On Monday, three Quinnipiac men’s basketball players — junior forward Amarri Monroe, graduate student center Paul Otieno and freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman— and head coach Tom Pecora were honored with MAAC awards.
Amarri Monroe
Monroe led all Bobcats with two honors: MAAC Player of the Year and All-MAAC First Team. The preseason MAAC Player of the Year lived up to those expectations, and then some, winning the award after a stellar campaign on the No. 1 team.
“Women lie, men lie, numbers don’t,” graduate student guard Savion Lewis said on March 6. “You guys see him. You don’t have to keep trying to advocate for him. He’s done everything on the number one team. So it’s a no brainer why he’s the Player of the Year.”
And those numbers didn’t lie. The Newburgh, New York native averaged a double-double in conference play — 19.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Monroe led the MAAC in double-doubles with 12 in conference play — 14 overall.
Monroe is the second-straight Bobcat to win the award, following in the footsteps of Matt Balanc ‘24.
The junior forward had a stretch of five games from Jan. 18 where he broke his career high in points. These performances were capped off by a 29-point performance against Canisius on Feb. 6.
While his offensive dominance warranted the Player of the Year honors, his work defensively shouldn’t go unnoticed. Monroe was snubbed of the Defensive Player of the Year to Merrimack’s junior forward Bryan Etumnu, but he had the resume to back it up. The junior forward led the conference in defensive rebounds and total rebounds while being No. 2 in steals.
Paul Otieno
Another Bobcat who earned All-MAAC First Team honors was Otieno. The graduate student center was a double-double machine, with 13 on the year, but was bested by the aforementioned Monroe by one.
The Nairobi, Kenya native worked on his shooting in the offseason, and it paid off. The graduate student center set career highs in both three-point percentage — 38.7% on 31 attempts —- and free throw percentage — 80.4%.
“He’s a machine,” head coach Tom 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 Otieno in everything he does.”
Jaden Zimmerman
Zimmerman, after a stellar freshman season, was named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team, the first Bobcat to make the team since Tymu Chenery and Luis Kortright made it in the 2020-21 season.
The Bronx, New York native showcased his ability to score from all three levels in his rookie season, making him a part of the starting lineup in 18 of the 31 games. His athleticism has drawn comparisons to Balanc.
“They’re both tough,” Pecora said on Feb. 6. “I think they were both meant to be 6-foot-6 power forwards, but they’re guards because of their size.”
Big performances, such as his career-high 24-point outing against Sacred Heart on Feb. 14 and a 22-point game against Merrimack on March 2, have helped him secure the All-Rookie spot.
Tom Pecora
Pecora, for the second straight season, has been named the MAAC Coach of the Year. He guided the Bobcats to a second straight MAAC regular-season title, posting an impressive 15-5 MAAC record in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Pecora has more wins (30) over his first two seasons than any men’s basketball head coach in the history of the MAAC. He becomes the fifth coach in conference history to win back-to-back Coach of the Years, with the most recent being the now St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons at Iona.
These four have all been top contributors for the No. 1 seed Bobcats, and they look to continue their ways into the MAAC Tournament to try and raise that elusive first MAAC Championship banner.
