Game 8
Fairleigh Dickinson (3-4) at Iona (2-4)
Date: Saturday, December 2, 2017
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Hynes Athletics Center – New Rochelle, N.Y.
Coverage: ESPN3 – WatchESPN
Talent: Tom Verde and Adam Finkelstein


The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team travels to New Rochelle to take on the Iona Gaels this Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
 
The Series...Iona leads 17-11
FDU at Iona...6-9
Streak...L5
Last Meeting...Iona 90, FDU 73 (12/7/16)
In their final non-conference home game of the season, the Knights fell to the Gaels by 17 points. The Knights (2-6) were unable to slow the hot-shooting Gaels (5-3) who built a large lead early and held on the rest of the way. Mike Holloway Jr. paced the Knights with 17 points and six rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting in the loss, while the Gaels were led by Jordan Washington, who finished with a game-high 18 points. Five Gaels reached double-figures in the win including Schadrac Casimir's 16 points and 14 apiece from Sam Cassell Jr. and Rickey McGill. Cassell Jr. was especially on target from 3-point range where he connected on all four of his attempts.

Following the loss head coach Greg Herenda said, "That's one you just forget about and you move on from. Give Iona the credit but we were just not very good in any category. That is not how we practice or who we are."
 
Scouting the Gaels: Saturday marks the 2017-18 home opener for the Gaels, who enter the contest with a 2-4 record with victories over Weber State (80-72) and Ohio (93-88). In the win at Ohio on Tuesday night, E.J. Crawford and TK Edogi paced the team with 20 points apiece, while Edogi added 12 rebounds to his ledger. The Gaels made all 13 of their free throw attempts and hit 14-of-35 (40 percent) from three-point range. The Gaels are headed by 12th year head coach Tim Cluess (262-105) and have appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, last year earning the No. 14 seed and falling to Oregon. This year's squad was picked to win the MAAC for the third straight season, while senior Deyshonee Much and junior Rickey McGill earned All-MAAC Preseason Second Team honors.
 
The Knights: The Knights began their seven-game road trip with a 77-53 loss at Saint Peter's. The team enters Saturday's tilt with an 0-3 road record this season. After missing the first two games and playing limited minutes over the next four, senior guard Darian Anderson appeared to be back to his old self on Wednesday, scoring 21 points to go along with five steals. The Knights entered the game with the 22nd-highest field goal percentage in the country (51.4%) but were limited to 26.8 percent in the loss. This is the second straight-game for the Knights against a team playing its home opener.
 
Last Time Out: Senior guard Darian Anderson poured in a season-high 21 points but the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team suffered a 77-53 loss to Saint Peter's on Wednesday night at the Yanitelli Center. The Knights (3-4), who entered the game with the 22nd highest field goal percentage in the country (51.4 percent) were limited to just 26.8 percent by the Peacocks (3-3) – their lowest rate of the season. In addition, to the overall field goal percentage, the Knights connected on only 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from behind the arc, while the home Peacocks knocked down 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from behind the arc and 46.9 percent overall. The Peacocks also dominated on the glass, out-rebounding the Knights 49-31 in the contest. The Knights did an excellent job of getting to the free throw line, connecting on 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) compared to just eight attempts for the home team. Defensively, FDU came up with nine steals but lost the turnover battle 16-12. Saint Peter's was led by a balanced scoring effort, which saw five players reach double figures. Forward Nick Griffin topped the scoresheet for the Peacocks and filled up the box score with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Junior forward Samuel Idowu was a nuisance for the Knights as the big man connected on 6-of-12 shots, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, finishing with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds.
 
Herenda's postgame quotes - "Give credit to Saint Peter's -- they distanced themselves from us early in the second half and we just could not dent their lead."
 
"We just never got into an offensive rhythm tonight in this building. Darian and Jahlil [Jenkins] made a lot of things happen for us but we needed more than just two guys tonight. Also, Elyjah Williams really competed on both backboards -- but we just looked very young out there tonight. We will learn from this, move on and improve."
 
Last Year's Game: The Gaels came to the Rothman Center and posted 54 first-half points in a 19-point victory over the Knights. Sophomore forward Mike Holloway paced the Knights with 17 points and six rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting in the loss, while the Gaels were led by Jordan Washington, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
 
Bishop's Strong Outing: In last season's game against the Gaels, sophomore forward Kaleb Bishop totaled 13 first-half points. Bishop's 13 tallies set a new career-high for the freshman and he added seven rebounds on the night.
 
Record Book Update: Darian Anderson scored 21 points and tallied five steals in the Knights' loss at Saint Peter's on Wednesday. He now ranks 10th all-time in FDU history with 1,398 points and second in steals with 180.
 
Give Us That: Featuring one of the program's most adept stealsman in Anderson, the Knights added a slew of speedy defenders this season including freshman guard Jahlil Jenkins. Jenkins nabbed five steals last game, which has helped the Knights to a 10.7 steals per game average this season -- 8th best in the NCAA.
 
Turn it Over: The Knights nabbed a program-record 19 steals in the win against Kean and forced 31 turnovers. Junior guard Darnell Edge was at the forefront of the effort with seven steals of his own (most by a Knight since Sean Baptiste totaled seven on 1/10/09 against CCSU.)
 
Newcomers: Freshmen Jenkins, Elyjah Williams and Noah Morgan and sophomore Pat McNamara are averaging 14 or more minutes per game this season. Coach Herenda has not been afraid to play his new guys and even featured a stint aginst Saint Peter's where five newcomers were on the court at once (Tyler Jones and the aforementioned four players).
 
Next Up: The Knights return to action next Saturday, December 9 when they take on in-state rival Rutgers at the RAC. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Piscataway.