POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist men's basketball team (3-1 overall, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) will travel to Manhattan (1-1, 1-1) for a pair of conference games this weekend. Tip-off from Draddy Gymnasium will be at 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
- Watch: Greg Mescall (play-by-play) and Chris Williams (analyst) will have the call for both games on ESPN3.
- Twitter: @MaristMBB
- Marist split its conference-opening series at Canisius last weekend.
- The Red Foxes dropped the opener, 81-72 on Friday, Dec. 11, but prevailed in the second game, 56-52 on Saturday, Dec. 12.
- Marist freshman guard Hakim Byrd was named MAAC Rookie of the Week on Monday, Dec. 14.
- Byrd averaged a team-leading 13.5 points per game last weekend. He shot .524 (11-for-21) from the field and .375 (3-for-8) from three-point range in the two games at Canisius.
- The Jaspers were picked fifth in this year's MAAC Preseason Poll.
- Manhattan started its season with a home split against Rider last weekend.
- Ant Nelson was named MAAC Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points and shooting .714 from the field last weekend.
- Steve Masiello is in his 10th season as head coach.
- Marist has won three of the last five games against Manhattan at Draddy Gymnasium, but prior to that, the Jaspers had won 13 of the 14 games between the teams at Draddy.
- In the last eight Marist-Manhattan games, three have gone to overtime (Marist has won two), and two others had a game-winning three-pointer in the final 10 seconds (each team won once).
- Marist is 3-0 this season in games decided by five points or less after going 2-9 in those games last year.
- In the final two minutes of regulation plus the full length of overtime this season, Marist is 15-for-15 from the free-throw line.
- Marist's three wins this season have included all of the following: holding the opposition to 65 points or less, keeping the opponent under 44 percent from the field and under 34 percent from three-point range, and forcing at least 14 turnovers.
- The Red Foxes are currently set to return to action with a two-game home series against Quinnipiac on Friday, Jan. 1 and Saturday, Jan. 2.
- Tip-off both days is set for 5 p.m.
