Men's Basketball at the NYU Tip-Off Classic
Saturday, November 9 at No. 22 NYU | 5 p.m.
Sunday, November 10 vs. Ithaca | 2 p.m. 
John A. Paulson Center | New York, N.Y. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson men's basketball team travels to New York City to open the 2024-25 campaign at the NYU Tip-Off Classic. 
•    The Beavers will face the host Violets on Saturday afternoon before meeting Ithaca on Sunday afternoon. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. NYU: 
•    Babson is 1-2 all-time against the Violets in a series that dates back to 1984. 
•    Saturday's matchup will be the first between the teams since November 30, 1985, when the Beavers suffered a 93-76 loss in New York City. 

vs. Ithaca: 
•    The Beavers are 0-1 all-time against the Bombers with the only previous meeting coming in the first round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament. 
•    Babson fell to Ithaca 94-88 in OT in Swarthmore, Pa. 

A LOOK BACK AT 2023-24
•    After struggling through injuries for much of the regular season, Babson won three games in five days to capture its second consecutive NEWMAC Tournament championship last February. 
•    The Beavers defeated Coast Guard, WPI and Clark in the conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in row before suffering a 74-63 loss to No. 9 Oswego in the first round. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (0-0) returns three starters and 11 players from a team that ended the year at 15-14 after finishing fourth in the NEWMAC regular season standings. 
•    Senior Nate Amado (20.5 pts, 7.2 reb, 2.1 ast) shot 45.3 percent and was named to the All-NEWMAC second team despite missing seven games in the middle of conference play. 
•    Junior Timmy O'Toole (7.9 pts, 8.5 reb) posted four double-doubles and shot 47.5 percent from the floor, senior Aidan Horan averaged career highs of 6.1 pts and 2.8 rebs, and classmate David Cross (5.4 pts, 2.4 reb) put up 10.4 points on 46.4 percent shooting over the final eight games of the year. 
•    The Green and White averaged 69.0 points and ranked 54th in Division III in scoring defense (67.5) while holding opponents to just 31 percent shooting from beyond the arc. 

SCOUTING THE VIOLETS
•    No. 22 NYU (0-0) brings back nine players and three starters from a team that went 21-6 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24. 
•    Zay Freeney (14.8 pts, 3.4 reb, 2.1 ast) knocked down 49 three-pointers and led the team with 40 steals, Quinn Clark (7.8 pts, 7.2 reb) shot 66.4 percent from the floor, and Emmanuel Onuama averaged 7.3 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds in 27 starts. 
•    The Violets have added five transfers, highlighted by two-time All-UAA honoree Jack Stone, who averaged 13.0 points and 3.2 rebounds last winter at Carnegie Mellon. 
•    NYU averaged 80.1 points per game and ranked 23rd in Division III in field goal percentage (48.2). 

SCOUTING THE BOMBERS
•    Ithaca (0-0) returns four starters and 11 players in all from a team that went 12-13 and finished ninth in the Liberty League in 2023-24. 
•    Logan Wendell (18.4 pts, 4.2 reb, 3.9 ast) earned All-Liberty League first-team honors, Evan Cabral (8.5 pts, 3.4 reb, 2.3 ast) shot 46.1 percent from the floor and Aidan Holmes chipped in with 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 24 starts. 
•    The Bombers front line should be bolstered by the addition of David Luberoff, who averaged 6.0 points and 4.1 boards in 18 starts at Division II Adelphi last winter. 
•    Ithaca ranked sixth in Division III in three-point attempts (31.5), 15th in three-point field goals per game (10.2) and averaged 78.3 points a season ago. 

WORKING THE PORTAL
•    In addition to its 11 returners, Babson added a pair of graduate transfers in Felix Kloman from Brown and Wellesley, Mass., native Alex Stoddard from Williams. 
•    Kloman made 18 starts last season for the Bears averaging career highs of 5.0 points and 1.2 assists, while Stoddard averaged a career-high 6.8 points and knocked down 45 three-pointers to help the Ephs reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. 

MOVING UP THE SCORING LIST
•    Amado, who became the 29th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points in the Beavers' NEWMAC Tournament final victory over Clark last February, enters the season ranked 26th on the career scoring list. 
•    He poured in 28 points in the NCAA Tournament loss to Oswego and averaged 21.8 points and 9.0 rebounds while recording a pair of double-doubles in four postseason games after returning from injury last winter. 

POLL POSITION
•    The two-time defending conference champion Beavers earned five first-place votes and finished atop the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll back in October. 
•    Babson finished with 61 points, two ahead last year's regular season champs Clark, while WPI came in third with 49 points. 

DEAN OF NEWMAC COACHES
•    Head coach Stephen Brennan enters his 30th season as head coach at Babson with 481 wins, which ranks first among NEWMAC coaches and ninth among active Division III head coaches. 
•    The 2017 NABC Coach of the Year, Brennan has guided the Beavers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances over the last 11 years, which includes claiming the program's first national title in 2017 after reaching the 2015 national semifinals. 

ONE NATIONAL CHAMP REPLACES ANOTHER
•    Joey Flannery '17 was hired in August as the Beavers' associate head coach after former teammate Matthew Droney '17 left his assistant post to become the new head coach at the Dexter Southfield School. 
•    Flannery, who spent the previous six seasons on the men's basketball staff at Villanova, was a two-time NABC Division III Player of the Year selection and led the Beavers to the program's national championship back in 2017. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers went 13-3 last season when shooting at least 40 percent. 
•    Babson was 12-4 in 2023-24 when leading at halftime. 
•    The Green and White was 11-5 when outrebounding its opponents last year. 
•    Babson was 12-4 last winter when scoring at least 70 points. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers are off until November 20 when they travel to Hartford, Conn., to take on St. Joseph.