2020-21 Monmouth Basketball Game 1 Preview
Monmouth Hawks (0-0, 0-0 MAAC) vs. Hofstra Pride (2-2, 0-0 CAA)
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 - 7:00 p.m. EST
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
  
TV
ESPN3/Watch ESPN
Play-by-Play: Matt Harmon
Analyst: Steve Bazaz

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
The 2020 CAA champions and preseason 2020-21 CAA favorite, Hofstra comes in with three players on preseason All-CAA teams. The Pride have split their opening four games, losing to Rutgers and MAAC member Iona while recording wins over Stony Brook and Fairleigh Dickinson. Tareq Coburn leads three in double figures at nearly 19 ppg, while Issac Kante is averaging a double-double.

HOFSTRA ACTING HEAD COACH MIKE FARRELLY
Hofstra acting head coach Mike Farrelly is in his eighth season on the Hofstra sideline, and is serving the role of acting head coach to begin this season in place of Joe Mihalich, who is taking a temporary medical leave from his head coaching responsibilities.

PRESEASON ALL-MAAC
Deion Hammond was named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team as a unanimous selection, making the guard the first Hawk in program history to earn a spot on a Preseason All-MAAC team three times. He is also the third Hawk ever to be a unanimous preseason choice, joining Justin Robinson (2016-17) and Micah Seaborn (2017-18). 

MAAC PRESEASON POLL
The Hawks were selected to finish third in the league via the conference's preseason poll, conducted by the league's head coaches. It marks the fourth time in six seasons the Hawks have been selected in the top three. Since joining the MAAC, the Blue and White have been selected to finish outside the top-five just twice, both in their first two seasons in the league. In 2014-15, MU was selected sixth and were chosen 11th as a MAAC unknown in 2013-14, transitioning from the NEC. 

IT'S OPENING NIGHT
The Hawks are 13-23 on opening night in 35 seasons since becoming a Division I program in 1983-84. Under King Rice, MU is 6-3 in the first game of the season, getting wins over Hofstra in 2012 and 2013 along with a victory over UCLA in 2015. King Rice is 3-1 when opening the season at home, including a lopsided win over Hofstra in 2012, a clean win over Drexel in 2016, and a thrilling last-second W over Bucknell in 2017. This marks the second time in three seasons that MU will open at home. 

KING GOES FOR 150
Head Coach King Rice is seeking to win his 150th game as a head coach tonight, with all of them coming at the helm of the Hawks. Rice's first win came on 12/6/11 at Navy, with win #50 coming over Siena on 3/1/15. His 100th win took place at Manhattan, when a late Micah Seaborn triple propelled his Hawks over the Jaspers on 2/10/17. Rice would join three other MU coaches at the 150 win mark (Bill Boylan, Wayne Szoke, Dave Calloway), and just two that have done it at the Division I level (Szoke, Calloway). There are currently 173 active DI head coaches with 150+ wins, with Rice vying to join that group. Of those 173, only 34 of them have won 150+ games at only one school. With another victory, Rice will become the only coach currently in the MAAC to post 150 wins at their current institution. 

21-GAME SCHEDULE, ONE OUTSIDE THE MAAC
Due to scheduling changes due to the pandemic, the Hawks are currently scheduled to play 21 games in addition to an uncertain amount of postseason play. It would mark the lowest amount of games played in a season since MU went Division I in 1983-84, with the current DI low at 26 in 1998-99. The fewest games played in a season are as follows, all of them prior to the Hawks joining the Division I ranks:

1977-78 - 25 games
1964-65 - 25 games
1963-64 - 25 games
1962-63 - 22 games
1960-61 - 21 games
1959-60 - 21 games
1958-59 - 14 games
1957-58 - 19 games
1956-57 - 12 games

WHAT'S RETURNING
The Hawks are returning 10 letterwinners from an 18-win team a season ago, including All-MAAC First Teamer Deion Hammond. MU has 1,400 of 2,209 points returning, which is 63.3% of last year's offensive output. MU has three of its top five scorers back in Hammond, George Papas and Samuel Chaput as well as it's leading assist man (Chaput) and top shot blocker in Nikkei Rutty.

WELCOME TO WEST LONG BRANCH
Monmouth will have six new faces join this mix this season, with four freshmen and two transfers. Donovann Toatley is eligible after sitting last season following a transfer from Chattanooga, where he averaged 11.4 points per game in 2018-19 as a true freshman and dished out 81 assists on the year. Four freshmen join the mix, with a pair of guards and two in the front court. Klemen Vuga, a Slovenia native, will join Myles Foster, a Brooklyn, NY product at the forward spots while point guard Myles Ruth partners with shooting guard Jack Holmstrom in the backcourt. Finally, walk-on Mateo Delmoral has been added to the roster after playing locally last season at Brookdale Community College.

