Shooting for a Strong Start to 2016 at Fairfield

DARTMOUTH (4-7) at
FAIRFIELD (6-6)
ALUMNI HALL, FAIRFIELD, CONN.
MONDAY, JAN. 4, 2016 • 7 P.M.
Video: Ivy League Digital Network or FairfieldStags.tv
Radio: WVOF 88.5 FM
Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com
All-Time Series: Stags lead 2-0
Last Meeting: Dec. 14, 1985 — Fairfield 72, Dartmouth 59

... In With the New
•   After ending 2015 with a two-point loss against a two-win team, Dartmouth is looking to start the new year off on a positive note with its first game against Fairfield in 30 years.
•   The Big Green have played .500 ball against non-conference competition each of the past two seasons, but must beat the Stags, Canisius and Pine Manor to achieve that mark this year.
• Freshman Evan Boudreaux, already a four-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week winner, continued to impress against Bryant with his third double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds).
•   Boudreaux ranks among the Ivy League's top 10 in both scoring (14.0 ppg, 10th) and glassworks (8.5 rpg, 4th).
•   Boudreaux wasn't the only one putting points on the board as sophomore Miles Wright also tallied 16, keeping his scoring average at home above 20 points per game.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier is still looking for the right floor combinations and employed his third starting lineup of the season in the win over Longwood. Both junior Mike Fleming and freshman Guilien Smith made their first career starts, and reprised those roles against the Bulldogs.
•   Senior Brandon McDonnell is the Big Green's version of “The Microwave” — he is fourth on the team in scoring (5.1 ppg) but 11th in minutes per game, averaging 20.7 ppg per 40 minutes.

Series vs. Fairfield
•   Despite being just three and a half hours apart, this is just the third-ever meeting between the two schools on the hardwood with the Stags winning both encounters.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier coached the Big Green in both contests, which both occurred in 1985 — an 86-70 loss at home on Jan. 2 and a 72-59 defeat at Fairfield's Alumni Hall on Dec. 14.
•   After seven years in Hanover, Cormier left to coach Fairfield for seven seasons, leading the Stags to the NCAA Tournament in 1997.
•   Dartmouth is 19-32 all-time against current MAAC schools, including a 10-point loss at Marist earlier this season.

Scouting the Stags
•   After opening the season with three losses, Fairfield has won six of its last nine, including three overtime triumphs.
•   A higher-scoring game may be in order with the Stags averaging 79 ppg and allowing over 81.
•   Fairfield won't be shy in putting up three-pointers, averaging nearly 10 per game at a 36.5 percent clip.
•   Marcus Gilbert is the Stags' leading scorer at 19.4 ppg while shooting 48.6 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent on 26 three-pointers made.
•   One other player is scoring in double figures, that being Tyler Nelson at 14.1 ppg, thanks in part to shooting 87.2 percent at the foul line.
•   At the point, Jerome Segura dishes out more than five assists a game while pitching in 8.5 ppg, though he rarely shoots from the outside.
•   Fairfield has a rebound margin of minus-5.4, though seven players haul in at least three caroms per game, led by 6-8 forward Jonathan Kasibabu at 5.3.
•   The Stags as a team shoot 71.6 percent from the line, thanks in large part to Gilbert, Nelson and Kasibabu who are all at 80 percent or better.
•   The Big Green will have to keep an eye on Curtis Cobb on the perimeter, where he has hit 20-of-45 (.444) triples.
•   Fairfield is coached by a familiar face in Sydney Johnson, who spent four years at Princeton before relocating. He is 61-85 in his fifth season with the Stags, winning 41 games in his first two seasons, and 127-138 overall.

Looking for Better Start to New Year
The first game of a new calendar year has not been kind in the recent past to the Big Green. Dartmouth has lost its first game of a new year in each of the last five seasons. The last win in such games came on Jan. 4, 2010, in a 49-43 win over Bucknell.

The Double-Double Is Back
When Evan Boudreaux recorded 16 points and 13 rebounds against Bryant on Dec. 31, it was the first double-double by a Big Green player since Boudreaux had 18 and 13 at Maine on Dec. 9. That game was the fifth straight in which Dartmouth has someone record a double-double — two by Boudreaux, two by Connor Boehm and one by Miles Wright — starting with the road loss at Marist on Nov. 17. So the six double-doubles this year match the team's total from a year ago, and double the total from the 2013-14 season. And the last time Dartmouth had even three straight games with a double-double came in February of 2012.

70 Points or Bust
So far this season, the breaking point for a win for Dartmouth is 70 points. Score at least that many and the Big Green win. Fall short, and they lose. Also, any time Dartmouth has led at the half, it has gone on to win the game. Being behind or tied has led to a loss. And the six times an opponent has attempted more free throws in a game, Dartmouth has come up on the wrong end of the score.

Schedules