What to Watch For: Midshipmen visit QU

What to Watch For: Midshipmen visit QU

By Matthias Gausz, QBSN Co-Director

The Bobcats men’s basketball team (1-1) will host the Navy Midshipmen (2-1) at the TD Bank Sports Center on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 2:00pm.

Quinnipiac is coming off their first win of the season in a 68-62 victory over local rival Yale Tuesday night in Hamden.  Junior James Johnson (Queens, N.Y.) led the Bobcats with 25 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Johnson started his 97^th career game after he missed the season opener on Friday after serving a suspension for an off-court incident.  Sophomore Ike Azotam (Boston, Mass.) added 17 points and 18 rebounds, controlling the paint for QU.

The Bobcats are a different team compared to last year’s as they are much younger, with nine newcomers including eight freshmen. The starters for Quinnipiac consist of a senior, two juniors and two sophomores, but the next six off the bench are all freshmen.

Quinnipiac has kept the rebounding culture under Coach Tom Moore still in check as they have out rebounded all of their opponents this year including Northeastern and Iona in their preseason scrimmages.  With the loss of NEC all-time leading rebounder, some thought that this might be in jeopardy but Azotam has stepped in and is averaging 17 points per game and 14 rebounds per game. The Bobcats’ defense has been decent in their first two games, holding their opponents big-men to five points for Greg Mangano of Yale, and 12 for the Fairfield 7-footer Ryan Olander.

Navy is coming in off of a tough loss at Siena, 65-56, after opening up with wins over Longwood and Penn State-Altoona. Longwood is a D-I independent and PSU-Altoona plays at the D-III level. Navy has a new head coach in Ed DeChellis, who left Penn State in May to take over at the Naval Academy. Navy is led by sophomore forward J.J. Avila who upped his average to 14.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg after a very good freshman year. In the backcourt is senior guard Jordan Sugars who led the Midshipmen in scoring last year.

Key for the Bobcats:

For QU, they must get scoring from players not named Azotam or James Johnson. If junior forward Jamee Jackson (Newark N.J.) and junior guard Dave Johnson (Jackson, N.J.) can put the ball in the hoop and not foul out, like they did on Tuesday, then the Bobcats should be in prime position for the win.

Key for the Midshipmen:

For Navy, they must be able to show that they can play at this level after having a really easy open to the schedule. They will also need to add some versatility on the offensive side and to rely on Avila and Sugars. If they can penetrate and kick out to make some threes they should be in good shape.

Last Meeting:

The last time these teams met it was Nov. 30, 2009, their first ever meeting. Navy won the game 65-62 on a buzzer beater three by senior Chris Harris, giving him 31 points on the evening. Senior James Feldeine led the Bobcats with 24 points, including 18 in the second half, to erase the 14-point deficit at the half.