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11 Things To Know About the Stony Brook Seawolves

by: Mrs. Tyler Thompson03/16/16@MrsTylerKSR

Thursday night at 9:40 p.m. ET, Kentucky will begin its NCAA Tournament run. It’s easy to look ahead to Saturday’s potential matchup against Indiana, but first, Kentucky must take care of business against 13-seed Stony Brook, which may not be an easy task.

Let’s learn a little about the Seawolves, shall we?

This is their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament

Stony Brook has lost the America East Conference Final four of the last five years, sometimes in heartbreaking fashion, and on Saturday, it looked like history might repeat itself. The Seawolves trailed Vermont by 15 in the second half before Stony Brook went on a 15-2 run to cut the lead to one with seven minutes left. The game went back and forth before Jameel Warney helped seal the win in the final minute.

I think that warrants a court storming, don’t you?

This is not the first time the two teams have played

Kentucky beat Stony Brook 65-52 in Rupp Arena back on November 27, 2007 in Billy Gillispie’s fifth game as head coach. Stony Brook came into the game with an 0-6 record, so the fact that it was only a ten-point game speaks volumes to UK’s early season struggles that year.

Head coach Steve Pikiell was a point guard at UConn

Pikiell has been the head coach at Stony Brook since 2005 and played college ball at UConn from 1987-1991 under Jim Calhoun. He was a two-year captain for the Huskies and played on the 1990 team that reached the Elite Eight. After graduation, he stayed on as an assistant for a year before moving on as an assistant elsewhere.

Here’s hoping that UConn magic has worn off by now.

Their best player went to the same high school as Isaiah Briscoe

You probably know this by now, but it bears repeating; Jameel Warney went to Roselle Catholic, the same high school Isaiah Briscoe attended. Warney is older than Briscoe, but the two played pickup together and Briscoe told Calipari that Warney is “a beast.”

He’s right. Warney averages 19.8 points and 10.7 rebounds, scoring in double figures every game. He’s currently 15th in the country in rebounds (342) and 8th in double-doubles (20). According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, he’s the first player in the past 19 seasons of college basketball to accumulate career totals exceeding 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 250 blocks, 200 assists and 100 steals. Warney had 43 points in Stony Brook’s win over Vermont, shooting 18-22 from the floor in an incredible performance. At 6’8″ 260 lbs., Warney is the type of big man that could give UK fits on Thursday. He’s a dominant back-to-the-basket scorer and, against Vermont, eluded man-to-man defenses, zone, and double-teams. If you’re looking for a reason to worry about Thursday’s game, Warney is it, especially given our bigs’ tendency to get into foul trouble.

I mean, look at this shot:

https://vine.co/v/iwB5Yrxrpxz

He finally heard back from Mark Morrison

By now, you probably also know that Jameel Warney is a huge fan of “Return of the Mack” singer Mark Morrison. Warney dedicates each game to the West German born English R&B star on Twitter, and on Saturday, he finally heard back from him:

When Pikiell took over, the program didn’t even have a pep band

When Pikiell signed on at Stony Brook, the basketball program was in dire straits, facing probation, scholarship limitations, and horrible APR scores. Only 77 people attended Pikiell’s first home game as head coach and they didn’t even have a pep band. Over the years, Pikiell has slowly turned the program into a winner, winning four straight regular season America East titles. He’s sent ten players to the pros overseas and the arena’s now full for every game. Thursday’s game is a big deal for him personally and professionally.

Their point guard is also really good

Carson Puriefoy leads the way for the Seawolves, averaging 15.1 points and 3.1 assists per game. He’s quick, and yesterday, John Calipari said the 6’0 Puriefoy reminds him of Tyler Ulis.

“Their guard Puriefoy – I think maybe I didn’t pronounce it right — yeah, very fast, a lot like Tyler Ulis. He plays speedy with the ball from foul line to foul line, he’ll be as fast as anybody we’ve played.”

I’ll take Tyler.

They took Vandy to overtime at Memorial Gym

I can hear you now. “Sure, these kids are great in the America East, but wait until they face a Power 5 program.”

Well…they have. Twice. Stony Brook took a then-17th-ranked Vanderbilt team to overtime at Memorial Gym before losing 79-72. Puriefoy was the one to force overtime with a layup with one second left, so he’s clearly not afraid of late-game situations. Warney outplayed Vandy’s Damian Jones, putting up 22 points and 11 rebounds to Jones’ 13 points and 6 rebounds. Had Stony Brook made some of its threes (they were 4-17 from the 3-point line), they could have walked away with the upset.

Notre Dame beat Stony Brook pretty handily in December by focusing on shutting down Warney, who finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Still impressive numbers, but Notre Dame was able to get him into foul trouble and limit open looks. Warney was 7-17 from the floor that night.

Marcus Lee has already done some scouting

When answering questions after the Selection Show, Lee said he’s “definitely heard” of Stony Brook.

“I’ve definitely heard of them,” Lee said. “I’ve watched some of their games. They’re a great team. We’re just excited to play them.”

However, Lee doesn’t know what their mascot, a seawolf, is.

“It’s like a seahorse?” Lee said in this video by Curtis Burch. “I don’t know, they probably have a cool logo.”

The logo’s fine, but according to the Stony Brook website, a seawolf is a mythical sea creature, and according to the legend of the seawolf, anyone fortunate enough to view it was subject to good luck.

They got quite the sendoff today

It’s really hard not to like Stony Brook, especially when you see the pictures and videos of their sendoff today:

Pikiell joked that they were off to play a “small team” in Kentucky:

Cinderella’s cute, but we’ve got a title to win.

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2026-01-05