QU Men's Basketball Concludes Regular Season at Manhattan Sunday Night

Sunday, February 25

Riverdale, NY

6:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Manhattan College

QU Men's Basketball Concludes Regular Season at Manhattan Sunday Night

2/24/2018 6:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Athletic Communications

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018 | 6:00 PM | Draddy Gymnasium, Riverdale, N.Y. | ESPN3
QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS (10-19, 7-10 MAAC) at MANHATTAN JASPERS (13-16, 8-9 MAAC)
Watch It Live: ESPN3
Follow Live Stats: GoJaspers.com
Listen Live: AM 1220 WQUN
Updates: @QU_MBB
Game Notes: Quinnipiac

All-Time Series vs. Manhattan: Tied 5-5
Current Streak: QU - 1 straight

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team will conclude the 2017-18 regular season when it takes on Manhattan on the road on Sunday night at 6 p.m., 10 days after defeating the Jaspers in a thriller at the TD Bank Sports Center 71-70. The Bobcats will earn the six seed in the MAAC Tournament with a win, and the seven seed with a loss.

LAST MEETING WITH MANHATTAN (QUINNIPIAC 71, MANHATTAN 70)
Senior guard Cameron Young had 27 points and had the game-winning assist to Isaiah Washington with 6.7 seconds left as Quinnipiac edged Manhattan 71-70 on Feb. 15. The Bobcats led by five with a minute to play, but Manhattan's Rich Williams hit two consecutive three-pointers to put his team ahead 70-69 with 17 seconds left. The Bobcats went without a timeout, and Young drove the right side of the lane, where he was bottled up by two defenders. He dribbled back out and found Washington cutting in from the weak side unguarded for an uncontested layup. Manhattan had two chances to take the lead on its last possession, but a three-pointer hit off the rim and an off-balance put-back missed as time expired.

RUNNING OUT OF FINGERNAILS
Quinnipiac has been in 12 games decided by two points or less or in double-overtime this year (going 7-5) after a one-point win over Manhattan and a double-overtime loss to Fairfield last week. The Bobcats have four one-point wins this year (over Dartmouth, Siena, Marist, and Manhattan) and three two-point wins (over UMass, Columbia, and Monmouth). Five of those seven wins for the Bobcats have come down to their opponents missing game-winning shots in the final two seconds (and one loss came when Colorado made a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win 70-69). Quinnipiac's average margin of victory in its 10 wins this season is just 2.8 points.

KELLY EARNS THIRD ROOKIE OF WEEK FOLLOWING 40-POINT EXPLOSION
Freshman guard Rich Kelly was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week for the third time this season after his historic 40-point explosion against Fairfield, shattering his previous career high of 22. He became only the second Quinnipiac player to score 40 points in a Division I game, falling one shy of Rob Monroe's school record of 41 points set against Longwood in 2004-05. The first time Kelly won the MAAC honor, he had 22 points and 10 assists against Columbia, the first 20-point, 10-assist game for a Bobcat since Monroe had 25 points and 12 assists against FDU.

KELLY ON THE CHARTS
Freshman guard Rich Kelly has dented Quinnipiac's Division I record books as a freshman in a variety of ways. His 40 points against Fairfield was the second-most in the Bobcats' Division I history, while his seven three-pointers in that game also ranks tied for second in Quinnipiac's Division I annals as well. On thee season charts, Kelly has 137 assists this year, ranking fifth a the Division I level, five shy of fourth and 16 shy of third.

DANIELS JOINS 1000-POINT CLUB
Senior forward Chaise Daniels became the 39th player in Quinnipiac history to reach 1,000 career points and the 13th at the Division I level (since 1998-99). in a Feb. 10 game at Canisius. He reached the milestone after hitting a short jump hook with 2:30 left in the game, just before picking up his fifth foul. He now has 1016 points entering the Manhattan game, and also has 529 career rebounds and ranks second all-time at Quinnipiac in all divisions in blocks shots with 147 after blocking three against Saint Peter's on Friday.

