Quinnipiac men’s basketball is sitting in a similar scenario as the 2023-24 season: it’s No. 1 seed in the MAAC and is controlling its own destiny in the season’s final two games.
The Bobcats know a regular season championship, while sweet, is not the ultimate goal.
“We finished first, and we got upset in the second round,” junior forward Amarri Monroe said on Feb. 28. “We want to finish first and get a regular season championship again. That’s not the end goal, we have unfinished business.”
After losing two of their first three games in February, the Bobcats won four straight until a tough loss to Merrimack broke the streak on March 2nd. A big component of that winning streak is Quinnipiac’s ability to come back from down double digits — the most being 17 against Manhattan on Feb. 23.
“We’re confident that if we’re down, we’re going to come back,” graduate student guard Savion Lewis said on Feb. 28. “We have to have better starts in the first half. I’m glad we can come back in the second half, but we definitely got to be better in the first half.”
However, falling behind early is a concern, especially against teams like Niagara, Sacred Heart, Iona and Fairfield — all potential early matchups in the MAAC Tournament.
Iona’s press and transition defense forced the Bobcats to their highest and third-highest turnovers totals in their two matchups on Jan. 12 and Feb. 16 respectively.
Another issue that keeps coming to bite the Bobcats is their three-point shooting woes, being dead last in the MAAC and 14th worst in the whole country. Their inconsistencies played a huge part in their defeat against Merrimack on March 2, shooting 4-18 from behind the arc.
Three-point defense has also been a challenge. Against Sacred Heart — the MAAC’s No. 2 team in three-point shooting — the Bobcats allowed nine threes in the first half. Quinnipiac did, however, tighten up only allowing three in the second half en route to a win, but it will be a problem if it isn’t able to adapt.
Struggles aside, Monroe and graduate student center Paul Otieno have been central to Quinnipiac’s success. Monroe is averaging a double-double in conference play and broke his own Quinnipiac Division I single-season steals record against Sacred Heart on Feb. 14.
Otieno, meanwhile, has posted 13 double-doubles this season — tied with Monroe — and is currently the No. 2 scorer on the Bobcats.
In his best game of the season against Niagara on Feb. 8, Otieno led all scorers with a career-high 28 points. The graduate student center was able to knock down three three-pointers and was a perfect 5-5 from the line.
“Paul’s a great player,” senior forward Alexis Reyes said on Feb. 6. “We still want him to go get offensive rebounds, shoot those free throws and finish and-ones. And we know who he is, and we trust him.”
Depth was expected to be a strength for Quinnipiac this season, but injuries and inconsistent play have shortened the rotation even more.
“I wish our bench was deeper,” Pecora said on Feb. 28. “That’s the one thing I thought that we would be able to (play) nine to 10 (players) deep and get guys at the end of the bench playing like eight minutes a game. And we haven’t been able to do that in a lot of cases.”
However, the emergence of freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman and sophomore guard Khaden Bennett has added an extra level to the Bobcats. Zimmerman has scored in double digits in seven of the last 10 games, including a career-high 24 points against Sacred Heart on Feb. 14.
Bennett was able to become the facilitator when Lewis had an injury and ran with it. The Grand Prairie, Texas native is the No. 4 scorer for the Bobcats, adding scoring off the bench.
“(Bennett is) just a tough, gritty competitor,” Pecora said on Jan. 31. “He made a couple really big shots for us there in the second half. But he lives in a gym. He does all the little things that players need to do to become great.”
Senior guard Doug Young and junior guard Ryan Mabrey have also had their standout moments.
Whether it was a back-to-back — Feb. 14 and Feb. 16 — double-digit scoring outburst from Young or a 17-point performance against St. John’s on Nov. 9, 2024 for Mabrey, the bench has the ability to take over the game, a luxury they didn’t have last year relying on an eight-man rotation. This season, they have the potential to go 10 deep.
“We’re focused on us right now,” Monroe said on Feb. 28. “One game winning streaks, whoever we got next on our schedule, that’s the game we’re worried about.”
Quinnipiac has its eyes set on March 12th for its first MAAC postseason game.
