This time last year, Quinnipiac men’s basketball was sitting 10-0 in conference play looking to secure its first MAAC Regular Season Championship, only to snap the undefeated start with a four-game losing streak. Flash forward to this year and the Bobcats are in a similar spot.
Losers of two of the last three, Quinnipiac sits at 10-3, merely one game behind newly promoted MAAC competitor Merrimack and just a half game ahead of Marist. The biggest thing that’s hurting the Bobcats this season — especially in the last three games — is costly errors when being up by double-digits.
After being up by 13 against Siena on Feb. 2 and 12 against Niagara on Feb. 8, the Bobcats wound up on the losing side. Both teams forced the Bobcats into turnovers, winning the battle with their defensive traps.
“We’re struggling with the ability to put people away,” head coach Tom Pecora said on Feb. 8. “You know, we get up 11, 12, 13 points, and then teams fight their way back in way too often because we get lackadaisical, and it’s something we have to continue to work on practice.”
The Bobcats — though in a tough spot at the moment — have the talent to continue their earlier successes to get a top-two seed and earn a bye in the MAAC Tournament. One saving grace for Quinnipiac is junior forward Amarri Monroe, who has collected career-high points in his last three games — 27, 28 and 29.
“He was Preseason Player of the Year for a reason,” Pecora said. “We’ve just got to continue to find ways to win games in different ways. But he’s been a steady force for us, obviously, over the last few weeks.”
The Newburgh, New York, native dominates both sides of the court. In conference play, he averages 20.4 PPG and 9.1 RPG — both best for first in the MAAC — and is second in the conference with 2.7 SPG. Monroe knows how dominant he has been this season, and has deemed himself the hardest player to defend in the MAAC.
“I’m really focused on Defensive Player of the Year,” Monroe said on Feb. 6. “I think I got snubbed last year, so I’m really fighting to get that. And if I get Player of the Year, then great.”
Just like Monroe, graduate student center Paul Otieno ranks in the top three in rebounds in the MAAC with 8.4 RPG. The Nairobi, Kenya, native has gained national recognition for rebounding and ranks No. 5 in the country in offensive rebounds per game. Rebounds have always been a part of Otieno’s game — averaging over six in each of his three seasons in Hamden — but it’s what he did in the offseason that has transitioned his game.
“I come in at 7:15; he’s in here shooting free throws alone or with one of the managers, he gets 100 free throws up every morning,” Pecora said on Feb. 6. “In our locker room it says on the wall ‘The work defines the man.’ Well, no one’s a better example of that than Paul and everything he does.”
Otieno worked on his shooting at both the charity stripe and beyond the arc. The graduate student center is 20-22 from the line in his last five games, bringing his free throw percentage to 79.3%. During the Feb. 8 loss to Niagara, he was 3-3 from three to aid his career-high 28 points.
“We still want him to go get offensive rebounds, shoot those free throws, finish and-ones,” senior forward Alexis Reyes said on Feb. 6. “And we know who he is, and we trust him.”
While Quinnipiac’s top two players have been Otieno and Monroe, its depth has been the main reason the Bobcats are at the top of the MAAC. With graduate student guard Savion Lewis coming back from a three-game absence, he seems to have returned to his former self and been able to facilitate. The Dix Hills, New York, native racked up 30 assists in his most recent four games back from injury, meeting his average from last year.
“Savion Lewis, with eight assists, again, took it to another level,” Pecora said on Feb. 6. “I thought he made great decisions with the ball in the second half as he pushed it and got into gaps and things of that nature.”
Sophomore guard Khaden Bennett took over the ball-handling duties when Lewis missed time and excelled. The Grand Prairie, Texas, native has played six times as many minutes since last year, averaging 10.8 points while guiding the offense.
“He lives in a gym,” Pecora said on Jan. 31. “He does all the little things that players need to do to become great. And he’s just a solid, solid part of the rotation.”
A tandem of senior forward Alexis Reyes and freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman have traded in and out of the starting lineup, making their presence felt. Reyes has been tabbed a ‘glue guy’ by Pecora with the way he stuffs the stat sheet and Zimmerman has drawn comparisons to former 1,000-point scorer Matt Balanc ‘24 with his athleticism.
“They’re both tough,” Pecora said. “I think they were both meant to be 6-foot-6 power forwards, but they’re guards because of their size.”
The current bench includes senior guard Doug Young, junior guard Ryan Mabrey, freshman forward Grant Randall and graduate student forward Richie Springs, all of whom have played meaningful minutes in the absence of freshman center Spence Wewe who has been sidelined by a foot injury since Nov. 24, 2024.
With the bench down to four players, combined with recent foul troubles, Quinnipiac will see a major pitfall if the foursome can’t produce. In eight of the Bobcats’ 10 losses, they have lost the bench-scoring battle, the most recent example being Niagara when Quinnipiac’s bench was only able to put up 13 points compared to the Purple Eagles’ 48.
The Bobcats have the tools to make a deep run for their first MAAC Championship, but if they want to, they need to work on cleaning up their game.
“We have to continue to improve every day,” Pecora said on Feb. 6. “That’s what we talk about before every practice. Can’t go through the motions today, and, we’re wearing a battle for a title. We want to win another title right now.”
