Fairfield – New Hampshire Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 -
Nov 21, 2023 22:00:35 GMT -5
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Post by reindeerfan on Nov 21, 2023 22:00:35 GMT -5
Early Edition Game Notes is intended to be fun, informative and sometime irreverent way to look at the numbers, but if you take this stuff too seriously you are cautioned against reading any further. Please proceed at your own risk!
PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!
.
Fairfield – New Hampshire Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 - 201
Fairfield University (1-4, 0-0 MAAC) VS New Hampshire (3-2, 0-0 AE)
Friday, November 17, 2023 • 7:00 PM
Fairfield, CT
SERIES HISTORY
Fairfield and New Hampshire will meet for the 14th time in a series which began during the 1977-78 season. The Stags won the first match-up by a score of 90-55 behind a game-high 26 points from Joe DeSantis and a strong performance from Flip Williams who scored 25. Fairfield lost the last contest 83-71 as Kyree Brown had 25 points for UNH on 8 for 10 shooting from the floor along with 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Caleb Fields led the Stags with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while James Johns had one of his best games of the season with 13 points. The Stags own a 10-3 advantage in the series, winning eight of the first nine meetings. Two of the closest and most memorable games in the series occurred during the 1980’s when Fairfield’s 1985-86 squad eeked out a 2 point 65-63 win on the road in New Hampshire thanks to 24 points from Tony George and 7 boards from Pat Yerina. A close contest ensued in the rematch the following season with AJ Wynder leading the Stags with 17 points in a 63-60 home victory.
CIT FOES
Fairfield lost at home to New Hampshire in the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (77-62 at Alumni Hall).
TEAM NAME AND MASCOT TRADITION
The Wildcat was officially voted in as the mascot for UNH on February 4, 1926. The school had played under other names like the Durham Bulls prior to 1926. N.H. went on record as favoring the wildcat for four reasons:
1. The wildcat is small and aggressive -- like New Hampshire.
2. The actions of the wildcat are more symbolic of a New Hampshire team on the field than those of the sluggish bull.
3. The actual mascot, if a wildcat, could be more easily transported from place to place than a bull.
4. The most desired name "Purple Cows" was no longer available as it had been grabbed by Williams College a few years earlier.
UNH went through a series of live mascots including Maizie(1927-1929), Bozo aka Skippy(1932-1933) (who disappeared and was never found) and Butch (1934-1939). Butch was stolen a week before the Harvard game, and while no one ever claimed responsibility for the theft, Butch was found in Massachusetts in a cage with the words Harvard written on it. Next in the series of live mascots was Butch the II(1940) who lived for only one week, making him not much of a live mascot. Following Butch the II's untimely demise in 1940, the era of lives mascots ended until 1969 when "Fudge" appeared on the scene. Fudge was considered tame and was not caged at sporting events. He often slept during games, but arose if the coach yelled get the fudge up.
The first official Wildcat costume made its debut in the fall of 1968. Thirty-two years later in 2000, the athletic department created a new wildcat logo and at this same time they also developed a friendlier mascot, called Wild E. Cat, for use with the children's programs. The costume appealed to young children but was a cat-astrophe in the eyes of students who considered the mascot to be like President Duck's last year in office. You know, incredibly lame. So in 2008 a more athletic, muscular looking character was created as a second mascot. A contest was held to choose a name for this new mascot, and despite receiving a plethora of really great name suggestions like Copy Cat, Puddy Tat, Keggy, Deaf Leopard, Paw McCartney, Rambo, Ameowlia Earhart, Cindy Clawford, Meowley Cyrus amd Obi-Wan Katnobi, an athletic department poll selected the name Gnarlz - pronounced "Narlz" from the more than 50 suggestions. Despite the addition of Gnarlz, in 2010 the university wanted to get away from the idea of their cartoonish Wild E. Cat, and so they hired a roadrunner to roll a giant stone on top of the old costume and in 2010 a new Wild E. Cat was unveiled. UNH's Associate Athletic Director, Amber Radzevich, described the new Wild. E Cat as "more better" than the old one. Most UNH students would agree with that assessment.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
New Hampshire enters the game with a 3-2 record following a 74-71 win over Marist on Tuesday night. Three Wildcats reached double figures in the victory including Clarence Daniels(23), Ahmad Robinson(16), and Trey Woodyard(10). Daniels leads the Wildcats in both scoring (21.3 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg). The Wildcats added Paul Gakmar, Naim Miller, Davide Poser, Dior Davis, Ahmad Robinson and Alex Tavares in the offseason joining returning players Jon Willeman, Rex Sunderland, Christian Moore, Promise Opurum, Ridvan Tutic, Trey Woodyard, Jaxson Baker and Clarence Daniels. The Wildcats lead America East in average points per game averaging 82.0. The UNH defense is on the top of the league for defense, allowing the lowest opponent field goal percentage (0.345) and second in opponent 3-pt percentage (0.233).
