Fairfield St. Peters Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 - 219
Feb 9, 2024 11:53:13 GMT -5
FU73, baron72, and 2 more like this
Post by reindeerfan on Feb 9, 2024 11:53:13 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 – St. Peters Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 - 219
Fairfield University (14-9, 8-4 MAAC) VS St. Peters (11-10, 7-5 MAAC)
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 2:00
Yanitelli Recreational Center, Jersey City, NJ
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield completed a sweep of the Broncs making a solid claim for Second place in the Metro Atlantic conference. Fairfield has already eclipsed last season's win total and is one MAAC win shy of matching last year's nine conference victories. The Stags trailed Rider going into the half by a score of 39-35 but Fairfield took over the game in the second half with the Stags outscoring the Bronc's 49-28, after the break. Jasper Floyd, one of three 20 point scorers for Fairfield, was a big part of the second half dominance, scoring 18 of his 20 points after the intermission including 7-for-12 shooting with a pair of treys and a 4-for-4 evening at the free throw line. Jalen Leach scored 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including a 4-for-5 day from three-point range. He also hauled in a team-best seven rebounds and dished out five assists without a turnover. Leach has topped the 20-point plateau in three consecutive games and nine times this season. Caleb fields connected 4 times from deep on his way to 20 points. The starting guards accounted for 10 of the Stags' 11 three-pointers (11-for-21, 52.4%). Fairfield also got solid contributions from James Johns, Jr. who had one of this best games of the season with 7 points on 50% shooting. Louis Bleechmore added 6 points, Alexis Yetna 5, and Birima Seck tallied 4. Rider was led by Mervin James with 16 points.
THREE 20 POINT SCORERS
Jasper Floyd, Caleb Fields and Jalen Leach became the first Fairfield trio to each score 20 points in a game since Marcus Gilbert, Jerry Johnson and Tyler Nelson each surpassed 20 points versus Dartmouth on January, 4, 2016*.
*Source sports reference
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 130th match-up between Fairfield and St. Peters. The Stags have faced the Peacocks more times than any other program (129 times) with the Peacocks leading the series (65-64). St. Peters ended Fairfield’s season each of the last two seasons with wins over the Stags in the MAAC tournament. Fairfield won both regular season games last season by scores of 67-55 and 56-52. They also won the earlier contest this season by a score of 76-67.
MEMORABLE GAMES
The Stags have faced St. Peter’s more than any other team, so the list of memorable games that have taken place between these squads is exceptionally long. Forty-two of the games between these programs have been decided by 5 or less points. Five games have gone into overtime. The Teams have faced each other a total of 15 times in the MAAC tournament. To some degree all of these games were memorable in some respect. In today’s Early Edition, we will focus on an important game, to many a forgotten game, that was the only triple overtime contest between the programs.
THE FORGOTTEN GAME
In Fairfield’s second season as a Division I program they traveled down to St. Peter’s for an early season game versus the Peacocks. The Stags got off to a very slow start in the contest but took their first lead with 8 minutes remaining 49-47 on a Pat Burke jumper. With two minutes remaining in a 3 point game, Billy Jones sank a driving lay-up to give Fairfield a 5 point cushion. St. Peter's Rich Dreyer hit a lay-up and made the “and one,” cutting the Stags lead to 2. With 20 second remaining SPC's Peter O'Dea picked off Mike Branch's pass and drove the length of the floor to tie that game at 68. Pat Burke launched a long jumper with time expiring that missed, sending the game to overtime. In the first overtime with the game tied, St. Peter's had a chance to win but turned the ball over on a charge. Branch took a 40 foot jumper to try for the win which bounced off the rim as did Charlie Phillips attempt at a tip in. The second overtime ended with Saint Peter's Joe Repka missing a runner and Pete O'Dea missing a desperate attempt at a tip in. In the third overtime Mike Branch took over the game scoring 8 points while dominating the boards. Jumpers by Branch and Billy Jones gave Fairfield a 4 point lead and the Stags hit their fouls shots down the stretch to ice the victory by a score of 89 - 82. This victory was the second straight in what would become a 13 game Stag’s winning streak that included wins over Boston College, Xavier, Duquesne, UMASS, Holy Cross and Niagara. The team went 19-5 in a season where close losses to Georgetown, Villanova, Providence and St. Joseph’s kept Fairfield from 20 wins. At the height of the Stags run, Fairfield received votes in the UPI/AP national basketball rankings.
