曼哈顿大学体育学院

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Albany, NY - Manhattan will open up its MAAC season against Siena for the first time in school history on Friday, December 4 at 7:00 pm. A video stream of the game can be accessed via ESPN3 while a television broadcast is available on Time Warner TV (Channel 323).

TOP STORYLINES 
#1 - The last time the Jaspers played in the Times Union Center (TUC), they won three games in three days to win the 2015 MAAC Championship.

#2 - Manhattan snapped an 10-game losing streak to Siena at the Times Union Center in the teams' previous match-up.

#3 - Last year, the Jaspers claimed both match-ups thanks to averaging 83.5 points per game while shooting a blistering 49.0 percent (49-for-100) from the floor, including 43.2 percent (16-for-37) from long range. 

QUICK HITS
* Manhattan is 9-5 in their last 14 MAAC openers.

* In his five years as head coach, Steve Masiello is 57-30 (.655) against MAAC opposition, including going 20-19 (.513) on the road.

* The last time out at Fordham, junior Rich Williams scored a team-high 24 points.

* Williams, who scored a career-high 26 points in the previous game against George Mason, averaged a team-best 25.0 points and 7.0 rebounds last week while playing all 80 minutes.

* On the season, Williams ranks fifth in the MAAC with a team-best 18.8 points and 7.0 rebounds each time out. He also is among the league leaders in defensive rebounds (4.5-3rd) and blocks (1.7-6th) per game.

* DYK? Williams has improved both his scoring (+13.1 ppg) and rebounding (+5.5 rpg) from last year.

* The Jaspers are 51-40, all-time, against Siena ... Since the Saints joined the league for the 1988-1989 season, Siena holds a scant 31-30 advantage in the series, including going 19-12 at home.

* Manhattan snapped its 10-game losing streak to the Saints in Albany a year ago thanks to senior RaShawn Stores' career-high matching 15 points.

* Stores' 15 second-half points were fueled by a career-high matching four three pointers, highlighted by a backbreaking triple with just 18 seconds to play that put the game on ice.

* The victory helped fuel the Jaspers' run to the MAAC Tournament at the TUC. During its current four-game winning streak at the TUC, Manhattan is outscoring opponents by 12.3 points per game while shooting 42.8 percent from the floor, including 35.4 percent from long range, while limiting the opposition to just 37.3 percent shooting, including 22.2 percent from deep.

* Joining Williams in double-figures in Manhattan's most recent game at Fordham was junior Tyler Wilson, who finished with 13 points and a career-high eight assists to go along with three steals. He has handed out at least six helpers in all four games and leads the MAAC while ranking 12th nationally with 7.0 assists per game.

* Wilson also is fifth in the MAAC with 2.0 steals per game and eighth with a 1.6 assist/turnover rate.

* Senior Shane Richards was the hero in the first Jasper victory of the year, a 69-67 come-from-behind triumph over George Mason, thanks to banking in a jumper with 1.2 seconds to play before completing the three-point play at the line.

* Manhattan played with just five scholarship players against Mason, while rallying from a 16-point deficit, which was the largest overcome since battling back from an 18-point margin at Iona on January 12, 2012.

* The Jaspers made just eight substitutions in the aforementioned victory against the Patriots and played the final 10:48 with the same line-up.

* Richards, who hit for at least 20 points in each of his first two games, ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (7th-18.3 ppg), steals (8th-1.5 spg) and threes per game (10th-2.3).

* A 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Second Team selection, Richards is playing a MAAC-high 38.0 minutes per game and notched a career-high 28 points and five steals to go along with six rebounds against Bucknell. His second-straight 20-point game also give him nine for his career.

* Richards, who scored a game-high 23 at Saint Mary's, is the school's single-season (92) and career (243) leader in threes and has now converted at least three triples in 51 of his 102 games and at least four 27 times. When the New York City native connects on four in a game, the Jaspers are 18-9, including 14-6 over the last three seasons.

* The combination of Richards and Williams rank third in the MAAC in scoring at 37.1 points per game with the duo giving the Manhattan a 20-point performer in each of its four games.

* The Jaspers forced a combined 44 turnovers last week, including a season-high 25 in the win over George Mason - fueled by six drawn charges - leading to 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The 25 were the most forced since Manhattan turned Niagara over 25 times in a 78-77 victory in Niagara Falls on February 9, 2014.

* Thanks to their defensive prowess, the Jaspers have a MAAC-best and eye-popping +6.0 turnover margin (10th NCAA) while forcing an average of 18.5 miscues (9th NCAA) each time out. During Masiello's five years on the sidelines, Manhattan is 19-8 when forcing the opposition into at least 20 turnovers in a game.

* The Jaspers also recorded 11 steals against the Patriots, improving 19-2 over the last three seasons when notching double-figures in thefts and are 30-5 when hitting the 10-steal standard over the last five years. This season, Manhattan is 29th nationally with a MAAC-best 8.8 steals per game with three players ranking among the top-eight in the league.

* Since failing to score in the opener, freshman Thomas Capuano is averaging 10.7 points, 3.0 steals and 2.7 assists per game over his last three games. He hit for a career-high 14 points in the win over George Mason to go along with five steals and four assists after notching 12 against Bucknell.

* Sophomore Zane Waterman narrowly missed his first double-double in the win over the Patriots, finishing with nine points and a career-high nine rebounds in just 28 minutes of action and is averaging 8.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

* Stores saw his first action against Bucknell while teaming with Wilson to hand out nine assists, against just one turnover, over a combined 51 minutes of action.

