QU Men's Basketball Opens MAAC Play at Home Thursday against Monmouth (7:30 PM)

Thursday, December 28

Hamden, CT

7:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

Monmouth University

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QU Men's Basketball Opens MAAC Play at Home Thursday against Monmouth (7:30 PM)

12/27/2017 10:13:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Athletic Communications

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 | 7:30 PM | TD Bank Sports Center, Hamden, Conn. | ESPN3
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS vs. MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY HAWKS
Watch It Live: ESPN3
Follow Live Stats: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Listen Live: AM 1220 WQUN
Updates: @QU_MBB
Tickets: 203-582-3905 or tickets@quinnipiac.edu

Game Notes: Quinnipiac

All-Time Series vs. Monmouth: Quinnipiac leads 19-17
Current Streak: Monmouth - 4 straight
Last Meeting: Monmouth 94-75 (2016-17 at Monmouth)

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team begins its MAAC schedule on Thursday night when it faces defending regular season champion Monmouth for a 7:30 p.m. contest at the TD Bank Sports Center (the second half of a doubleheader with the Quinnipiac women's basketball team, which faces Siena at 5 p.m.).

LAST GAME (VERMONT 80, QUINNIPIAC 73)
Quinnipiac whittled a 17-point first-half Vermont lead down to four points in the final minute, but the Catamounts were able to hang on and earn an 80-73 win on Thursday evening at Patrick Gymnasium. Vermont, which improved to 19-1 at home in the last two years, had to fight off a Bobcat team that was led by senior guard Cameron Young (18 points), freshman forward Jacob Rigoni (17 points) and freshman guard Rich Kelly (12 points, nine assists, one turnover). Rigoni's three-pointer got the Bobcats within single digits for the first time in the second half with 7:20 to play, and Kelly hit a three-pointer to pull Quinnipiac within 76-72 with 22 seconds left, but they could come no closer.

RUNNING OUT OF FINGERNAILS
Remarkably, Quinnipiac has been in six games decided by two points or less in its first 12 contests (going 3-3). The team's three wins this year have come by a combined five points, including 78-77 over Dartmouth on opening day, 68-66 over UMass on Nov. 29 and 89-87 over Columbia on Dec. 4. The Bobcats also lost at the buzzer to Colorado 70-69 on Nov. 17 and have lost their last two games to Hartford (77-75) and Drexel (72-71) when their winning three-point attempts have missed at the buzzer. The only one of the six games that did not feature a winning shot attempt at the buzzer came in the UMass win, when Cameron Young was able to split a trap and dribble out the final six seconds.

KELLY NAMED ROOKIE OF WEEK FOR SECOND TIME
Freshman guard Rich Kelly was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week on Monday after tallying 21 points, 16 assists and one turnover in a pair of narrow road losses. Kelly signed with Quinnipiac in April, when he projected to be an understudy in a crowded backcourt, But after four of last year's guards transferred, Kelly ascended into a starting role, and currently ranks second in the MAAC in assists (5.8 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2). He earned the MAAC Rookie of the Week Award the first time after he tallied 22 points and 10 assists in an 89-87 win at Columbia, including the winning layup on a drive with 4.8 seconds left, marking the first 20-point, 10-assist game for a Bobcat since Rob Monroe in 2004-05:

Bobcats Points-Assists Double-Doubles Since 2004-05
Rich Kelly vs. Columbia (12/4/17)   22 pts, 10 ast
Dave Johnson vs. Niagara (12/22/11)   13 pts, 10 ast
Deontay Twyman vs. Buffalo (3/14/11)   14 pts, 10 ast
James Feldeine vs. Monmouth (2/25/10)   19 pts, 11 ast
James Johnson vs. Monmouth (12/6/08)   12 pts, 10 ast
Rob Monroe vs. FDU (1/12/05)   25 pts, 12 ast
Rob Monroe vs. UConn (12/30/04)   16 pts, 10 ast
Rob Monroe vs. Longwood (11/27/04)   15 pts, 14 ast

DUNLEAVY ERA BEGINS WITH WIN
Quinnipiac's 78-77 win over Dartmouth on Nov. 11 in the season opener marked the debut of Head Coach Baker Dunleavy, who was hired in March. Dunleavy had a very successful career at Villanova as both a player and a coach under Jay Wright. During his playing days, the Wildcats were an Elite Eight team in 2005-06, behind future NBA guards Randy Foye and Kyle Lowry. During his four seasons as an associate head coach from 2013-17, Villanova compiled an overall record of 129-17, including a national title in 2016 and four straight BIG EAST regular season titles. His father Mike is a long time NBA coach who is currently the head coach at Tulane, making the Dunleavys one of two father-son coaching combinations in Division I, along with Tubby Smith (Texas Tech) and G.G. Smith (Loyola-Maryland).