COMIC OF THE DAY
HeathCliff
Heathcliff is an American comic strip created by George Gately in 1973, featuring the title character, an orange cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, which took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988
LAUNCHING FROM DEEP
Fairfield had another off shooting night from deep going 6-23 for their lowest three point shooting percentage of the season .261
70 POINTS CLUB
The Stags were held below 70 points for the second straight game. Fairfield won a very high percentage of their games in the Jay Young era when surpassing 70 points.
DOUBLE DIGIT MAN
Brycene Goodine reached double digits for the fifth straight game. But his 11 points versus Queens was his lowest scoring game of the season.
MAN OF STEALS
Jasper Floyd has 11 steals so far this season, averaging 2.2 steals per game. There are only 4 seasons where a Stag has averaged as many as 2 steals per game:
1. Kyle Commodore, 1998-99 2.7
2. A.J. Wynder, 1984-85 2.4
3. Didier Boucard, 1996-97 2.2
4. Kyle Commodore, 1997-98 2.0
Jasper has a chance to challenge Kyle Commodore’s single season mark from the 1999 season.
HOT SHOT ROOKIE
Peyton Smith was named MAAC rookie of the week scoring in double figures in all three games for the Stags averaging 13.0 points per contest. Smith shot .692 from the floor, .500 from three-point range and made both of his free throw attempts, while hauling in 5.7 rebounds per outing.
I LOVE NEW HAMPSHIRE
In his freshman debut last year against New Hampshire James Johns, Jr netted 13 points. That number stood as his season high and remains he career high versus a Division 1 opponent. While all players achieve a new career high in their inaugural game, the only Stag player* ever to have this career high stand for four seasons was Kyle Commodore who scored 22 points in his career debut versus Monmouth.
*Minimum 500 career points.
This year, Johns scored a new career high of 17 points in his season debut versus D2 Mount Saint Mary’s.
CONNECTING OFTEN
Entering the game versus Queens, BG was connecting from deep at rate that would have challenged Tyler Nelson’s record of 3.2 made 3-point baskets per game. But his 0-3 performance from deep lowered his average for the season 2.4 (which would still place him in the top 5 all time behind Nelson, Taliaferro, Nelson and Flavors).
HELPING OTHERS
Jasper Floyd enters the game versus New Hampshire averaging 5.4 Assists per game. If he could maintain this average he would finish among the top 10 all time in Assists per game in a single season at Fairfield.
Player Years Ast per game avg
1. John Ryan, 1973-74 11.6
2. John Ryan, 1972-73 9.1
3. Joe DeSantis, 1978-79 7.4
4. Joe DeSantis, 1977-78 6.9
5. Joe DeSantis, 1976-77 6.8
6. Danny Odums, 1974-75 6.5
7. Jonathan Han, 2007-08 6.2
8. Marvin Walters, 1988-89 6.1
9. A.J. Wynder, 1985-86 5.3
10. Johnnie Jones, 1991-92 5.2
John Ryan, 1971-1972 5.2
John Ryan who holds the school record for assists per game would be among the tops in NCAA history all time, however assists were not an official NCAA statistic at the time he played. The NCAA record of 13.3 belong to Avery Johnson, Southern U., 1988 (399 in 30).
HIGH PERCENTAGE SHOOTERS
Two Stags are shooting 40% or higher from deep so far this season. They include Michael Rogan, who is 12-21 (.571) and Brycene Goodine 22-47(.468). No Stag with 50 or more attempts averaged over 40% from deep last season, the last player to accomplish this feat was TJ Long(.403) during the 2021-2022 season.
