BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – It all seems to be coming together for Fairfield. Yes, it’s still early, and head coach Ed Cooley says they’re still figuring things out, but one has to think the Stags have made their way to a good place.
Fairfield’s 70-48 win over Niagara was their ninth in a row and improves them to 3-0 in MAAC play. More than just the win, in what Cooley described as “kind of a strange game” as there wasn’t much flow, the Stags did it largely playing the kind of basketball they will need to in order to win the conference, as many projected before the season. They shut down the Purple Eagles, ran the offense well when they weren’t turning the ball over, and have a number of players improving.
Notable among those improving are younger players like Maurice Barrow, who has now started the last seven games, classmate Jamel Fields and sophomore Colin Nickerson. The three wings were seemingly always in plays on Monday night, with Barrow posting a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds. Fields and Nickerson combined for eight assists with three turnovers from the wing.
The Stags have good size on the wings, although at times their wings also assume a power forward position. Cooley noted that they don’t have much size, but they are hardly alone in a league that is known as one where guards dominate perhaps more so than other conferences in the country. And while they may be undersized, they are also quicker in that scenario.
“We may not have the height we want, but these guys have big hearts and they’re determined to play anybody,” said the Fairfield mentor. “If we’re a little undersized, this is who we are. I love being undersized.”
A lot of the reason they can be undersized is that beyond junior Ryan Olander, there isn’t much size to begin with on the roster. Greg Nero missed all of last season due to illness and has missed the last six games for the same reason, so that’s another experienced inside body out of the lineup. Cooley said they have to be wary of foul trouble up front, and it also means they need more from Olander, who is certainly capable of it as he showed in the prior game against Army with a career-high 23 points.
“Ryan needs to be 10-11 points a game, 9-10 rebounds a game for us to be the team we want to be,” said Cooley. “That’s not putting pressure on Ryan, that’s what he should do.”
The Stags are now 7-0 with Barrow in the starting lineup, and that seems to be no accident. Since moving into the starting lineup, he is averaging almost seven rebounds a game, and he’s now second on the team in that category.
Many times, when a team is picked to win the conference, it’s an experienced, senior-laden team. Fairfield isn’t that at all. The Stags have five seniors, plus Boston College transfer Rakim Sanders sitting out, but that’s deceiving because of Nero’s missed time and the fact that Warren Edney basically missed a season and a half before the start of this season. On Monday night, they started a freshman and two sophomores, and another freshman (Fields) played the most minutes of any reserve. That tells you this program won’t be contending just this year, especially with a sophomore (Derek Needham) as its best player.
With that relative youth, leadership is big, and they are getting it from some of the seniors. Cooley especially singled out Yorel Hawkins, although that’s not the only player he wants it from. He went on to note that Needham, as the point guard and best player, needs to provide that as well.
“A lot of that leadership really has to come from Derek,” Cooley said. “He’s a name-brand in our league, he’s what everybody talks about when they talk about Fairfield, and we’re trying to branch that off when they talk about Fairfield to the multidimensional pieces that we have.”
Barrow said he and the younger players are taking their cue from the seniors, deadpanning, “They’ve been here for four years, and I’m still a baby.”
Needham is shooting better after a slow start, and on Monday he went 7-10 from the field. Add in that Cooley feels players are buying into their roles and knowing what they need to do, and the nine-game winning streak looks like no accident. It also looks like it’s just the beginning of what is to come for the remainder of the season.
