Riverdale, NY - Manhattan (3-3; 3-1 MAAC) will open up 2021 with a pair of games against upstart Saint Peter's (5-4; 4-0 MAAC) on Friday, January 1 and Saturday, January 2, with each game tipping at 6:00 pm.
No Fans Allowed
The MAAC has extended through January 31, 2021 its policy of not allowing fans at games. The league will review this monthly.
How To Watch
Friday's game will be broadcast on
ESPN3, and Saturday's on
ESPN+.
"Newmanium!"
The Jaspers will be playing on New Year's Day for the first time this millennium.
Quick Hits
* Manhattan most recently fell at Rutgers, despite a season-high 18 points from junior
Dee Dee Davis, and another big outing from senior
Courtney Warley (8 points, 13 rebounds).
* The Jaspers converted on 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the line against the Scarlet Knights, and are first in the MAAC and 87th nationally this season at 72.3 percent (68-of-94).
* Manhattan also ranks among the top-100 nationally in scoring defense (61.5 ppg-89th), blocks (3.8 bpg-95th), steals (9.0 spg-97th) and three-point defense (.280-97th).
First Time, Long Time
For the first time since the 2007-08 season, the Jaspers won three-straight games to open MAAC play, following their dramatic 71-70 overtime win against Quinnipiac.
Overtime Notes
The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak in overtime games that dated back to a 71-59 triumph against Monmouth on December 17. 2011.
Leading The Way
Senior
Courtney Warley is 13th nationally with a conference-leading 11.0 rpg, fueled by a league-best 7.3 on the defensive end, while also pacing the Jaspers and ranking among the MAAC leaders with 12.2 ppg (12th), 2.5 spg (3rd) and 1.0 bpg (6th). She has paced Manhattan on the glass in all six games, and registered her second double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) of the season in the win over Quinnipiac.
Double Your Pleasure
* Warley, who has paced the Jaspers in rebounding all six games, matched her season-high with 13 rebounds at Rutgers. She has now reached double-digits in four of Manhattan's six games, and 36 times in her career.
* She also has two double-doubles this year and 16 for her career.
Dee+Dee=Buckets
Junior
Dee Dee Davis is the lone Jasper to notch double-digits in points in all six games, and paced the team in scoring for the first time with 18 at Rutgers. In the win over Quinnipiac, she got hot late hitting three of her four three pointers in OT, en route to scoring 14 points with six caroms. Davis, who missed all of last seasaon, has now reached double-figures in points in 12 of her last 13 games dating back to 2018-19, and 16 times for her career.
More Davis
Davis ranks among the league leaders in scoring (13.2 ppg-7th), rebounding (4.8 rpg-16th) and steals (1.7 spg-10th) while knocking down 76.0 percent (10th) fom the line. In 2018-19, she led the team with 8.9 ppg, shooting 40 percent, including 33.9 percent from deep.
LaPointe Calls Game
Sophomore
Emily LaPointe's putback at the buzzer lifted the Jaspers to the aforementioned 71-70 victory over the Bobcats. LaPointe finished with 15 points, a career-high nine assists and five rebounds over 44 minutes. She followed that up with eight points, eight assists and six rebounds in the rematch, and is averaging 9.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg (16th MAAC), 3.5 apg (6th MAAC) and 33.5 mpg (11th MAAC), while posting a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio (8th MAAC).
Doing It All
LaPoine paced the squad in scoring for the 15th time in her 35-game Jasper career with 16 points against Stony Brook in the opener, and is averaging 6.3 apg over her last three outings with a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio.
More Than Just A Basketball Player
Earlier this year, LaPointe was named the MAAC representative to the newly formed NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Engagement Group, which will serve as an amplifying voice for women's basketball on key initiatives, legislation and various issues.
Manhattan Is ...
* 11-0 the last three-plus years when scoring at least 70 points.
* 3-0 when leading at the half this season.
* 2-0 in games decided by five points or less this year.
Manhattan-Saint Peter's Historical Notes
* The Jaspers have won 13-straight games against the Peacocks, with Head Coach
Heather Vulin owning a perfect 9-0 record.
* In the most recent meeting, Manhattan overcame a 16-point deficit in posting a 68-64 win at Draddy on February 1, 2020, after the Jaspers claimed the first match-up by 33.
* LaPointe averaged 16.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg last year against SPU, while Warley (12.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg), graduate student
Gabby Cajou (10.5 ppg) and senior
Lizahya Morgan (10.0 ppg) all also averaged double-digits in scoring.
* For her career, Warley is notching 11.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.7 bpg and 1.7 spg over seven career games with Saint Peter's.
* Saint Peter's leads the all-time series by a 52-38 count.
Lending A Helping Hand
The Jaspers 23 assists in the win over Quinnipiac were the most since registering 24 in back-to-back wins over Niagara and Saint Peter's.
The Story Of Miceus
Graduate student
Pamela Miceus has ascended from walk-on to scholarship player, to important reserve and now finally starter. She is averaging 4.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 1.3 bpg (5th MAAC), and scored seven points with five rebounds and two blocks in the win over Quinnipiac.
Filling It Up
Cajou has done a little bit everything in the early part of the season. She dished out seven assists vs. Stony Brook, before scoring 10 points with six rebounds in the first win over Rider and a season-high 12 points the last time out at Quinnipiac. On the year, she is averaging 6.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg and 3.3 apg (7th MAAC) with a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio (7th MAAC).
High Five
Cajou registered her 24th career five-assist performance in Friday's victory over Quinnipiac, handing out five dimes.
In The All-Time Jasper Career Annals ...
* Warley ranks eighth with 745 career rebounds, and with 50 more will match
Lindsay Loutsenhizer (2008-12).
* She is fifth in program history with 115 blocks, 17 behind
Eve Walters (1998-2003).
