# 2020–21 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 25. Conference play started in December and concluded in March 2021. This season was the 40th season of MAAC basketball.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the MAAC revised their scheduling policy for conference games as follows:
* A 20-game double round robin conference schedule with five home series and five away series for each team.
* A Friday/Saturday playing schedule at the same venue for both games, with 24 hours of spacing between the two contests. The men’s and women’s schedules will mirror each other so that the women’s program may be playing a team for a 2-game home series, with the men’s program playing the same opponent on the road - and vice versa in subsequent weeks.
* Make up week retained for the second to last week of the season.
* The use of the same officiating crew for both games of a series, when possible.
* When teams are traveling, only institutional staff and student-athletes that are designated as Tier 1, along with Tier 2 Presidents, Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and key conference staff members are permitted entrance to a team’s facility.
* Retained a ban on fan attendance at venues through December.
* Approved the threshold for the minimum number of players available for the game to be contested as 8 counter (scholarship) players and at least one coach.
The 2021 MAAC tournament was held from March 8 through March 13 at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the second year in a row. For this season, since it was official that not all MAAC teams would reach the originally scheduled 20 conference game mark, team seeding in the tournament was based on overall conference regular season wins – not including any third games scheduled between teams in lieu of non-conference opponents. A tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records was also used.

## Head Coaches
### Coaching changes

On March 13, 2020, Tim Cluess stepped down as head coach of the Iona Gaels due to health concerns. A day later, the school named former Louisville coach Rick Pitino the Gaels' new head coach.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Year at school | Overall record | MAAC record | MAAC Tournament championships |
| Canisius | Reggie Witherspoon | Chattanooga (asst.) | 5 | 66–65 | 43–33 | 0 |
| Fairfield | Jay Young | Rutgers (asst.) | 2 | 12–20 | 8–12 | 0 |
| Iona | Rick Pitino | Louisville | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 |
| Manhattan | Steve Masiello | Louisville (asst.) | 10 | 140–149 | 88–84 | 2 |
| Marist | John Dunne | Saint Peter's | 3 | 19–42 | 13–25 | 1 |
| Monmouth | King Rice | Vanderbilt (asst.) | 10 | 149–146 | 82–54 | 0 |
| Niagara | Greg Paulus | George Washington (asst.) | 2 | 12–20 | 9–11 | 0 |
| Quinnipiac | Baker Dunleavy | Villanova (asst.) | 4 | 43–51 | 28–28 | 0 |
| Rider | Kevin Baggett | Rider (assoc. HC) | 9 | 141–116 | 92–62 | 0 |
| Saint Peter's | Shaheen Holloway | Seton Hall (asst.) | 3 | 28–34 | 20–18 | 0 |
| Siena | Carmen Maciariello | Siena (asst.) | 2 | 20–10 | 15–5 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2020–21 season.
* Overall and MAAC records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2020–21 season.
* Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

## Preseason
### Preseason Coaches Poll

| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Siena (11) |
| 2. | Iona |
| T3. | Monmouth |
| T3. | Saint Peter's |
| 5. | Manhattan |
| 6. | Niagara |
| 7. | Quinnipiac |
| 8. | Fairfield |
| 9. | Marist |
| 10. | Canisius |
| 11. | Rider |
( ) first place votes

### Preseason All-MAAC teams

2020-21 MAAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-MAAC Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team |
| †Deion Hammond – Monmouth †Marcus Hammond – Niagara KC Ndefo – Saint Peter's †Manny Camper – Siena †Jalen Pickett – Siena | Majesty Brandon – Canisius Asante Gist – Iona Isaiah Ross – Iona Warren Williams – Manhattan Tyrese Williams – Quinnipiac | Jesus Cruz – Fairfield Raheem Solomon – Niagara Jacob Rigoni – Quinnipiac Daryl Banks – Saint Peter's Doug Edert – Saint Peter's |
† denotes unanimous selection

### Preseason Player of the Year

| Recipient | School |
| †Jalen Pickett | Siena |

## MAAC Regular Season
### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the final head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| | Canisius | Fairfield | Iona | Manhattan | Marist | Monmouth | Niagara | Quinnipiac | Rider | Saint Peter's | Siena |
| vs. Canisius | | 1–1 | | | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| vs. Fairfield | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Iona | | 1–1 | | 1–1 | | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 0–2 | | |
| vs. Manhattan | | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. Marist | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Monmouth | 0–2 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Niagara | | 0–2 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. Quinnipiac | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | |
| vs. Rider | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Saint Peter's | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 1–1 |
| vs. Siena | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | |
| Total | 7–5 | 7–11 | 6–3 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 7–9 | 7–10 | 5–13 | 10–8 | 12–4 |

### Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference offices named player(s) of the week and rookie(s) of the week.
| Week | Player of the week | Rookie of the week |
| November 30, 2020 | Fousseyni Drame, Saint Peter's | Tymu Chenery, Quinnipiac |
| December 7, 2020 | Isaiah Ross, Iona | Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona |
| December 14, 2020 | Ant Nelson, Manhattan | Hakim Byrd, Marist |
| December 21, 2020 | Isaiah Ross (2), Iona | Nelly Junior Joseph (2), Iona |
| December 28, 2020 | Isaiah Ross (3), Iona | Nelly Junior Joseph (3), Iona |
| January 4, 2021 | Marcus Hammond, Niagara | Ricardo Wright, Marist |
| January 11, 2021 | Manny Camper, Siena | Aidan Carpenter, Siena |
| January 18, 2021 | Jordan King, Siena | Colin Golson, Jr., Siena |
| January 25, 2021 | Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider | Ricardo Wright (2), Marist |
| February 1, 2021 | Kobi Nwandu, Niagara | Ricardo Wright (3), Marist |
| February 8, 2021 | Melik Martin, Monmouth | Luis Kortright, Quinnipiac |
| February 15, 2021 | Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan | Nelly Junior Joseph (4), Iona |
| February 22, 2021 | Malek Green, Canisius | Luis Kortright (2), Quinnipiac |
| March 1, 2021 | Manny Camper (2), Siena | Luis Kortright (3), Quinnipiac |
| March 8, 2021 | Jalen Pickett, Siena | Ricardo Wright (4), Marist |

### Records against other conferences

Records against non-conference foes for the 2020–21 season. Records shown for regular season only.
| Power 7 Conferences | Record |
| American | 0–0 |
| ACC | 0–2 |
| Big East | 0–5 |
| Big Ten | ––– |
| Big 12 | ––– |
| Pac-12 | ––– |
| SEC | ––– |
| Power 7 Total | 0–7 |
| Other NCAA Division I Conferences | Record |
| America East | 5–4 |
| A-10 | 1–0 |
| ASUN | ––– |
| Big Sky | ––– |
| Big South | ––– |
| Big West | ––– |
| CAA | 1–3 |
| C-USA | ––– |
| Horizon League | ––– |
| Ivy League | ––– |
| MAC | ––– |
| MEAC | 2–1 |
| MVC | ––– |
| Mountain West | ––– |
| NEC | 2–1 |
| OVC | ––– |
| Patriot League | ––– |
| Pacific West | ––– |
| SoCon | ––– |
| Southland | ––– |
| SWAC | ––– |
| The Summit | ––– |
| Sun Belt | ––– |
| WAC | ––– |
| WCC | ––– |
| Other Division I Total | 11–9 |
| NCAA Division I Total | 11–16 |

## Postseason
### MAAC Tournament

* 2021 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament, Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
| First Round Monday/Tuesday, March 8/9 | First Round Monday/Tuesday, March 8/9 | First Round Monday/Tuesday, March 8/9 | Quarterfinals Wednesday/Thursday, March 10/11 | Quarterfinals Wednesday/Thursday, March 10/11 | Quarterfinals Wednesday/Thursday, March 10/11 | Semifinals Friday, March 12 | Semifinals Friday, March 12 | Semifinals Friday, March 12 | Championship Saturday, March 13 | Championship Saturday, March 13 | Championship Saturday, March 13 |
| | | | 1 | Siena | 52 | | | | | | |
| | | | 9 | Iona | 55 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Quinnipiac | 48 | 9 | Iona | 55 | | | | | | |
| 9 | Iona | 72 | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Iona | 72 | | | | 9 | Iona | 70 | | | |
| | | | | | | 5 | Niagara | 64 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Marist | 62 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Niagara | 67 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | 9 | Iona | 60 |
| | | | | | | | | | 7 | Fairfield | 51 |
| | | | 2 | Monmouth | 60 | | | | | | |
| | | | 7 | Fairfield | 79 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Fairfield | 59* | 7 | Fairfield | 79 | | | | | | |
| 10 | Manhattan | 58 | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Manhattan | 58 | | | | 7 | Fairfield | 52 | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Saint Peter's | 47 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Saint Peter's | 75 | | | | | | |
| | | | 11 | Rider | 58 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Canisius | 76 | 11 | Rider | 58 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Rider | 78 | | | | | | | | | |
* denotes number of overtimes

### NCAA Tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st Round |
| 15 | East | Iona | L 55–68 vs. (2) Alabama – (Hinkle Fieldhouse|Indianapolis, IN |
Game summary
* TBS
* March 20, 2021 4:00 pm
* Recap
No. 15 Iona 55, No. 2 #5 Alabama 68 :
| Scoring by half: 32–33, 23–35 |||
| Pts: Ross – 19 Rebs: Jr. Joseph – 6 Asts: 3 tied – 2 JeanLouis – 6 pts, 4 blk; Jr. Joseph – 6 pts, 3 blk | Pts: H. Jones – 20 Rebs: Petty, Jr. – 7 Asts: Ellis – 3 Quinerly – 11 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast |
| NCAA tournament first round |||
* Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN Attendance:   Referees: Bo Boroski, Bill Covington, Todd Austin