PLAYERS FROM ALL OVER
Monmouth has players representing seven states and two countries this season, the most in the King Rice era. It marks the second time Rice has had players from three different countries on his roster, with 13 Hawks from the United States in addition to Vuga (Slovenia) and Chaput (Canada). The previous time came in 2013-14, when Vuk Baletic (Serbia) and Marcelo Ruediger (Brazil) were in the MU front court. The Hawks also have players from seven states, including New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois and New Hampshire.

LATEST START IN HISTORY
Due to two non-conference games being canceled and a third vs. Hofstra postponed due to COVID-19, Monmouth is beginning a season at the latest point in the calendar in its Division I history. Twice before the Hawks have opened the season in December, opening on 12/1/92 against George Washington and on 12/1/94 at Loyola (Md.). 

APPROACHING 1,000 AS A PROGRAM
Monmouth currently has 995 total wins as a program, including 465 prior to joining the Division I ranks and 530 since 1983, the Hawks first year in Division I. Bill Boylan, the program's first coach, leads the way with 364 wins, trailed by longtime coaches Dave Calloway (178) and Wayne Szoke (168). King Rice has 149 wins leading the Blue and White, while Ron Kornegay won 129 times at MU. Ron Krayl also has seven wins as head coach following a brief interim stint in 1986-87.

CALLAHAN NAMED TOP-FIVE ASSISTANT
In a summer ranking from "Stadium", longtime Monmouth assistant Rick Callahan was listed as one of the top five men's basketball assistant coaches in the MAAC. Callahan is the only assistant that has been with King Rice in all nine of his seasons at MU as they enter year #10 together. Callahan's career began in 1980 at Syracuse, as he enters his 40th season of collegiate coaching.

POSITIVE TEAM ASSIST-TURNOVER RATIO
For the 13th time in program history last season, the Hawks posted a positive assist-turnover ratio last season with 399 assists to 395 turnovers. It is the second time the Blue and White were positive in that department under King Rice after going 431-425 in 2016-17. The prior season, MU was dead even in assists and turnovers, with 443 of each.

NO FOULING OUT
The Hawks had just five players foul out of games last season, the lowest total in a full season since 1992-93, when there were also five. Only one Hawk fouled out multiple times last year. The lowest in program history is three, coming during a 1990-91 season in which the team committed just 379 personal fouls, three off the program low for a season. 

COUNTING DOWN TO THE THREE-POINT RECORD
Deion Hammond enters this season with 232 made triples in three seasons, already good for third on the all-time list. He is 25 shy of Justin Robinson's 257, and 28 short of Dave Calloway's program record of 260. Hammond has made over 70 three pointers in each of his first three seasons in the Blue and White. He is also on track to shatter the three point attempts record, where he sits 28 behind Dejan Delic for the program high of 667. 

HAWKS VS. THE CAA
-Against current members of the CAA, Monmouth has posted an all-time record of 16-20.
-Monmouth is 6-4 all-time against Hofstra, including back-to-back season opening wins in 2012 and 2013.
-The most wins for MU against a CAA school is six against Hofstra.
-The Hawks only have a losing record against three CAA members, including UNC Wilmington, who MU has not played since 1983.
-MU has never played four current CAA members (College of Charleston, William & Mary, Elon and James Madison).
-Monmouth will play just one CAA opponent this season in Hofstra.
-King Rice is 4-4 all time against the CAA. 

LONGEST TENURED COACH IN THE MAAC
King Rice, entering his 10th season at MU, is the longest tenured coach at their current institution in the MAAC. Rice was hired two weeks before colleague Steve Masiello at Manhattan, while Kevin Baggett took over at Rider the year after Rice was appointed at MU. John Dunne has been in the MAAC the longest, taking the Saint Peter's job in 2006, but has only been at his current school, Marist for two season. This year, Rick Pitino at Iona is the lone coach to make his MAAC debut.

NUMBER UPDATES
After wearing #11 as a redshirt last season, Donovann Toatley will now wear #4 for MU, last worn for the previous three seasons by Mustapha Traore. Jack Holmstrom will wear #14, with Myles Foster in #0, Myles Ruth in #24 and Klemen Vuga in #30. Mateo Delmoral will take over #11 this season.

BROADCASTING THE HAWKS
All home Monmouth games this season will air on ESPN3 or ESPN+, as will all road MAAC games.  This season, MU men's road games will air as radio broadcasts on MonmouthHawks.com via the Monmouth Digital Network. Bringing you all the action for the 10th straight season is Eddy Occhipinti '06 and former Hawk Steve Bazaz '07.

UP NEXT
The Hawks will open MAAC play this weekend against Saint Peter's in West Long Branch, with tip set for both Friday and Saturday set for 5:00 p.m.