On Monday, Steve Pikiell and Stony Brook will return senior captain Anthony Jackson to the roster after a three-game suspension.
“Thank god he’ll be back,” Pikiell said after Saturday’s 70-65 victory over UMass Lowell, referring to Jackson’s return Monday at UMBC.
The ninth-year head coach would not outline any further detail as to Jackson’s violation of team rules, but said he is excited to get the senior back.
“We’re excited he’ll be back,” Pikiell said. “I’m excited about that and it gives us another guy too and he can really shoot the ball.”
Jackson ranks second on the team averaging 14.2 points per game. In his absence the Seawolves started Carson Puriefoy and the offense averaged 1.10 points per possession.
During the three-game stretch without Jackson, Stony Brook turned the ball over 17 times against Binghamton. Teams will also have to be kept honest when attacking Stony Brook with a zone to Jackson’s shooting ability; the senior leads the team with 29 three-point field goals made.
“I feel like, with the suspension of Anthony Jackson, that our team has bonded together a little bit more,” redshirt freshman Ahmad Walker said. “I think we play a little bit faster without him, but that’s really about it.”
On Saturday, Walker made a career-high seven shots from the field, mostly on attacking the basket and has proven to be a versatile player. The redshirt freshman on Wednesday set a career-high with 5 steals against Binghamton and scored double-digit points in two of the last three games.
“We have a lot of players who can score and create their own shot and we got a great big man in Jameel Warney who could finish plays at the rim and just does it all as a big man. I feel like my best attributes on the team would be high energy, playing great defense and rebounding the ball,” Walker said on his role on the team.
In Jackson’s absence, the sophomore Puriefoy earned three starts for the first time since starting four games last year when Jackson hurt his ankle. On Saturday, Puriefoy dished out a career-high seven assists and over the last three games he has a 1.71 assist to turnover ratio.
Sophomore Jameel Warney, who leads the team with 15.7 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game, said that he has not seen much of a difference in Jackson’s absence.
“The difference is there’s more people stepping up,” Warney said as Kam Mitchell, Chris Braley and Ben Resner have seen more time off the bench. “It made Tre (Puriefoy) step up and be a starting point guard and a leader.”
“We still live by the same rules. Spacing, throwing the post, inside-out game.”
The Seawolves are tied with the University of Vermont with a 4-0 record in America East play.
Ryan Restivo covers the America East conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Hofstra for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
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