2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team represented Canisius College in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by third-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon and played their home games at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, New York as members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). They finished the season 15–17 overall, 11–7 in MAAC play, to finish in a four-way tie for second place.^[1] As the No. 2 seed in the 2019 MAAC tournament, they defeated No. 7 seed Manhattan in the quarterfinals^[2] before falling to No. 6 seed Monmouth 59–73 in the semifinals.^[3]

2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball
Conference	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Record	15–17 (11–7 MAAC)
Head coach	Reggie Witherspoon (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Chris Hawkins Eddie Shannon Thurman Schaetzle
Home arena	Koessler Athletic Center
Seasons ← 2017–18 2019–20 →

2018–19 MAAC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Iona †	12	–	6		.667			17	–	16		.515
Canisius	11	–	7		.611			15	–	17		.469
Quinnipiac	11	–	7		.611			16	–	15		.516
Rider	11	–	7		.611			16	–	15		.516
Siena	11	–	7		.611			17	–	16		.515
Monmouth	10	–	8		.556			14	–	21		.400
Manhattan	8	–	10		.444			11	–	21		.344
Marist	7	–	11		.389			12	–	19		.387
Saint Peter's	6	–	12		.333			10	–	22		.313
Fairfield	6	–	12		.333			9	–	22		.290
Niagara	6	–	12		.333			13	–	19		.406
† 2019 MAAC tournament winner

Previous season

The Golden Griffins finished the 2017–18 season 21–11, 15–3 in MAAC play, to finish in a share for the MAAC regular-season title with Rider.^[4] It was their first conference regular-season title since 1994.^[5] As the No. 2 seed at the MAAC tournament, they were upset by in the quarterfinals by No. 7 seed Quinnipiac.^[6] They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Jacksonville State.^[7]

Roster

2018–19 Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Malik Johnson 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Jr Blue Ridge School Richmond, VA G 3 Jordan Henderson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Indiana Elite Prep Cincinnati, OH F 4 Jalanni White 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Notre Dame New Haven, CT G 5 Sam Rautins 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Athlete Institute Syracuse, NY G 10 Jonathan Sanks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Spartanburg Methodist College Warner Robins, GA F 11 Marcale Lotts 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Sr Jacksonville College New Orleans, LA G 13 Isaiah Reese (S) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr DME Academy Miami, FL G 15 Takal Molson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So TAAG Academy Buffalo, NY G 20 Gianni Ford 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Blinn College Brooklyn, NY F 21 Scott Hitchon 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So Thornlea Secondary School Whitby, ON F 22 Jibreel Faulkner 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr San Jacinto College Washington, D.C. F 23 Dantai St. Louis 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Orangeville Prep Brampton, ON C 24 Ivan Hadžic 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Fr Southwest Christian (AR) Šabac, Serbia G 25 Shaquille Evans 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 218 lb (99 kg) Sr Atlanta Metro State Nassau, Bahamas	Head coach Reggie Witherspoon (Wheeling) Assistant coach(es) Chris Hawkins (Radford) Eddie Shannon (Florida) Thurman Schaetzle (Canisius) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: October 28, 2024

