# 2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team represented Canisius College in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by third-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon and played their home games at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, New York as members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). They finished the season 15–17 overall, 11–7 in MAAC play, to finish in a four-way tie for second place. As the No. 2 seed in the 2019 MAAC tournament, they defeated No. 7 seed Manhattan in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 6 seed Monmouth 59–73 in the semifinals.

## Previous season

The Golden Griffins finished the 2017–18 season 21–11, 15–3 in MAAC play, to finish in a share for the MAAC regular-season title with Rider. It was their first conference regular-season title since 1994. As the No. 2 seed at the MAAC tournament, they were upset by in the quarterfinals by No. 7 seed Quinnipiac. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Jacksonville State.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 13, 2018* 7:00 p.m., Patriot League Network | | at Bucknell | W 82–73 | 1–0 | Sojka Pavilion (2,237) Lewisburg, PA |
| November 17, 2018* 3:30 p.m., ESPN3 | | Albany | L 66–75 | 1–1 | Koessler Athletic Center (1,540) Buffalo, NY |
| November 19, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ACCN Extra | | at No. 14 Florida State AdvoCare Invitational campus game | L 61–93 | 1–2 | Donald L. Tucker Center (7,457) Tallahassee, FL |
| November 22, 2018* 1:30 p.m., ESPN2 | | vs. Villanova AdvoCare Invitational quarterfinals | L 56–83 | 1–3 | HP Field House (2,964) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| November 23, 2018* 1:30 p.m., ESPN3 | | vs. Memphis AdvoCare Invitational | L 63–71 | 1–4 | HP Field House (2,672) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| November 25, 2018* 10:30 a.m., ESPNU | | vs. UAB AdvoCare Invitational | L 58–68 | 1–5 | HP Field House (3,127) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| November 28, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at St. Bonaventure | L 55–70 | 1–6 | Reilly Center (3,685) Olean, NY |
| December 5, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Robert Morris | W 68–62 | 2–6 | Koessler Athletic Center (884) Buffalo, NY |
| December 16, 2018* 2:00 p.m., Phoenix All-Access | | at Elon | W 92–91 | 3–6 | Schar Center (1,497) Elon, NC |
| December 20, 2018* 2:00 p.m., Patriot League Network | | at Holy Cross | L 63–65 | 3–7 | Hart Center (681) Worcester, MA |
| December 29, 2018* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | No. 21 Buffalo | L 72–87 | 3–8 | Koessler Athletic Center (2,196) Buffalo, NY |
| MAAC regular season ||||||
| January 3, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Marist | W 75–72 | 4–8 (1–0) | McCann Arena (1022) Poughkeepsie, NY |
| January 5, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Siena | W 70–66 | 5–8 (2–0) | Times Union Center (6,432) Albany, NY |
| January 8, 2019* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Brown | L 90–97 | 5–9 | Koessler Athletic Center (801) Buffalo, NY |
| January 11, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Rider | L 73–82 | 5–10 (2–1) | Koessler Athletic Center (873) Buffalo, NY |
| January 13, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Iona | L 70–88 | 5–11 (2–2) | Koessler Athletic Center (1,086) Buffalo, NY |
| January 17, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Quinnipiac | W 65–63 | 6–11 (3–2) | People's United Center (792) Hamden, CT |
| January 19, 2019 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Fairfield | W 73–69 | 7–11 (4–2) | Alumni Hall (1,281) Fairfield, CT |
| January 24, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Monmouth | W 80–66 | 8–11 (5–2) | Koessler Athletic Center (1,221) Buffalo, NY |
| January 30, 2019 7:00 p.m., MAAC.TV | | at Niagara Battle of the Bridge | L 70–78 | 8–12 (5–3) | Gallagher Center (1,660) Lewiston, NY |
| February 1, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Quinnipiac | W 75–70 | 9–12 (6–3) | Koessler Athletic Center (802) Buffalo, NY |
| February 4, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Marist | L 71–78 $^{OT}$ | 9–13 (6–4) | Koessler Athletic Center (943) Buffalo, NY |
| February 8, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at Rider | W 81–80 | 10–13 (7–4) | Alumni Gymnasium (1,650) Lawrenceville, NJ |
| February 10, 2019 1:00 p.m., MAAC.TV | | at Saint Peter's | W 64–60 | 11–13 (8–4) | Yanitelli Center (595) Jersey City, NJ |
| February 15, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Fairfield | W 72–68 | 12–13 (9–4) | Koessler Athletic Center (1,039) Buffalo, NY |
| February 17, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Manhattan | L 65–70 | 12–14 (9–5) | Koessler Athletic Center (1,058) Buffalo, NY |
| February 22, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at Monmouth | W 60–59 | 13–14 (10–5) | OceanFirst Bank Center (2,625) West Long Branch, NJ |
| February 24, 2019 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Iona | L 80–87 | 13–15 (10–6) | Hynes Athletic Center (2,288) New Rochelle, NY |
| February 27, 2019 7:30 p.m., ESPN3 | | Niagara Battle of the Bridge | L 84–86 | 13–16 (10–7) | Koessler Athletic Center Buffalo, NY |
| March 1, 2019 9:00 p.m., ESPNU | | Siena | W 68–62 | 14–16 (11–7) | Koessler Athletic Center Buffalo, NY |
| MAAC tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2019 9:30 p.m., ESPN3 | (2) | vs. (7) Manhattan Quarterfinals | W 69–65 $^{OT}$ | 15-16 | Times Union Center Albany, NY |
| March 10, 2019 8:30 p.m., ESPNU | (2) | vs. (6) Monmouth Semifinals | L 59–73 | 15–17 | Times Union Center (4,918) Albany, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
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