Men's Basketball Faces Off With Quinnipiac Looking to Punch Their Ticket to the MAAC Title Game

The Particulars
Saint Peter's (17-11, 14-6 MAAC) vs. Quinnipiac (14-16, 7-11 MAAC)
Date: Friday, March 11, 2022 (8:30 PM)
Location: Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, N.J.)
Network: ESPNews

Tip-Off

• Riding a five-game winning streak, the Saint Peter's men's basketball team looks to punch a ticket to the MAAC Tournament Championship game for the first time since 2010-11 after defeating Fairfield 77-63 in the Quarterfinal matchup Wednesday night.
• Quinnipiac comes into the contest after taking down Siena in their Quarterfinal contest Thursday night as they became the first #11 seed to advance to the MAAC semis.

Last Time Out

• After a dominant first half effort that led to a 25-point lead at halftime, the Peacocks held on in the second half to defeat Fairfield 77-63 Wednesday night inside Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
• The Peacocks have now advanced to the MAAC Tournament Semifinals in three consecutive seasons and are currently riding a five-game win streak as they improved to 17-11 overall this season.
• Senior KC Ndefo led SPU offensively with 20 points as he reached the 20-point plateau for the second time this season (vs. Niagara 1/21/22) while also adding three blocks and two steals.
• Juniors Daryl Banks III and Fousseyni Drame joined Ndefo in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively, as the Peacocks shot 50 percent from the floor in the win.
• In the first half, SPU raced out to an 11-0 lead and outscored Fairfield 44-19 after shooting 58.6% from the floor while holding the Stags to just five made field goals and a 21.7% shooting percentage.
• SPU has now won at least one MAAC Tournament game in each of the past six seasons.

The Series

• All-time: Saint Peter's leads 14-6
• Streak: Saint Peter's (3)
• Last Saint Peter's Win: 2/4/22 (W, 83-74 @ SPU)
• Last Quinnipiac Win: 3/4/21 (L, 65-60 @ QU)

Quick Hitters

• After nearly a month between games from Dec. 18 to Jan. 14, SPU has gone 14-5 in the 2022 calendar year to finish 14-6 in MAAC play in the regular season and earn the #2 seed in the MAAC Tournament.
• KC Ndefo, the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year heads into the contest averaging 11.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 blocks per game in MAAC contests this season. He was named Second Team All-MAAC earlier this week and is now the three-time defending MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
• Daryl Banks III leads the Peacocks offensively overall on the season averaging 11.3 points per game this season. Banks has scored in double figures 18 times this season with 14 of those performances coming against MAAC opponents including each of the last six contests.
• SPU heads into the contest with one of the top defenses in the MAAC, leading the conference and ranking 22nd in DI allowing just 62.4 points per game.
• After the win over Fairfield on Friday, Feb. 18, SPU won its 10th MAAC contest for the third consecutive season. It is the first time the Peacocks have won double-digit conference contests in three straight seasons since 1986-89.

Shot BlocKing

• The 2021-22 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, Ndefo now has a program-best career total of 289 blocks, good for the fifth-most among active players in DI.
• In the home win over Quinnipiac on Friday, Feb. 4, Ndefo swatted 11 shots to set the single-game program record for blocks in a game. It was tied for the second-most blocked shots all-time in a MAAC game.
• After leading the country in blocks per game in 2020-21, Ndefo is atop the MAAC and is 15th in the country with 2.68 blocked shots per game this season.

Money From the Stripe

• Saint Peter's has two of the top free throw shooters in the MAAC in Doug Edert and Banks III. Edert is now the MAAC leader shooting 88.7 percent from the stripe this season while Banks is fourth shooting 85.0 percent from the line.
• From Nov. 27 to Jan. 26, Banks III made 34 straight free throws which is currently the fourth-longest streak in Division I this season.
• In total, the duo has missed just 19 free throws in 142 attempts headed into the contest.

Defense Wins Championships

• The Peacocks have allowed under 70 points in 17 of their last 20 games and hold a 16-5 record this season when allowing less than 70.
• Thus far this season, SPU leads the MAAC in scoring defense and opponents' field goal percentage and steals per game while ranking second in the conference in blocked shots per game and turnovers forced per game.
• The Peacocks currently rank 25th in the NCAA in opponents' 3-point percentage and 16th in overall field goal percentage defense.

Balancing Act

• SPU has had one of the most balanced groups in the country this season and have had 22 consecutive games with at least eight different scorers.
• Offensively, nine different players have scored in double figures in a game this season.
• Of the 12 student-athletes who have seen action in a game this season, all 12 have at least one start. Additionally, all 12 are averaging at least 9.0 minutes per contest.

Threes Please

• As a team, SPU is ranked second in the MAAC shooting 35.1 percent from 3-point range as a team this season.
• Edert leads the way for the Peacocks and sits third in the conference shooting 41.8 percent from downtown on the year which would rank 18th in the country if he met the NCAA qualifying number of attempts.
• Banks III also sits in the top-10 in the MAAC shooting 36.7 percent from deep to rank 10th overall.

Crashing the Boards

• The Peacocks are one of the top rebounding teams in the MAAC, leading the league with a +3.6 rebounding margin this season.
• SPU has done a marvelous job on the offensive glass this season as they sit second in the conference and 80th in the country with 11.3 offensive rebounds per game.
• Positive results on the boards has been a strong indicator of success for the Peacocks this season as they have outrebounded their opponent in 11 of their 17 victories on the year.

Brushing Up on the Bobcats

• Quinnipiac comes into the contest with a 14-16 overall record and closed the regular season 7-11 record in MAAC play.
• The Bobcats defeated #6 Marist and #3 Siena in the first two rounds of the MAAC Tournament to advance to Friday night's semifinal. Graduate student Jacob Rigoni led Quinnipiac in scoring in both contests with 26 in the opening round and 16 in the quarterfinal.
• Junior Matt Balanc is the leading scorer for the Bobcats this season averaging 14.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Balanc was the Bobcats' leading scorer in both contests against the Peacocks earlier this season, going for 20 in the first contest and 17 in the matchup in Jersey City.
• Graduate student Kevin Marfo is a force down low averaging nearly a double-double with 9.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Marfo leads the MAAC and is 29th in the country with 11 double-doubles this season including two in both games against SPU this season.
• As a team, Quinnipiac is the top 3-point shooting team in the league averaging 9.1 made 3-pointers per game. The Bobcats also lead the MAAC and rank 23rd in the country in free throw percentage shooting 76.7 percent.
• Quinnipac has struggled at times defensively this season as they rank 10th in the conference allowing 71.7 points per game on the year. The Bobcats are also at the bottom of the league in 3-point percentage defense.
• This is the first meeting in the MAAC Tournament between the SPU and the Bobcats since Quinnipiac joined the MAAC in the 2013-14 season.

Up Next

• The winner of the contest between the Saints and the Peacocks will advance to Saturday's championship contest against the winner of the other semifinal matchup between #9 Rider and #4 Monmouth at 4:00 p.m. on ESPNU.

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