Plenty of change awaits the Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball program in a new conference this season, but head coach Dan Engelstad won’t alter the defense-first style the Mountaineers have played under his leadership … and he’s confident that one veteran in particular will help the team’s transition.
Mount St. Mary’s had competed in the Northeast Conference since the 1989-90 season but announced in May that it was moving to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference beginning in the 2022-23 school year. The transition marks a new challenge for Engelstad, who is entering his fifth season as the head man at the Mount.
Engelstad is 46-70 as head coach of the Mountaineers but he had to rebuild the roster after taking over for Jamion Christian, who went 38-30 in his final two years as head coach at the Mount (2016-2018). Engelstad has gone 26-27 the past two seasons, winning the NEC tournament in 2020-21 to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The MAAC represents a step up for the men’s hoops program, but Engelstad will continue to stress the defensive end, as he has always done at the Mount. The Mountaineers were second in the NEC in adjusted defensive efficiency in 2021-22, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site.
“I think there are a lot of teams that play similar to that in the MAAC,” Engelstad said on Glenn Clark Radio Oct. 31. “It’s a very physical league. It’s a big league from a guard standpoint. Threes are usually really big and strong and athletic. The post will be a little bit bigger than what we’ve seen. Nothing has changed, though, in terms of winning college basketball games. You need really good guard play and we think we have that, but we’re putting our identity on the defensive side of the floor and that will always be the case.”
Mount St. Mary’s is picked to finish 10th in the 11-team MAAC. Iona, coached by Rick Pitino, is picked to finish first. The Gaels have gone 37-14 under Pitino the last two seasons. Saint Peter’s, the Cinderella team of last year’s NCAA Tournament but raided via the transfer portal this offseason, is picked to finish eighth along with Niagara.
The Mount’s first MAAC game will come at Saint Peter’s Dec. 1, and its first MAAC home game will come against Rider Dec. 3. Conference play restarts at Niagara Dec. 30. How does Engelstad anticipate adjusting to a new league?
“There’s a lot of work that’s gone into it from an administrative standpoint, from a coaching standpoint of just trying to get some familiarity and watching film, but I do think that question will probably be better asked next year after we go through it for a season,” Engelstad said. “It’s going to be new. We’re going to play different days. Most games in our league now are Friday [and] Sunday. We went from [KenPom’s] 29th-ranked league to 16th so there is a transition, but this is Year 5 for us.”
Mount St. Mary’s is led by senior guard Jalen Benjamin, a preseason third-team All-MAAC pick. He averaged 13.3 points and 4.0 assists per game last season while shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range. Other key returners include graduate forward Malik Jefferson (7.1 points, 6.6 rebounds), graduate guard Deandre Thomas (6.9 points, 40.9 percent from deep) and junior guard Josh Reaves (6.6 points).
Engelstad said Jefferson, in his fifth year with the Mountaineers, is the “rock” of the program. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound big man out of Hopewell, Va., grabbed 753 rebounds in his first four years at the Mount, a Division I program record. The coach wants Jefferson to take his game to another level as Mount St. Mary’s moves up the conference ladder.
“Malik’s played in a lot of basketball games, and to have a veteran come back like him, we actually need him to do more,” Engelstad said. “When he’s healthy, we know that he can. We need him to produce more from an offensive standpoint, we need him to clear the glass and we need him to be in great shape so we can keep him on the floor. Having that everyday guy in Malik has been huge for us over the years. I’m sure glad that as we make this transition, I have a guy that I know is going to show up every day.”
See Also: Q&A With Mount St. Mary’s Men’s Basketball’s Jalen Benjamin
For more from Engelstad, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Tyler E. Kraft