2021 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Program

2020–21 CANISIUS MEN’S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

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QUICK FACTS LOCATION BUFFALO, NY NICKNAME GOLDEN GRIFFINS COLORS BLUE AND GOLD YEAR FOUNDED 1870 PRESIDENT JOHN J. HURLEY ATHLETIC DIRECTOR BILL MAHER HOME ARENA KOESSLER ATHLETIC CENTER (2,196)

MEN’S ROSTER

No.

Name

Cl. So.

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown

0 1 2 3 4 5

Akrum Ahemed

G 6-5 200 Hackensack, NJ

Ahamadou Fofana

Jr. Jr. Jr.

G 6-1 175 Bronx, NY

Malek Green

F

6-7 220 Cincinnati, OH

Jordan Henderson

G 6-5 190 Cincinnati, OH

Jalanni White

Sr. Fr. So So.

F

6-8 215 New Haven, CT

Siem Uijtendaal

G 6-6 185 Harlem, Netherlands

10 11 12 15 21 22 25

Jacco Fritz

F

6-10 210 Tiel, Netherlands

Armon Harried

G 6-4 190 Baltimore, MD G 6-3 195 Utica, NY G 6-0 170 Bronx, NY

Asa Beyah

Fr.

Majesty Brandon

Sr. Sr.

Scott Hitchon

F F

6-8 215 Whitby, Ontario 6-10 230 Odessa, Ukraine

PLAYER TO WATCH Canisius senior Majesty Brandon has proven to be one of the MAAC’s elite scoring options in his two seasons with the Golden Griffin program. Brandon joined the Canisius program at the start of the 2019–20 season after he was named an NJCAA First-Team All-American following the 2018–19 campaign at Monroe County Community College in Rochester, N.Y. In his first year with Canisius, the Bronx, N.Y., native lead the team in scoring average with his 13.9 points per game. He started this year as one of five returners in the MAAC to average better than 13.0 points per game a season ago. A Preseason All-MAAC Second Team honoree, Brandon was named to the 2020–21 Preseason All-Big 4 First Team as well. In his senior season, Brandon is among the leaders on the Canisius roster in scoring average and steals per game average. NOTABLE ALUMNI Former Canisius guard Duane “Duke” Richardsonwas formally inducted into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. A two-year letter winner who played 53 games during the 1978–79 and 1979–80 campaigns, Richardson joined the Golden Griffin programafter playing two seasons at Niagara County Community College. Richardson averaged better than 12.0 points per game in his career onMain Street, but he is better remembered as one of the greatest facilitators in programhistory. The only player to dish out more than 200 assists in a season (215 in 1978–79), Richardson still holds the programrecord for career assists per game average (7.0) and single-season assists per game average (8.3 per game in 1978-79).

George Maslennikov

Jr.

Malik Brooks

So.

G 6-2 190 Lockport, NY

Head Coach: Reggie Witherspoon (Empire State, ’95) – 5 th Season, 19 th Season Overall Assistant Coaches: Chris Hawkins (Radford, ’92) – 5 th Season, Thurman Schaetzle (Mercyhurst, ’11) – 3 rd Season, Calvin Cage (Buffalo, ’06) – 2 nd Season Graduate Assistant Manager: Austin Buschang (Canisius, ’20) – 1 st Season Athletic Trainer: Tyler LaMonica (Brockport, ’17) – 3 rd Season Student Managers: Shane Hurd ’24, Quinn Imiola ’21, Luca Militello ’24

HEAD COACH REGGIE WITHERSPOON Canisius head coach Reggie Witherspoon, a Buffalo native and a 24-year veteran of the college basketball coaching ranks, was named the24 th headcoach inCanisiusCollege men’sbasketball historyonMay28, 2016. In his four previous seasons as head coach of the Golden Griffins, Witherspoon has guided the program to 66 wins, 43 of which have come in MAAC play, a share of the 2017–18 MAAC regular-season championship and a pair of national postseason appearances (CIT in 2016–17, CBI in 2017–18). The Griffs’ 66 total wins since the start of the 2016–17 campaign rank fourth-most among the MAAC’s 11 schools in that time frame, and only three former Canisius head coaches (Joseph Curran, John Beilein and JimBaron) have won more games in their first four years as Canisius’ bench boss than Witherspoon. Additionally, Canisius also has shown a tremendous ability to win on the road under Witherspoon’s guidance, as the Griffs have collected 31 “true” road victories since the start of the 2016–17 campaign, which ranks among the top-25 of all Division I teams in the nation during that time period.

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