On a snowy weekend that might cause people to slip and fall, the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team remained on its feet, defeating the Manhattan Jaspers 76-59.
Quinnipiac came into the game after defeating the MAAC preseason favorite Rider Broncs, 88-84. If you asked head coach Tom Pecora, Sunday’s game had every making of a trap game for the surging Bobcats.
“I thought the way we carried ourselves was good. We stayed focused,” Pecora said. “It wasn’t an oil painting, but it was a W.”
For the Bobcats, it makes things a lot easier for the team when senior forward Paul Otieno has back-to-back 20-point games, scoring 23 points along with nine rebounds to go with it.
Not just against Rider and Manhattan but for the entire season, when both graduate guard Savion Lewis’ and Otieno’s numbers are called, the forward from Niarobi, Kenya knows what is going to happen.
“I am going to score,” Otieno. “It’s fun. I know exactly what is going to happen every time.”
In the first half , the game looked a lot like the second half of their game against the Broncs, with the Bobcats scoring 42 points in the first half to the Jaspers 27. One thing that worked to erase the 15-point deficit on Friday was the full court press.
In year’s past, former Quinnipiac men’s basketball coach Baker Dunleavy has never shown a “blitzing” press that the team has showcased the past two games, only a conservative three-quarters court pressure from his mentor and former Villanova head coach, Jay Wright.
“It’s something you need to have in your arsenal,” Pecora said. “We’re built for it, but it is not easy to do. It’s those ball rotations that are challenging and that’s where you got to get a lot of repetitions.”
The pressure is new to the men’s basketball team under Pecora, which has led to the game being sped up both nights, in turn leading to more offensive possessions. Twenty of the 42 points scored in the first half all came off turnovers.
“The key to turnovers is that we get to go the other way,” Pecora said. “It disheartens a team. I have been on the other side of that where we’re throwing the ball around and it looks like dodgeball.”
Sophomore forward Amarri Tice recorded a game and season-high five steals to complement his third double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“Everytime (Quinnipiac’s head strength and conditioning coach Brijesh Patel) says get a double-double tonight, I end up getting a double-double,” Tice said after the game.
Tice has blossomed into a legitimate scorer and playmaker for this team, ranking third on the team in scoring and even leading the team in rebounds over Otieno.
“He’s a monster man,” Pecora said. “He doesn’t have any glaring weakness on the floor. He plays really hard. What more could you ask for from a young guy.”
Two games into 2024, the Bobcats have started 2-0 with a scoring margin of over 10 and a half points. It could be very easy to begin thinking about mid-March with only conference play the rest of the way. For Quinnipiac, they don’t want to be playing it’s best basketball now.
The Bobcats, a program that is still looking for their first NCAA tournament berth, have come close to making the big dance, but it’s about the work you do behind closed doors that is the difference for Pecora and company.
“It’s about sweat equity. It’s about how hard you work,” Pecora said. “The good things will fall into place, but it doesn’t just happen.”
Looking ahead, Quinnipiac will play two games in the next two weeks against Marist and Siena. Both games are on the road, but also a week apart from each other.
Marist has one of the best defenses statistically, allowing just under 63 points per game with teams shooting around 40% from the field.
In Sunday’s game against Manhattan, the Bobcats had four players in double figures and, th team currently averages just under 79 points per game, the best in the MAAC.
The league’s best offense and defense are set to go toe-to-toe this upcoming Friday in Poughkeepsie, New York.
