SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team is back in the postseason for the first time since 2020 as the fifth-seeded Garnet Chargers travel to fourth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology for the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Union enters the postseason with a 14-10 (9-9 Liberty League) record and finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings, along with fourth-seeded RIT (13-12, 9-9 Liberty League) and sixth-seeded Bard College (14-11, 9-9 Liberty League). RIT earned the tiebreaker by posting three wins against the conference's top-three teams, compared to two for Union and one for Bard. Third-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hosts Bard in the other first round game, while top-seeded Hobart College and second-seeded St. Lawrence University received byes into the semifinal round.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its 15th appearance in the Liberty League Tournament and first since 2020. Union has captured four conference tournament titles (2002, 2005, 2017, 2018) in program history and is 11-10 all-time in the conference postseason, including six appearances in the title game.
ALL-TIME VS. RIT: Union is 19-8 all-time against RIT since their first contest in 1987, with all but two meetings coming since the Tigers joined the Liberty League in 2011-12. This will be the second postseason meeting all-time between the teams, with the first an 84-64 win for Union in the 2018 Liberty League Tournament semifinals. The teams split their two regular-season meetings this year, with both teams winning on the opposition's home court. Union clinched a postseason spot with an 83-76 win on Friday, the team's seventh straight win in Rochester and its 10th in 13 all-time meetings in the Flower City.
THE NEW CREW: Four of Union's top-five scorers this season were not with the team last season. First-year
Tanner Tedesco leads the team by averaging 10.8 points per game, followed by classmates
Matthew Garside (9.1 ppg) and
Jack Plesser (8.9 ppg) and sophomore transfer
Christian Dufort (8.9 ppg). In total, over 57 percent of the team's scoring this year has come from newcomers, including five of the team's top nine scorers.
LEADERS AT THE LINE: Union leads the Liberty League by shooting 74.3 percent (307 of 413) from the free-throw line this season, a percentage that ranks in the top-40 of Division III. The Garnet Chargers are 12-2 when shooting 70.0 percent or better from the line this season, compared to 2-8 when shooting under 70.0 percent. Union hit a season-best 26 free throws in wins over Elms College (November 25) and Rensselaer (January 23) this season, while the team's highest percentage was a 91.7 percent (11 of 12) effort against Skidmore on January 26.
ON THE REBOUND: Union also is the top rebounding team in the conference, averaging 38.4 boards per game. On average, the team collects a conference-best 29.4 defensive caroms per contest and has six players averaging more than three boards per game on the year, led by sophomore
Christian Dufort at 6.2 rpg.
A GROUP EFFORT: Union is the only team without a player in the top-20 in the Liberty League in scoring this season, but still ranks third in the conference by averaging 74.4 points per game. Eight different players have led the team in scoring in a game this season, led by first-years
Matthew Garside (seven games) and
Tanner Tedesco (five games).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DUFORT: Sophomore
Christian Dufort has taken his game to the next level in the last month, averaging over 12 points and nine rebounds per game over the last seven contests. He has double-doubles in each of the last four outings, including a career-high 27 points against Clarkson on February 9 and a career-best 12 rebounds at Hobart on February 17.
LENDING AN ASSIST: First-year
Tanner Tedesco leads the Liberty League with 117 assists (4.9 apg) so far this season, the most by a Union player since Joe Mason '13 dished out 122 dimes in 2012-13. His current total is the most by a Union first-year since current head coach
Chris Murphy '06 recorded 119 assists in his first season in Schenectady, which is the most in program history by a true freshman.
ABOUT THE TIGERS: RIT is in the Liberty League Tournament for the third time since joining the conference in 2011 and first time since 2018, when the Tigers lost to Union in the semifinals. RIT earned one win over each of the top-three seeds in the conference tournament this season to earn the tiebreaker over Union and Bard. The Tigers have three players averaging over 12 points per game, led by Matt Caggiano at 12.2 points per game as the team's top option off the bench. Brock Bowen averages 12.1 ppg and is the team's top shooter from long range, shooting 42.3 percent (69 of 163) from beyond the arc as well as 78.6 percent (33 of 42) from the charity stripe. Josiah Turner ranks sixth in the conference by averaging 7.0 rebounds per game and also has a team-best 19 blocks. As a team, the Tigers are tied for first in the conference shooting 45.0 percent from the field and average 72.9 points per game, fourth-best in the Liberty League.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the semifinals, where they will face off with top-seeded Hobart College on Friday in Geneva.
2024 Liberty League Men's Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 – First Round
#6 Bard College at #3 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 7 p.m.
#5 Union College at #4 Rochester Institute of Technology, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 23, 2024 – Semifinals
RIT/Union at #1 Hobart
RPI/Bard at #2 St. Lawrence
Sunday, February 25, 2024 – Championship
Semifinal Winners