## Honors and awards
### MAAC Awards

2020-21 MAAC Men's Basketball Major Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Manny Camper, Sr, G Siena |
| Coach of the Year | King Rice, Monmouth |
| Rookie of the Year | Nelly Junior Joseph, F, Iona |
| Defensive Player of the Year | KC Ndefo, Jr, G, Saint Peter's |
| Sixth Player of the Year | Malek Green, Jr, F, Canisius |
2020-21 MAAC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Rookie Team |
| †Manny Camper, Sr, G, Siena †Deion Hammond, Sr, G, Monmouth †KC Ndefo, Jr, G, Saint Peter's Jalen Pickett, Jr, G, Siena †Isaiah Ross, Sr, G, Iona | Marcus Hammond, Jr, G, Niagara Dwight Murray, Jr., Jr, G, Rider Kobi Nwandu, Sr, F, Niagara George Papas, Sr, G, Monmouth Jacob Rigoni, Sr, F, Quinnipiac | Darryl Banks III, So, G, Saint Peter's Malek Green, Jr, F, Canisius Jordan King, So, G, Siena Melik Martin, Sr, F, Monmouth Ant Nelson, Jr, G, Manhattan Warren Williams, Jr, F, Manhattan | Hakim Byrd, Fr, G, Marist †Tymu Chenery, Fr, G/F, Quinnipiac †Nelly Junior Joseph, Fr, F, Iona †Luis Kortright, Fr, G, Quinnipiac †Ricardo Wright, Fr, G, Marist |
† denotes unanimous selection

## All-MAAC tournament team

* 2021 MAAC Men's Basketball All-Championship Team
* Raheem Solomon, Niagara
* KC Ndefo, Saint Peter's
* Jake Wojcik, Fairfield
* Taj Benning, Fairfield
* Berrick Jeanlouis, Iona
* Isaiah Ross, Iona
* $^{MVP}$ Asante Gist, Iona

## 2020–21 Season statistic leaders

Completed for 2020–21 season
Scoring leaders :
| Rk | Player | PTS | PPG |
| 1 | Isaiah Ross (Iona) | 332 | 18.4 |
| 2 | Deion Hammond (Monmouth) | 336 | 16.8 |
| 3 | Dwight Murray (Rider) | 364 | 15.8 |
| 4 | Kobi Nwandu (Niagara) | 292 | 14.6 |
| 5 | Manny Camper (Siena) | 240 | 14.1 |
Rebound leaders :
| Rk | Player | REB | RPG |
| 1 | Manny Camper (Siena) | 165 | 9.7 |
| 2 | Nelly Jr. Joseph (Iona) | 135 | 7.5 |
| 3 | Warren Williams (Manhattan) | 146 | 7.3 |
| 4 | Malek Green (Canisius) | 91 | 7.0 |
| 5 | Fousseyni Drame (Saint Peter's) | 174 | 7.0 |
Field goal leaders (avg 5 fga/gm) :
| Rk | Player | FG | FGA | PCT |
| 1 | Jackson Stormo (Siena) | 76 | 116 | .655 |
| 2 | Nelly Jr. Joseph (Iona) | 81 | 136 | .596 |
| 3 | Jordan Jones (Marist) | 78 | 132 | .591 |
| 4 | Warren Williams (Manhattan) | 88 | 155 | .568 |
| 5 | Jacco Fritz (Canisius) | 30 | 56 | .536 |
Assist leaders :
| Rk | Player | AST | APG |
| 1 | Jalen Pickett (Siena) | 67 | 4.8 |
| 2 | Dwight Murray (Rider) | 95 | 4.1 |
| 3 | Manny Camper (Siena) | 62 | 3.6 |
| 4 | Asante Gist (Iona) | 57 | 3.6 |
| 5 | Matthew Lee (Saint Peter's) | 89 | 3.6 |
Block leaders :
| Rk | Player | BLK | BPG |
| 1 | KC Ndefo (Saint Peter's) | 91 | 3.64 |
| 2 | Seth Pinkney (Quinnipiac) | 51 | 2.32 |
| 3 | Jordan Jones (Marist) | 40 | 1.90 |
| 4 | Nelly Jr. Joseph (Iona) | 29 | 1.61 |
| 5 | Warren Williams (Manhattan) | 32 | 1.60 |
Free throw leaders :
| Rk | Player | FT | FTA | PCT |
| 1 | Asante Gist (Iona) | 74 | 83 | .892 |
| 2 | Jacob Rigoni (Quinnipiac) | 67 | 78 | .859 |
| 3 | Dwight Murray (Rider) | 67 | 78 | .859 |
| 4 | Jake Wojcik (Fairfield) | 76 | 89 | .854 |
| 5 | Taj Benning (Fairfield) | 74 | 88 | .841 |
Steal leaders :
| Rk | Player | STL | SPG |
| 1 | Berrick JeanLouis (Iona) | 40 | 2.2 |
| 2 | Miles Ruth (Monmouth) | 36 | 1.8 |
| 3 | Elijah Buchanan (Manhattan) | 33 | 1.7 |
| 4 | Samir Stewart (Manhattan) | 24 | 1.5 |
| 5 | Savion Lewis (Quinnipiac) | 21 | 1.5 |
Three point leaders :
| Rk | Player | 3P | 3PA | % |
| 1 | Brendan McGuire (Quinnipiac) | 19 | 42 | .452 |
| 2 | Allen Powell (Rider) | 37 | 84 | .440 |
| 3 | Ryan Myers (Iona) | 19 | 44 | .431 |
| 4 | Dwight Murray (Rider) | 35 | 84 | .417 |
| 5 | Jordan Henderson (Canisius) | 21 | 51 | .412 |

