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Riverdale, NY - Manhattan returns to the Empire State to host Bucknell in the Jaspers' home opener on Saturday, November 21 at 7:00 pm.
TOP STORYLINES
#1 - Sophomore Calvin Crawford and redshirt freshman Samson Usilo are out for Saturday's match-up with Bucknell while senior RaShawn Stores and freshman Ak Ojo are listed as game-time decisions. That could leave the Jaspers with as few as seven scholarship active student-athletes.
#2 - A year ago, Manhattan, which defeated Marist 60-38 in last year's home lidlifter, went 9-2 at Draddy Gymnasium in 2014-2015 and are 34-13 in Riverdale under Steve Masiello.
#3 - The Jaspers last defeated the Bison over 84 years ago, besting Bucknell 41-29 on January 20, 1931.
QUICK HITS
* Masiello is in his fifth season at the helm of Manhattan and has compiled a 79-54 record with two MAAC Titles and three trips to the postseason. With one more win, he will become the sixth coach in school history with 80.
* Saturday's match-up marks Masiello's first-ever game as a head coach against a team from the Patriot League.
* The teams have split four previous meetings with Bucknell winning the most recent match-up by a 70-66 count in Tempe, AZ, on December 29, 1999. Bruce Seals led the way for the Jaspers with 19 points while Mars Mellish added 15 and Phil “Boo” Lane 14.
* Manhattan holds an all-time record of 111-128 against current members of the Patriot League.
* The Jaspers last played a Patriot League member when it defeated American 69-62 on November 25, 2007.
* Saturday's game is the second in a tough non-conference slate that features four games against teams that qualified for the postseason a year ago, including three (Saint Mary's, Bucknell, Memphis) that participated in the NIT. Additionally, six of the nine non conference opponents have qualified for the NCAA Tournament this decade.
* Playing with just six healthy scholarship players, Manhattan dropped an 89-63 decision at Saint Mary's while falling to 73-37, all-time, in openers.
* Senior Shane Richards led the way on offense, finishing with a game-high 23 points while notching at least 20 for the eighth time in his career. The Jaspers' single-season (92) and career (237) leader also went 3-for-4 from range, highlighted by a buzzer-beating bank three to end the first half, and is now just 37 points away from 1,000 for his career.
* A 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Second Team selection, Richards has now converted at least three triples in 50 of his 99 games and at least four 26 times. When the New York City native connects on four in a game, the Manhattan is 18-8, including 14-5 over the last three seasons.
* Richards also started his 34th straight game against the Gaels with the other four now having a combined 17 starts between them.
* Junior Rich Williams had a strong game off the bench in California, finishing with a career-high matching 16 points and seven rebounds over a career-best 35 minutes. The Brooklyn native also set career-highs for free throws (6) and free throw attempts (8) after attempting just 23 free throws a year ago.
* Sophomore Zane Waterman made the most of his career start at Saint Mary's, notching a career-high with 14 points, on 4-of-6 shooting, to go along with a career-best matching four rebounds.
* Junior Tyler Wilson recorded a career-high matching seven assists over 39 minutes against the Gaels. A year ago, Wilson dished out at least four on 13 occasions.
* Freshmen Jason Camus, Thomas Capuano and Matt Maloney all played in their first collegiate games at Saint Mary's with Capuano handing out a pair of assists and Maloney notching three points and two steals.
* Despite not being able to play their trademark pressure defense due to playing without Stores, Crawford, Usilo and Ojo, the Jaspers notched eight steals while also assisting on 13 of their 16 made field goals.
* A 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Third Team selection, Stores led the MAAC A year ago with a 2.9 assist/turnover rate a year ago while averaging 6.3 points and 3.0 assists each time out. More importantly, over the last two seasons the Jaspers are 36-14 when he starts, including going 17-8 last season.
* After halftime a year ago, Stores, who was granted an extra year of eligibility on July 22, 2015 by the NCAA, shot a blistering 47.2 percent (25-for-53) from long range in the second half of games with a 4.6 assist/turnover ratio.
* Both Richards & Stores are the only MAAC student-athletes to have played in each of the last three conference title games and have been a part of 58 total wins, including 44 over the last two seasons, and are 8-1 during MAAC Tournament play.
* The duo will be counted on to helped replace last year's three graduating seniors (Emmy Andujar, Donovan Kates & Ashton Pankey), as the trio accounted for 46.6 percent (1072-of-2300) of the team's scoring and 50.1 percent (534-of-1065) of the rebounding.
* Manhattan is 36-1 when leading at the half over the last two seasons, including going a perfect 15-0 a year ago. Additionally, the Jaspers were 16-2 in 2014-2015 when leading with five minutes to play and 12-9 in games decided by 10 points or less.