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
The peacocks come into the game on a mini skid, with 3 straight losses at the hands of Marist, Niagara and Quinnipiac. They will be looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Stags. Saint Peter’s remains one of the top teams in the nation in scoring defense, currently they are ranked 16th in the nation in scoring defense allowing only 64.7 points per game. The Peacocks are not without offensive weapons though as sophomore Corey Washington is eighth in the MAAC in scoring. The preseason All-MAAC honoree is averaging 14.5 points per game this season. Latrell Reid has scored in double figures in 14 games this season. Reid has distributed a team-high 86 assists and is fourth in the MAAC with 4.3 assists per game.
SHUFFLING LINEUPS
Fairfield used the same starting lineup in consecutive games for the first time since the start of Buffalo trip (three games from Jan. 12-19). Nine different Stags have made at least one start this season. No player has started every game, and Jasper Floyd is the only Stag to have played in all 22 contests to date this season.
RETURNING TO THE LINEUP
Fairfield got more good news on the injury front as Louie Bleechmore and Luke Davidson have sufficiently recovered from their injuries to see action versus Rider.
OUT OF THE LINEUP
Unfortunately, Fairfield standout guard Brycen Goodine was out of the line-up on Thursday. Goodine reportedly tweaked his knee and is going for an MRI. While he is was walking well, and is reportedly day to day, there is concern he may have reinjured the leg that had him sidelined last year. Fans are encouraged to offer additional prayers to the long list of Stags patron Saints, Saint Servatius or alternatively to Saint Sebastian who is considered to be the Patron Saint of Basketball Players and Coaches.
FAIRFIELD DEBUT
The Stags got some long awaited good news as Alexis Yetna made his Fairfield debut versus Rider. Lex played 18 minutes for Fairfield scoring 5 points and securing 1 rebound. Yetna appears to not yet be 100%, but he gave the team quality minutes. He was warmly greeted by Stags Fans who were excited to see him take the floor.
MOVING ON UP
With his 5 points versus Rider, Lex Yetna moved into 275th place on the Fairfield all-time scoring list surpassing Ryan McPartlan, Alex Forbes and Mark Henry who each have/had 4 points in the career.
TRIVIA QUESTION
Caleb Fields is currently averaging 3.0 made three point baskets per game. Who are the only two qualifying players( played in 75% of teams games) to average at least 3 made from distance per game in a season?
COMIC OF THE DAY
Jump Start
Jump Start is a daily cartoon created by Robb Armstrong. Jump Start, revolves around the trials and tribulations of a middle-class African American family in Philadelphia that is made up of Joseph "Joe" Cobb Sr., a city police officer, and Marcy Cobb, a nurse and their four children. The family is named after the Cobbs Creek neighborhood located in West Philadelphia.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Tyler Nelson (3.2) and Landon Taliaferro (3.0) are the only Fairfield players to average 3 made three point baskets per game during a season.
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
It takes 30,000 litres of paint and 4 months to complete painting the White Cliffs of Dover. For this reason they are only repainted every 5 years.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
In this edition of game notes we take a look at where Fairfield ranks in the statistical rankings versus other programs in the nation. For the first year in at least the last 10 years, Fairfield is not listed as a bottom 50 team in any statistical category. Moreover the Stags are only a bottom 100 team in two categories
Rank Value Statistical category
119 76.3 Scoring Offense
180 71.8 Scoring Defense
137 4.5 Scoring Margin
134 59.1 Winning Percentage
162 45.0 Field Goal Percentage
20 77.1 Free Throw Percentage
77 36.1 Three Point Percentage
246 12.7 Free Throws Made Per Game
38 9.0 Three Pointers Per Game
300 16.5 Free Throw Attempts Per Game
57 25.1 Three Point Attempts Per Game
252 44.8 Field Goal Percentage Defense
104 32.0 Three Point Percentage Defense
43 15.0 Fouls Per Game
282 -2.0 Rebound Margin
205 10.09 Rebounds (Offensive) Per Game
273 24.09 Rebounds (Defensive) Per Game
264 34.18 Rebounds Per Game
114 1.25 Assist/Turnover Ratio
63 13.86 Turnovers Forced Per Game
121 0.525 Effective FG pct
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
The latin words “it” (meaning “ball”) “Jes” (bad) and “Su” (basket) come together to form the word Jesuit which means bad basket ball…..
STREAKS
Jasper Floyd continued his streak of 22 straight games with a made basket, rebound and an assist.
MAGIC NUMBERS
3 – The number of rebounds Peyton Smith needs to reach 100 as a Stag.
