Coming off the team’s best non-conference win in head coach Tim O’Toole’s five years at Fairfield Monday, the men’s basketball team prepares to open its MAAC schedule tonight against Iona, a team that swept the Stags in the teams’ two meetings last year.
The Stags won their first game of the year Monday when the team defeated UNC-Wilmington 69-60 in O.T. Fairfield (1-2) grabbed an early lead, similar to the team’s first two games against Harvard and St. John’s, but with one glaring difference, Monday the Stags were able to seal the victory by hitting 11-13 free-throws in the extra session.
“Without question, this is the best non-conference win since I’ve been here,” O’Toole said after the game. “This is huge. I don’t think we could do any better.”
UNC-Wilmington (2-2) was picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association title this year after returning four starters from last year’s team that defeated USC in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and crushed Fairfield by 25 points during the regular season.
“What’s encouraging to me, maybe because we went through it twice [Harvard, St. John’s], there was a breaking point again and this time we didn’t buckle,” O’Toole said. “This gives us great momentum. We needed this going into Iona.”
The Stags opened their conference schedule last year against Iona as well, falling to the Gaels 82-78 at the Arena at Harbor Yard and then suffered a 90-79 setback when the two teams played at Iona. Fairfield will face the Gaels tonight at 7:30 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
Fairfield will need to contain the play of senior guard/forward Courtney Fields, a preseason first team All-MAAC selection, who scored a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds and junior forward/center Greg Jenkins, a preseason second team All-MAAC pick, who also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the teams’ second encounter last year.
Senior guard Maceo Wofford torched Fairfield in the team’s first meeting for a game-high 21 points to lead Iona to a comeback victory.
Forward Nick Delfico ’03 says Monday’s win over UNC-Wilmington will help give the Stags the added confidence boost they have been searching for.
The Stags’ poise has been steadily rising this year, especially after the team’s narrow 81-68 loss to Big East foe St. John’s last Saturday in front of a record crowd of 5,277 at the Arena at Harbor Yard, after getting pummeled by the Red Storm 95-56 last year.
“Our margin of error is so low because we are down guys,” O’Toole said Saturday after the loss to St. John’s. “When you’re up against great teams you shoot yourself in the foot with these mental breakdowns.”
Good news for Fairfield, however, is that forward Jeremy Logan ’03, who has been out with a knee injury, has begun to practice and should be in the Stags lineup either Saturday against DePaul or definitely Tuesday against Marist, according to O’Toole. Forward Ajou Deng has also started to participate in contact-practices and should be ready to play Dec. 28 against Fordham.
Leave a Reply