* Masiello's squad led the MAAC a year ago and ranked 20th nationally with 8.0 steals per game and is 18-2 over the last two seasons when forcing at least 10 in a game, including going 7-2 a year ago. Over the last four years, Manhattan is 29-5 when hitting the 10-steal standard.
* An offshoot of the frantic pace was that the Jaspers ranked second in the league and 49th nationally with a +1.94 turnover margin while ranking in the top-25 nationally with 573 free throws (23rd NCAA) and 829 free throw attempts (17th NCAA).
* Also over the last two years, Manhattan is 29-6 when holding teams to less than 70 points, 20-6 when limiting teams to less than 40 percent shooting, 22-6 when winning the battle of the boards, 29-11 when forcing more turnovers than the opposition.
* Last year, the Jaspers went 9-4 in the months of February and March, and are 20-6 the last two years and 28-10 since the start of 2012-2013.
* Manhattan claimed its second-straight MAAC Championship a year ago thanks to outscoring the opposition by 14.3 ppg in the three-game event while posting a +6.3 margin on the glass and limiting opposing shooters to a miniscule 38.0 percent (60-for-158) conversion rate, including 22.0 percent (11-for-50) from distance, while winning all three games by double-figures.
* Last season, the Jaspers started 4-8 before winning 15-of-21, including 11 of their final 15.
* Masiello, who holds a career record of 79-54 (49-27 MAAC), set the school-record for MAAC Tournament wins a year ago with his eighth against Iona while breaking current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla's previous mark.
* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has led Manhattan to two MAAC Championships as well as a pair of 20-plus win campaigns. In his first tenure, he was a part of two MAAC Championships and three 20-plus win seasons. All told, Masiello has been a member of four of the Jaspers' five MAAC Championship teams and five of their 12 20-win seasons while accruing a 162-90 record.
* In his 20th season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 440-200, including 319-172 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship appearances, two Final Four appearances, six Elite Eight berths, eight conference championships, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.
* Manhattan is one of just 11 teams to win back-to-back league titles and one of nine to play in its conference championship game in the last three seasons. The Jaspers are also one of just 78 teams, including one of three in the MAAC, that didn't lose a scholarship transfer in the offseason.
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
Defending Patriot League Regular Season Champion Bucknell enters this weekend's game with a record of 2-1, having defeated Shenandoah and Robert Morris while dropping a hard-fought decision to Wake Forest. The Bison boast an offense that has scored at least 80 points in all three games, led by Chris Hass (20.7 ppg).
BISON IN THE POSTSEASON
Bucknell has qualified for either the NCAA or NIT Tournaments in four of the last five years and defeated Arizona in the First Round of the 2012 NIT Championship.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
The Jaspers' two previous victories over Bucknell came during the 1929-1930 and 1930-1931 seasons, or when America was in the midst of the Great Depression and Herbert Hoover was in office.
HOME OPENERS
Masiello is 3-1 in home openers since taking over the program, including last year's 60-38 win over Marist.
NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
Manhattan will host Bucknell (11/21), George Mason (11/25), Columbia (12/9) and St. Francis Brooklyn (12/14) while playing at Saint Mary's (11/16), Fordham (11/28), Memphis (12/12), Morgan State (12/20) and Eastern Kentucky (12/29). Masiello is 22-24, all-time, against non-MAAC opposition during his five years in Riverdale, highlighted by a 6-4 mark at home.
THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Manhattan is slated to appear on the ESPN family of networks 11 times during the 2015-2016 season, including 10 during MAAC play.
NEWCOMERS
The Jaspers welcome five student-athletes to the fold this season in junior Zavier Turner and freshmen Camus, Capuano, Maloney and Ojo. Turner, who was the 2014 MAC Rookie of the Year, transferred to Riverdale from Ball State and will have two years of eligibility remaining beginning with next season.
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
Eight of the Manhattan's 14 student-athletes - Richards, Stores, Williams, Wilson, Crawford, Camus, Capuano and Maloney - hail from the state of New York.
MOVING ON UP
Richards scored a game-high 23 points against Saint Mary's and is just 37 points short of becoming the 37th member of the Jaspers' 1,000-point club.
WILLIAMS LEADS THE BENCH IN 2015
Williams paced the Jasper reserves with 16 points and seven rebounds at Saint Mary's after averaging a team-leading 6.0 ppg in 21 games off the bench in 2014-2015.
NEW LOOK AT DRADDY
Draddy Gymnasium will feature a state-of-the-art, sleek all-green look with white borders that will help showcase the school's brand in 2015-2016.
POWERS TO HAVE NUMBER RETIRED
Former Manhattan College student-athlete, Head Men's Basketball Coach and AD Jack Powers will become the first Jasper to have his basketball uniform number 34 retired. It will be raised to the rafters on 'Jack Powers Night,' at halftime of the Iona game at Draddy Gym on February 26, 2016.
UP NEXT
Manhattan hosts George Mason on Wednesday, November 25 at 7:00 pm.
