Monmouth Hawks (2-5, 0-0 MAAC) vs. Radford Highlanders (2-3, 0-0 Big South)
Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - 7:00 p.m. EST
OceanFirst Bank Center - West Long Branch, NJ

TV
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti
Analyst: Matt Harmon

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
Radford is led by Carlik Jones, who is netting nearly 21 points per game, through five games this sea- son. They possess an 11-point win at Big 10 member Northwestern, and score over 70 points per contest. Jones was named Big South Player of the Week this week after averaging 17 points per game last week.

RADFORD HEAD COACH DONNIE JONES
Mike Jones started at Radford the same year King Rice began his time at Monmouth, and is entering his ninth season on the Highlanders' sidelines. He has 140 wins next to 130 losses at Radford, and has gone to three postseasons, including an NCAA Tournament in 2018. 

RADFORD ON THE ROAD
Radford is 1-3 on the road this season, with the lone road victory coming at Northwestern. Last season, the Highlanders posted a 9-7 road record, going 3-5 in road non-conference matchups.

HAWKS AT HOME
Monmouth went 6-6 at home last season, including a 6-3 mark in home MAAC games. Tonight is MU's home opener.

WHEN HAMMOND AND SALNAVE HIT 30...
Monmouth is 6-6 in their careers when Ray Salnave and Deion Hammond combine to score 30+ points. The duo has 12 such games in their careers, including one this season against Stetson.

1,000 POINT WATCH
The Salnave-Hammond duo are each approaching 1,000 career points. Hammond is 134 points away through 72 career games, averaging 12.0 points for his career. Salnave needs 216 points through 71 games, scoring at 11.0 points per contest. The last Hawk to top the 1,000-point threshold was Micah Seaborn in 2017.

MONMOUTH IN HOME OPENERS
Monmouth is an impressive 6-2 in home openers under King Rice, picking up wins over Bucknell, Drexel, Bethune-Cookman, Wagner, Fordham and Hofstra. This marks the third most games the Hawks have played in the Rice era before playing in West Long Branch, with the previous two coming in his inaugural season of 2011 as well as the 2015 campaign.

SALNAVE AND HAMMOND ALMOST MATCHED
Since the beginning of last season, Monmouth's Preseason All-MAAC Second Team selections Ray Salnave and Deion Hammond are separated by just four points and 16 total minutes played in 41 games played. Salnave has 491 points in 1,068 minutes, while Hammond has 495 points in 1,084 minutes.

BUSY NOVEMBER, NOT DECEMBER
In Monmouth's scheduling of the non-conference slate this season, it came as such that MU plays an action packed November with a bit of a slower December. Of the Hawks' 11 non-league games in 2019, nine of them are being played in November prior to Thanksgiving, a stretch of nine games in 22 days. On the contrary, partially due to final exams, the Hawks play just twice in December and don't leave New Jersey, making just a short trip to Princeton before a home contest with Albany.

MONMOUTH VS. THE BIG SOUTH
-The Hawks are 5-3 against current Big South membership.
-MU has played four of the current 11 conference members.
-King Rice has coached against just one other Big South program, doing so in 2017 at UNC Asheville, a Bulldogs win.