Men's Hoops Looks To Tame Lions In NCAA First Round Friday

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team, which captured the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship this past Sunday afternoon, is set to square off against Penn State Harrisburg (PSH) in the Worcester Regional in the First Round of the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament in Worcester, Mass. Friday afternoon at 3:50 p.m. The Blue Jays and 63 other teams saw their fate Monday afternoon during the NCAA Selection Show, and the time is now for the best D-III hoops teams in the country to go head-to-head with first-round matchups commencing on Friday March, 4. Here is everything fans need to know about both teams ahead of USJ's NCAA Tournament First Round game, as the Blue Jays look to become the first GNAC team to win a NCAA Tournament game since Albertus Magnus in 2012.

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PENN STATE HARRISBURG

The Lions (23-3) won their second consecutive United East (UE) Championship last Saturday, 85-52, over top-seeded Lancaster Bible to clinch the league's automatic qualifier. The conference title marked the second in program history for Penn State Harrisburg after achieving the same feat in 2019-20. In the 2020 NCAA Tournament, the Lions won their opening-round contest, 104-96, in double overtime over Johns Hopkins before falling in the NCAA Second Round to Yeshiva, 102-83, in the Baltimore Regional.

It will mark the first time PSH will play a GNAC school, at least spanning the last 15 seasons, and the Lions are 1-1 versus Connecticut schools since 2007-08. The Lions defeated Western Connecticut State in 2012 and lost to Wesleyan University in 2018. Harrisburg's 2021-22 season is the highest single-season win percentage the program has ever had in its NCAA era (since 2007-08), and it's the first set of back-to-back 20-win seasons in that time frame as well. PSU had just one previous 20-win season since 2007-08.

What To Know
The Lions are a very experienced team that run a high-octane offense. All but four players on their roster are juniors and seniors, including five seniors in total. PSH finished second in the United East at 81 points per game, behind only Lancaster Bible which Harrisburg beat in the conference title game. The Lions are fourth in the nation in scoring margin at 19.1 points per game.

The Lions like to score and do it often with 16 games scoring 80+ points this season and they are 16-0 in those games. PSH's three losses though came when being held under 75 points. They made just four three-pointers in each of those three losses. PSH finished second in the conference normally making double that mark (8.4 3FG per game), and led the UE in field-goal percentage (47.4%) and opponent field-goal percentage (38.6%).

Defensively, the Lions were by far the best in the conference forcing over 18 turnovers per game, and nearly doubling the second-best UE team in turnover margin at 4.8. PSH was also first in assists per game (18.8) and steals per game (11.4). At exactly five blocked shots per game, the Lions are essentially the most efficient offense and the most tenacious defense the United East has to offer.

Who To Watch
Senior guard Donyae Baylor-Carroll (Harrisburg, Pa.) may just be the most dangerous player on the floor Friday. The hometown kid has a stat-stuffing resume that could be the deciding factor in the tournament for the Lions. At just 5-7, Baylor-Carroll is the leading scorer for the Lions at 18 points per game on a career-best 42% shooting from the floor. He is also second in the United East in scoring, second in three-point percentage (38%), and fifth in field-goal percentage. Despite having an arsenal for any spot on the floor, his best trait perhaps may just be getting to the foul line. Baylor-Carroll led the UE at 84% from the charity stripe and took the third-most in the league at 108 free throw attempts. The Harrisburg native was a 2021-22 D3hoops.com Preseason All-America selection, a winner of numerous all-region awards, and a former conference player of the year. He even once scored 45 points (9-18 3FG) versus then No. 6 Johns Hopkins in the 2020 NCAA Tournament First Round, which the Lions won in double-overtime, 104-96, for their first-ever tournament win.

Senior forward Dylan Daniels (Clarksville, Md.) was the second-best shot blocker in the country this season, averaging nearly four blocks per game (3.96). This comes after leading the nation outright with 4.62 BPG in 2019-20. No other player in the country, Divisions I-III, even averaged four blocks per game that season, let alone over four and a half. Daniels shot a career-best 56.5% from the field this season, but missed the UE Championship game after playing just five minutes in the previous game, which the Lions won.

