By: Chris Dacey
The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team is making some noise at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament, winning two game so far and knocking off the No. 2 seed and co-regular season champion Canisius.
That being said, the Bobcats are not done. They are now in the semifinals trying to make the championship game for the first time since joining the conference but, in-state rival Fairfield stands in its way.
Quinnipiac had Saturday off after playing back-to-back games and Fairfield played Saturday as the Stags defeated No. 3 seed Niagara. Quinnipiac and Fairfield spilt the season series in the regular season. The Bobcats beat the Stags on a neutral court in Long Island by a score of 75-70, then the Stags beat the Bobcats in double overtime 102-98.
“It’s one of those experiences when you start the preparations, it becomes real,” head coach Baker Dunleavy said. “Obviously, our next opponents play tonight and we have started to look at them as well as watching our game from last night.”
That was Baker Dunleavy the morning after the historic win for his program. As for the Fairfield side, head coach Sydney Johnson said last year that the rivalry between the two Connecticut schools wasn’t quite there yet but after his team’s win over Niagara, his mood changed.
“It’s a weird thing. That rivalry has been just that…they’re playing fantastic basketball,” said Johnson. “There’s just something weird about being 30 minutes away that those games are close. I would imagine it would be something like that tomorrow.”
Quinnipiac is indeed playing at its best at the most important time of the year but one things teams have shown the Bobcats all tournament long is the full court pressure. When asked about his game plan with the press defense against Quinnipiac, Johnson was very reluctant to share.
“I’m not telling you anything. Right now, we have to cool our jets. Me and the coaching staff will cook something up, but as for anything we come up with, I’m not going to share that,” Johnson said.
Fairfield coach Sydney Johnson when asked if he’ll press tomorrow: “I’m not telling you anything.”
QU. Fairfield. 9:30. ESPNU. For a spot in the MAAC championship game
— Dylan Fearon (@DylanFearon_) March 4, 2018
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On the Quinnipiac side, forward Abdulai Bundu talked about the preparation that his team was doing and he was more focused on the team more than anyone else he would be playing.
“It’s all about us right now,” the forward said. “We honestly just recovered, focused on our bodies, some of us hit the cold tub and some of us hit the hot tub. We don’t practice for who we’re playing we just practice and get better every day.”
Abdulai Bundu on Aaron Robinson’s corner three with 2:30 to go against Canisius: “When I saw that go in, I was like ‘that’s the DMV man.’” #DMVhoops @ALLstar_abdul @_watchurhead @MarcusHelton
— Dylan Fearon (@DylanFearon_) March 3, 2018
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As for the MAAC’s leading scorer, Tyler Nelson, he said that the two games he played were different from each because of how Quinnipiac played him.
“The first game I struggled. I just didn’t think I played well,” Nelson said. “The second game I let come to me. That game was emotional because I scored my 2,000th point, so the adrenaline in that game helped me through that.”
Quinnipiac will have to find a way to control Nelson, but while they do that the Bobcats will be doing something that only one person on this team has done before: play in the semifinals of its conference tournament.
“We have a lot of guys who haven’t played in games before this year period,” Dunleavy said. “So, it’s been a lot of first for these guys and we have enjoyed and embraced it. At this point in the year, every team has so many games left with each other so we just want to embrace it and enjoy it.”
