Fairfield back at Alumni Hall for home opener Wednesday

Fairfield men’s basketball coach Jay Young is happy to have another chance at winning in Alumni Hall.

After losing what everyone thought was the final game for the Stags in the old gymnasium back on March 1, Young and the Stags are coming back to Alumni Hall this season, beginning with Wednesday night’s home opener.

Alumni Hall, on the Fairfield University campus, was supposed to close after last season, but due to COVID-19 shutdowns, work never began on taking down the old gymnasium and building its replacement.

“I lost the last game at Alumni Hall, so it is good to have another shot at playing there,” Young said. “It is the right thing to do. We are lucky they didn’t start construction. I don’t know what we would have done this season without Alumni available to us.”

This year, the team will play all its home games without fans at Alumni Hall with Webster Bank Arena unavailable.

Fairfield will play its home opener when it hosts Hartford Wednesday night at Alumni Hall with the game streamed on ESPN3 starting at 7 p.m.

The home opener comes after the Stags had two games postponed over the weekend.

Fairfield was scheduled to play at Stony Brook Saturday, but the game was postponed because of a positive COVID-19 test among Tier I individuals who had possible contact with the Seawolves.

The game was rescheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday at Stony Brook.

Sunday, the Stags game at Sacred Heart was canceled after a positive COVID-19 test from a member of the Pioneers’ men’s basketball program.

“It has been a crazy start to the year, that’s for sure,” Young said. “The kids are a little sick of practicing. But the players have been great. It is such a wild year and the players know anything can change at any time.”

Fairfield is coming off a season-opening 97-56 loss at Providence last week.

Fairfield hung with Providence through the first 13 minutes of the game until the Friars went on a 24-8 run. Providence led by 12 points at halftime before expanding the lead early in the second half.

Fairfield struggled with its 3-point shooting, making just two of 15 from beyond the arc and did not do much else right closing out the game.

“We played 13 minutes of good basketball and 27 minutes of bad basketball,” Young said. “We need to do a better job rebounding, taking care of the ball and executing. We also need to be in better shape. That game showed we had some guys winded by the end. We had some good moments, but overall we need to be much better.”

Freshman Jalen Leach and senior Taj Benning were the top scorers for the Stags with 10 points apiece.

Hartford will be playing its first non-Big East opponent when it travels to Alumni Hall. Hartford opened the year with a 12point loss to UConn and dropped an 87-53 decision to No. 12 Villanova on Tuesday night.

Sophomore Marcus Flowers led all scorers with his 24 points for Hartford while Hunter Marks just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes on the floor.