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SAINT JOSEPH

The nationally-ranked No. 9 Blue Jays (26-1) won their second-straight GNAC Championship last Sunday, 94-67, inside the O'Connell Center as the top seed over second-seeded Albertus Magnus. It marked the second conference championship for the Blue Jays in three full seasons in the program's brief history since USJ became a fully coeducational institution in the fall of 2018. It also marked the ninth overall GNAC title in USJ school history across all sports. The Blue Jays will be making their second NCAA Tournament appearance with their first coming in the 2020 NCAA Tournament. USJ was knocked out in the NCAA First Round in 2020 by Hobart, 78-74, in the Springfield Regional.

What To Know
The Blue Jays are one of the top teams in the nation currently ranked No. 9. They own the highest scoring margin in Division III (25.7), and are among the nation's leaders in numerous other statistical categories, including field-goal percentage defense (35.3%, 1st), blocks per game (6.1, 2nd), opponent points per game (60.4, tied for 5th), rebound margin (9.9, tied for 6th), and three-point field goal defense (27.4%, 7th).

USJ is coming off three-straight GNAC Tournament games scoring 90+ points, and have won eight of their first 10 postseason games since the program made its debut in 2018-19. The Blue Jays are 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament, but have had a truly remarkable 2021-22 season, holding the nation's longest winning streak at 24 games before it was broken by Yeshiva in February. USJ's current conference win streak of 35-straight games is still the best in the nation. The Blue Jays were the last remaining unbeaten team in D-III as well, and is returning 70 of its 74 points from its first NCAA Tournament game back in 2020.

Saint Joseph is the highest scoring team in the GNAC by no small margin, scoring over 86 points per game. Albertus Magnus was the only other GNAC team to score 80 points per game. USJ also made 50% of its shots this season, led the league in rebounding (43.9 RPG), and blocked more shots than any team (6.1 BPG). The Blue Jays tenacious individual defense, particularly on the perimeter, is only trumped by their uncanny ability to collectively work as a team to get stops for long stretches of a game, eventually wearing down opponents who look to turn the corner and attack the rim. USJ has won its last four games by 25+ points, two of which were by 50+.

Who To Watch
Senior guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) is the reigning 2022 GNAC Player of the Year, and also won the conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 2020. 'JC' is in the top-20 in the nation in assists per game (6.0), which was also second-best in the GNAC this season. Martin shattered the school record and tied an NCAA high this season with 18 assists in one game in 2021-22. His 18 assists are tied for the third-most in a game this season across all three NCAA divisions, including D-I. Martin's greatest gift is his ability to change speeds and direction at any moment, making him virtually unstoppable in transition, or when working from the top of the key. The Blue Jays will look for a heavy dose of the senior sparkplug Friday, who has come up clutch in big games. He scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the 2022 GNAC Championship game. He also scored 22 points in his first-ever NCAA Tournament game against Hobart back in March of 2020. Expect 'JC' to be firing on all cylinders should the Blue Jays want to win their first NCAA Tournament game in program history, and the first by a GNAC Men's Basketball team in the last 10 seasons.

Senior forward Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.), who made the 2022 GNAC All-Tournament Team, has been on a tear lately, particularly from deep. He tied a team playoff record with six made threes earlier this postseason, and was second in the GNAC in three-point field goal percentage (44.1%). O'Neill is one of the most durable players in USJ history. He's played in all 88 games in the team's history, was the first player to score 25 points in a game, is second all-time in rebounds (395), and is shooting a career-high 45.5% from the floor this season. O'Neill's name will likely come up at some point Friday as USJ relies on one of the toughest players its program has ever seen.

Roster | Coach | Schedule | Stats

UP NEXT
The No. 9 Blue Jays will compete in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament against Penn State Harrisburg on Friday, March 4 at 3:50 p.m., inside Harrington Auditorium, on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass. Ticket prices are $15 per day for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets will go on sale on game day at the entrance of Harrington Auditorium. All spectators must show proof of vaccination, or proof of a negative COVID test prior to attending: either a negative PCR test within 72 hours or a negative rapid antigen test within 24 hours. Here is the WPI Spectator Policy.

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