#8 Monmouth Hawks (11-19, 7-11 MAAC) vs. #9 Saint Peter's Peacocks (12-17, 6-12 MAAC)
Thursday, March 1, 2018 | 5:00pm ET
Times Union Center, Albany, NY
 
Please find PDF of full notes attached.
 
MEDIA INFORMATION
TV: ESPN3/Watch ESPN
Play-by-Play: Perry Laskaris
Analyst: Chris Williams

RADIO
Shore Sports Network 1160/1310AM
Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti
Analyst: Steve Bazaz

LIVE STATS
http://statb.us/v/monm/209900

MAAC TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
Monmouth has nine players that have combined for 33 total games of MAAC Tournament experience, with five freshmen that have never played in the postseason. Austin Tilghman leads MU with six games in the postseason, while Pierre Sarr and Diago Quinn have each played in five. Micah Seaborn and Dan Pillari have each appeared in four MAAC Tourney games.

KING RICE IN THE MAAC TOURNEY
King Rice is coaching in his fifth MAAC Tournament after Monmouth joined the league prior to the 2013-14 season. He has posted a 4-4 record in the last four years, and has advanced to the semifinals in each of the last three seasons. MU is playing in an opening round game for the first time since being the ninth seed in the 2014 MAAC Tournament in Springfield, falling to eighth seeded Rider.

HAWKS AGAINST THE MAAC
This marks the first time Monmouth will play Saint Peter's in a MAAC Tournament game. To date, in its fifth season in the league, MU has taken on six of the league's 10 other teams in a MAAC Tournament game, with the Peacocks making it seven. MU has played Rider twice, splitting the games, and have fallen to Iona twice. Marist, Quinnipiac and Manhattan are the three teams MU has never played in a conference tournament game in the MAAC, having played Quinnipiac and Marist previously in Northeast Conference Tournaments.

TILGHMAN AND HAMMOND EARN MAAC HONORS
Austin Tilghman and Deion Hammond were honored on All-MAAC teams earlier this week, with Tilghman earning a spot on the All-MAAC Third Team and Hammond being named to the league's All-Rookie Team. Tilghman picks up his first All-MAAC honor after being named the league's Sixth Man of the Year last season, while Hammond joins Micah Seaborn as Monmouth's second All-Rookie team member since joining the league. Hammond was a unanimous choice to the All-Rookie squad, earning a vote from every coach in the conference.

STARTING LINEUPS BY THE GAME
Monmouth has started the seventh most lineup combinations in the country with 15 this season. Conference foe Siena is the national leader alongside UT Martin with 18, while Bryant and UTEP have used 17 and Florida Gulf Coast joins Pitt in using 16. Also having used 15 along with MU is Ole Miss and Arkansas State. Every Hawk on the roster has started a game with the exception of Sam Ibiezugbe, with Austin Tilghman and Diago Quinn leading the way with 27 starts. Quinn started the first 27 contests before Zac Tillman started the final three. Eight players have made at least eight starts, and every freshman has started at least one game, with Deion Hammond leading the first-year players with 22 starts.

THE WINNINGEST CLASS
Seniors Austin Tilghman and Dan Pillari tied last year's senior class with their 84th career win against Rider, and are one win away from becoming the most winning group in school history. The prior group of Justin Robinson, Josh James, Collin Stewart and Chris Brady won 84 games in their four seasons.

THE ONES WHO ARE FINISHING UP
This year's senior class of fifth-year senior Zac Tillman and true seniors Austin Tilghman and Dan Pillari will close out their careers at the conclusion of this season. They have combined for 1,450 points, 775 rebounds, 352 assists and 163 steals as well as the aforementioned 84 victories. They were a part of the two winningest seasons in school history and won back-to-back regular season titles, as well as capturing wins over six major conference programs in their time.

THE CLOSE, CLOSE GAMES
In conference play, Monmouth dropped six games by a combined 15 points, including five games by one possession and two by a single point. The Blue and White fell by one point at home to Fairfield and at Niagara, by two at Quinnipiac, and by three at home againt Iona and in the regular season finale at Fairfield. Finally, in the home contest against Niagara, MU had a chance to tie down three in the closing seconds before falling by five on a pair of late foul shots.

HAWKS ATOP THE MAAC ON THE DEFENSIVE GLASS
Monmouth led the conference on the regular season in defensive rebounding, averaging 27.1 boards on the defensive glass per game, tied atop the league with Niagara, who played one more regular season game than MU did overall. The Hawks, who have grabbed 812 defensive rebounds, are cleaning up the glass in their own end at a 72.9% clip.

HAWKS FANS SUPPORTING
Monmouth finished second in the league in average home attendance and first for an on-campus venue in the regular season, with 2,367 fans on average coming to the OceanFirst Bank Center for MU's 12 home games. All told, 28,399 MU fans walked through the turnstiles, the most of any on-campus venue in the MAAC and second to only Siena at the Times Union Center.

TOP-10 IN THE MAAC INDIVIDUALLY
Individually, Monmouth had a few players finish in the top-10 in the league in several categories. Austin Tilghman was third in total assists for the regular season, finishing with 160 and 5.5 per game. Tilghman also ranks fifth in assist/turnover ratio and second in defensive rebounds, as well as ninth in minutes played. Louie Pillari is second in three-point percentage, with Deion Hammond seventh in total threes made.