METROCARD SWIPE: 5 Takeaways from the America East-Metro Challenge

This story was going to be a continuation of last week’s story with how poorly Thursday went for the Metro. The conference went 3-6 in the home games of the America East-Metro Challenge, setting itself up for a tough mountain to climb on Sunday. But to the league’s credit, they climbed that mountain.

The Metro won a bunch of close games to go 5-3 on Sunday, setting up a chance to tie the Challenge should Iona defeat UMBC a week from Monday. Instead of straight doom, here are five takeaways from the Metro-America East Challenge.

Advertisement

Dywane Chess is Marist’s most important player

John Dunne went out of his way to say that he’s extremely high on freshman Dywane Chess during our preseason interview. He’s looked the part of a Metro Rookie of the Year candidate thanks to his scoring through three games. He dropped 20 points in both of Marist’s America East-Metro Challenge games, leading the Red Foxes in scoring both times.

His usage rate through three games is 27.5%, the highest on the team, and he’s played 75% of the team’s minutes as well. Jack Graham and Edward Onyia have taken lower-usage roles than I expected, and Myles Parker still isn’t putting the ball on the floor a ton, so the offensive burden will fall on Chess throughout the year. There will be some games where Brady MacAdams gives Marist a lift – like on Thursday night when he made three triples and scored 17 points – but Chess will have to be the night-in, night-out guy.

Chess has a strong frame at 6-foot-4 and has the green light to create off the dribble. He’s already assuming the role of creating mid-range jump shots and getting plenty of spot-up opportunities. I wonder if more pick-and-roll reps are coming as he starts to adapt into a hybrid between the Justin Menard and Elijah Lewis roles.

Advertisement

But this all begs the question: will Graham, Onyia, and Parker come along? Graham was solid in the Challenge, but presumably has more in him. Onyia was held scoreless and limited to just 12 minutes in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/metrocard-swipe-5-takeaways-america-120000178.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-11-09 12:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.