(Editors note: Jack Brown was .500 from deep last year on limited attempts)
While its only five games into the season, BG and MR are both shooting at a rate that would eclipse the Stags all time record for three point shooting percentage. Only two Stags have ever finished a season above 45% with at least 100 attempts (Mike Evanovich .471 2009-10 and Shane Miller .467 1995-96). To qualify as a leader in accordance with official NCAA standards a player must average at least 2.5 made 3 point baskets per game and appear in at least 75% of a teams games. Using this standard only Landon Taliaferro has averaged over 40%(2018-19.4232)
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental protection has developed a new website for released rare wild cats, which helps them to connect, keep tabs on each other, and discover new opportunities. The state’s pretty optimistic about LynxedIn.
MAGIC NUMBERS
19 – Wins needed to get to 20. The Stags have not surpassed 20 wins in more than 10 years (2011-12 season)
22 – The number of wins Chris Casey will need to surpass Paul Cormier for 30th place all-time in MAAC coaching victories.
117 – Number of days until the MAAC Tournament begins
128 – The number of points Caleb Fields needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
154 – The number of points Alexis Yetna needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
645 – The number of points Jalen Leach needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
774 - The number of points Brycen Goodine needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
903 – The number of points James Johns needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
HEARD BUT PROBABLY NOT TRUE
TURKEY SEASON
Chris Casey bought a shot gun and decided he would shoot his first turkey this thanksgiving. Reports are he scared the daylights out of everyone in the frozen food section…..
With apologies to Chris Casey and happy thanksgiving to the Casey Family…..
Driver Swerves To Avoid Hitting Deer
A Fairfield area driver narrowly avoided disaster, thanks to a split-second maneuver. The driver, Tony Musico reportedly swerved his vehicle Thursday to avoid a deer that was standing right in the middle of a basketball court. “It came out of nowhere,” said the 68 year old Musico, who acknowledged he didn’t use his turn signal when entering Mahoney Arena. Fairfield officials questioned Musico on why he brought his vehicle into the arena, but upon further examination, Musico was clearly in the right as there were no “do not enter” signs posted. The deer, who reportedly goes by the name “Lucas,” stated he could have easily avoided the collision if Musico hadn’t turned his headlights on. According to a source close the athletic department, in addition to requesting a “Do not enter sign” on the entrance to Mahoney area, Lucas has also asked for “No Hunting” signs to be posted. Meanwhile, Musico threatened to come back next week in bigger vehicle. According to Musico, if there is an accident, I want to get a little more bang for the buck…..
With apologies to anyone with the first name Tony or last name Musico…..
HAPPY THANKSGIVING STAGS FANS!
PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!
.Fairfield – New Hampshire Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 - 201
Fairfield University (1-4, 0-0 MAAC) VS New Hampshire (3-2, 0-0 AE)
Friday, November 17, 2023 • 7:00 PM
Fairfield, CT
SERIES HISTORY
Fairfield and New Hampshire will meet for the 14th time in a series which began during the 1977-78 season. The Stags won the first match-up by a score of 90-55 behind a game-high 26 points from Joe DeSantis and a strong performance from Flip Williams who scored 25. Fairfield lost the last contest 83-71 as Kyree Brown had 25 points for UNH on 8 for 10 shooting from the floor along with 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Caleb Fields led the Stags with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while James Johns had one of his best games of the season with 13 points. The Stags own a 10-3 advantage in the series, winning eight of the first nine meetings. Two of the closest and most memorable games in the series occurred during the 1980’s when Fairfield’s 1985-86 squad eeked out a 2 point 65-63 win on the road in New Hampshire thanks to 24 points from Tony George and 7 boards from Pat Yerina. A close contest ensued in the rematch the following season with AJ Wynder leading the Stags with 17 points in a 63-60 home victory.
CIT FOES
Fairfield lost at home to New Hampshire in the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (77-62 at Alumni Hall).
TEAM NAME AND MASCOT TRADITION
The Wildcat was officially voted in as the mascot for UNH on February 4, 1926. The school had played under other names like the Durham Bulls prior to 1926. N.H. went on record as favoring the wildcat for four reasons:
1. The wildcat is small and aggressive -- like New Hampshire.
2. The actions of the wildcat are more symbolic of a New Hampshire team on the field than those of the sluggish bull.
3. The actual mascot, if a wildcat, could be more easily transported from place to place than a bull.
4. The most desired name "Purple Cows" was no longer available as it had been grabbed by Williams College a few years earlier.