### Individual statistic NCAA Top 100 leaders

Scoring
* Isaiah Ross, Iona (18.4/game): 57th
Rebounding
* Manny Camper, Siena (9.7/game): 22nd
Field Goal Percentage (minimum avg 5 made per game)
* KC Ndefo, Saint Peter's (127–252 .504): 82nd
Assists per game
* Jalen Pickett, Siena (4.8/game): 57th
Blocks per game
* KC Ndefo, Saint Peter's (3.64/game): 1st (3rd in total blocks)
* Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (2.32/game): 22nd
* Jordan Jones, Marist (1.90/game): 39th
* Nelly Jr. Joseph, Iona (1.61/game): 65th
* Warren Williams, Manhattan (1.60/game): 68th
Free Throw Percentage (minimum avg 2.5 made per game)
* Asante Gist, Iona (74–83 .891): 16th
* Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (67–78 .859): 49th
* Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (65–76 .855): 53rd
* Jake Wojcik, Fairfield (76–89 .853): 57th
* Taj Benning, Fairfield (74–88 .840): 80th
Steals per game
* Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (2.22/game): 18th
* Miles Ruth, Monmouth (1.80/game): 66th
* Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan (1.74/game): 76th
Three-point percentage (minimum 1.5 made per game)
* Isaiah Ross, Iona (46–120 .383): 55th

### Team statistic NCAA rankings

of 340 Division I teams
| | Canisius | Fairfield | Iona | Manhattan | Marist | Monmouth | Niagara | Quinnipiac | Rider | Saint Peter's | Siena |
| Scoring/game | 195 (70.4) | 332 (61.8) | 172 (71.3) | 322 (63.4) | 321 (63.4) | 63 (76.0) | 311 (64.7) | 263 (67.5) | 262 (67.5) | 325 (63.2) | 259 (67.6) |
| Defense/game | 199 (71.2) | 68 (66.7) | 58 (66.1) | 85 (67.2) | 27 (63.6) | 269 (74.3) | 48 (65.2) | 134 (69.0) | 265 (74.0) | 9 (61.5) | 22 (63.0) |
| FG% | 305 (.408) | 323 (.398) | 169 (.441) | 337 (.378) | 243 (.426) | 260 (.422) | 308 (.407) | 315 (.401) | 239 (.427) | 317 (.400) | 68 (.459) |
| FG% defense | 254 (.452) | 190 (.437) | 26 (.402) | 130 (.424) | 11 (.391) | 98 (.420) | 131 (.424) | 8 (.389) | 284 (.462) | 4 (.386) | 42 (.408) |
| Three Point % | 318 (.296) | 276 (.315) | 128 (.346) | 339 (.264) | 292 (.310) | 61 (.363) | 283 (.313) | 240 (.323) | 105 (.352) | 244 (.322) | 138 (.343) |
| Free Throw % | 174 (.709) | 218 (.695) | 60 (.744) | 290 (.665) | 248 (.683) | 179 (.707) | 178 (.707) | 236 (.687) | 89 (.733) | 213 (.697) | 307 (.657) |
| Scoring margin | 217 (-0.8) | 276 (-4.9) | 91 (5.2) | 257 (-3.8) | 204 (-0.2) | 158 (1.7) | 212 (-0.5) | 224 (-1.5) | 294 (-6.5) | 159 (1.7) | 106 (4.6) |
| Rebound margin | 246 (-1.9) | 160 (0.8) | 47 (4.7) | 199 (-0.6) | 168 (0.4) | 252 (-2.1) | 307 (-4.5) | 285 (-3.7) | 215 (-0.8) | 127 (1.8) | 107 (2.3) |