2008 Woodie Awards
Marist men defeat first-ever Big Ten opponent
Joseph Ferrary
Issue date: 11/30/06 Section: Sports
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The Marist men's basketball team and Jared Jordan showed the nation that they play with the power conferences in the first ever Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida over Thanksgiving break.
The Old Spice Classic field included eight teams from all over the country (West Virginia, Minnesota, Montana, Southern Illinois, Western Michigan, Arkansas, Virginia Tech and Marist). This tournament featured five teams (Arkansas, Minnesota, Montana, Southern Illinois, and West Virginia) that made appearances in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT last year.
In their first game of the tournament, the Red Foxes defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten, 63-56. This was the program's first ever win over a team from the Big Ten.
With the win, Marist improved its record to 3-1 on the season, while Minnesota fell to 2-2.
The Red Foxes were led by seniors Jared Jordan and James Smith, who both tallied double-doubles in the win. Jordan finished with 11 points, a game-high ten assists, seven rebounds, and a game-high three steals. Smith tallied 16 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
The game plan for beating the Golden Gophers was simple for Marist, according to Jordan.
"On the offensive side of the ball we stuck to our usual game plan," Jordan said. "On defense, Coach Brady said to just play stronger team defense and to be more physical, which we were able to accomplish. We had a lot of confidence going into the game, because Coach said that we were the better team and should win the game."
Marist, which led the entire game, built its largest lead of the game with 2:38 left in the first half (30-15) on a dunk by Smith. However, the Golden Gophers began to chip away at the lead on back to back three pointers by Jamal Abu-Shamala and Kevin Payton to cut the Marist lead to 30-21 at half.
Minnesota would continue to fight back as they would close the gap to just two points (40-38) on a three-pointer by Lawrence McKenzie with 12:32 remaining in the second half.
The Old Spice Classic field included eight teams from all over the country (West Virginia, Minnesota, Montana, Southern Illinois, Western Michigan, Arkansas, Virginia Tech and Marist). This tournament featured five teams (Arkansas, Minnesota, Montana, Southern Illinois, and West Virginia) that made appearances in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT last year.
In their first game of the tournament, the Red Foxes defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten, 63-56. This was the program's first ever win over a team from the Big Ten.
With the win, Marist improved its record to 3-1 on the season, while Minnesota fell to 2-2.
The Red Foxes were led by seniors Jared Jordan and James Smith, who both tallied double-doubles in the win. Jordan finished with 11 points, a game-high ten assists, seven rebounds, and a game-high three steals. Smith tallied 16 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
The game plan for beating the Golden Gophers was simple for Marist, according to Jordan.
"On the offensive side of the ball we stuck to our usual game plan," Jordan said. "On defense, Coach Brady said to just play stronger team defense and to be more physical, which we were able to accomplish. We had a lot of confidence going into the game, because Coach said that we were the better team and should win the game."
Marist, which led the entire game, built its largest lead of the game with 2:38 left in the first half (30-15) on a dunk by Smith. However, the Golden Gophers began to chip away at the lead on back to back three pointers by Jamal Abu-Shamala and Kevin Payton to cut the Marist lead to 30-21 at half.
Minnesota would continue to fight back as they would close the gap to just two points (40-38) on a three-pointer by Lawrence McKenzie with 12:32 remaining in the second half.
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