SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team will continue riding its wave of momentum into the semifinals of the Liberty League Tournament on Friday night, as the fourth-seeded Garnet Chargers make the short trip across the river to take on top-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at 7 p.m. at ECAV Arena.
Union brings a 16-10 record into the semifinal after finishing in sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings with an 11-7 mark, while RPI is 20-5 overall and finished with a conference-best 14-4 league record. The other semifinal pits sixth-seeded St. Lawrence University (16-9, 9-9 Liberty League) against second-seeded Ithaca College (16-9, 13-5 Liberty League) in Ithaca.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its second straight appearance in the Liberty League Tournament and the 16th in program history. Union has captured four conference tournament titles (2002, 2005, 2017, 2018) and is 12-11 all-time in the conference postseason, including six appearances in the title game.
ALL-TIME VS. RENSSELAER: Friday's game will be the 217th all-time meeting between Union and RPI in a rivalry that dates back to the first year of Union basketball in 1898, with the teams having have played at least once in every season since 1923-24. Union holds a 118-98 lead in the all-time series. Despite the long history, the teams have only met four times in the postseason, with Union winning an ECAC Upstate Tournament game in 2000 and RPI earning victories in the Liberty League Tournament in 2001 and 2020.
MEETINGS THIS YEAR: Union and RPI split their two meetings this season, with both squads winning on their home courts. The Garnet Chargers started their late-season run after coming up just short in a
65-60 loss in Troy on January 25, as the visitors led by as many as 13 points in the first half before fading down the stretch. Union has lost just once since that game, however, including a huge
79-77 (OT) win in Schenectady on February 7 that saw Union come back from a 12-point halftime deficit behind 21 points from sophomores
Tanner Tedesco and
Matthew Garside. The 79 points are the most allowed by RPI in a game this season.
LAST TIME OUT: Union advanced to the Liberty League semifinals with a thrilling
83-80 (OT) win over fifth-seeded Hobart College on Tuesday night in Schenectady. The Garnet Chargers trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before mounting a comeback, with sophomore
Tanner Tedesco sending the game into overtime with a driving layup in the final seconds. The home team outscored the visitors 11-8 in the extra session, with sophomore
Matthew Garside once again providing the late-game magic with a last-second three-pointer.
GOING STREAKING: Union is one of the hottest teams in Division III at the right time of the year, as the Garnet Chargers have won eight of the last nine games. The most impressive part of the streak has been the team's knack for winning close games: Union has won its last eight games by an average of just three points per game, including a one-point win at Clarkson and three two-point victories. Combined with an off-night at St. Lawrence that saw the team lose by 24 points, Union has scored the exact same number of points as their opponents (695) during the stretch.
LEADERS AT THE LINE: Union remains the top-shooting team in Division III from the free-throw line this season, hitting at an 80.5 percent clip (321 of 399), and has made 29 more free throws than the opposition despite getting to the line 34 fewer times. The team has shot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe in 15-of-26 games and has shot under 70 percent in only three contests. Individually, sophomore
Jack Plesser ranks 107th in Division III by shooting 82.8 percent (77 of 93), while classmates
Jaden Jauregui (88.1 percent) and
Tanner Tedesco (86.0 percent) also excel at the line in slightly smaller sample sizes that don't reach the NCAA minimums.
THE SHOOTER'S TOUCH: In addition to their proficiency at the line, Union also ranks second in the Liberty League by shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from beyond the arc this season. Union is 10-4 when shooting better than 43 percent on the year, with two of those losses coming in overtime, and are a perfect 12-0 when hitting at 37 percent or better from long range. Conversely, the team is 13-4 when holding the opposition under 46 percent shooting from the field as well.
LENDING AN ASSIST: Sophomore
Tanner Tedesco has been at or near the top of Division III in assists all season long, and enters the weekend third in the country in assists per game (6.5) and fourth in total assists (169). He has dished out at least seven assists in 13-of-26 games, including 15 against SUNY Cobleskill that is tied for the most by a D-III player this season. He is currently third on Union's single-season assists list and already has the most by a Union player since Steve Evans '94 dished out a program-record 192 in 1993-94. His 296 career assists are the most by a Union player ever in the first two seasons, far surpassing the previous standard of 241 set by current head coach
Chris Murphy '06.
THREE-POINT THREAT: Sophomore
Matthew Garside has been Union's long-distance leader this season, leading the Liberty League and ranking 26th in Division III by shooting 41.3 percent (71 for 172) from beyond the arc this season. He has at least two treys in 21-of-26 games this year, including a season-high six in wins over St. Lawrence, Vassar and Hobart. Coincidentally, all three of those games were won by Garside's last-second three-pointers: he dribbled the length of the court to
sink St. Lawrence on January 17, banked a shot home from near half court to
vanquish Vassar on February 8, and did it again to
just beat the buzzer in overtime against Hobart on Tuesday.
ABOUT THE ENGINEERS: Rensselaer is a squad that prides itself on its defense, as the Engineers rank second in Division III by allowing an average 56.5 points per game and holding opponents to 38.6 percent shooting from the field. The team is 18-0 in 2024-25 when opponents score 61 points or fewer and 16-1 when opponents shoot 41 percent or less from the field. Many of the team's problems have come when the opposition gets hot from deep: led by Union's 52.2 percent shooting from three-point land in February, four of the team's five losses have seen the opponent shoot 45 percent or better from distance. Conversely, RPI ranks 383rd out of 406 D-III teams in scoring offense, averaging only 64.8 points per outing. Dylan Matchett leads the team in scoring at 11.2 ppg and also averages a team-best 5.3 rebounds per game, followed close behind by Andrew Deppe at 11.0 ppg and PJ Scalisi at 10.2 ppg. Chuck Clemons leads the squad in assists (78) and steals (43) on the season.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Friday's game will advance to the Liberty League Tournament championship on Sunday, where they will face off with the winner of second-seeded Ithaca College and sixth-seeded St. Lawrence University at the highest remaining seed.
2025 Liberty League Men's Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 – First Round
#6 St. Lawrence University 58, #3 Vassar College 50
#4 Union College 83, #5 Hobart College 80
Friday, February 28, 2025 – Semifinals
#6 St. Lawrence at #2 Ithaca College, 7:30 p.m.
#4 Union at #1 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 2, 2025 – Championship
Semifinal Winners at highest remaining seed
