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Riverdale, NY - Manhattan (1-0) will aim to open the season with two straight wins for the first time since 2013-2014 when it hosts Harvard (2-1) on Saturday, November 18 at 1:00 pm in the Jaspers' "No Shave November" game.
TOP STORYLINES
#1 - The Jaspers are also opening with back-to-back home games for the first time since 2006-2007.
#2 - The teams will be meeting for the first time since November 16, 2012 when the Crimson posted a 79-45 victory at Draddy Gymnasium.
#3 - Senior Rich Williams capped a successful return from injury with a game-high 21 points to lead Manhattan to a 80-79 win over St. Francis Brooklyn in the opener.
#4 - The first 150 students and the first 100 fans to fill Draddy will be given a complimentary Manhattan College-branded beard. Get to the game early so you can rock the Steve Masiello look!
QUICK HITS
* Saturday's tilt will be the first of three games to be telecast on ESPN3 via the Jasper Sports Network.
* Senior Rich Williams capped a successful return from injury with a game-high 21 points to lead Manhattan to a 80-79 win over St. Francis Brooklyn in the opener.
* Williams, who now has 800 career points, registered his eighth career 20-point game after missing last year.
* Senior Zane Waterman registered his eighth career double-figure rebound performance with 10 caroms. Waterman narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and is now 86 points from 1,000.
* Zavier Turner hit the game-winning shot against the Terriers en route to finishing up with 16 points while Calvin Crawford chipped in with 11 as the seniors combined for 57 points and 24 rebounds.
* Head Coach Steve Masiello collected his 50th career victory at Draddy Gymnasium and has a stellar .658 (50-26) winning percentage at home.
* The Jaspers rallied from 10 points down in registering their largest comeback win since erasing an 11-point deficit against Niagara on January 10, 2017.
* Manhattan is now 74-38, all-time, in openers and 54-19 against SFBK.
DYK? The Jaspers are 5-0 vs. SFBK in season openers, last winning by one point on November 29, 1983.
* In overtime, Manhattan scored on four straight possessions and 7-of-9 en route to posting the aforementioned thrilling win, which featured 14 lead changes and five ties.
* The Jaspers, which ranked 58th nationally with 14.6 forced turnovers and 71st with a MAAC-best 7.0 steals each time out a year ago, turned St. Francis Brooklyn over 18 times while recording nine steals.
* Through three games, the Crimson is turning the ball over an average of 18.7 times per game.
* For the second time in his career, Aaron Walker Jr. hit a pair of free throws to tie the game and force an extra period, also doing so in Manahttan's last overtime win at Detroit Mercy.
* Harvard leads the all-time series by a 5-4 count with Manhattan's last win coming by a 77-66 score on January 5, 1988.
* The Crimson hold a 2-1 record, defeating MIT and UMass before falling at Holy Cross. Harvard is paced by the sophomore duo of Bryce Aiken (18.3 ppg) and Seth Towns (16.3 ppg).
* The Jaspers were tabbed to finish second in the annual MAAC Preseason Poll and paced the circuit with three All-League selections. Waterman (1st), Williams (2nd) and Turner (3rd) were all named to the All-MAAC preseason teams.
* Williams is the lone remaining member of Manhattan's Back-to-Back MAAC Championship squads while Crawford and Waterman were also on the 2015 squad.
* Waterman, who earned Third Team All-MAAC honors a year ago, tallied a career-high 35 points in a win over Rider (1/13/17), which was the most by a Jasper since George Beamon had 35 in an 84-81 win over Siena on February 13, 2011.
* All told, Waterman had eight 20-point games last year, including two of at least 30, and has notched at least 20 on 10 occasions during his career.
* Turner led Manhattan in scoring 14.9 ppg (12th MAAC) and with 3.3 apg (10th MAAC) a year ago while hitting for at least 20 points 10 times, including on four straight occasions midway through the season.
* The Ball State transfer scored a game-high 27 points against MAAC Regular Season Champion Monmouth while going over 1,000 for his career before notching his 10th 20-point performance of the year and the 16th of his career at Siena.
* The duo of Turner and Waterman has notched four 30-point performances for Manhattan as the Jaspers had recorded just four over the previous three seasons.
* Walker Jr. (8.9 ppg) ended the year on a roll, averaging 15.8 ppg over his last four games, including a team-high 18 in the MAAC Tournament vs. Rider.
* Junior Thomas Capuano averaged 6.2 ppg and 1.1 spg (14th MAAC) a year ago and rounds out the list of returning letterwinners from a year ago.
* Classmate Matt Maloney also returns after missing last season due to injury.
* Manhattan welcomes scholarship newcomers Pauly Paulicap (So.), Ebube Ebube (Fr.), Nehemiah Mack (Fr.), Patrick Strzala (Fr.) and Warren Williams (Fr.) as well as walk-ons David Varoli (GS), Jesse Boyce (So.) and Kevin Salis (Fr.).
* The Jaspers boast nine student-athletes from New York and one each from Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.
* Last year, Manhattan played an arduous schedule that included 14 games against teams played in the postseason, including six against NCAA Tournament teams.
* This season the Jaspers will be among the first teams in NCAA Division I history to play in Northern Ireland as part of the Belfast Classic while also participating in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida.
* After serving as a special assistant to the Head Coach last year, former All-MAAC guard Michael Alvarado has been promoted to assistant coach.
* Joining the staff this season is last year's lone graduating senior Tyler Wilson, who played in 129-straight games over the last four years. Wilson and second-year staff member RaShawn Stores are former Manhattan student-athletes on staff under Masiello.
* Manhattan is 38-8 when notching double-figures in thefts under Masiello, including, 27-5 in the last four years, and 21-11 when forcing at least 20 turnovers under Masiello.
* Masiello has led Manhattan to a 103-93 (.526) record, including going 63-53 (.543) during MAAC play and 50-26 (.658) at Draddy Gym over his six seasons with three MAAC title game appearances, three postseason berths, two Metropolitan Coach of the Year honors and two 20-win campaigns. He has also participated in the NCAA Tournament in 13 of his 21 seasons as a player or coach, including being a part of eight conference champions and one National Title.
* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has guided the Jaspers to a pair of MAAC titles as well as a pair of 20-plus win campaigns. In his first tenure, he was a part of two MAAC titles and three 20-plus win seasons. All told, Masiello has been a member of four of Manhattan's five MAAC Championship teams and five of the school's 12 20-win seasons in recording a 186-129 record.
* Now in his 22nd season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 466-239, including 345-211 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship Game appearances, two Final Fours, six Elite Eight berths, eight conference championships, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.
