An All-Nutmeg State Semifinal as QU Men's Basketball Meets Fairfield Sunday Night (9:30 PM)

Sunday, March 4

Albany, NY

9:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

Fairfield University

Photo by: Gregory J. Fisher-SportsThroughT

An All-Nutmeg State Semifinal as QU Men's Basketball Meets Fairfield Sunday Night (9:30 PM)

3/4/2018 12:39:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: QU Athletic Communications

2018 MAAC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS - SEMIFINALS
Sunday, March 4, 2018 | 9:30 PM | Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. | ESPNU
#7 QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS (12-20) vs. #6 FAIRFIELD STAGS (16-15)
Watch It Live: ESPNU TV or online on ESPN3
Listen Live: AM 1220 WQUN
Updates: @QU_MBB
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Semifinal Supplemental Notes: PDF
Quinnipiac MAAC Tournament Guide: PDF

All-Time Series vs. Fairfield: Quinnipiac leads 6-5
Current Streak: Fairfield- 1 straight
This Year's Meetings: Quinnipiac 75-70 at NYCB Live, Fairfield 102-98 (2OT) at Fairfield

ALBANY, N.Y. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team will face in-state rival Fairfield in one of two semifinals in a wide open MAAC Tournament on Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m. at the Times Union Center. The top three seeds have all been eliminated, with the Bobcats taking care of second-seed Canisius on Friday night (72-69) to move on to the semifinals. Senior guard Cameron Young stands just nine points away from Quinnipiac's record for most points in a season at the Division I level (607), just one year removed from not scoring a single point at all.

EARLIER MATCHUPS

JAN. 27 at NYCB LIVE, LONG ISLAND (QUINNIPIAC 75, FAIRFIELD 70)
Senior guard Cameron Young led five players in double figures with 15 points, to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists, as the Quinnipiac men's basketball team captured a 75-70 win over Fairfield on Jan. 27 at NYCB Live in the first game of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tripleheader. Junior guard Andrew Robinson (Takoma Park, Md.) had 14 points off the bench for the Bobcats, but has not played since due to an ankle injury. Senior guard Isaiah Washington (Williamsport, Pa.) had 11 points in the first half and had the primary defensive assignment on Tyler Nelson of Fairfield, holding him to 13 points on 4-18 shooting. Junior forward Abdulai Bundu added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Bobcats, while Jesus Cruz had 21 points and 10 rebounds in a losing cause for the Stags.

FEB. 17 at FAIRFIELD (FAIRFIELD 102, QUINNIPIAC 98 - 2OT)
Freshman guard Rich Kelly scored 40 points, one shy of Quinnipiac's Division I record, but it wasn't quite enough as Fairfield was able to prevail in double overtime on Feb. 17 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. Kelly hit the tying three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to give him 30 points, then scored 10 more in the two overtime sessions to finish with 40. Trailing 99-98 in the final minute of the second overtime, the Bobcats earned a stop and had a chance to pick up the win, but Tyler Nelson (32 points) had a steal and layup to push the margin to three points, and the Stags used a deliberate foul to prevent the Bobcats from getting off a tying three-pointer. Cameron Young also tied his career high with 31 points in the losing cause for the Bobcats. Quinnipiac led by 12 at the half, a season high during the regular season (passed by a 40-16 lead against Siena in the MAAC Tournament) and had a lead of as many as 16 points in the second half.

ANOTHER NAILBITER SENDS QU INTO SEMIS
Quinnipiac's 72-69 win over Canisius in the quarterfinals Friday should have come as no surprise to anyone. Almost half of the Bobcat games this year (14 of 32) have been decided by two points or less or in double overtime, going 8-6 in those contests (8-3 in the ones decided by three points or less, and 0-3 in double overtime). The Bobcats have four one-point wins this year and three two-point wins, while their average margin of victory in 12 wins this season is only 3.3 points. The nine-point win over Siena in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament was the biggest "blowout" that the Bobcats have had.

YOUNG NO LONGER RESTLESS
Senior guard Cameron Young earned a spot on the All-MAAC Second Team after finishing the regular season fourth in the MAAC in scoring 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. He has scored in double figures in each of the last 26 games, since being held to six in a loss to Maine on Nov. 26 and has four straight double-doubles, including 14 points and 11 rebounds against Siena and 17 points and 11 rebounds against Canisius in the MAAC Tournament.

YOUNG CLOSING IN ON QU SCORING RECORD
Cameron Young is on the cusp of Quinnipiac history, with 598 points on the year coming into the semifinals with Fairfield. The school's DI mark of 607 points was set by DeMario Anderson in 2007-08, and Young stands just nine away from tying and ten from breaking. If he pulls it off, he will achieve a remarkable feat of going from zero points one season (without being injured or redshirted) to a school record in points the next.

Quinnipiac Single-Season Division I Scoring Leaders
607 Demario Anderson, 2007-08
598 Cameron Young, 2017-18
589 Rob Monroe, 2004-05
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 DI 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 led the Bobcats with 18 points in the opening round against Siena and then had 16, including two key driving baskets in the final 1:20, in the quarterfinal win over Canisius.

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 150 assists this year, ranking fourth in Quinnipiac's Division I history.

Quinnipiac Division I Single-Season Assist Leaders
170 Rob Monroe, 2004-05
166 Kason Mims, 2003-04
153 Nate Pondexter, 1999-00
150 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 1041 points entering the semifinals.

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

A GRADUATE JUNIOR?
Isaiah Washington (8.4 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.

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"). In the second meeting with Fairfield on Feb. 17, 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 10 games with an injury, after scoring 14 off the bench in a win over Fairfield on Jan. 27 in his last appearance, 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. Aaron also had a huge three late in the win over Canisius on Friday, giving the Bobcats a six-point lead with 2:30 to go.

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. He pulled down 10 rebounds (five offensive) against Canisius on Friday after setting a career high with 16 rebounds in the first regular season meeting with the Golden Griffins on Jan. 5.

TRIGON-METRICS
Freshman forward Jacob Rigoni has hit nine three-pointers in two MAAC Tournament games, continuing a terrific rookie season which saw him rank second in the MAAC at 45.7 percent from beyond the arc during the regular season. He now has 73 three-pointers this season, ranking him second in Quinnipiac's Division I history.

Quinnipiac Division I Single-Season Three-Point Leaders
84 James Johnson, 2010-11
73 Jacob Rigoni, 2017-18
72 Rob Monroe, 2004-05
70 Daniel Harris, 2015-16
69 James Johnson, 2011-12
69 Jared Grasso, 1999-00

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.

NEXT UP
The winner will get an off day to rest before moving on to the MAAC semifinals on Sunday against the winner of tomorrow's quarterfinal between No. 3 Niagara and No. 6 Fairfield.