NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK presented by 
Peter Kiss, Bryant
6’5”, 200 lbs.
R-Sr., G, New York, NY/Notre Dame Prep (Rutgers)
Kiss provided the spark in a pair of Bryant victories last week, posting strong all-around numbers with 21.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game. He converted 65.2 percent of his attempts from the field and 75.0 percent from the stripe. Kiss, who came to Bryant after stops at Quinnipiac and Rutgers, came within one of his career-high when he dropped 22 points on 9-14 from the field and added nine boards in Tuesday’s 93-85 conquest of New Hampshire in Durham. The New York City native continued his hot shooting in Saturday’s 138-83 home win over Rhode Island College, hitting 6-9 as part of a team-high 20-point effort. He also became just the second player nationwide this season to finish a game with at least 20 points, four rebound, four assists and six steals (a career-high). Kiss currently leads the NEC with 18.0 ppg, and ranks second in steals (2.7), fourth in rebounds (6.7), ninth in made three-pointers (1.67), tenth in field goal percentage (.500), and 11th in assists (2.3) and free throw accuracy (.750).
NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK presented by
Joe Munden Jr., Fairleigh Dickinson
6’4”, 160 lbs.
Fr., G, Bronx, NY/Monsignor Scanlon
Munden Jr., who has quickly established himself as a steady contributor off the bench for the Knights, joins classmate Pier-Olivier Racine as NEC Rookie of the Week award winners for the Knights already this season. The 6’4” wing out of the Bronx averaged 7.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and drained 54.5 percent of his shots from the floor and 40.0 percent from downtown in setbacks at Hofstra and Providence last week. Munden tallied seven points, a career-high six boards and added two assists and a block against the Pride in a 32-minute stint Monday evening. He went on to score a personal-best eight points on 3-4 shooting in just 15 minutes at Providence on Saturday in a game that was tied at the half. In four games this season, Munden has furnished the Knights with 6.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg.
NEC PRIME PERFORMERS
Michael Green (BRY, So, G)
Green is off to a flying start following his NEC Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019-20. Last week he put up 18.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.5 apg and 3.0 spg to help boost the Bulldogs to wins over UNH and RIC. Green matched his career-high and led all scorers with 23 points in last Tuesday’s win over the Wildcats. He is the NEC’s third-leading scorer at 17.3 ppg and paces the circuit with 5.3 apg.
Peter Kiss (BRY, R-Sr, G)
Kiss, a Rutgers transfer, comes off two outstanding efforts in a 2-0 week for the Bulldogs. The redshirt senior guard averaged 21.0 ppg on 65.2 percent shooting from the field to go along with 6.5 rpg, 2.0 apg and 3.5 spg. Kiss racked up 22 points on 9-14 from the field, and added nine boards, in Tuesday’s 93-85 win at New Hampshire. He leads the NEC with 18.0 ppg and ranks second with 2.7 spg.
Charles Pride (BRY, So, G)
Pride pitched in with 16.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 2.5 apg in a pair of Bryant wins. He hit at a 55.6 percent clip from the field, made 12-14 (.857) at the line and turned the ball over just once in 52 minutes. Pride came through with 17 points and eight rebounds in a 93-85 victory over New Hampshire on Tuesday. He ranks sixth in the conference in scoring (16.0), fourth in rebounding (6.7) and fifth in field goal percentage (.577).
Tre Mitchell (CCSU, Jr, G)
Mitchell dropped a career-high 19 points to lead all scorers at Hartford on Friday. In 30 minutes, he shot 7-11 from the field and 2-5 from distance, and added two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
Jahlil Jenkins (FDU, Sr, G)
Jenkins supplied 15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.5 apg and 1.5 spg over two outings last week. The preseason All-NEC pick netted a season-high 17 points with four rebounds and three assists at Hofstra on Monday, then added 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals at Providence on Saturday. The senior ironman logged 39 minutes in each of the two games.
Elyjah Williams (FDU, Sr, F)
Williams was on his game Saturday, finishing with 15 points on 6-10 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists and a steal at Providence. He improved his season averages to 13.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 2.3 spg.
TOP STORYLINES FROM #NECMBB WEEK TWO
Here’s all you need to know from week two of the 2020-21 season...
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
In a year like no other, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the NEC has reimagined the 2020-21 season to an extent.
- Start with the unique conference schedule format that pits two teams in back-to-back games at the same site.
- The conference calendar itself is unique with pre-holiday December games being contested for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
- To hedge against inevitable postponements along the way, six mid-week makeup dates have been built into the schedule.
- And come March, the NEC Tournament field size has been reduced to four teams.
With adaptation being the key word, it seems somewhat fitting that just 14 days into a season that will undoubtedly feature twists and turns like no other - and with just 19 non-conference games in the books - NEC play has arrived.
It all starts on Tuesday...albeit with a soft open. More on that later.
