News and Notes Heading into Fairfield

Notables as the Friars head back to the court for the first time since closing out the Puerto Rico Tip-off with a win over UNC-Asheville.

1. Fairfield entered the 2012-13 season off of their third straight 20 win campaign, thanks in large part to current Friar head man Ed Cooley.  The core of Cooley’s team, plus Boston College transfer Rakim Sanders took longer to gel last season than most would expect, but they played their way into the MAAC championship last March before falling 48-44 to Loyola (MD).

They nearly made the NCAA Tournament despite losing their leader, now-senior Derek Needham – an 11.8 point, 3.4 assist per game point guard last season.  Needham was the MAAC Rookie of the Year in 2009-10 under Cooley, and a first team all conference selection as a sophomore in 2010-11, but broke a bone in his left foot causing him to miss the stretch run in 2012.  He’ll play this season with a screw in that foot.

Needham leads a group that graduated two key cogs in forwards Ryan Olander and Sanders.  It’s a team that is off to a 3-2 start with an overtime win over Central Connecticut State to kick off the season followed by wins over Pennsylvania and Fordham.  The losses have come courtesy of Virginia (54-45) and Lehigh (82-67).

Needham is their only double digit scorer, averaging a familiar 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds, while shooting only 32% from the field, making only five of 25 shots over the past two games.

2. Bryce Cotton has certainly been up for the challenge of filling in for the injured Vincent Council, and his matchup with Needham could well determine who comes out on top in this one.  The junior guard has been stellar through five games, averaging 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, while upping his three point field goal percentage to 42% this year and his overall field goal percentage over to 45%.

Three key figures that stand out:

• With added responsibility, Cotton is shooting four percentage points higher than he did last season (45 vs 41%).
• He’s living at the free throw line, averaging nine free throw attempts per game, shooting no less than seven foul shots in any game he’s played in this season.
• Cotton hasn’t sat out yet – playing the full 40 minutes in the four games he’s played in.

3. After watching this group in Puerto Rico, it may surprise some to find that LaDontae Henton (27% on 9-33 from 3) is shooting a higher percentage from three point range than Josh Fortune (25% on 5-20).  An 0-5 opener from deep didn’t help Fortune’s percentage, and he shot at a more respectable 33% in Puerto Rico (4-12), while Henton’s figure stayed consistent (6-21, 28%).

As a team the Friars are making just 31% of their threes.

4. Some remain in wait-and-see mode as Kadeem Batts is off to a strong start this year.  The junior’s numbers (and percentages) are way up from last season.

Batts shot a mere 39% from the field last season, but has been terrific this year in making nearly 55 percent of his shots from the field.  He’s more than doubled his rebounding average (up from 4.2 to 9.6), nearly triple his scoring mark (17.6 after 6.2 last year) and he’s shooting almost eight free throws per game after averaging 2.7 in 2011-12.

He’s recorded a double double in his last two games, and is only four rebounds shy of getting one in all five games this season – this on the heels of only getting four double doubles total in his previous two seasons.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

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