Drexel, Quinnipiac, LIU And Albany All In Search Of Winning Season
Drexel, Quinnipiac, LIU And Albany All In Search Of Winning Season
Drexel, Quinnipiac, Long Island and Albany will look to add some non-conference wins at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.
Four programs, all in search of winning records in the 2020-2021 season, will converge on Uncasville, Connecticut for the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament on December 2nd - December 4th.
Drexel is the class of the field. The Dragons were third in the CAA last year and bring back four starters from that squad, including pre-season All-Conference members Camren Wynter and James Butler.
Wynter, a junior point guard, scored 15.7 points per game last season and was second in the conference in assists with 5.1 per game. Butler gives them a presence in the frontcourt. The 6’8 forward averaged 13.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. The latter was fifth-best in the NCAA. The Wynter-Butler tandem is one reason that there’s optimism that Drexel can have their first winning season since 2013-2014 and perhaps make an appearance at the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996. Last year, they had a solid start to the season before sputtering down the stretch and losing 11 of their last 13 games on their way to a 14-19 record.
Quinnipiac is the only team in the quartet to not have a losing record last season. The Bobcats went 15-15 and finished fifth in the MAAC. This year, they are projected to finish seventh in the conference after leading scorers Rich Kelly and Kevin Marfo transferred out of the program.
Tyrese Williams started all but one game at guard, averaging 9.9 points per game. His best game of the year came against Canisius when he drained eight three-pointers and scored 26 points, the most of his career. Senior Jacob Rigoni will provide more outside shooting. The 6’6 forward shot 40% from long-range in his junior season and his 66 makes were the second-best on the team.
Long Island will begin the tough task of replacing the school’s all-time leading scorer, Raiquan Clark. Clark was sensational for the Sharks, going from a walk-on his freshman year to averaging 19.7 points per game his senior season. Ty Flowers is expected to fill that role. The redshirt senior was second on the team in points to Clark, but his contribution went far beyond scoring. Flowers was second in the NEC in rebounding, third in blocks and 11th in steals. The Sharks were selected to finish second in the NEC’s pre-season poll and look to improve on their 15-18 record from last season.
The America East preseason poll has Albany improving three spots from last year, moving from seventh in the conference to fourth. The Great Danes are only two seasons removed from a 22-10 campaign and will be looking for a winning record after going 12-20 and 14-18 the last two seasons. Cameron Healy was named to the conference’s All-Conference team in the preseason. Healy averaged 14.2 points per game in 2019-2020 and was fifth in the nation in free-throw shooting at almost 91%.
The full schedule for the tournament, which is part of Bubbleville, can be found here.