* For his career, Stores, a 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Third Team selection, is shooting 42.1 percent (51-for-121) on threes after halftime. Since the start of last season, he is making good on 48.1 percent (26-of-54) in the second half, including posting a 4.75 assist/turnover ratio during that sample.

* The Jaspers are 36-15 over the last three years when Stores, who was granted an extra year of eligibility on July 22, 2015 by the NCAA, starts including going 17-8 last year.

* Both Richards & Stores are the only MAAC student-athletes to have played in each of the last three conference title games and have been a part of 59 total wins, including going 8-1 during MAAC Tournament play.

* Manhattan is 36-1 when leading at the half over the last three seasons, including going a perfect 15-0 a year ago. Additionally, since the start of last season the Jaspers are 16-2 in 2014-2015 when leading with five minutes to play and 13-9 in games decided by 10 points or less.

* Also over the last three years, Manhattan is 30-6 when holding teams to less than 70 points, 20-6 when limiting teams to less than 40 percent shooting, 22-6 when winning the battle of the boards and 30-13 when forcing more turnovers than the opposition.

* Masiello, who holds a career record of 80-56 (49-27 MAAC), set the school-record for MAAC Tournament wins a year ago with his eighth against Iona while breaking current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla's previous mark.

* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has led the Jaspers to two MAAC Championships as well as a pair of 20-plus win campaigns. In his first tenure, he was a part of two MAAC Championships and three 20-plus win seasons. All told, Masiello has been a member of four of the five Manhattan MAAC Championship teams and five of the Jaspers' 12 20-win seasons while accruing a 163-92 record.

* In his 20th season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 441-202, including 320-174 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship appearances, two Final Four appearances, six Elite Eight berths, eight conference championships, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.

* Manhattan's non-conference slate features four games against teams that qualified for the postseason a year ago, including three (Saint Mary's, Bucknell, Memphis) that participated in the NIT. Additionally, six of the nine non-conference opponents have qualified for the NCAA Tournament this decade.

SCOUTING SIENA
Siena (4-3) enters Friday's tilt after seeing its four-game winning streak snapped by Cornell on Tuesday. The Saints boast a high-octane offense that is averaging 78.0 points per game while featuring four double-digit scorers in juniors Marquis Wright (18.1 ppg), Brett Bisping (13.7 ppg), Javion Ogunyemi (12.7 ppg) and Lavon Long (11.3 ppg).

KEY MANHATTAN MATCH-UPS
Rebounding - Manhattan has been ourebounded by double-figures over each of its first four games and will be going against a team that is fourth in the MAAC on the glass, led by Bisping (9.4 rpg).
Turnover Game - The Jaspers have done an outstanding job in turning over the opposition in the first four games to the tune of a MAAC-best +6.0 turnover margin, 18.5 forced turnovers and 8.8 steals each time out. Siena, meanwhile, has turned it over a MAAC-high 15.9 times per game.
Defense - The Saints are shooting a MAAC-best 47.4 percent, including 36.8 percent from long range (3rd MAAC), while Manhattan is allowing the opposition to make good on 52.0 percent from the field and 40.3 percent from deep.

FOR STARTERS
Due to a rash of injuries to start the year, the Jaspers have had a different starting line-up in all four games.

INJURIES APLENTY
Manhattan has had six scholarship players miss a total of 17 games due to injury this year

CLIMBING THE LADDER
Richards, who became the 37th member of the Jaspers' 1,000-point club in the win over George Mason, is 36th in school history with 1,013 points to go along with his school-record 243 career three pointers.

WITH THE WIN OVER MASON ...
Manhattan avoided its first 0-3 start since the 2005-2006 season with the program's first-ever win against George Mason.

WILLIAMS BRINGS HIS A GAME
Williams notched career-highs with 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks while playing all 40 minutes in the win vs. GMU.

SOMETIMES REJECTION IS GOOD
Williams also recorded four blocks against the Patriots after notching just eight in his first 65 games.

ONE MORE WILLIAMS NOTE ...
The junior guard is 14-for-24 from the line in four games ... after going just 13-for-23 a year ago.

IRON MEN
Five times this season a Manhattan student-athletes has played all 40 minutes in a game (Williams 2x, Capuano, Richards, Wilson).

LIFE BEGINS AT 80
Masiello became the sixth coach in school history with 80 victories in the win over George Mason.

SECOND-HALF SUCCESS
The Jaspers outscored George Mason 38-25 in the second half, shooting 46.7 percent from the floor while limiting the visitors to 38.1 percent. In the first two games, Manhattan shot just 29.4 percent, including 26.3 percent from distance, while allowing the opposition to make good on 56.8 percent

NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
Manhattan's non-conference schedule consists of games at home again host Bucknell (11/21), George Mason (11/25), Columbia (12/9) and St. Francis Brooklyn (12/14) and road affairs Saint Mary's (11/16), Fordham (11/28), Memphis (12/12), Morgan State (12/20) and Eastern Kentucky (12/29). Masiello is 23-26, all-time, against non-MAAC opposition.

MASIELLO AT MANHATTAN
Masiello has been a part of four of Jaspers' five MAAC Championships while helping lead the Jaspers to a 163-92 record in nine seasons in Riverdale.

MALONEY STARTS STRONG
Freshman Matt Maloney has been solid in his first year in Riverdale. He hit a huge triple while playing a career-high 20 minutes in the win over George Mason.

THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Manhattan is slated to appear on the ESPN family of networks 11 times during the 2015-2016 season, including 10 during MAAC play, beginning with the MAAC opener at Siena.

UP NEXT
The Jaspers will host Marist on Sunday, December 6 at 2:00 pm.