BROTHERLY LOVE
Quinnipiac is the only Division I team in the nation with two sets of brothers on the roster. Junior twins Aaron Robinson and Andrew Robinson (the first twins in Quinnipiac men's basketball history) are in their third seasons with the Bobcats, while graduate student Sam Donahue and his younger brother Matt, a freshman, both joined the Quinnipiac roster this season. Andrew (11) and Aaron (8) combined for 19 points in a Nov. 29 win over UMass, their highest combined point total so far.

YOUNG NO LONGER RESTLESS
Senior guard Cameron Young, a traditional three-man at 6-6, 205, was the odd man out in the Quinnipiac rotation last year when the Bobcats relied on a three-guard lineup, playing only eight minutes all season and not scoring a point. With a new roster and a new coaching staff this season, Young has seized his new chance, emerging as Quinnipiac's leading scorer (15.9 ppg) and leading rebounder (5.8 rpg) through the first 12 games. Young set career highs in the Bobcats' near-upset over Colorado on Nov. 17 with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and broke his best point total with 27 points against Hartford on Dec. 7. He ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (7th), rebounding (10th), steals (9th), and three-pointers (11th), and has the four highest-scoring games for the Bobcats this season:

Quinnipiac's 20-Point Games
Cameron Young vs. Hartford   27
Cameron Young vs. Colorado   26
Cameron Young vs. Liberty   26
Cameron Young vs. Drexel   24
Chaise Daniels vs. Maine   24
Rich Kelly vs. Columbia       22
Jacob Rigoni vs. Columbia   20

A GRADUATE JUNIOR?
Transfer shooting guard Isaiah Washington has started every game in the Quinnipiac backcourt this season as a rare graduate transfer with junior eligibility. Washington graduated in only three years from Penn State, including one redshirt season. Washington is pursuing his MBA at Quinnipiac while playing his final two years with the Bobcats, and he made his debut a special one, scoring 18 points in a 78-77 win over Dartmouth.

THE ELDER STATESMAN
Fifth-year senior Alain Chigha is back for his final campaign with the Bobcats. Chigha graduated in May with a degree in sociology and is currently in grad school at Quinnipiac, joining graduate transfer Isaiah Washington (see above) in the MBA program. Chigha is a native of Cameroon, but came over to the United States to attend prep school in Florida at age 15 knowing only two words in English ("yes" and "no").

TARCA EARNS SCHOLARSHIP
Fourth-year walk-on senior Greg Tarca was named a team co-captain along with fifth-year senior Alain Chigha (see above). Tarca was able to drop the "walk-on" from his title on Saturday, Dec. 16, though, when the program surprised him with a full scholarship at the team's Secret Santa party.

A LONG ROAD TO HAMDEN
Few athletes have overcome such significant odds to reach the college level as junior forward Abdulai Bundu. Bundu was born in 1996 in Sierra Leone in the middle of a civil war, just before his parents won an immigration lottery to come to the United States. However, they could not secure visas for Abdulai and his brother and had to make the agonizing decision to leave them behind with family and try to bring them over later. Abdulai survived four refugee camps before he was finally reunited with his parents in Maryland in 2003 at age 7 and didn't start playing basketball until he was 15. Bundu made his first start of the year at Drexel on Dec. 18 and had a season-high 17 points.

DOWNTOWN DOWN UNDER
Freshman Jacob Rigoni joined the Bobcats from Adelaide, Australia this season and has provided a big lift to the Bobcats scoring off the bench, including 20 points in a win at Columbia and 17 in the last contest at Vermont. Rigoni has been particularly efficient from the three-point line, where he ranks second in the MAAC, shooting 50.0 percent from beyond the arc (16-32).

BOBCATS INK FOUR IN FALL SIGNING PERIOD
Quinnipiac earned four commitments from guards in the fall signing period. Tyree Pickron, a 6-2 guard from Philadelphia (Archbishop Wood HS), Tyrese Williams, a 6-1 guard from New York City (Cardinal Hayes HS), Matthew Balanc, a 6-3 guard out of Silver Spring, Maryland (Springbrook HS), and Savion Lewis, a 5-11 point guard out of Huntington Station, New York (Half Hollow Hills East HS) will represent the QU Class of 2022.

A WINNING STAFF
All four coaches on the current Quinnipiac staff have been a part of helping prior schools to their winningest seasons in program history. Head Coach Baker Dunleavy was part of a 35-win season at Villanova (the national title year of 2015-16). Tom Pecora helped Hofstra to a Division I record 26 wins as an assistant in 2000-01 and matched it as a head coach in 2005-06, Shaun Morris was part of a Boston University staff that won a school-record 24 games in 2013-14, and Anthony Goins helped Yale set a new program high with 23 wins in 2015-16.

WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR
Quinnipiac has two transfers sitting out this year who are expected to fill big roles over the next three seasons. Big man Kevin Marfo (George Washington) and wing Travis Atson (Tulsa) will sit out this season per NCAA regulations. Martin is projected to step into the role Chaise Daniels will leave vacated after graduation, while Atson will help fill the void left open by senior wings Cameron Young and Alain Chigha.

NEXT UP
The Bobcats will be right back in action on New Year's Day for a 1 p.m. road contest against Siena. They will then return home to face Canisius on Friday,