UNH went through a series of live mascots including Maizie(1927-1929), Bozo aka Skippy(1932-1933) (who disappeared and was never found) and Butch (1934-1939). Butch was stolen a week before the Harvard game, and while no one ever claimed responsibility for the theft, Butch was found in Massachusetts in a cage with the words Harvard written on it. Next in the series of live mascots was Butch the II(1940) who lived for only one week, making him not much of a live mascot. Following Butch the II's untimely demise in 1940, the era of lives mascots ended until 1969 when "Fudge" appeared on the scene. Fudge was considered tame and was not caged at sporting events. He often slept during games, but arose if the coach yelled get the fudge up.
The first official Wildcat costume made its debut in the fall of 1968. Thirty-two years later in 2000, the athletic department created a new wildcat logo and at this same time they also developed a friendlier mascot, called Wild E. Cat, for use with the children's programs. The costume appealed to young children but was a cat-astrophe in the eyes of students who considered the mascot to be like President Duck's last year in office. You know, incredibly lame. So in 2008 a more athletic, muscular looking character was created as a second mascot. A contest was held to choose a name for this new mascot, and despite receiving a plethora of really great name suggestions like Copy Cat, Puddy Tat, Keggy, Deaf Leopard, Paw McCartney, Rambo, Ameowlia Earhart, Cindy Clawford, Meowley Cyrus amd Obi-Wan Katnobi, an athletic department poll selected the name Gnarlz - pronounced "Narlz" from the more than 50 suggestions. Despite the addition of Gnarlz, in 2010 the university wanted to get away from the idea of their cartoonish Wild E. Cat, and so they hired a roadrunner to roll a giant stone on top of the old costume and in 2010 a new Wild E. Cat was unveiled. UNH's Associate Athletic Director, Amber Radzevich, described the new Wild. E Cat as "more better" than the old one. Most UNH students would agree with that assessment.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
New Hampshire enters the game with a 3-2 record following a 74-71 win over Marist on Tuesday night. Three Wildcats reached double figures in the victory including Clarence Daniels(23), Ahmad Robinson(16), and Trey Woodyard(10). Daniels leads the Wildcats in both scoring (21.3 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg). The Wildcats added Paul Gakmar, Naim Miller, Davide Poser, Dior Davis, Ahmad Robinson and Alex Tavares in the offseason joining returning players Jon Willeman, Rex Sunderland, Christian Moore, Promise Opurum, Ridvan Tutic, Trey Woodyard, Jaxson Baker and Clarence Daniels. The Wildcats lead America East in average points per game averaging 82.0. The UNH defense is on the top of the league for defense, allowing the lowest opponent field goal percentage (0.345) and second in opponent 3-pt percentage (0.233).
COMIC OF THE DAY
HeathCliff
Heathcliff is an American comic strip created by George Gately in 1973, featuring the title character, an orange cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, which took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988
LAUNCHING FROM DEEP
Fairfield had another off shooting night from deep going 6-23 for their lowest three point shooting percentage of the season .261
70 POINTS CLUB
The Stags were held below 70 points for the second straight game. Fairfield won a very high percentage of their games in the Jay Young era when surpassing 70 points.
DOUBLE DIGIT MAN
Brycene Goodine reached double digits for the fifth straight game. But his 11 points versus Queens was his lowest scoring game of the season.
MAN OF STEALS
Jasper Floyd has 11 steals so far this season, averaging 2.2 steals per game. There are only 4 seasons where a Stag has averaged as many as 2 steals per game:
1. Kyle Commodore, 1998-99 2.7
2. A.J. Wynder, 1984-85 2.4
3. Didier Boucard, 1996-97 2.2
4. Kyle Commodore, 1997-98 2.0
Jasper has a chance to challenge Kyle Commodore’s single season mark from the 1999 season.
HOT SHOT ROOKIE
Peyton Smith was named MAAC rookie of the week scoring in double figures in all three games for the Stags averaging 13.0 points per contest. Smith shot .692 from the floor, .500 from three-point range and made both of his free throw attempts, while hauling in 5.7 rebounds per outing.
I LOVE NEW HAMPSHIRE
In his freshman debut last year against New Hampshire James Johns, Jr netted 13 points. That number stood as his season high and remains he career high versus a Division 1 opponent. While all players achieve a new career high in their inaugural game, the only Stag player* ever to have this career high stand for four seasons was Kyle Commodore who scored 22 points in his career debut versus Monmouth.
*Minimum 500 career points.
This year, Johns scored a new career high of 17 points in his season debut versus D2 Mount Saint Mary’s.
