CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Monmouth men's basketball was defeated by the University of Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday afternoon, 73-53. Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) led Monmouth with 14 points, while De'Andre Hunter netted a game-high 23 for the Cavaliers.

Monmouth was outscored by just two in the second half, and went on an 11-2 run capped by Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist) hitting a wing three to cut the score to 66-50. Virginia's largest lead was 26, which MU trimmed to 10 in the latter stages.

The Hawks jumped to a 15-8 lead thanks to five straight points, including a three from Pillari into the under-12 media timeout. De'Andre Hunter led the Cavaliers back, making four consecutive jumpers and five of six shots overall for UVA. Hunter's run ignited a 31-6 stretch to close the half with a 39-21 advantage.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"First off, the NIT tournament, I want to thank them and thank Virginia for being able to come down here. Anytime we get a chance to play an ACC school, or one of those types of schools, it's an honor for our school." – Head Coach King Rice
"I got a good group of kids, we haven't really been through a lot yet, and today I think we'll take some major steps from this because our kids learned a lesson today, which is that disciplined basketball is the best way to play, especially when you do it with a group of guys that are so bought into the team." – King Rice

-Mustapha Traore made his first career start.
-Monmouth has now used three different starting lineups in four games.
-Seven different Hawks have started at least one game to this point.
-Sam Ibiezugbe checked in at the 6:17 mark of the opening half, his first action of 2017-18.
-Louie Pillari became the fourth different Hawk to lead the team in scoring, coming two points shy of a career best with 14.
-For the third time in four career contests, Deion Hammond reached double digits (12 points).
-The attendance at John Paul Jones Arena was 13,472, the largest crowd MU has seen since last December 28 at North Carolina.
-King Rice has scheduled an ACC opponent in all but two seasons since taking over at Monmouth.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Ibiezugbe netted a career-best eight points on 4-5 shooting, all in the second half.
-Ray Salnave scored seven points, five from the line, all coming in the second half.
-MU held UVA to an identical 2-of-7 (28.6%) in each half from three.
-Traore, making his first start, tied for the team high with six boards.
-Quinn also grabbed six rebounds to lead MU for the second game in a row in rebounding.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth will play at UNC Asheville on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.