WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (3-0) who will be playing seven of its first 10 games of the season away from home, is set to return home on Tuesday evening to host Chestnut Hill (1-3) in a non-conference clash beginning at 7 p.m. inside Hollinger Field House.
While this will be the Golden Rams first home game of the season, West Chester has been remarkably hard to beat inside Hollinger Field House in recent years, playing to a record of 40-6 (86.9 %) over the course of the last three seasons.
This evening's game will be the 12
th meeting all-time between the two non-conference foes and will be the 11th meeting during head coach
Damien Blair's tenure at the helm of the Golden Rams. West Chester is 10-1 all-time against Chestnut Hill and has won each of the last five meetings against the Griffins including a 95-74 victory during the 2019-20 season.
West Chester enters play following a win over another CACC foe in Wilmington on Sunday afternoon, vanquishing the Wildcats by a 75-58 final. In this contest, West Chester and Wilmington traded points throughout much of the early going but it was a 23-13 run to close the first half, which allowed West Chester to carry a 41-33 lead into the halftime break. In the second half, the Golden Rams opened with a 15-5 run over the first seven minutes to stretch their lead to 18 points (56-38) near the midway point of the first half en route to the 17-point (75-58 triumph).
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) continued his outstanding start to his collegiate career, as he tied for the game-high in scoring with sophomore
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mar's of the Assumption) with 14 points each in the victory. Fellow sophomore
Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) also continued his strong start to the year on Sunday afternoon, registering his first career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds (10 defensive) to help West Chester earn the victory. As a team, West Chester shot 42.1 % (32-of-76) from the field while also going 7-for-24 (29.2 %) from three-point range en route to the victory. West Chester also ended the game with an impressive +18 (56-38) advantage in rebounding and a corresponding 20-5 edge in second-chance points. The Golden Rams also ended the contest with a 44-24 advantage in points in the paint and a 29-17 lead in bench points.
Through the first three games of the season, West Chester has been an impressive team on both ends of the floor, averaging 85.7 points per game while limiting its opponents to just 68.0 points per game. A big part of this early defensive success can be attributed to the Golden Rams first half defensive efforts as the team has held its opponents to under 40 points in the first half in each of its first three games this season including a season-low 33 points by Wilmington on Sunday. West Chester is also shooting a solid 45.3 % from the field, thanks in large part to a team-best 66.7 % field-goal percentage by Smith to open the season. The team also enters play with a +11.6 advantage in rebounding this year, averaging 48.3 rebounds per game while holding its opponents to just 36.7 rebounds per contest through the first three games of the year.
Individually, Smith leads West Chester in points per game (18.3 PPG), field goal percentage, and three-point shooting percentage (57.1 %) while McGee and Dade rank second and third on the team in scoring averaging 12.7 and 11.3 points per game entering play on Tuesday evening. McGee also leads the team in steals, averaging 2.0 steals per game while Dade leads the team in rebounding averaging 10.0 rebounds per game after his double-double on Sunday.
In the PSAC rankings, West Chester currently possesses the sixth-best offense in the league in terms of points per game while the Golden Rams defense ranks third in the league in points allowed per game. The Golden Rams also lead the league in rebounds per game (48.3/G), thanks in large part to Dade who ranks fifth in the league and second in the PSAC East in rebounds per game. Additionally, Smith remains fifth in the PSAC in field goal percentage while teammate and fellow newcomer
Dame Wall (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) is fifth in the league in assists per game, averaging 4.7 per contest.
Chestnut Hill enters today's game with a record of 1-3 on the year after going 1-1 over its last two games, both of which were against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East teams. The Griffins earned their first win and gave head coach J.J. Butler his first head coaching victory on Wednesday the 17th, defeating Bloomsburg by a 76-69 final before falling to Lock Haven on Saturday 95-67. Against Bloomsburg, MJ Iraldi (currently the Griffins leading scorer averaging 18.3 per game) led the team in scoring with 21 points while Nigel Haughton poured in 20 of his own to help earn the non-league victory over Bloomsburg. On Saturday afternoon on the road at Lock Haven, Iraldi led the team in scoring once again with a team-high 16 points but a second-half surge by Lock Haven (54-31) lifted the Bald Eagles to the 28-point victory. At Lock Haven, Chestnut Hill shot 34.8 % from the field and 35.0 % from three-point range both of which were below its season average entering play on Saturday afternoon.
Iraldi has shown the ability to do a little bit of everything for the Griffins this season as he leads the team in scoring averaging 18.3 points per game while also ranking second on the team in rebounding averaging 5.0 rebounds per game and leading the team in steals (1.3/G). In addition to Iraldi, Nigel Haughton ranks second on the team in scoring as the lone other Griffin in double figures, averaging 15.3 points per game while David Erebor is third on the squad in scoring with 9.0 points per game but leads the team in rebounds (5.8/G), and assists (2.5/G).
As a team, Chestnut Hill enters play averaging just 69.5 points per game while surrendering 77.0 points per game through its first three games of the season. Despite its scoring woes, the Griffins do bear some similarities to the Golden Rams, shooting an identical 45.3 % from the field while also shooting 33.8 % from three-point range. The two key difference makers for the Griffins are their 31.3 rebounding average and corresponding -4.0 rebounding margin along with their -1.8 turnover margin, both of which limit their opportunities to get extra possessions throughout the game.
Following this contest, West Chester will return to the road on Sunday, November 28
th at Holy Family with that contest beginning at 1 p.m. in a final non-conference tune-up before beginning PSAC play on Friday, December 3
rd against Pitt-Johnstown with that contest set to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. inside Hollinger Field House.
