POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - The Marist men's basketball team is looking to build on a strong 2020-21 campaign which gave the Red Foxes their best record in 14 years. Coach John Dunne, in his third season, led the Red Foxes to the program's best winning percentage (.571, 12-9) and best Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference finish (fourth, 10-8) since the 2006-07 season.
The Red Foxes open the 2021-22 season on Tuesday at American at 8 p.m.
 

Game Information

• Dean Darling and Steve Eggink will have the call on the Red Fox Network (free audio) and the Varsity Network app. The pregame show starts at 7:45.
• Follow @MaristMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (subscription fee).

 

Season Preview

This year, Marist is selected to finish third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. The third-place projection is the programs highest preseason projection in 15 years.

The Red Foxes are returning 82 percent of their scoring from last season, including sophomore standout Ricardo Wright. As a freshman, Wright was named to the All-MAAC Rookie Team and averaged 11.0 points per game to lead the Red Foxes. This season, the sophomore guard was selected to the Preseason Third Team All-MAAC.

Including Wright, the Red Foxes will be returning eight of their top nine scorers from last season. This group features several experienced contributors, including graduate center Jordan Jones, fifth-year senior center Victor Enoh, senior guard Raheim Sullivan, senior forward Braden Bell, senior guard Matt Herasme, junior guard Tyler Saint-Furcy, and sophomore forward Javon Cooley.

Marist will also be looking to senior transfer Samkelo Cele to light up the stat sheet this year. Last season at Southern University, Cele was their leading scorer at 11.7 points per game and shot over 38% from deep. Cele is a versatile contributor who is poised to make an immediate impact.

The Red Foxes will also be looking for three freshmen to contribute on the floor this season. Guards Jao Ituka and Noah Harris will add much-needed depth at the guard position for Coach Dunne, and are poised to make immediate contributions. Rollin Belton, who is a six-foot eight freshman from Louisiana, will compete for minutes at the center position.

Marist has a pair of walk-ons in graduate guard Terrence Echols, who is in his second year as a player and fifth in the program after serving as a manager for three years, and freshman forward Thomas Botticelli.
 

Staff

Dunne is entering his fourth season at the helm for Marist. The 2021 nominee for Skip Prosser Award is in his 16^th season as a collegiate head coach. Assistant coaches Kevin Driscoll and Dalip Bhatia also return for their fourth seasons. Dorian Long enters his fourth season on staff, and was promoted to assistant coach this summer after serving as director of men's basketball operations for the previous three seasons. The staff's new director of men's basketball operations is Drew Metz.
 

Schedule

• Marist will play nine non-conference games this year, with six on the road and three at McCann Arena.
  • Marist will face four Patriot League foes: American (road, Nov. 9), Army West Point (road, Nov. 27), Navy (home, Nov. 12), Boston University (road, Dec. 18).
  • Marist will also have back-to-back games against Ivy League teams: Columbia (road, Nov. 12) and Princeton (Nov. 17).
• The Red Foxes will also face teams from the Southern Conference (VMI, home, Nov. 20), America East (Binghamton, road, Dec. 8), and Southwestern Athletic Conference (Bethune Cookman, home, Dec. 22).
• This is the first time Marist starts the season with three straight true road games since the 2009-10 season, when the Red Foxes placed their first six away from Poughkeepsie.
• Marist will return to playing each MAAC team both home and away for a total of 20 conference contests.
  • The Red Foxes open MAAC play with two games in early December: Iona (home, Dec. 1) and Rider (road, Dec. 5).
  • After returning to non-conference play for a couple weeks, Marist will resume conference play on New Year's Eve at Monmouth.
  • This year's MAAC Championships will once again be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey from March 8-12.