FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- It would be tough to start better than the Fairfield University men's basketball season. With two wins in as many games, the Stags are scoring, defending, and most importantly winning. But Head Coach Sydney Johnson knows with this year's schedule, the team must remain focused as it faces a test each time it takes the floor.
On Saturday, Fairfield will face Wagner College, a team which won the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season a year ago, posted 23 wins including a victory in the NIT, and picked up an impressive road win against UConn to start the season. Add in the fact that the Stags serve as the home opener for the Seahawks and you can see a third win will take at least the same effort that brought the program a pair of wins to start the season.
Fairfield will play the second of three road games before Thanksgiving when it travels to Staten Island on Saturday. The Stags come off a 79-62 win against Dartmouth last Tuesday, leading the game from start to finish. For the second straight game, the Stags shot better than 50 percent from the floor, making 31 of 57 field goal attempts (54.4 percent) and raising the team's field goal percentage to .532 which represents the best mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The team is tied with Siena for the top spot in scoring offense at 82.5 points per game.
Fairfield enters the game with two student-athletes who are averaging 20 points per game into the Wagner game, one of only 12 Division I programs to hold that distinction as of the November 18 NCAA stats. Curtis Cobb (20.5 ppg) and Tyler Nelson (20.0 ppg) represent the Stags in the 20-point club. Along with Fairfield, Brigham Young, Wright State, Purdue, Yale, Arizona State, Towson, Ball State, Oklahoma State, Washington, North Carolina-Wilmington, and St. Bonaventure has at least two players averaging better than 20 points per game. Only St. Bonaventure has three student-athletes netting an average of 20 or more points per contest.
The Seahawks bring a 1-1 overall record into today's game, opening the season with a 67-58 win over UConn before falling to UMass Lowell by an 87-76 count three days later. The game marks the home opener for Wagner, a venue which saw the Seahawks post a 13-4 record a year ago. Wagner advanced to postseason play a year ago after falling in the Northeast Conference championship game. The program received a bid to the NIT in which it defeated St. Bonaventure on the road before falling at Creighton.
Head Coach Bashir Mason, who was the NEC Coach of the Year in 2015-16, returns his top two scorers from last year's 23-11 team, namely Corey Henson and Michael Carey. Henson paced the team with a 13.3 scoring average last year, and leads the squad with a 14.5 scoring average in 2016-17. Henson tallied 12.6 points per contest and stands fourth this year at 9.0 points every forty minutes. Carey just missed averaging a double-double in 2015-16 with a 9.1 rebounding average, and has improved on that mark with 9.5 rebounds per game this season. Both student-athletes earned All-NEC honors a year ago.
Following this game, Fairfield will play its third road game in a row by heading to Loyola University (Md.) for an afternoon game on November 23. Game time is slated for 1 pm.
