The Siena Saints (9-4, 3-0 MAAC) will host the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers at 7:00pm Saturday night, January 2nd, at the Times Union Center.  The Saints will attempt to win their 28th consecutive home contest, a streak that stands third best in the country, behind Kansas (50), Pittsburgh (29), and tied with Dayton and Missouri.

This is the last of a four game homestand for the Saints, who come off a hotly contested 64-53 win over conference foe St. Peter’s on New Year’s Eve.  This is also the last non-conference game of the season (not counting the Bracketbuster) as the Saints begin their full conference slate on Monday night at Loyola.

Mt. Saint Mary’s was picked first in the preseason NEC coaches poll, but the team has struggled to a 3-9 record, 0-2 in the Northeast conference.  They are led in scoring by 5’9″ senior point guard Jeremy Goode, who is averaging 14.6 points per game and 3.7 assists per game. and 6’3″ junior guard Jean Cajou, who is averaging 12.5 points per game.  6’5″ Senior forward Kelly Beidler is the third member of the team averaging double digits in points scored with 10.4 per game, and also leads the team in rebounds with 7.8 per game.

The Saints have a decided advantage in every meaningful statistical category.  They average 76.3 points per game while Mount St. Mary’s averages 62.8 points per game, and also hold their opponents to less points – 66.7ppg to The Mount’s 69.8ppg.  The Mount is struggling to shoot the ball, which does not bode well against a Siena team who is getting back to full strength and defending as well as they have all year.

The game, of course, is not played on paper, but the Saints will take size, athleticism, and the home court in to a game Saturday night that could turn out to be a decided mismatch.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Pound the Paint: Ronald Moore and co. must make sure to dump the ball down to Alex Franklin and Ryan Rossiter, who should overmatch the forwards of Mount St. Mary’s.  Once the inside game is established, Clarence Jackson and Edwin Ubiles will be able to take over from the outside or be able to drive the lane.
• Continued Free Throw Improvement: The Saints have settled down at the line, averaging 75% from the free throw line over the last two games.  They need to continue shooting on at least that pace as they enter conference play.
• Who’s the Man?: Who is going to be the leading scorer Saturday night?  Who cares?  It looked like Alex Franklin was stepping up to be the go to player over the last few games, but now that Edwin Ubiles is healthy and looking like he’s rounding in to form the team has four legitimate scoring threats who can top the scoring column any night.   With balanced scoring from those two, Clarence Jackson, and Ryan Rossiter, the team can win anywhere on any given night.

NOTES

• Ronald Moore continues to lead the nation in assists with 8.7 per game.  Possible Player of the Year candidate freshman John Wall of Kentucky is second in the country with 7.5 per game.  Moore is 124 assists behind Siena’s all-time assist leader Marc Brown.
• Siena’s win Thursday night against St. Peter’s was their 200th MAAC Conference win.
• The Saints, never known to be a strong rebounding team, average 42.2 rebounds per game at home this year, and are outrebounding their opponents 38.5 to 35.2 per game.