Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com
Bobcats Set for MAAC Clash vs. Saint Peter's Sunday in Jersey City
12/17/2022 12:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Quinnipiac Bobcats (9-2, 0-1 MAAC) at Saint Peter's Peacocks (5-5, 0-2 MAAC)
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022 | 2:00 PM
Run Baby Run Arena | Jersey City, NJ
Game Notes: Quinnipiac | Saint Peter's
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: Click Here
In-Game Updates: @QU_MBB
JERSEY CITY – Quinnipiac men's basketball returns to MAAC play on Sunday afternoon in Jersey City, squaring off with defending league champion Saint Peter's at Run Baby Run Arena on ESPN+.
The Bobcats enter with a pair of consecutive non-conference wins vs. Lafayette and Holy Cross.
STRONG START
TOP OF THE MAAC
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022 | 2:00 PM
Run Baby Run Arena | Jersey City, NJ
Game Notes: Quinnipiac | Saint Peter's
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: Click Here
In-Game Updates: @QU_MBB
JERSEY CITY – Quinnipiac men's basketball returns to MAAC play on Sunday afternoon in Jersey City, squaring off with defending league champion Saint Peter's at Run Baby Run Arena on ESPN+.
The Bobcats enter with a pair of consecutive non-conference wins vs. Lafayette and Holy Cross.
STRONG START
- Quinnipiac is 9-2 to begin the new season.
- The Bobcats won each of their first seven games of the 2022-23 campaign – marking the best start to a new year for the program since 1969-70.
- QU began the season with a road win at A10-foe Rhode Island.
- The Bobcats recently wrapped up a 2-1 trip to Canada for The Northern Classic (Nov. 25-27). Quinnipiac downed both Stephen F. Austin and Montana State at Place Bell Arena in Quebec, before falling 72-70 vs. Hofstra on the final day of the tournament.
- Preseason All-MAAC First Team selection Matt Balanc leads the team in scoring (12.3 PPG) through the first 11 games of the regular season.
- Luis Kortright has stuffed the stat sheet (10.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.1 APG) off the bench.
- Dezi Jones is also averaging double-digit scoring totals (10.0 PPG).
- Transfer forwards Ike Nweke (11.1 PPG, 7.1 RPG) and Paul Otieno (6.5 PPG, 6.4 PPG) have posted near double-double per-game averages.
- Tymu Chenery has chipped in with 6.0 PPG & 4.2 RPG, starting in nine of 11 games.
- Tyrese Williams has added 7.0 PPG off the bench.
- Luis Kortright stuffed the stat sheet with a near triple-double on Saturday, Dec. 10, as Quinnipiac men's basketball earned a double-digit win over Lafayette, 76-63, in non-conference action at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden.
- The Bobcats improve to 9-2 so far in 2022-23 with the home victory. Kortright finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
- Ike Nweke chipped in with 17 points and nine rebounds, and Matt Balanc added 17 points.
TOP OF THE MAAC
- QU enters action with the MAAC's best effective field goal percentage (52.5%).
- The Bobcats also lead the league in rebound margin (+7.2).
- SPU is 5-5 (0-2 MAAC) so far in 2022-23.
- The Peacocks most recently earned a 58-57 win at Hartford on Dec. 13.
- Saint Peter's ranks third in the entire country in offensive rebounds per matchup (15.10).
- Jaylen Murray (13.6 PPG) and Isiah Dasher (12.4 PPG) have both posted double-digit scoring averages for the Peacocks.
- Bashir Mason is in his first year at the helm of the program.
- Quinnipiac is 6-13 vs. Saint Peter's since joining the MAAC in 2013-14. The Peacocks have taken each of the last four meetings.
- Quinnipiac returns return 5 of its top 7 scorers from a season ago – led by All-MAAC selection Matt Balanc (14.6 PPG).
- QU brings back seven rotational players from a year ago. Dezi Jones, Savion Lewis, Tyrese Williams, Tymu Chenery, Luis Kortright and JJ Riggins have all returned back after playing significant minutes in 2021-22.
- Quinnipiac added four impact transfers during the offseason: Ike Nweke (Columbia), Paul Otieno. (Kilgore CC), Alexis Reyes (East Carolina), and Elijah Taylor (Notre Dame).
- Ike Nweke transfers to Quinnipiac after playing in three seasons at Columbia University (2018-19, 2019-20, 2021-22). He played in 65 total games during that span, making 39 starts. The Woodbine, Maryland-native led the Lions in scoring last season over 10 games played. He recorded 15.9 PPG & 6.3 RPG for Columbia, scoring double-digit point totals on nine occasions.
- Paul Otieno started in all 34 games for Kilgore last season (2021-22), posting 11.0 PPG & 7.6 RPG on 68.7% shooting. Otieno scored a season-high 24 points vs. Missouri State West Plains (11/7), registering 16 separate double-digit point totals during the course of the campaign.
- Alexis Reyes will join the Bobcats for the upcoming 2022-23 season after spending his freshman campaign at East Carolina University. The 6-foot-7 sharpshooter played his senior season of high school in Connecticut at Putnam Science Academy. He appeared in 10 games last season for the Pirates, making a pair of starts.