4 – The number of rebounds Louie Bleechmore needs to reach 100 as a Stag.
6 – Wins needed to get to 20. The Stags have not surpassed 20 wins in more than 10 years (2011-12 season).
9 – The number of wins Chris Casey will need to surpass Paul Cormier for 30th place all-time in MAAC coaching victories.
30 – Number of days until the MAAC Tournament begins
149 – The number of points Alexis Yetna needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
327 – The number of points Jalen Leach needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
572 - The number of points Brycen Goodine needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
783 – The number of points Louie Bleechmore needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
776 – The number of points Jasper Floyd needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
800 – The number of points James Johns needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
826 – The number of points Peyton Smith needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
HEARD BUT PROBABLY NOT TRUE
ITS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE LOUIE LEFT AUSTRALIA
In a recent edition of Open Court with Chris Casey, Bob Heussler spoke with Louie Bleechmore about being away from his family and from Australia for so long. According to Bleechmore, “I’ve been away from Australia so long I couldn’t even remember how to throw a boomerang. But eventually it came back to me……”.
FAKE NEWS WEBSITES CONTINUE TO INSIST A MAAC TEAM MADE THE ELITE 8
First it was all the fake news in the presidential election. Then the fake news about Covid-19. But now it’s something much more serious. Fake news websites around the nation have been claiming that St. Peters from the Metro Atlantic Conference advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. Anyone who knows anything about college basketball would know this is obviously cannot be true. The MAAC conference stinks and their representative always loses in the first round of the tournament. Further Saint Peters is a perennial bottom feeder in that conference, the Peacocks have lost 198 games over the past 10 years. But two years ago someone posted a fabrication about this team advancing to the Elite 8, and this misinformation has been propagated all over the internet.
According to a spokesperson for Saint Peters, “The Elite 8 rumor has worked out really well for us, applications have increased and donations are way up. This year we plan on putting out a press release stating we made it to the final 4. If that works, we plan to follow-up by announcing we are playing in the Super Bowl. Heck, we might even announce we are playing in the world cup. Saint Peter’s would advance further than the US National team did, at least the Peacocks have two good wings……”
PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!
.Fairfield – St. Peters Early Edition Game Notes ♫ 23-24 - 219
Fairfield University (14-9, 8-4 MAAC) VS St. Peters (11-10, 7-5 MAAC)
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 2:00
Yanitelli Recreational Center, Jersey City, NJ
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield completed a sweep of the Broncs making a solid claim for Second place in the Metro Atlantic conference. Fairfield has already eclipsed last season's win total and is one MAAC win shy of matching last year's nine conference victories. The Stags trailed Rider going into the half by a score of 39-35 but Fairfield took over the game in the second half with the Stags outscoring the Bronc's 49-28, after the break. Jasper Floyd, one of three 20 point scorers for Fairfield, was a big part of the second half dominance, scoring 18 of his 20 points after the intermission including 7-for-12 shooting with a pair of treys and a 4-for-4 evening at the free throw line. Jalen Leach scored 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including a 4-for-5 day from three-point range. He also hauled in a team-best seven rebounds and dished out five assists without a turnover. Leach has topped the 20-point plateau in three consecutive games and nine times this season. Caleb fields connected 4 times from deep on his way to 20 points. The starting guards accounted for 10 of the Stags' 11 three-pointers (11-for-21, 52.4%). Fairfield also got solid contributions from James Johns, Jr. who had one of this best games of the season with 7 points on 50% shooting. Louis Bleechmore added 6 points, Alexis Yetna 5, and Birima Seck tallied 4. Rider was led by Mervin James with 16 points.
THREE 20 POINT SCORERS
Jasper Floyd, Caleb Fields and Jalen Leach became the first Fairfield trio to each score 20 points in a game since Marcus Gilbert, Jerry Johnson and Tyler Nelson each surpassed 20 points versus Dartmouth on January, 4, 2016*.
*Source sports reference
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 130th match-up between Fairfield and St. Peters. The Stags have faced the Peacocks more times than any other program (129 times) with the Peacocks leading the series (65-64). St. Peters ended Fairfield’s season each of the last two seasons with wins over the Stags in the MAAC tournament. Fairfield won both regular season games last season by scores of 67-55 and 56-52. They also won the earlier contest this season by a score of 76-67.
