Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 | 2 PM | Kirby Sports Center, Easton, Pa.
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS at LAFAYETTE COLLEGE LEOPARDS
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Game Notes: Quinnipiac |
Lafayette
All-Time Series vs. Lafayette: First meeting
HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team will look to build off Wednesday's 68-66 home win over UMass when it travels to Lafayette on Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest. It'll be the first-ever meeting between Quinnipiac and Lafayette, and also the first half of a two-game road swing that sees the Bobcats play at Columbia on Monday night.
LAST GAME (QUINNIPIAC 68, UMASS 66)
Quinnipiac led for almost the entire second half, but had to hold off several UMass rallies to capture a 68-66 home win on Wednesday evening. The Bobcats led by nine at halftime and hit a three-pointer to start the second half and take their largest lead at 41-29. UMass came all the way back and took their only second half lead with 5:44 to play at 56-55, but it lasted only 37 seconds as freshman guard
Rich Kelly hit two foul shots with 5:07 remaining to put Quinnipiac ahead to stay. Kelly found senior guard
Cameron Young open for a three-pointer with less than three minutes left to push the lead to 64-58, and Kelly and Young were both 2-2 at the line in the final 30 seconds to stretch the lead back to four points. UMass made one final shot with six seconds left, but Young split a UMass trap off the ensuing inbounds and was able to dribble out the clock.
Isaiah Washington led the Bobcats with 14 points, while
Chaise Daniels had 12 and Young and
Andrew Robinson had 11 apiece.
COLORADO SPOILS BOBCAT UPSET BID AT BUZZER
The Quinnipiac men's basketball team nearly pulled a big upset on the opening day of the Paradise Jam on Friday. Nov. 17, but fell at the buzzer to Colorado 70-69. The game-winning three-pointer from freshman point guard McKinley Wright bounced off the rim, high up into the air and in as the final buzzer sounded. Senior guard
Cameron Young had a huge day for the Bobcats with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, all career highs. The Bobcats held a 60-47 lead at the final media timeout with 3:56 to go, but were outscored 23-9 over the final stretch, culminating in two three-pointers from Wright in the final 16 seconds.
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.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Both Quinnipiac and Lafayette have found themselves in numerous mail-biters in the early part of the season. Quinnipiac is 2-1 in games decided by two points or less, and was a high bounce off the rim on Colorado's game-winning three-pointer on Nov. 17 away from being 3-0. Lafayette, meanwhile, comes in at 0-6 on the year, but three of the losses have been by four points or less, including Wednesday's one-point defeat to Drexel. The Leopards have also been fallen by two to George Mason and by four to MAAC foe Saint Peter's.
FAMILY TIES
Quinnipiac head coach
Baker Dunleavy's father, Mike, is currently the head coach of Tulane after a long NBA coaching career. Mike and Baker are one of two father-son combinations currently serving as head coaches at the Division I level, along with Tubby Smith (Texas Tech) and G.G. Smith (Loyola). Baker's older brother, Mike, also has had a 16-year NBA career.
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. After redshirting last year and not playing in the first three contests,
Aaron Robinson has seen his minutes increase significantly as the season has progressed and had personal bests of eight points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's win over UMass, while
Andrew Robinson added 11.
MILESTONE WATCH
Senior forward
Chaise Daniels enters the Lafayette game with 832 points, on pace to become the 39th member of Quinnipiac's 1000-point club and 13th at the Division I level. The last players to do it were Zaid Hearst and Ousmane Drame in 2014-15. Daniels could finish in the top 10 in Quinnipiac's Division I history in scoring, in the top five in rebounding, and in second place in blocks (where he already stands with 136, behind only Drame).
BREAKOUT SEASON FROM YOUNG
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. With a new roster and a new coaching staff, Young has seized his new chance this year, emerging as Quinnipiac's second-leading scorer (14.1 ppg) and leading rebounder (6.3 rpg) through the first seven games. Young set career highs in everything in the Bobcats' near-upset over Colorado with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists on Nov. 17 at the Paradise Jam (he matched the 26 points two days later against Liberty). He ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (14th), rebounding (8th), steals (10th) and three-pointers (14th).
A GRADUATE JUNIOR?
Transfer shooting guard
Isaiah Washington is expected to have a big impact on 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, after his previous high scoring total in college was nine. In addition, he had 16 points in a narrow loss to Colorado on Nov. 17 and a team-high 14 in Wednesday's win over UMass, Washington (pictured) also drew the primary defensive assignment on UMass leading scorer Luwane Pipkins on Wednesday and helped hold him to 2-13 shooting. .
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 his currently pursuing an MBA. Chigha is a native of Cameroon, but came over to the United States to attend prep school in Florida at age 15, knowing only the words "yes" and "no" in English. He has only been home to see his family in Cameroon three times in the eight years since. He and senior guard
Greg Tarca were named team co-captains. Chigha had seven steals in a loss to Maine on Nov. 26, one shy of the school record.
INTO THE FIRE
The first commitment that
Baker Dunleavy had after being named to the head coaching position was local point guard
Rich Kelly, a Shelton, Connecticut native. Kelly originally signed on to a crowded backcourt and projected to be an understudy, but after four of last year's guards transferred out, Kelly quickly ascended into a major starting role. He has looked like a veteran in the early going, with 17 assists in the first two games, and currently ranks fourth in the MAAC with 5.4 assists per game.
A LONG ROAD TO HAMDEN
Many athletes have overcome obstacles to become college athletes, but few have beaten such long odds as junior forward
Abdulai Bundu. Bundu was born in 1996 in Sierra Leone in the middle of a civil war. His parents won an immigration lottery to escape the war and come to the United States, but could not secure visas for Abdulai (11 months) and his older brother (7)and had to make the agonizing decision to leave them behind with family and try to bring them over later. He survived four refugee camps before he was finally reunited with his parents in Maryland in 2003 when he was seven years old.
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.
BOBCATS INK FOUR IN FALL SIGNING PERIOD
Quinnipiac earned four commitments from guards in the fall signing period, who will help to give the Bobcats great perimeter weaponry over the next four seasons. 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 join the Bobcats next season as members of the Class of 2022.
NEXT UP
The Bobcats will be right back in action on Monday night when they travel to Columbia for a 7 p.m. contest.
