This past Friday, the Men’s basketball team opened up their home schedule against the Bloodhounds of John Jay College and won the matchup 93-44. Although the win came against a D-III opponent, it added to the continual improvement the Stags are experiencing on a game-to-game basis.
In the matchup, the Stags recorded 10 different scorers with Prophet Johnson ‘26 having a double-double entailing 25 points and 13 rebounds. Peyton Smith ‘27 and graduate student Louis Bleechmore followed with 14 and 13 points respectively. With 8 new scholarship players, Coach Casey warned that chemistry would be a development throughout the season; a game against a DIII opponent was a great chance to display new talent and build an identity.
Fairfield Athletics reported an attendance of 2,187 out of its 3,500 capacity which is neither astounding nor disappointing. There definitely was some contagious energy in the crowd that was elevated by DJ Tristan’s music and some great hecklers sitting up front. There will predictably be an increase in sales once the team enters their more competitive conference schedule and it may become difficult to claim free tickets close to tip-off.
At The Mirror’s time of printing, the Stags will have played the Dragons of Drexel the night previous, which would be a potentially solid non-conference win against a team who has been struggling this season.
This weekend the team is competing in the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-off in Mohegan Sun’s arena. The first matchup will be against Yale at 2:30 p.m. As of time of writing, the Bulldogs have a deceptive record of 2-3 as they have gone toe to toe with multiple BIG 10 opponents. The first came against 13th-ranked Purdue who they only lost to by nine points. The second matchup was against the University of Minnesota, in which they lost in a 56-59 thriller. Fans of March Madness might remember Yale’s John Poulakidas’ legendary performance to upset Auburn in the NCAA tournament last year, and unfortunately for Fairfield, he is still playing his heart out for the Bulldogs and averaging over 20 points a game.
The second matchup of the weekend is against the University of Vermont on Sunday at 1 p.m.. The Catamounts have struggled to date and have bad losses to Merrimack and Iona but should nevertheless not be underlooked. In the 2023-24 season, Vermont won the American East Championship and secured an NCAA playoff berth.
There has been a pervasive instinct to write off the basketball team among some students at Fairfield, especially after the blowout loss against Rhode Island. This is disappointing considering the team is coming off a season in which they were one game away from a conference championship and a chance in the playoffs. In-conference foes such as St. Peters and Iona have had success in the tourney, yet students don’t have faith their home squad can reach the same echelon. Such pessimistic thoughts are uneducated and drain the school spirit. The basketball team is good but it can reach new levels if the community surrounds and supports it. The next home game is on Sunday, December 1st at 2 p.m. against Fairleigh Dickinson; come support the Stags and respond to Coach Casey’s call.
“We need to get everybody out, every game, and make every game a sell-out, and make it the hardest place to play in the conference.”
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