The past few seasons have been a wave of emotions for Marist men’s basketball. The team has had some lows, like when it went just 6-14 and finished last in the MAAC Conference in 2022-23, and when it lost its final five games last season, including the quarterfinal round of the MAAC Tournament. There have also been highs; that 6-14 team nearly shocked the MAAC on a run to the championship game of the MAAC Tournament, and last year’s team won 20 regular-season games for the first time since 2006-07.
This season has been no different.
The Red Foxes had three separate winning streaks of at least four games but also enter the tournament having lost four of their last six. That late-season scuffle is in no small part because of a rash of injuries that have hampered the squad down the stretch. Sophomore center Tarik Watson and senior guard Elijah Lewis have missed extended time with season-ending injuries, while redshirt sophomore center Jason Schofield missed the season’s final two games — his status for Atlantic City remains up in the air.
With potentially three key players out, Marist will need to continue its high-level defensive play and have other players step up to provide more consistent offensive production if it is to find postseason success. As the fifth seed, they will also need to beat teams that they have struggled against all season — the Red Foxes went 1-7 against the top four seeds.
At the time of his injury, Lewis — an All-MAAC Third Team honoree — was the team’s leading scorer at 12 points per game. He provided a steady presence on the offensive end, particularly with his elite mid-range game and 47.4% shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Watson and Schofield were meant to be Marist’s duo at center. Watson went down for good against Rider on Jan. 11, though he already had been seeing limited minutes as he battled through injury issues, and Schofield hurt his knee on Feb. 20 against Manhattan.
“I think Tarik was a guy that was going to get eight points a game [easily], between him and Schofield, I think you’re up to 14, 15 points,” Marist head coach John Dunne said after the final regular season game on March 1. “You take out Elijah, and I still think we have enough to win down there, I do.”
With the centers injured, sophomore forward Parby Kabamba and freshman center Jordan Gabriel have picked up many of the minutes. Kabamba is undersized at 6 feet 6 inches, but the Marist staff believes he makes up for his height with physicality and strength. While center is not his natural position, he has done an admirable job as a stretch-five — he is much more of a jump-shooter than a scoring threat around the basket.
Offense has not been the Red Foxes’ calling card all season, even when they were fully healthy. They are a defensive-minded team — as most Dunne teams are — that usually has a chance to win because they keep their opponents in check offensively. With that said, they still need to hold their own in the scoring department, which has been a struggle.
In the final six regular season games, Marist shot below 40% from the field five times and scored more than 65 points once — the first of those games was on Feb. 7 against Fairfield, the game Lewis went down. On the season, they sit eighth in the MAAC in points per game (69.9) and tenth in 3-point shooting (32.2%).
While the Red Foxes have struggled to make up offensively for the injuries so far, the potential to do so still remains. Sophomore guard Justin Menard and graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell — who earned All-MAAC Third Team and MAAC Sixth Player of the Year, respectively — remain healthy.
Menard has picked up much of the slack since Lewis’ injury. In the final six games, he averaged 19.3 points and shot 37.1% from deep, both above his season averages. The Iona transfer is a true three-level scorer, but Marist needs other contributions to supplement him.
Unlike Menard, Blackwell ended the season on a relatively cold spell. He averaged 8.7 points, which was carried heavily by 22 points against Manhattan, and shot 30.8% from the field in those same final six games. The veteran always impacts the game defensively and disrupts opponents with his athleticism, but the Red Foxes need the scoring star that took over numerous games offensively to resurface in Atlantic City.
Marist’s defense is easily the best in the MAAC and ranks sixth in the nation in scoring at 63.7 points allowed per game and second in 3-point percentage allowed at 27.8%. They are an outstanding defensive group that applies consistent pressure on opponents and fights throughout each game. Senior forward Jaden Daughtry is key to that defensive presence; he earned a spot on the first MAAC All-Defensive Team.
But, as the regular season showed, an elite defense is not always enough.
The season finale against Saint Peter’s represents a microcosm of what has plagued the team down the stretch. Marist held the Peacocks to just four points for an eight-minute stretch in the second half and forced numerous turnovers in the closing minutes to stay within striking distance, but shot just 26.5% from the field after the break and failed to get over the hump.
While the defense has largely been a strength, Dunne has also mentioned the need for the team to keep their energy up defensively when struggling offensively.
“I thought a couple of times we had some emotional let-downs, and we gotta get out of the habit of having emotional let-downs when we’re not scoring the ball,” Dunne said after the loss to Saint Peter’s. “Sometimes [we are] letting some issues snowball, but at the end of the day, we did compete and come back.”
Their comeback and ability to stay in the game against Saint Peter’s represent a more subtle aspect of Dunne’s team that he has appreciated throughout the season.
“I have zero issue with my group as far as caring and playing hard,” Dunne said after a loss to Siena on Feb. 15. “The issue is when the ball is not going through on offense, that can affect your spirit and your energy on the defensive end.”
Aside from Menard and Blackwell, the Red Foxes will lean on junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts, the captain, and freshman forward Myles Parker.
Collins-Roberts averaged 6.6 points per game, but also impacts the game in a plethora of other ways. He had 11 and 10 rebounds in the last two games of the season, ranks 12th in the MAAC with 3.1 assists per game and is a strong defender. Parker, on the other hand, is a catch-and-shoot threat; he shot 38.7% from deep on the season. His best performance came just two games ago when he made five triples and had 15 points against Sacred Heart.
The injuries, inconsistent offense and struggles against high-level competition leave the odds stacked against Marist, but Dunne believes his team still has a shot.
“We just gotta get the first one and then go from there.”
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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