WASHINGTON – The home-court advantage will be welcomed by American University men's basketball as the Eagles get set to host Siena for the first game in Bender Arena on Monday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. AU is looking for its first win after dropping two road contests to start the season.
The first 1,000 fans will receive a FREE schedule magnet courtesy of opening night Official Game Sponsor and Bender Arena concessionaire,
Gregorio's Trattoria.
Quick Info
- Date/Time: Monday, November 13; 7 pm
- Site: Washington, D.C. (Bender Arena)
- Series History: Siena leads, 6-2
- TV: ESPN+
- Talent: Dan Laing and Gordon Austin
Tickets
- A limited amount of premium location sideline tickets remain for Monday's home opener, and can be purchased by clicking HERE.
- Additionally, money-saving full-season tickets valid for admission to all 14 home games this 2023-24 campaign, as well as 10-voucher flex plans are still available by calling the Athletics Ticket Office at (202) 885-TIXX (8499).
Inside the Series
- Siena has a 6-2 lead all-time against American, and has won the last three straight contests.
- The Saints edged AU in Bender Arena last season, 64-61, after also taking a 96-80 win in Albany in the 2019-20 season.
- AU has not beaten Siena since 1977 when the Eagles earned a pair of victories that calendar year against a newly-classified Division I Siena program (1976).
What to Know About American
- The Eagles hung with #22/20 Villanova early in their season opener, but the game got away in the second half. Senior Colin Smalls led all players with 16 points, while sophomore Jermaine Ballisager Webb tied his career high with 13 points. Senior Lorenzo Donadio tied his career high in rebounds with eight, leading all players in the game.
- The Eagles suffered a second loss at William & Mary in game two due to shooting struggles and foul trouble. Ballisager Webb once again led AU, scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.
- The head coaching career of Duane Simpkins has begun, though the first-year coach is looking for his first win. Simpkins, hired at American in April, is familiar to fans in the DMV after playing at prep power DeMatha Catholic and for Gary Williams at Maryland, where he scored more than 1,100 points in the mid-1990s.
- Despite the change at the top, the Eagles returned four of their top five scorers and have a strong core of leaders with five seniors on the roster. It's a team that defeated both Georgetown and GW last year and made a late-season run to the Patriot League semifinals.
- AU's leading scorer last season was forward Matt Rogers (14.1 ppg), who has returned for his fourth year and still has one remaining in 2024-25. Rogers was an All-PL Second Team pick as a junior, and a Preseason All-PL selection this season.
- Junior guard Elijah Stephens has 98 career steals and came close to cracking the all-time single-season steals list with 60 steals as a sophomore last year.
- American had the advantage extra practices for a foreign trip this past summer, as the Eagles embarked on a nine-day trip to Italy in August. AU flew to Naples and also spent time in Rome and Florence, playing three games against international competition.
What to Know About Siena
- Siena was picked to finish fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Saints have finished in the top three of the MAAC for five straight seasons, a program best, and have outperformed or matched their preseason selection in each of the last four years.
- Carmen Maciariello is in his fifth season at the helm of his alma mater. Sporting a 64-44 overall record, he has gone 50-26 in MAAC action with a pair of first-place finishes.
- The Saints finished 17-15 overall last season, going 11-9 in conference, good for a third-place tie.
- Sophomore guard Michael Eley is a Second Team All-MAAC preseason pick. He was last season's MAAC Rookie of the Year, averaging 9.4 points per game largely off the bench. He entered the year as the leading scorer among Saints returners.
- Eley scored a career-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds for his first-career double-double in a season-opening 73-71 win over Holy Cross. Giovanni Emejuru netted a lay-up with 18.9 seconds left to put Siena ahead in that season opener. He scored 11 points in the victory.
- The Saints are coming off a tough loss at Richmond, 90-48 on November 11. Emejuru led Siena with 13 points.
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