Before we look at what’s in store, let’s first rewind back to last month’s NEC Virtual Media Day and see how the league’s head coaches projected the final standings:
1. Fairleigh Dickinson (6)
2. LIU (4)
3. (tie) Bryant
Mount St. Mary’s
5. St. Francis Brooklyn
6. Saint Francis U
7. Merrimack
8. Wagner
9. Central Connecticut
10. Sacred Heart
While these rankings make for great discussion and debate, there has been little correlation over the years between the preseason poll and year-end outcome.
Conducted annually, NEC coaches have only managed to correctly forecast the eventual league champion two times in the last 21 years. Over the last 33 years, the coaches have proven inaccurate on 29 occasions or 88 percent of the time.
With that said, it’s difficult to assess where teams stand heading into conference play considering LIU, Merrimack, St. Francis Brooklyn and Wagner have yet to suit up, and Sacred Heart has competed just once.
Looking to capture its first NEC crown, Bryant is off to a strong start, having taken Syracuse to the wire in its opener before falling by a point, before bouncing back with a 93-85 win at New Hampshire and 138-83 victory over Rhode Island College last week.
The Bulldogs are currently one of six teams nationwide averaging over 100 points per game this season.
“Right now we’re obviously focused on league play,” said Grasso on Saturday after the RIC win. “We’ve got two league games coming up Tuesday and Wednesday and that’s our focus.”
Saint Francis U opened the season with a program defining win at Pitt, and has not shied away from top-flight competition with games against America East contender UMBC, #15 Virginia and two-time defending ASUN champ Liberty heading into its NEC opener.
The Red Flash have won a NEC-best conference 48 games the last four years and reached the NEC title game in three of those seasons.
Preseason favorite FDU and Mount St. Mary’s (picked third) have also played rigorous non-league slates and should be battle tested heading into league play.
The Knights have already competed at #24 Rutgers and played went toe-to-toe with Providence well into the second half on Saturday. The Mount led Maryland with under nine minutes to play last Sunday and fell by six to a Navy team that already has wins over Georgetown and GWU.
There are five NEC games on the slate this week with six teams in action. Nine more conference games will follow next week. Every NEC team is set to compete in December outside of Merrimack, which will have its three December games rescheduled to January.
St. Francis Brooklyn makes its 2020-21 season debut this week, hosting Bryant for games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wagner also plays its lid-lifter on Tuesday at Seton Hall.
Opening Week NEC Slate
Tues., Dec. 8 Bryant at St. Francis Brooklyn, 7 pm
CCSU at FDU, 7 pm
Saint Francis U at Mount St. Mary’s, 7 pm
Wed., Dec. 9 CCSU at FDU, 4 pm
Bryant at St. Francis Brooklyn, 4 pm
All games can be viewed free of charge on NEC Front Row or via the NEC on the Run series of streaming and mobile apps.
As the journey begins, FDU head coach Greg Herenda may have said it best after the Knights’ game at Providence on Saturday.
“We jump right into our conference play on Tuesday night and everyone is now 0-0. With only four teams making the NEC Tournament, every game is so valuable.”
DAWGS PLAYING FAST, SCORING IN BUCKETS
Talk about pushing the pace.
Bryant has staged its own virtual track meets over the first three games this season, playing at a tempo not witnessed in the NEC in quite some time.
The Bulldogs currently rank fourth nationally in adjusted tempo with 76.8 possessions per 40 minutes (DI games only). The “Play Fast” philosophy has equated to a possession length of 12.8 seconds, the second-quickest in the country behind Northwestern (12.6).
The last NEC team to post an adjusted tempo of at least 73 was LIU way back in 2011-12 when the Sharks were in the second of their three-year conference title run. LIU was also the last NEC squad to rank in the NCAA top-10 in shortest possession length, averaging 14.9 seconds during that same 2011-12 campaign.
Bryant’s rapid fire approach was on full display this past Saturday when the Bulldogs set a new single-game program record with 138 points in its win over Rhode Island College. The previous record was 134 against Babson all the way back in the 1964-65 season. The 50 made field goals marked the second-most in a single game in program history.
At 105.0 points per game over its first three outings, Bryant is tied for third nationally in scoring with Oklahoma behind Coastal Carolina (115.0) and UC Santa Barbara (107.5). Against DI competition, the Bulldogs are netting 88.5 ppg following a 85-84 setback to Syracuse and last Tuesday’s 93-85 win at New Hampshire.
“We want to play fast, we want to score, we want to press,” said Bryant head coach Jared Grasso following the RIC win. “We want to play up-tempo and when the guys are sharing the ball and making shots, I think we’re pretty good. We have a lot of work to do, but I think our style is starting to come out and our guys like the way we play...fast, share it, everybody touches it, a fun way to play.”
Bryant currently features five players averaging at least 13 ppg, led by NEC Player of the Week Peter Kiss (New York, NY/Notre Dame Prep (Rutgers)), who paces the conference with 18.0 ppg.
SFU’S FLAGG RAISING HIS GAME
Saint Francis U big Mark Flagg (Fairless Hills, PA/Pennsbury), a career 6.4 ppg scorer heading into his senior season, seems primed for a big year.
