The Siena Saints (14-4, 7-0) will try to extend their current eight-game winning streak as they welcome the Manhattan Jaspers (7-10, 2-5) to the Times Union Center on Monday night at 7pm.  They will also continue to defend their homecourt as they’ve won 30 in a row at the friendly confines of the TUC, best for the second longest streak in the nation behind Kansas (52) and tied with Missouri and Pittsburgh.  The Saints hold a two game advantage and the tiebreaker over Fairfield after winning a crucial road game on Saturday over the Stags 82-70 in Bridgeport.

After finishing the season 16-14 last year the Jaspers had reason to be optimistic, even though the coaches only picked them to finish 8th in the MAAC this season.  They have battled this year, with conference wins over resurgent programs Canisius and St. Peter’s, and a three point loss to second place Fairfield.  They also put up a six point loss at 1-11 Marist, though.  While Manhattan will have a difficult time winning at the Times Union Center, they do have some pieces of the puzzle in place to give the Saints a game.

Junior college transfer Rico Pickett is averaging 16.1 ppg and 4.1 rpg for Manhattan.  The 6’4″ junior guard has averaged 23 ppg and is shooting over 50% from the field in the last five games and is the primary scoring option for the Jaspers.  6’4″ wingman Daryl Crawford is the other main scoring threat on the team, averaging 15.2 ppg and adding 6.2 rebounds per game.  The Jaspers excel at ball control, leading the league in fewest turnovers per game with 11.  They also allow only 66.2 points per game, the lowest points allowed per game in the league.  They will need to continue to defend as well as they have all year and not turn the ball over if they want to disrupt the multi-faceted scoring options of the Saints.

The Saints win over Fairfield was yet another display of their balanced offense.  Clarence Jackson led the way with 22 points, followed by 17 from Ryan Rossiter, 16 from Edwin Ubiles, and 15 from Alex Franklin.  The one thing the Saints have not really relied on in the Fran McCaffery era is the three-point shot, but the hot shooting of Clarence Jackson may be contagious as the team is starting to take, and make, more outside shots.  Kyle Downey has added valuable baskets off the bench, as has Owen Wignot, and even Edwin is starting to open up from the outside.  While the Saints will most likely continue to drive to the basket, the ability to hit the open three point basket will just be another weapon in their arsenal for teams to guard against down the stretch.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Stop the Two-Headed Monster: Manhattan looks to have two serious scoring threats, but they also average only 9 assists per game as a team (compared to 15.5 for the Saints), so if the Jaspers aren’t distributing the ball then they must be going to their two big guns – shut down Pickett and Crawford, and the Saints have a good shot at shutting down their offense.
• A Full 40 Minutes: The Saints again clamped down on defense in the second half against Fairfield, but it was a little uneven in the first half.  While shooting over 50% from three-point land is nice, and certainly gave them the 1 point advantage in the first half of that game, it can’t be relied upon to be there every night.  If the team can continue to try and bring high intensity and effort on the defensive end for a full 40 minutes, then not many teams are going to be able to handle them.
• Extending the Bench: Coach Fran is doing a good job getting Downey, Wignot and OD Anosike playing time, mostly in the first half of games, and he’s doing so because those three are putting in hard work in practice and bringing energy and production off the bench.  It would be nice to see coach extend their minutes in the second halves of games to get them in the heat of battle – if they’re putting in quality minutes in the first half, they should be able to produce under the pressure as well.

NOTES

• A win Monday night would be the 100th for Coach Fran McCaffery during his tenure as the head coach of the Siena Saints.
• A win Monday night would also mark the longest winning streak (9) under Coach McCaffery, and the longest since the 1999-2000 season.
• The Saints have won 31 out of 33 games against MAAC conference opponents.