2013-14, the Bobcats led the nation in rebounding margin (11.8), offensive rebounds (16.7), defensive rebounds (28.7) and total rebounds (45.4), becoming the only team to finish first in all four categories since Quinnipiac joined the Division I ranks (1998-99).

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS
With Tom Moore at the helm, Quinnipiac has outrebounded its opponent in 243 of 283 games (85.8 percent). In 107 of those 283 games, QU has posted a plus-10 or better rebounding margin, as well as 30 games with plus-20 or better. The Bobcats have an 84-23 (.785) mark when holding a plus-10 edge under Moore, and 22-8 (.733) with plus-20. Remarkably, Quinnipiac has held a +10 margin or better on the boards 107 times in the last 10 years, and suffered a -10 margin or worse only four times in that same span, including opening day against Vermont this season. The Bobcats have only been outrebounded nine times in the last five years (six of which were in 2015-16), as Quinnipiac is now 112-9-4 in the rebounding department in the 125 games since the start of 2012-13. That stretch includes two entire seasons without being outrebounded once (2012-13, 2014-15).

BOARD SCORES
In the first eight full seasons since Tom Moore took over, the Bobcats improved their rebounding margin, from 5.0 per game in his first season in 2007-08 to a nation's best 12.4 in 2014-15. The aggregate total over the Moore Era years sees Quinnipiac outrebounding its opponents by a spread of 2,470 (11,898-9,428). To put that total in perspective, if all of the Bobcats vacated the floor against Gonzaga, and the Bulldogs did a tip drill on the glass and recorded exactly one rebound per second, Quinnipiac's rebounding margin under Moore would not level off at zero until the second minute of overtime.

CAN WE POOL OUR POINTS?
The TD Bank Sports Center has banners listing all of the 1000-point scorers in Quinnipiac basketball history, but nobody on the 2016-17 team entered the year even a third of the way there. Collectively, the Bobcats now have 1,303 points, enough to make the banner, but the closest individual is Chaise Daniels with 346, still needing 654. A year ago, the Bobcats started the season with only 602 points on the entire roster, making this year's roster slightly more experienced than the 2015-16 squad.

QU Career Scoring Leaders
   Player   Total
   Chaise Daniels   346
   Daniel Harris   326
   Abdulai Bundu   238
   Donovan Smith   221
   Andrew Robinson   57
   Alain Chigha   35
   Reggie Oliver   27
   Mikey Dixon   27
   Peter Kiss   14
   Phil Winston    7
   Aaron Robinson   3
   Greg Tarca   2
   Total   1,303

FIVE PLAYERS IN DOUBLES
Quinnipiac had five players score in double figures in its loss to Columbia on Monday, something that happened only once all of last season (in an overtime loss at Maine). The Bobcats are trying to play at a faster tempo this year, and it has resulted in two straight games with 70 or more points to start the season. Quinnipiac reached the 70-point mark in back-to-back games only twice last year (Niagara-Canisius in December, and Manhattan-Fairfield in February).

THREE-FENSE
One area that the Bobcats showed significant improvement in 2015-16 was defending the three-point line. Opponents shot just 31.0 percent from beyond the arc (174-562), which led the MAAC and ranked 19th nationally at the end of the year, In 2014-15, opponents shot 35.1 pct from three, ranking QU eighth in the MAAC.

IT PAYS TO GET DEFENSIVE
Over the past seven seasons, Quinnipiac has a strong record of 76-32 (.704) when keeping its opponent to 40 percent or less from the field. The Bobcats were 9-7 when holding opponents below 40 in 2015-16, accounting for all nine of the team's wins.

BOBCATS OVERSEAS
Under Head Coach Tom Moore, Quinnipiac has had great success sending its players on to professional careers overseas. A total of 13 players have played professionally in Europe since Moore took over the job in 2007-08, including four from the Class of 2015. Ousmane Drame (Turkey) and Zaid Hearst (Spain) are starters on their teams in 2016-17, while James Feldeine (Greece) helped his team to a 25-1 record in 2015-16.

Quinnipiac Professional Signings Under Moore
Player   Class   First Team (Country)
DeMario Anderson   2008   Leuven    (Belgium)
Bryan Geffen   2009   Hapoel Eilat (Israel)
Jeremy Baker   2010   Moenchengland (Germ.)
James Feldeine   2010   Panathinakos (Greece)
Justin Rutty   2011   BBC Lyon   (Switzerland)
James Johnson   2012   Forca Lleida (Spain)
Jamee Jackson   2013   Batumi    (Georgia)
Ike Azotam   2014   Marin Peixegalego (Spain)
Umar Shannon   2014   KB Besa Peja (Kosovo)
Evan Conti   2015   Hapoel Be'er Sheva (Israel)
Ousmane Drame   2015   FIATC Jovenut (Spain)
Justin Harris   2015   BK Iskra Svit (Slovakia)
Zaid Hearst   2015   Oviedo Baloncesto (Spain)

NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will play its second game of the AdvoCare Invitational against either Seton Hall or Florida on Friday on ESPN2. The Bobcats will then conclude the tournament on Sunday against either Miami (Fla.), Stanford, Iowa State or Indiana State before returning home next Thursday (Dec. 1) for its MAAC opener against Monmouth.