SCOUTING THE PRIDE
Hofstra comes in off an opening night loss to San Jose State at home. The Pride saw nine players get action, with all five starters playing 33 or more minutes including a complete game 40-minute outing from Eli Pemberton.

HOFSTRA HEAD COACH JOE MIHALICH
No stranger to the MAAC, Joe Mihalich is in his seventh season with Hofstra after coming over from Niagara. He has 380 career victories, with 115 of them coming with the Pride.

HAWKS ON THE ROAD
Monmouth was just 5-11 in true road games last season, but got out on the right foot with a win at Lehigh on Tuesday. King Rice is 55-76 all-time in opponents gyms, and 1-1 at Hofstra.

HOFSTRA AT HOME
Despite dropping an opening night home decision to San Jose State, the Pride were an outstanding 15-1 in their building last year, including 7-0 in home non-league games. The lone loss came in overtime to James Madison in the final home contest of the season p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Calibri} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Verdana} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Verdana; min-height: 11.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Calibri; min-height: 15.0px}

LOOKING TO GO 2-0
Monmouth is looking to move to 2-0 to open a season for the first time in the King Rice era and the first time since the 2001-02 season. MU opened that year with a win over Rider at home before going to the Hawai'i Pacific Thanksgiving Classic in Honolulu and topping Akron. MU also beat Vanderbilt on that trip to go to 3-0.

PAPAS GET THE START
Junior guard George Papas made his second career start in the season opener, and his first since his freshman year against today's opponent, Hofstra, on December 6, 2017. Papas started at the point guard spot and hit a critical three pointer in the final minutes of the Lehigh win.

BIG SAM BEING BIG SAM
Senior center Sam Ibiezugbe collected a career-high eight rebounds in just 10+ minutes against Hofstra, also converting three field goals for six points, one off his career high for made shots. The big man had a steal and an assist and disrupted several Lehigh possessions inside defensively.

CHAPUT'S BIG OPENER
Despite dealing with a nagging injury preseason, Sam Chaput dished out a career-best seven assists in the win over Lehigh, and did so while playing a career-high 28 minutes. He added four points and turned it over just twice on the night.

16 ASSISTS
Monmouth dished out 16 assists against Lehigh, led by Chaput's seven. Eight Hawks had at least one helper on the night. Last season, MU topped that number of team assists just twice with 17 against today's opponent, Hofstra as well as 17 more in a home win over Iona.