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 13, 2018* 7:00 p.m., Patriot League Network		at Bucknell	W 82–73	1–0	Sojka Pavilion (2,237) Lewisburg, PA
November 17, 2018* 3:30 p.m., ESPN3		Albany	L 66–75	1–1	Koessler Athletic Center (1,540) Buffalo, NY
November 19, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ACCN Extra		at No. 14 Florida State AdvoCare Invitational campus game	L 61–93	1–2	Donald L. Tucker Center (7,457) Tallahassee, FL
November 22, 2018* 1:30 p.m., ESPN2		vs. Villanova AdvoCare Invitational quarterfinals	L 56–83	1–3	HP Field House (2,964) Lake Buena Vista, FL
November 23, 2018* 1:30 p.m., ESPN3		vs. Memphis AdvoCare Invitational	L 63–71	1–4	HP Field House (2,672) Lake Buena Vista, FL
November 25, 2018* 10:30 a.m., ESPNU		vs. UAB AdvoCare Invitational	L 58–68	1–5	HP Field House (3,127) Lake Buena Vista, FL
November 28, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at St. Bonaventure	L 55–70	1–6	Reilly Center (3,685) Olean, NY
December 5, 2018* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3		Robert Morris	W 68–62	2–6	Koessler Athletic Center (884) Buffalo, NY
December 16, 2018* 2:00 p.m., Phoenix All-Access		at Elon	W 92–91	3–6	Schar Center (1,497) Elon, NC
December 20, 2018* 2:00 p.m., Patriot League Network		at Holy Cross	L 63–65	3–7	Hart Center (681) Worcester, MA
December 29, 2018* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		No. 21 Buffalo	L 72–87	3–8	Koessler Athletic Center (2,196) Buffalo, NY
MAAC regular season
January 3, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Marist	W 75–72	4–8 (1–0)	McCann Arena (1022) Poughkeepsie, NY
January 5, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3		at Siena	W 70–66	5–8 (2–0)	Times Union Center (6,432) Albany, NY
January 8, 2019* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Brown	L 90–97	5–9	Koessler Athletic Center (801) Buffalo, NY
January 11, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Rider	L 73–82	5–10 (2–1)	Koessler Athletic Center (873) Buffalo, NY
January 13, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN3		Iona	L 70–88	5–11 (2–2)	Koessler Athletic Center (1,086) Buffalo, NY
January 17, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3		at Quinnipiac	W 65–63	6–11 (3–2)	People's United Center (792) Hamden, CT
January 19, 2019 1:00 p.m., ESPN3		at Fairfield	W 73–69	7–11 (4–2)	Alumni Hall (1,281) Fairfield, CT
January 24, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Monmouth	W 80–66	8–11 (5–2)	Koessler Athletic Center (1,221) Buffalo, NY
January 30, 2019 7:00 p.m., MAAC.TV		at Niagara Battle of the Bridge	L 70–78	8–12 (5–3)	Gallagher Center (1,660) Lewiston, NY
February 1, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3		Quinnipiac	W 75–70	9–12 (6–3)	Koessler Athletic Center (802) Buffalo, NY
February 4, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN3		Marist	L 71–78 OT	9–13 (6–4)	Koessler Athletic Center (943) Buffalo, NY
February 8, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPNU		at Rider	W 81–80	10–13 (7–4)	Alumni Gymnasium (1,650) Lawrenceville, NJ
February 10, 2019 1:00 p.m., MAAC.TV		at Saint Peter's	W 64–60	11–13 (8–4)	Yanitelli Center (595) Jersey City, NJ
February 15, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Fairfield	W 72–68	12–13 (9–4)	Koessler Athletic Center (1,039) Buffalo, NY
February 17, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Manhattan	L 65–70	12–14 (9–5)	Koessler Athletic Center (1,058) Buffalo, NY
February 22, 2019 7:00 p.m., ESPNU		at Monmouth	W 60–59	13–14 (10–5)	OceanFirst Bank Center (2,625) West Long Branch, NJ
February 24, 2019 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Iona	L 80–87	13–15 (10–6)	Hynes Athletic Center (2,288) New Rochelle, NY
February 27, 2019 7:30 p.m., ESPN3		Niagara Battle of the Bridge	L 84–86	13–16 (10–7)	Koessler Athletic Center  Buffalo, NY
March 1, 2019 9:00 p.m., ESPNU		Siena	W 68–62	14–16 (11–7)	Koessler Athletic Center  Buffalo, NY
MAAC tournament
March 8, 2019 9:30 p.m., ESPN3	(2)	vs. (7) Manhattan Quarterfinals	W 69–65 OT	15-16	Times Union Center  Albany, NY
March 10, 2019 8:30 p.m., ESPNU	(2)	vs. (6) Monmouth Semifinals	L 59–73	15–17	Times Union Center (4,918) Albany, NY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source:^[8]