Siena at Rider, 7:00 PM Eastern, maac.tv (subscription required)
The Metro Atlantic’s December toe-dip into conference play comes to a conclusion tonight as the Siena Saints travel to New Jersey to take on the Rider Broncs. Siena entered the season as our favorite to win the MAAC and possibly even contend for an at-large bid. Although they are still easily capable of winning the conference (1-0 in league play so far with a win over Fairfield on Saturday), any serious talk of at-large bids is probably gone with a 3-5 overall record that includes losses to George Washington, UNC-Asheville and Albany. Javion Ogunyemi has been solid so far for the Saints and Brett Bisping, who was a bit disappointing in the first few games this season, may have put it all together. He has pulled down 25 rebounds combined over the last two games. Also, keep an eye on Nico Clareth who put up a very impressive 33 points, the best of his career, last time out.
Rider enters the game tonight at 3-3 overall including a road win over Wagner (one of the teams that has beaten UConn already this season). They also played Fairfield in their conference opener last Thursday night, losing at home by a 76-67 score. Jimmie Taylor scored 23 points for the Broncs in the loss, while Khalil Thomas had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Thomas already has three double-doubles in just six games and is clearly the player that opposing teams will need to key in on. The Broncs are only playing their second home game of the season tonight, and looking for their first home win. If they can get that victory over what still may prove to be a strong Siena team, they will definitely send a message that they intend to be a factor in the MAAC race this year.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES
-SYRACUSE VS UCONN. This used to be a huge Big East rivalry, and when it was added back onto the schedule we were all excited to see it back! UConn’s struggles and only being 3-4 does take some of the air out of this, though.
-TAMUCC AT TEXAS A&M. TAMUCC has just one loss on the season, but they have not really been tested at all. This is a buy game where they are likely extremely overmatched.
-OMAHA AT IOWA STATE. Buy game.
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