* Cajou is 10th with 315 career assists, and with 23 would match
Michelle Pacheco (2006-10).
* Miceus is tied with
Brita Hinkle (1999-2001) for eighth place in program history in blocks (79), and is just two behind
Gina Somma (1992-96).
#playGREEN
The Jaspers' team motto "playGREEN" is a concept developed by Vulin. For the team, playGREEN is a commitment to the pursuit of excellence. Vulin expects her players to have that mindset every day, as they play for their teammates, for their program, and to represent Manhattan College at a championship level. The Jaspers use #playGREEN on all of the team's social media channels.
The Newcomers
Manhattan welcomes three freshmen and one transfer for the 2019-20 season.
*
Jenna Jordan joins the squad from St. Francis Brooklyn, where she averaged 6.3 ppg, shooting 46.3 percent as a freshman.
* Bailey, who hails from New Rochelle, was named a 2019-20 Conference I All-Section selection, in addition to being named a Journal News/LoHud Girls Basketball Honorable Mention for Westchester and Putnam Counties.
* Mbeledeogu won the Pennsylvania District Three Class 2A championship as a member of the Linden Hall for Girls squad and also played for Raptors Academy (2016) and Deepbond Academy (2017).
* Rounding out the newcomers,
Emma Wilson-Saltos joins the team from the Bronx's Preston High School, and is the first player out of Preston to play Division I basketball in 16 years.
United For Justice
Earlier this year, the MAAC launched its United for Justice campaign. For the 2020-21 season, the MAAC will work both internally at the conference office and with all 11 member institutions to advance and execute strategies to combat racial injustices within our society. The MAAC and its member institutions will work to address the long-standing history of systemic racism and inequality that minorities in this country have and still currently face, with a goal to educate those around us and to create substantial change in our communities. The MAAC basketball programs have united to focus their messaging platform for the upcoming season on Black Lives Matter. Specifically, the coaches will be showcasing the Black Lives Matter messaging on warm up shirts and uniform patches.
Scouting Saint Peter's
The Peacocks are off to a solid 5-4 start, thanks to going 3-1 in games decided by 10 points or less. Saint Peter's is led by the duo of Kendrea Williams (12.7 ppg) and Taiah Thornton (12.5 ppg).
Head Coach Heather Vulin
Vulin was named the eighth head coach in Manhattan College program history on April 25, 2016. A 1999 graduate of Minnesota-Morris, she earned nearly two decades of coaching experience before arriving in Riverdale. She began her career as a graduate assistant at North Dakota State from 2000-02, then spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart from 2002-08. Vulin was on the staff at Villanova for seven seasons (2008-15) before spending the 2015-16 campaign as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Virginia Tech. She won her first game as a head coach against Holy Cross, defeating the Crusaders 60-56 on November 11, 2016, and her first MAAC game against Siena on December 30, 2016, when the Jaspers defeated the Saints 68-66.
Vulin has continued to raise the standard for the women's basketball program since her arrival at Manhattan. She mentored Warley to the program's first MAAC First Team selection since 2011 and the program's second MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Award. In addition, she guided LaPointe to the unanimous 2019-20 MAAC Rookie of the Year award, and Cajou to the program's first MAAC Sixth Player of the Year award in 2018. The Jaspers have also earned a spot in the MAAC quarterfinals for three-straight years.
The Coaching Staff
Vulin's staff consists of
Allie Bassetti,
Callan Taylor,
Rena Wakama and
Kiambra Griffin.
In her fifth season, Bassetti, serves as an assistant coach and the team's recruiting coordinator. She joined Vulin at Manhattan after serving as the director of basketball operations at American from 2013-16. Also in her fifth season, Taylor was the 2011-12 NEC player of the year at Sacred Heart and played basketball professionally overseas. Wakama is in her fourth season with the Jaspers and her second as an assistant. A 2014 graduate of Western Carolina, she played professionally, making stops in the United Kingdom and the FIBA African Basketball League. Griffin joined the Jaspers last year as director of basketball operations. Prior to that, the 2018 Davidson grad was a graduate assistant at Columbia.
2019-20 Recap
Manhattan finished the 2019-20 regular season 15-14 (12-8 MAAC), tying for third place in the league rankings, the program's best conference finish since 2011. The Jaspers went 6-1 down the stretch, winning their last five games of the season en route to securing a #4 seed for the MAAC Tourney.
Warley's World
Warley earned unanimous 2020-21 Preseason All-MAAC First Team honors, after averaging 11.6 ppg and 8.7 rpg, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and nabbing 2.4 spg (38th in NCAA Division I) on her way to becoming just the eighth player in program history to earn MAAC First Team honors.
What's A Jasper?
Manhattan is the only athletic program in Division I with the "Jaspers" nickname. The unique moniker honors one of Manhattan's most memorable figures, Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C. Brother Jasper served Manhattan College in the late 1800s and was the first coach of Manhattan's baseball team. He is also credited as the creator of the "seventh-inning stretch," which has become a time-honored tradition at ballparks across the country. During a game in the 1880s, Brother Jasper noticed students getting restless in the middle of the seventh inning of a close game, so he called timeout and told the students to stand up a stretch for a few minutes before resuming the game. Since Manhattan regularly played the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in the 1880s and into the 1890s, the tradition spread into the major leagues.
AC Here We Come!
The 2020-21 women's MAAC Championships will take place March 9-13 in Atlantic City, NJ. The tourney will be held at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
Trend Setter
Manhattan Athletic Director
Marianne Reilly was the Jaspers' first-ever scholarship women's basketball player. She was also the first player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, finishing with 1,305 points, and was the first female inducted into the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Up Next
Manhattan will play at Marist on Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 with both games starting at 5:00 pm.
