EDISON, NJ (Jan. 3, 2022) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) today announced, the January 14 men’s basketball meeting between Iona College and Manhattan College will be flexed to ESPNU as part of the MAAC Wildcard Game package. The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip at the Hynes Athletics Center in New Rochelle, New York.
The Friday night matchup features New York Metropolitan rivals, which have combined to win eight MAAC Championship titles since 2013 (six by Iona and two by Manhattan).
The defending MAAC champions and unanimous preseason favorite, Iona Gaels (11-2, 3-0 MAAC) sit atop of the MAAC standings, boasting league-leading overall and conference records entering the week. Iona, the winners of five straight contests, is off to its best start since the 1995-96 season and has not lost and home game or true road game during the campaign. In MAAC games, the Gaels have a season sweet over preseason top-3 Marist and also defeated Rider en route to the perfect conference mark, while recording a non-conference win against then 10
th nationally ranked Alabama. Leading Iona in points are Tyson Jolly and Nelly Junior Joseph who both rank top-10 on the MAAC scoring charts. Jolly ranks seventh, averaging 14.7 points and Junior Joseph ranks 10
th averaging 14.0 points. Junior Joseph is also the conference leader in offensive rebounding, double-doubles, and ranks second in total rebounds and blocked shots. As a unit, the Gaels are the highest scoring MAAC team, putting up 76.3 points per game.
The Manhattan Jaspers (8-3, 1-1 MAAC) are currently tied for the third most overall wins in the league. Manhattan began the 2021-22 season with its best start under head coach Steve Masiello, going 6-1 over the first seven games, its best start to a season since 2001-02. In league play, the Jaspers defeated Siena in overtime (Dec. 3) and fell to Quinnipiac (Dec. 5). Manhattan is led in scoring this season by the senior trio of Jose Perez, Ant Nelson, and Warren Williams. Perez is averaging 14.1 points per game, good for eight in the MAAC, while leading the conference in assists, handing out a MAAC-high 5.5 assists per game. Nelson follows Perez with an 11.2 scoring average (17
th in MAAC) and Williams is posting 10.3 points per outing. Defensively, Manhattan is the top MAAC team in steals, recording a league-leading 8.9 thefts per game behind the one-two punch of Elijah Buchanan (1.9 steals) and Nelson (1.8 steals) who rank first and second in steals on the MAAC individual leaderboard, respectively.
The MAAC Wildcard Game format allows ESPN to pick any game scheduled for that specific date to air on ESPNU and allows the MAAC and ESPN the flexibility to showcase the best matchups as the season progresses. Future MAAC wildcard matchups will be announced at later dates.
The 2021-22 campaign culminates with the 2022 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships from March 8-12 at Atlantic City's Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. Stay up to date with all MAAC basketball by visiting
MAACSports.com/basketball and by following @MAACHoops and #MAACHoops on Twitter. The road to AC!
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 41st year of competition during the 2021-22 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.
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