CONNECTING OFTEN
Entering the game versus Queens, BG was connecting from deep at rate that would have challenged Tyler Nelson’s record of 3.2 made 3-point baskets per game. But his 0-3 performance from deep lowered his average for the season 2.4 (which would still place him in the top 5 all time behind Nelson, Taliaferro, Nelson and Flavors).
HELPING OTHERS
Jasper Floyd enters the game versus New Hampshire averaging 5.4 Assists per game. If he could maintain this average he would finish among the top 10 all time in Assists per game in a single season at Fairfield.
Player Years Ast per game avg
1. John Ryan, 1973-74 11.6
2. John Ryan, 1972-73 9.1
3. Joe DeSantis, 1978-79 7.4
4. Joe DeSantis, 1977-78 6.9
5. Joe DeSantis, 1976-77 6.8
6. Danny Odums, 1974-75 6.5
7. Jonathan Han, 2007-08 6.2
8. Marvin Walters, 1988-89 6.1
9. A.J. Wynder, 1985-86 5.3
10. Johnnie Jones, 1991-92 5.2
John Ryan, 1971-1972 5.2
John Ryan who holds the school record for assists per game would be among the tops in NCAA history all time, however assists were not an official NCAA statistic at the time he played. The NCAA record of 13.3 belong to Avery Johnson, Southern U., 1988 (399 in 30).
HIGH PERCENTAGE SHOOTERS
Two Stags are shooting 40% or higher from deep so far this season. They include Michael Rogan, who is 12-21 (.571) and Brycene Goodine 22-47(.468). No Stag with 50 or more attempts averaged over 40% from deep last season, the last player to accomplish this feat was TJ Long(.403) during the 2021-2022 season.
(Editors note: Jack Brown was .500 from deep last year on limited attempts)
While its only five games into the season, BG and MR are both shooting at a rate that would eclipse the Stags all time record for three point shooting percentage. Only two Stags have ever finished a season above 45% with at least 100 attempts (Mike Evanovich .471 2009-10 and Shane Miller .467 1995-96). To qualify as a leader in accordance with official NCAA standards a player must average at least 2.5 made 3 point baskets per game and appear in at least 75% of a teams games. Using this standard only Landon Taliaferro has averaged over 40%(2018-19.4232)
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental protection has developed a new website for released rare wild cats, which helps them to connect, keep tabs on each other, and discover new opportunities. The state’s pretty optimistic about LynxedIn.
MAGIC NUMBERS
19 – Wins needed to get to 20. The Stags have not surpassed 20 wins in more than 10 years (2011-12 season)
22 – The number of wins Chris Casey will need to surpass Paul Cormier for 30th place all-time in MAAC coaching victories.
117 – Number of days until the MAAC Tournament begins
128 – The number of points Caleb Fields needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
154 – The number of points Alexis Yetna needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
645 – The number of points Jalen Leach needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
774 - The number of points Brycen Goodine needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
903 – The number of points James Johns needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
HEARD BUT PROBABLY NOT TRUE
TURKEY SEASON
Chris Casey bought a shot gun and decided he would shoot his first turkey this thanksgiving. Reports are he scared the daylights out of everyone in the frozen food section…..
With apologies to Chris Casey and happy thanksgiving to the Casey Family…..
Driver Swerves To Avoid Hitting Deer
A Fairfield area driver narrowly avoided disaster, thanks to a split-second maneuver. The driver, Tony Musico reportedly swerved his vehicle Thursday to avoid a deer that was standing right in the middle of a basketball court. “It came out of nowhere,” said the 68 year old Musico, who acknowledged he didn’t use his turn signal when entering Mahoney Arena. Fairfield officials questioned Musico on why he brought his vehicle into the arena, but upon further examination, Musico was clearly in the right as there were no “do not enter” signs posted. The deer, who reportedly goes by the name “Lucas,” stated he could have easily avoided the collision if Musico hadn’t turned his headlights on. According to a source close the athletic department, in addition to requesting a “Do not enter sign” on the entrance to Mahoney area, Lucas has also asked for “No Hunting” signs to be posted. Meanwhile, Musico threatened to come back next week in bigger vehicle. According to Musico, if there is an accident, I want to get a little more bang for the buck…..
With apologies to anyone with the first name Tony or last name Musico…..
HAPPY THANKSGIVING STAGS FANS!
Edition 201 @stagsmensbball , #stagsmensbball, #MAACHoops , #heardbutprobablynottrue , #EEGN , #HBPNT ♫2023-2024♫
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