MEMORABLE GAMES
The Stags have faced St. Peter’s more than any other team, so the list of memorable games that have taken place between these squads is exceptionally long. Forty-two of the games between these programs have been decided by 5 or less points. Five games have gone into overtime. The Teams have faced each other a total of 15 times in the MAAC tournament. To some degree all of these games were memorable in some respect. In today’s Early Edition, we will focus on an important game, to many a forgotten game, that was the only triple overtime contest between the programs.
THE FORGOTTEN GAME
In Fairfield’s second season as a Division I program they traveled down to St. Peter’s for an early season game versus the Peacocks. The Stags got off to a very slow start in the contest but took their first lead with 8 minutes remaining 49-47 on a Pat Burke jumper. With two minutes remaining in a 3 point game, Billy Jones sank a driving lay-up to give Fairfield a 5 point cushion. St. Peter's Rich Dreyer hit a lay-up and made the “and one,” cutting the Stags lead to 2. With 20 second remaining SPC's Peter O'Dea picked off Mike Branch's pass and drove the length of the floor to tie that game at 68. Pat Burke launched a long jumper with time expiring that missed, sending the game to overtime. In the first overtime with the game tied, St. Peter's had a chance to win but turned the ball over on a charge. Branch took a 40 foot jumper to try for the win which bounced off the rim as did Charlie Phillips attempt at a tip in. The second overtime ended with Saint Peter's Joe Repka missing a runner and Pete O'Dea missing a desperate attempt at a tip in. In the third overtime Mike Branch took over the game scoring 8 points while dominating the boards. Jumpers by Branch and Billy Jones gave Fairfield a 4 point lead and the Stags hit their fouls shots down the stretch to ice the victory by a score of 89 - 82. This victory was the second straight in what would become a 13 game Stag’s winning streak that included wins over Boston College, Xavier, Duquesne, UMASS, Holy Cross and Niagara. The team went 19-5 in a season where close losses to Georgetown, Villanova, Providence and St. Joseph’s kept Fairfield from 20 wins. At the height of the Stags run, Fairfield received votes in the UPI/AP national basketball rankings.
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
The peacocks come into the game on a mini skid, with 3 straight losses at the hands of Marist, Niagara and Quinnipiac. They will be looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Stags. Saint Peter’s remains one of the top teams in the nation in scoring defense, currently they are ranked 16th in the nation in scoring defense allowing only 64.7 points per game. The Peacocks are not without offensive weapons though as sophomore Corey Washington is eighth in the MAAC in scoring. The preseason All-MAAC honoree is averaging 14.5 points per game this season. Latrell Reid has scored in double figures in 14 games this season. Reid has distributed a team-high 86 assists and is fourth in the MAAC with 4.3 assists per game.
SHUFFLING LINEUPS
Fairfield used the same starting lineup in consecutive games for the first time since the start of Buffalo trip (three games from Jan. 12-19). Nine different Stags have made at least one start this season. No player has started every game, and Jasper Floyd is the only Stag to have played in all 22 contests to date this season.
RETURNING TO THE LINEUP
Fairfield got more good news on the injury front as Louie Bleechmore and Luke Davidson have sufficiently recovered from their injuries to see action versus Rider.
OUT OF THE LINEUP
Unfortunately, Fairfield standout guard Brycen Goodine was out of the line-up on Thursday. Goodine reportedly tweaked his knee and is going for an MRI. While he is was walking well, and is reportedly day to day, there is concern he may have reinjured the leg that had him sidelined last year. Fans are encouraged to offer additional prayers to the long list of Stags patron Saints, Saint Servatius or alternatively to Saint Sebastian who is considered to be the Patron Saint of Basketball Players and Coaches.
FAIRFIELD DEBUT
The Stags got some long awaited good news as Alexis Yetna made his Fairfield debut versus Rider. Lex played 18 minutes for Fairfield scoring 5 points and securing 1 rebound. Yetna appears to not yet be 100%, but he gave the team quality minutes. He was warmly greeted by Stags Fans who were excited to see him take the floor.
MOVING ON UP
With his 5 points versus Rider, Lex Yetna moved into 275th place on the Fairfield all-time scoring list surpassing Ryan McPartlan, Alex Forbes and Mark Henry who each have/had 4 points in the career.
TRIVIA QUESTION
Caleb Fields is currently averaging 3.0 made three point baskets per game. Who are the only two qualifying players( played in 75% of teams games) to average at least 3 made from distance per game in a season?
