ATLANTIC CITY – Deuce Turner has been selected to the Preseason All-MAAC Third Team, as voted upon by the 13 head men's basketball coaches of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and announced this morning in Atlantic City. Turner is set to begin his first campaign as a member of Fairfield University Men's Basketball.
 
Turner joined the Stags as a graduate student this season, most recently competing at UC Santa Barbara. Turner scored 9.6 points per game last season as UCSB, logging nearly 20 minutes per game as the sixth man for the Gauchos. He spent the two prior seasons at the University of San Diego, earning 2023-24 West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year and All-WCC Second Team honors. Turner averaged 11.2 points per game in 61 games at San Diego, including a team-best 15.5 points per contest – good for fourth in the WCC – while shooting .374 from downtown and ranking second the conference at .858 from the free throw line in 2023-24. In that season with the Toreros, he scored 34 points against a Saint Mary's team that boasted a top-10 scoring defense and dropped 24 points in a game against perennial national contender Gonzaga.
 
Turner played at Bucknell in a Covid-shortened 2020-21 season and competed for one season as South Plains College. He was a Second Team All-American at South Plains, leading the Texans to a Region 5 Championship and the Sweet Sixteen of the NJCAA National Tournament with a team-high 18.3 points per game. Turner scored a career-best 50 points in a win over Midland College fueled by an electric 13-for-19 showing from three-point range. In total, he topped the 20-point mark in 12 games including five outings with 30 or more points.
 
Also announced on Tuesday, Fairfield has been selected eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Stags slotted one spot back of seventh-place Merrimack and on top of reigning league champion Mount St. Mary's, Rider, Saint Peter's, Niagara, and Canisius.
 
Fairfield University Men's Basketball opens the 2025-26 campaign on Monday, Nov. 3 at Penn State. The Stags will tip off a 16-game home slate with the first-ever MTE at Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Nov. 14-16 with visits from Stonehill and Loyola Maryland.

Season tickets are on sale now at FairfieldStags.com/TIX.