QU Men's Basketball Faces Siena in Opening Round of MAAC Tournament Thursday (7 PM)

Thursday, March 1

Albany, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Siena College

QU Men's Basketball Faces Siena in Opening Round of MAAC Tournament Thursday (7 PM)

2/27/2018 8:19:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Athletic Communications

2018 MAAC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS - OPENING ROUND
Thursday, March 1, 2018 | 7:00 PM | Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. | ESPN3
#7 QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS (10-20, 7-10 MAAC) at #10 SIENA SAINTS (8-23, 4-14 MAAC)
Watch It Live: ESPN3
Listen Live: AM 1220 WQUN
Updates: @QU_MBB
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Game Notes: Quinnipiac

All-Time Series vs. Siena: Siena leads 8-4
Current Streak: QU - 2 straight
This Year's Meetings: Quinnipiac 71-70 at Siena (1/1); Quinnipiac 76-69 at Quinnipiac (1/21)

HAMDEN, Conn. - The seventh-seeded Quinnipiac men's basketball team begins play at the MAAC Tournament on Thursday night, when it takes in 10th-seeded Siena for a 7 p.m. contest at the Times Union Center in Albany. The Bobcats swept the two regular season meetings from Siena, including a 71-70 win at the Times Union Center on Jan. 1.

REGULAR SEASON WITH SIENA: JAN. 1 at SIENA (QUINNIPIAC 71, SIENA 70)
Abdulai Bundu came from the weak side to block a potential game-winning lay-up from Siena at the buzzer as the Bobcats captured a 71-70 win on Monday night. Bundu's hustle on the other end provided the winning points, as he jumped out of bounds to save an offensive rebound that turned into a three-pointer from Cameron Young, giving the Bobcats a 71-68 lead with 1:37 to play. Siena had a dunk off a steal to close within one, but Bundu's block prevented the Saints from taking the victory away. Young had a game-high 26 points, including 15-16 at the foul line, the most free throws for a Bobcat since Zaid Hearst was 17-18 against Canisius on Feb. 20, 2014.

JAN. 21 at QUINNIPIAC (QUINNIPIAC 76, SIENA 69)
Chaise Daniels had 17 points off the bench to lead five players in double figures as the Bobcats took a 76-69 home win over Siena on Jan. 21, completing a season sweep of the Saints. Freshmen Rich Kelly (16 points) and Jacob Rigoni (15 points) were right behind Daniels in scoring, while Isaiah Washington had 11 and Cameron Young had 10. The Bobcats shot over 70 percent in the first half and over 60 percent for the game (61.4), the first time they have shot 60 percent or higher since 2009-10 against Sacred Heart

SERIES WITH SIENA
The Saints hold an 8-4 all-time lead in the series with Quinnipiac, although the Bobcats took both meetings this season. Siena came into the year with a four-game winning streak against the Bobcats, sweeping both meetings in 2015-16 and 2016-17 after the teams split in each of Quinnipiac's first two seasons in the MAAC. The first meeting between the schools was a non-league game in Quinnipiac's first season in Division I (1998-99), which the Saints won 107-90 on their home floor. This will be the first time that the teams have met in the postseason.

MAAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Bobcats are hoping to reverse their postseason fortunes this season after dropping an opening round game in each of the last three MAAC Tournament. Quinnipiac won its first-ever MAAC Tournament contest, a quarterfinal win over Niagara in 2014 before falling to Manhattan in the semifinals. Since then, the Bobcats have fallen on Thursday's opening round in 2015 (to Marist), 2016 (to Rider) and 2017 (to Niagara).

LIVING ON THE EDGE
If Quinnipiac finds itself in a close game late in the MAAC Tournament, it certainly won't feel like new territory. Out of the Bobcats' 30 games in the regular season, almost half (13) were decided by two points or less or in double overtime, going 7-6 in those contests (7-3 in the ones decided in less than two overtimes). 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). Quinnipiac's average margin of victory in its 10 wins this season is just 2.8 points.

YOUNG NAMED SECOND-TEAM ALL-MAAC
Senior guard Cameron Young has a had a breakout season that earned him a spot on the All-MAAC Second Team after finishing the regular season fourth in the MAAC in scoring (18.9 ppg) and second in conference games (20.9 ppg). 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, scoring 25 or more points eight times (see below) Young has also scored in double figures in each of the last 24 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 22 points in the regular season finale at Manhattan, Cameron Young has moved closer to Quinnipiac's single-season point record at the Division I level with 567. 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 20 points over two contests. 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.

Quinnipiac's Division I Single-Season Scoring Leaders
607 Demario Anderson, 2007-08
589 Rob Monroe, 2004-05
567 Cameron Young 2017-18
549 Zaid Hearst, 2014-15
546 James Feldeine, 2009-10

KELLY NAMED TO MAAC ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Freshman guard Rich Kelly was named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team after handling the starting point guard duties all year and averaging 34 minutes per game. To help cement the honors, Kelly had a 40-point explosion against Fairfield on Feb. 17, in which he shattered his previous high of 22 points. He became only the second Bobcat 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. Back on Dec. 4, Kelly 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. He is fifth in the MAAC in assists (4.8 apg) and had 20 points, six assists and no turnovers in 46 minutes on Sunday at Manhattan.

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 single-season charts, Kelly has 143 assists this year, ranking fourth in QU history at the Division I level, just 10 shy of third.

Quinnipiac's Division I Single-Season Assist Leaders
170 Rob Monroe, 2004-05
166 Kason Mims, 2003-04
153 Nate Pondexter, 1999-00
143 Rich Kelly, 2017-18
142 Nate Pondexter, 1998-99

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 1031 points entering the postseason (36th all time at Quinnipiac), and also has 532 career rebounds and ranks second all-time at Quinnipiac in all divisions in blocks shots with 148 after blocking three against Saint Peter's on Friday.

Quinnipiac's All-Tome Career Blocks Leaders (All Divisions)
217 Ousmane Drame '15
148 Chaise Daniels '18
146 Glenn Phillip '92
135 Brian Dawson '95
123 LeRon Gittens '94

A GRADUATE JUNIOR?
Isaiah Washington (8.6 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 a Feb. 15 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's Nassau Coliseum.

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 had a late-season game at Fairfield on Feb. 17 where he gave the Bobcats a huge lift off the bench, tallying five points, eight rebounds and four steals after Quinnipiac got off to a sluggish start to help get the game into double overtime. He also had seven steals against Maine on Nov. 26, one shy of the Bobcat 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 eight games with an injury, after scoring 14 off the bench in a win over Fairfield on Jan. 27, while Aaron (3.0 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 in the final week of the regular season by Saint Peter's.

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.

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.

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 winner of the Siena-Quinnipiac game will advance to the quarterfinals to meet second-seeded Canisius, which shared the regular season title with Rider, on Friday at 9:30 p.m.