Graduate forward Kevin Marfo and the rest of the Quinnipiac men's basketball team escaped an approaching blizzard in Connecticut late Friday night.
The Bobcats rode their bus up to Albany a day earlier than normal so they'd have no problems getting here for Sunday afternoon's matchup against Siena at MVP Arena.
But Marfo said the frigid Northeast weather doesn't make him long for Texas, where he spent last season playing for Texas A&M.
"The weather in Texas was actually kind of weird," said Marfo, who is from Bergenfield, N.J. "It's like the first time it actually snowed (there) in seven years. It wasn't as great as what it was prevous years. ... It doesn't bother me."
Marfo is showing no difficulty settling back into his old life at Quinnipiac, where he first played for the Bobcats from 2018 to 2020 and led Division I in rebounding with 13.3 per game in the 2019-2020 season.
He transferred to Texas A&M last season, deciding to test himself against better competition in the Southeastern Conference. After putting up more modest numbers with the Aggies, he returned to Hamden, Conn., for his final season.
"Just think this was the best opportunity to re-jump my career," Marfo said. "I didn't have the greatest year at Texas A&M and I wanted to end my college career on a better note. I knew coming back here would be a great opportunity. The coaches welcomed me back with open arms. They told me this was going to be a better team than when I was here before and we had a great opportunity to win, so it was a no-brainer for me."
The Bobcats are 11-7 overall, 6-4 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after Friday's 94-87 home victory over Marist. Quinnipac left for Siena after the game and got into Albany at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
Returning to the MAAC, Marfo showed he hasn't lost his rebounding touch. He's averaging a league-best 10.5 rebounds per game, including 11 against the Red Foxes.
But the 6-foot-9, 245-pound Marfo is showing another dimension to his game, leading the Bobcats with 74 assists, a 4.1 per game average that's tied for second in the league. Marfo is also second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game.
"Coach (Baker Dunleavy) is doing a great job putting me in situations where I can make plays in terms of sweet spots like the elbow, top of the key and just bring up the ball in transition where I can inititate offense and it puts me in situations where I can make my teammates better," Marfo said.
Dunleavy said the team was thrilled to bring back Marfo and there was no awkwardness in the return of a player who once had left for seemingly greener pastures. Marfo had transferred to Quinnipiac once before. He began his career at George Washington, where he played in 2016-17 under current Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello, then a Colonials assistant.
Marfo isn't the only all-MAAC player to make the trip to the SEC and back. Rider graduate forward Dimencio Vaughn spent last season at Ole Miss, playing against Marfo, before returning to Lawrenceville, N.J.
When Marfo re-entered the transfer portal, Quinnipiac reached out to him.
"I think nowadays, the numbers of transfers, which obviously goes up and up, we'll get probably more used to these situations that come about where there was success the player's first time around at a player's previous place and not a toxic relationship," Dunleavy said. "I certainly understood where he was coming from. We wanted him to stay. But I understood. Some guys have aspirations to try different things and there was no ill will. When you combine those two things, and you have a year left, it left it open to both sides saying, 'Hey, this seems like a really good fit,' because we know it is."
Marfo averaged 2.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his only season playing for Buzz Williams at Texas A&M. But he said the experience made him a better and smarter player for Quinnipiac.
"It was a great experience," Marfo said. "I met a lot of great people down there. I learned a lot about myself and as a basketball player and I understood what I needed to do to be better. It taught me a lot."
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: MVP Arena, Albany
TV/Radio: MY-4 Albany, WGDJ 1300 AM, 98.7 FM
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Siena basketball faces rebounding machine Kevin Marfo the second time around - Times Union
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