MAAC SEEDING UPDATE
The Manhattan game was nearly a winner-take-all battle for the No. 5 seed (and a bye) in the MAAC Tournament, but Fairfield came from behind to defeat Monmouth on Saturday and knocked the Bobcats out of bye contention. Quinnipiac will either end with the six seed if it defeats Manhattan, or the seven seed if it falls to the Jaspers.

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 used 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, and currently is fourth in the MAAC in scoring (18.8 ppg) and second in conference games (20.8 ppg). He has scored 25 or more points eight times (see below), a feat that no other Bobcat had accomplished before Rich Kelly's 40-point effort against Fairfield last Saturday. Young has also scored in double figures in each of the last 23 games, since being held to six in a loss to Maine on Nov. 26.

Cameron Young's 25-Point Games
31 vs. Fairfield   2/17/18
31 vs. Iona       2/2/18
27 vs. Manhattan   2/15/18
27 vs. Hartford   12/7/17
26 vs. Marist       1/10/18
26 vs. Siena       1/1/18
26 vs. Colorado   11/17/17
26 vs. Liberty       11/19/17

YOUNG ON THE CHARTS
With his 16 points in Friday's game against Saint Peter's, senior guard Cameron Young has moved closer to Quinnipiac's single-season point record at the Division I level with 545. Young has a chance at setting the record, especially if the Bobcats play more than one postseason game. The school mark of 607 points was set by DeMario Anderson in 2007-08, and Young could tie that mark by averaging 31 points over the next two games, or 20.7 points over three games if the Bobcats win their first MAAC Tournament contest. If he pulls it off, he will achieve a remarkable feat of going from zero points one season to a school record in points the next.

A GRADUATE JUNIOR?
Isaiah Washington (8.7 ppg) has started every game in the backcourt this season as a rare graduate transfer with junior eligibility. Washington graduated in three years from Penn State, including one redshirt season, and is pursuing his MBA while playing his final two years with the Bobcats. He had an 18-point effort at Niagara on Feb. 8, which tied his career high set on opening day at home against Dartmouth and had the game-winning basket in last Thursday's win over Manhattan with 6.7 seconds left. He has also had a big impact defensively, holding 20-point scorer Luwane Pipkins of UMass to 2-13 shooting, and MAAC-leading scorer Tyler Nelson to 4-18 shooting in the first meeting with Fairfield at NYCB Live.

THE ELDER STATESMAN
Fifth-year senior Alain 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, and came over to the United States to attend prep school in Florida at age 15 knowing only two words in English ("yes" and "no"). He is coming off a game where he gave the Bobcats a huge lift off the bench against Fairfield, tallying five points, eight rebounds and four steals after Quinnipiac got off to a sluggish start. He also had seven steals earlier this season against Maine, one shy of the Bobcats' single-game record set by Jeremy Bishop in 2001-02.

TWIN KILLINGS
Juniors Aaron Robinson and Andrew Robinson are the first twins in Quinnipiac men's basketball history. Andrew (5.9 ppg) has been out of action for the last seven games with an injury, after scoring 14 off the bench in a win over Fairfield on Jan. 27, while Aaron (3.1 ppg) has continued to be a key member of the Bobcat reserve unit, hitting at least one three-pointer off the bench in 10 straight contests before the streak was snapped Friday.

TARCA EARNS SCHOLARSHIP
Fourth-year walk-on senior Greg Tarca was named a team co-captain earlier this season, 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. Bundu's hustle plays at both ends helped Quinnipiac to a win over Siena on Jan. 1, leaping out of bounds to save an offensive rebound that led to the winning points with 1:37 left and then coming from a weak side help position for the clinching block at the buzzer. His background story was featured by Sports Illustrated's Dan Greene in an on-line profile which was published on Jan. 31.

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 (Memphis) and G.G. Smith (Loyola-Maryland).

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.

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.

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. In addition, freshman Nathan Davis is taking a redshirt season after missing all of preseason practice while recovering from an injury in high school, which will give the Bobcats seven new scholarship players to use next season.

NEXT UP
The Bobcats will head to the MAAC Tournament where they will open up play on Thursday night. Quinnipiac's seed and opponent will be determined at the end of Sunday's play.