HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team hosts Iona College on Wednesday night in their final non-conference home game of the season. The game features a battle between the defending Northeast Conference Champion Knights (2-5) and the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Gaels (4-3, 1-1 MAAC).
*The first 100 students in attendance will receive a Fairleigh Dickinson rally towel
Notes: Game 8
FDU Men's Basketball Report 12/6
Game Information:
Fairleigh Dickinson University (2-5, 0-0 NEC) vs.
Iona College (4-3, 1-1 MAAC)
Where: Stratis Arena (Rothman Center) – Hackensack, N.J.
When: Wednesday, December 7 – 7:00 p.m.
Series History: Iona leads the all-time series 16-11
First Meeting: Dec. 29,1960 -- FDU W, 77-58
Last Meeting: Dec. 11, 2010 (Iona W, 87-66)
Iona came away with the win at the Hynes Center in New Rochelle, N.Y. Junior Nate Gibbs led the Knights with a career-high 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior Kamil Svrdlik added 12 points and led the squad with two blocks and tied a career best with three steals. Iona jumped out to a 34-10 lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half and never looked back as they went into the break leading 49-27.
Broadcast Information:
Watch: NEC Front Row
Stats: Live Stats
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Wednesday's Tale of the Tape
| Season Stats |
FDU |
IONA |
| Overall |
2-5 |
4-3 |
| KenPom.com |
281 |
108 |
| Scoring Offense |
72.7 |
72.3 |
| Scoring Defense |
75.7 |
72.7 |
| Scoring Margin |
-3.0 |
-0.4 |
| FG% |
46.1 |
42.6 |
| 3-Pt. FG% |
32.8 |
35.5 |
| Free Throw % |
70.1 |
73.1 |
| FG% Defense |
45.3 |
42.9 |
| Rebounding |
37.0 |
33.6 |
| Rebounding Opp. |
33.7 |
34.1 |
| Rebounding Margin |
37.4 |
39.9 |
| Turnovers/TO Margin |
12.7/-0.3 |
11.0/1.9 |
| Steals |
6.1 |
6.6 |
| Blocks |
3.6 |
2.4 |
Iona College Gaels:
Following a season in which they were one of the top scoring teams in the nation at 79.3 points per game, the Gaels enter Wednesday night's game down seven points to 72.3.
The team lost its top scorer from a season ago A.J. English but Jordan Washington is back this season and leading the team at 14.9 points per contest.
Three Gaels tally double-figures on the season as Sam Cassell Jr. and Jon Severe follow Washington at 14.0 ppg and 13.4 ppg, respectively.
Iona thrives from long range and does an excellent job of protecting the basketball. This season, the Gaels are 21
st in the nation in 3-pointers connecting on 10 per game, while they've limited their turnovers to just 77 on the season (11 tpg), which is 19
th best.
After winning four straight games over Drake, Weber State, Nevada and Saint Peter's, the Gaels' streak came to an end on Sunday with a 74-58 loss to Niagara.
In the loss, Severe notched his 1,000
th career point but the Gaels were unable to overcome a 12-point halftime deficit. Washington tallied 13 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes of action, while Severe and E.J. Crawford equally split 24 points as Crawford knocked down four 3-pointers and Severe went 6-for-6 from the line.
Niagara netted a 43.9 shooting percentage (29-for-66) from the field for the game, exactly 10 percent better than the Gaels (33.9 percent/19-for-56) for the afternoon. The Purple Eagles also hauled in a rebounding advantage of 44-34 that aided 34 points in the paint.
Head Coach: Tim Cluess (Hofstra '83)
Record at Iona: 144-68 (.679) (Seventh Season)
Career Record (11 seasons): 242-88 (.733)
Team Leaders:
Points: Jordan Washington 14.9 ppg
Rebounds: Jordan Washington 6.3 rpg
Assists: Jon Severe 3.7 apg
Last Time Out for the Knights:
Fairleigh Dickinson came up short in an upset bid of Ohio State, falling 70-62 at Value City Arena on Saturday night.
The Knights led for most of the first half but were unable to overcome a big second-half burst by the Buckeyes, who are receiving votes in both Top 25 polls.
Making his first collegiate start, freshman forward
Kaleb Bishop scored 11 points to go along with a career-high eight rebounds.
Darian Anderson led the Knights in scoring with 17 points and dished out a game-high six assists on the night.
The Knights shot 39.3 percent from the floor in the loss but were efficient at the free throw line, connecting on 11-of-14 and held their own on the glass, losing the rebounding battle by just two, 35-33.
Ohio State knocked down 26-of-52 (50%) from the field and 6-of-15 (40%) from deep. Four Buckeyes scored in double-figures led by Marc Loving's 18 points and 17 from Kam Williams. Junior forward Jae'Sean Tate double-doubled in the victory with 12 points and 12 boards.
Herenda's Take:
"Ohio State made the critical run in the beginning of the second half and made so many tough shots but tonight we played with great purpose and poise. Tonight, we stuck to the script and competed for 40 minutes."
"Kaleb stepped up for us in his first collegiate start and we went toe-to-toe with them on the glass. Their length and ability to make contested shots was just too much to overcome.
"These are the games in these kinds of arenas that help us so much in our league play and in March as well. The loss stings right now but that game will pay dividends for us in the long run.
News and Notes:
NABC Nominee: In early December,
Tyrone O'Garro was announced as a nominee for the NABC Good Works Team for his work in the community and service off of the court. O'Garro was the lone NEC student-athlete and the only student-athlete from a New Jersey school to be nominated for the prestigious award.
Milestone Watch: Junior guard
Darian Anderson is closing in on 1,000 career points. He has amassed 969 points across 69 career games (14.0 ppg)
First Start: Freshman forward
Kaleb Bishop tallied 11 points and eight rebounds in his first collegiate start against B10 powerhouse Ohio State.
Turnover Battle: The Knights have won the turnover battle in five of their seven games this season but are just 2-3 in those contests.
The Iron Knight: Anderson has started every game for the Knights since arriving in Hackensack for the 2014-15 season. The junior guard's streak stands at 69 games.
Jiggetts the Distributor:
Stephan Jiggetts leads the NEC in assists per game at 4.6 apg. The junior point guard is averaging career-high in scoring this season with 11.3 ppg.
Marshall on Herenda Show: Tune in this Sunday to the
Greg Herenda Show as Coach G is joined by first-year Central Connecticut St. head coach Donyell Marshall. The Herenda Show airs on Sunday morning's at 7:30 a.m. on iHeartRadio and WFDU. Also, check FDUKnights.com for
archives of all programs.
Next up:
The Knights return to the road as they travel to Baltimore, Md. to take on Towson this Saturday, December 10 at 2 p.m.