COMIC OF THE DAY
Jump Start
Jump Start is a daily cartoon created by Robb Armstrong. Jump Start, revolves around the trials and tribulations of a middle-class African American family in Philadelphia that is made up of Joseph "Joe" Cobb Sr., a city police officer, and Marcy Cobb, a nurse and their four children. The family is named after the Cobbs Creek neighborhood located in West Philadelphia.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Tyler Nelson (3.2) and Landon Taliaferro (3.0) are the only Fairfield players to average 3 made three point baskets per game during a season.
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
It takes 30,000 litres of paint and 4 months to complete painting the White Cliffs of Dover. For this reason they are only repainted every 5 years.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
In this edition of game notes we take a look at where Fairfield ranks in the statistical rankings versus other programs in the nation. For the first year in at least the last 10 years, Fairfield is not listed as a bottom 50 team in any statistical category. Moreover the Stags are only a bottom 100 team in two categories
Rank Value Statistical category
119 76.3 Scoring Offense
180 71.8 Scoring Defense
137 4.5 Scoring Margin
134 59.1 Winning Percentage
162 45.0 Field Goal Percentage
20 77.1 Free Throw Percentage
77 36.1 Three Point Percentage
246 12.7 Free Throws Made Per Game
38 9.0 Three Pointers Per Game
300 16.5 Free Throw Attempts Per Game
57 25.1 Three Point Attempts Per Game
252 44.8 Field Goal Percentage Defense
104 32.0 Three Point Percentage Defense
43 15.0 Fouls Per Game
282 -2.0 Rebound Margin
205 10.09 Rebounds (Offensive) Per Game
273 24.09 Rebounds (Defensive) Per Game
264 34.18 Rebounds Per Game
114 1.25 Assist/Turnover Ratio
63 13.86 Turnovers Forced Per Game
121 0.525 Effective FG pct
DID YOU KNOW - WITH SJ
The latin words “it” (meaning “ball”) “Jes” (bad) and “Su” (basket) come together to form the word Jesuit which means bad basket ball…..
STREAKS
Jasper Floyd continued his streak of 22 straight games with a made basket, rebound and an assist.
MAGIC NUMBERS
3 – The number of rebounds Peyton Smith needs to reach 100 as a Stag.
4 – The number of rebounds Louie Bleechmore needs to reach 100 as a Stag.
6 – Wins needed to get to 20. The Stags have not surpassed 20 wins in more than 10 years (2011-12 season).
9 – The number of wins Chris Casey will need to surpass Paul Cormier for 30th place all-time in MAAC coaching victories.
30 – Number of days until the MAAC Tournament begins
149 – The number of points Alexis Yetna needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
327 – The number of points Jalen Leach needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
572 - The number of points Brycen Goodine needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
783 – The number of points Louie Bleechmore needs to reach the 1000 career point mark.
776 – The number of points Jasper Floyd needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
800 – The number of points James Johns needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
826 – The number of points Peyton Smith needs to reach the 1000 career point mark
HEARD BUT PROBABLY NOT TRUE
ITS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE LOUIE LEFT AUSTRALIA
In a recent edition of Open Court with Chris Casey, Bob Heussler spoke with Louie Bleechmore about being away from his family and from Australia for so long. According to Bleechmore, “I’ve been away from Australia so long I couldn’t even remember how to throw a boomerang. But eventually it came back to me……”.
FAKE NEWS WEBSITES CONTINUE TO INSIST A MAAC TEAM MADE THE ELITE 8
First it was all the fake news in the presidential election. Then the fake news about Covid-19. But now it’s something much more serious. Fake news websites around the nation have been claiming that St. Peters from the Metro Atlantic Conference advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. Anyone who knows anything about college basketball would know this is obviously cannot be true. The MAAC conference stinks and their representative always loses in the first round of the tournament. Further Saint Peters is a perennial bottom feeder in that conference, the Peacocks have lost 198 games over the past 10 years. But two years ago someone posted a fabrication about this team advancing to the Elite 8, and this misinformation has been propagated all over the internet.
According to a spokesperson for Saint Peters, “The Elite 8 rumor has worked out really well for us, applications have increased and donations are way up. This year we plan on putting out a press release stating we made it to the final 4. If that works, we plan to follow-up by announcing we are playing in the Super Bowl. Heck, we might even announce we are playing in the world cup. Saint Peter’s would advance further than the US National team did, at least the Peacocks have two good wings……”
Edition 219 @stagsmensbball , #stagsmensbball, #MAACHoops , #heardbutprobablynottrue , #EEGN , #HBPNT ♫2023-2024♫
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