- Elijah Taylor, a Philadelphia-native, played for Head Coach Andrew Noble at Imhotep Charter High School, coming out of high school as the fifth-best ranked recruit on the state of Pennsylvania (247Sports). He played alongside current Quinnipiac forward JJ Riggins at Imhotep.
- Quinnipiac led the MAAC in 3-pointers per game (8.9) last season.
- QU finished 5th in the country in 3-pointers per game in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. The Bobcats made 11.2 triples per game in 2018-19, then sunk 10.3 triples per night in 2019-20.
- QU has made 7.9 triples per game this year.
- Head Coach Baker Dunleavy – a very successful former player and coach under Jay Wright at Villanova – is in his sixth season at Quinnipiac in 2022-23.
- Dunleavy joined the Bobcats after spending seven years on the men's basketball staff at Villanova University, where under Jay Wright, he helped the Wildcats capture the 2016 national championship with a 77-74 win over North Carolina. He began at Villanova as the director of basketball operations in 2010, before being elevated to assistant coach in 2012 and to the associate head coach position in 2013.
- In 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. He is only the seventh head coach in Quinnipiac's history (since 1951-52).
- Dunleavy appeared in 28 games over his four seasons for the Wildcats (2006 graduate). As a senior, he was part of the first Villanova team to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2006.
- During his playing days – behind future NBA guards Randy Foye and Kyle Lowry – the Wildcats were an Elite Eight team in 2005-06.
- Quinnipiac men's basketball has won 75 total games under Dunleavy since 2017.
- The Bobcats earned a first-round bye in the MAAC Tournament during two of Dunleavy's first four years with the program.
- QU has advanced to the MAAC Tournament semifinal round twice under Dunleavy's tutelage.
- Dunleavy led the Bobcats all the way to the MAAC Semifinals during his first year with the program in 2017-18 – defeating No. 10 Siena and No. 2 Canisius in the postseason.
- Most recently, the Bobcats became the first No. 11 seed in league history to reach the semifinal round after winning two games in Atlantic City in March of 2022.
- He has been has been consistently ranked among college basketball's top young head coaches. Dunleavy earned a spot on Seth Davis' "40 under 40" list published by The Athletic in October of 2020, and was also selected to ESPN's "40 under 40" in May of 2020.
- Quinnipiac head coach Baker Dunleavy's father, Mike, enjoyed a long NBA coaching career, including stops with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. Baker's older brother, Mike Jr., had a 16-year NBA career (most recently with the Atlanta Hawks) after winning a national title in college with Duke in 2001.
- Mike Jr. is currently the Assistant General Manager for the Golden State Warriors, while Mike Sr. last served as Head Coach at Tulane from 2016-19.
- Matt Balanc enjoyed a breakout redshirt-junior season, averaging 14.6 points per game. Balanc finished sixth in the MAAC in scoring. He posted 14.8 PPG & 5.5 RPG in MAAC play.
- Balanc scored 10+ points in 23 of 20 games played, including a career-high 31 points in QU's MAAC victory at Manhattan (12/5/22).
- He has 864 career points as a Bobcat.
- The QU guard threw down an emphatic slam vs. Maryland during the season opener in College Park, earning the #2 spot on SportsCenter Top 10. He then made a second appearance on SportsCenter on Jan. 28 for a reverse layup vs. Marist.
- Missouri-native Dezi Jones finished second on the team in scoring (11.5 PPG) during his first year with the Bobcats. He also contributed 3.1 RPG and 3.0 APG, and shot 47.4% from the floor.
- Jones flirted with a triple-double in the Bobcats' opening round MAAC Tournament win (3/8/22) – posting 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists vs. No. 6 Marist.
- He posted 12.0 PPG in MAAC play for the Bobcats during the regular season.
- Jones spent two full seasons at Moberly Area Community College before joining the Bobcats in 2021-22.
- Guard Tyrese Williams returns for his graduate season at QU.
- The native of Beacon, New York has played in 111 total games, making 90 starts for the Bobcats. He has 979 career points (8.6 PPG) during his career.
- Williams was a MAAC All-Rookie selection, in 2018-19 stuffing the stat sheet with 8.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 2.4 APG.
- Tymu Chenery is back his junior campaign after making 48 starts over his first two season in Hamden.
- The 2020-21 MAAC All-Rookie Team honoree has 8.4 PPG and 3.7 RPG for his career thus far. The 6-foot-6 wing also has 58 steals and 31 blocks.
- Fellow 2020-21 MAAC All-Rookie selection Luis Kortright also returns to the Bobcats' backcourt. He's played in 40 games so far at QU, averaging 7.5 points per contest.
- Kortright posted 10.3 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.7 APG as a first-year student two seasons ago.
- Savion Lewis is back in Hamden for another season. He's played in 47 games for QU since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
- The guard stuffed the stat sheet with 9.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 4.1 APG in eight games last year for Quinnipiac before missing the remainder of the season due to an injury.
- Over 57 career games, JJ Riggins has added 3.7 PPG and 2.1 RPG off the bench.
- He scored a career-best 15 points at Canisius on Jan. 11, 2022.
- QU went 14-17 (7-13 MAAC) last season.
- The Bobcats became the first No. 11 seed in league history to reach the semifinal round after winning two games in Atlantic City in March of 2022. QU downed No. 6 Marist in the opening round and defeated No. 3 Siena in the quarterfinals.
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