Despite averaging just over eight shots per contest, the Fairless Hills, PA native has reached double-digits in all four games and leads the Red Flash with 12.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg on the year. He ranks second in the NEC in field goal accuracy at 66.7 percent and has shot at least 50 percent from the floor in all four games.
Last week, he averaged 12.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg and hit at a 56.3 percent clip from the floor. He was the first NEC Player of the Week for the 2020-21 season.
SCHEDULING 101
When Bryant’s game at UMass Lowell was cancelled on Saturday morning, head coach Jared Grasso immediately sprang into action.
Five hours later, the Bulldogs pivoted to hosting a game against DIII Rhode Island College.
How did it all go down?
Hear from the coach himself, who called it the “wildest scheduling story I’ve ever been involved with” in the postgame presser.
“I’ve got to bet, that in this pandemic, this was the fastest a game was ever turned around,” Grasso said. “The game was canceled at 8:30 a.m. and rescheduled to play another team in your building 45 minutes later. I think that was pretty impressive maneuvering to get that done. You’re talking about, in years past, you’re scheduling games 2-3 years in advance. We just scheduled a game five hours in advance. It’s a wild thing, but that’s scheduling in 2020 right now and thankfully we were able to get a game in. It was an opportunity to play; that’s all it’s about right now.”
BLUE DEVIL BALANCE
CCSU has had nine players score in all three games this season. While sophomore guard Greg Outlaw (Chicago, IL/Rezin Orr Academy) is the only Blue Devil who averages in double-figures (10.5), all ten who have seen court time contribute at least 3.3 ppg and 16.0 minutes played, and seven players are contributing at least 6.7 ppg. The Blue Devils sport 11 players on the roster with sophomore Ola Olamuyiwa (Lagos, Nigeria/The Patrick School (NJ)) yet to suit up.
TRIAL BY FIRE FOR SFU’S HARRISON
With an injury sidelining veteran point guard Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, NJ/South Kent (CT)), we’re seeing a glimpse of the future with Rob Krimmel’s insertion of freshman point guard Zahree Harrison (West Philadelphia, PA/Cheltenham) into the starting lineup.
Just two games into his career, Harrison was called on to log a combined 64 minutes at #15 Virginia and two-time defending ASUN champion Liberty last week. While the West Philly product only scored four points, he found other ways to contribute. Harrison chipped in with three rebounds and five assists against UVa, and then added six boards, four dimes and four steals vs. the Flames.
Harrison currently leads all NEC freshman and ranks third in the conference overall in steals (1.8) and fourth in assists (3.5).
(RUSH)ING UP THE CHARTS
FDU sophomore guard Brandon Rush (Warrensville, OH/Warrensville Heights) appears to be making “the leap.”
Rush, who averaged 4.9 ppg as a promising freshman in 2019-20, has reached double digits in all four games this season and ranks fifth in the NEC with 16.3 ppg.
The Warrensville, OH product with the smooth lefty stroke is shooting a robust 49.0 percent from the field. Last week, he tallied 14.0 ppg, including 16 in last Monday’s setback at Hofstra.
SFBK’S CITY VIBES
St. Francis College bills itself as #BrooklynTough, and looking at its hoops roster, it’s easy to see why.
This year seven Terriers hail from Brooklyn, including Travis Atson (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King (Quinnipiac)), Yaradyah Evans (Brooklyn, NY/South Shore), Elijah Hardison (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian), Unique McLean (Brooklyn, NY/The MacDuffie School (UMass)), Larry Moreno (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn High School for Law & Technology), Abdallah Wague (Brooklyn, NY/Benjamin Banneker Academy (VFMAC), and Jordan Williams (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep).
Atson and McLean have known each other since they are 13 and played on the same AAU Nike team (PSA Cardinals) for two years.
Likewise, 66.7 percent of the Terriers’ roster is comprised of student-athletes from the Metropolitan area and 53.3 percent of St. Francis’ roster hails from the state of New York.
Rob Higgins (Middletown, NJ/Middletown North) and Alex May (Englewood, NJ/St. Mary (Andrews Osborne Academy)) are both Garden State products.
HERE & THERE
Bryant newcomer Chris Childs (Bronx, NY/Woodstock Academy (CT) (Indian Hills CC)) is the NEC leader in effective field goal percentage at 68.8 percent. The 6’2” junior sharpshooter is shooting 47.4 percent from three-point territory and 53.6 percent overall from the floor. His 75.8 true shooting percentage - also tops in the NEC - ranks 43rd nationally.
CCSU junior guard Tre Mitchell (Phoenix, AX/Phoenix College) has yet to commit a turnover in 69 minutes this season.
Mount St. Mary’s freshman guard Dakota Leffew (Hampton, GA/Jonesboro) is coming off the finest game of his young career with 14 points, including 3-5 from outside the arc, in Saturday’s loss at VCU. He shot 6-10 and added two rebounds and two blocks.