FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- With the opening tip just 24 hours away, the Fairfield University men's basketball will turn its focus from the preseason to the 2015-16 season. The Stags open the campaign against Yale University in the Connecticut 6 Classic, hosted by Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. It's the first game of the Division I basketball tripleheader with tip-off slated for 3 pm.
Fairfield will look to build on the momentum it acheived with its 91-80 exhibition win over the University of Bridgeport on November 6, a game which saw veterans and newcomers come together to form a total team win. Senior Marcus Gilbert led all scorers with 28 points while sophomores Jerome Segura (19 points) and Tyler Nelson (18 points) also reached double figures. The freshmen trio of Curtis Cobb (8 points), Jerry Johnson Jr. (6 points), and Matija Milin (6 points) combined for 20 points in the win.
The Stags start the 2015-16 season with a roster filled with experience, losing just a few players from the 2014-15 team. Five student-athletes who started 13 or more games will be back in uniform this year namely Marcus Gilbert (31 starts), Mike Kirkland (31 starts), Amadou Sidibe (22 starts), Tyler Nelson (27 starts) and Jerome Segura (13 starts).
Gilbert led the team in scoring with a 16.4 scoring average, followed by Tyler Nelson's 10.2 points per game. Sidibe represented the team's top rebounder with 6.8 per game. Segura posted 64 assists in his 30 appearances as a rookie, best among returning student-athletes. Kirkland added support on both sides of the court, placing third in scoring (7.9 ppg) and rebounding (4.0 rpg). Senior Coleman Johnson finished third in the MAAC with 1.5 blocks per game and led the team with 41 rejections in 28 games.
The Bulldogs enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent history with a 22-win season, the most since 1948-49, and a share of the Ivy League title, the first since 2001-02. Yale, under Head Coach James Jones, had two winning streaks of at least five games in 2014-15. One of the primary reasons for the team's success was the play of forward Justin Sears, who begins his senior season as a two-time All-Ivy League player and the 2015 Ivy League Player of the Year. Sears led the team in most statistical categories including scoring (14.2 ppg), and rebounding (7.5 rpg).
Brandon Sherrod returns to the lineup after taking a year off and looks to return to form. He averaged 6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in 2013-14. Team captain Jack Montague led the Ivy League in three-point field goal percentage last season, netting a .435 percentage from beyond the arc. His 67 three-point field goals a year ago was the fourth-best single-season mark in Yale history.
Fairfield will continue its road trip against the No. 1/2 University of North Carolina on November 15, a game which will be televised on ESPNU. The game is slated for a 4 pm start. Following that game, the Stags will move on to Northwestern University for a November 18 match up. The three-game road trip amounts to nearly 1,200 miles of travel for the Stags.
