QUINNIPIAC COMES TO TOWN FRIDAY FOR MAAC SERIES

2020-21 Monmouth Basketball Game Ten Preview

Monmouth Hawks (5-4, 5-3 MAAC) vs. Quinnipiac Bobcats (3-3, 1-1 MAAC)
Friday, January 15, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. EST
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ

TV
ESPN3/WatchESPN
Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti
Analyst: Steve Bazaz

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac opened MAAC play last weekend with a 2OT win over Manhattan before dropping the back end. They picked up two non-conference wins over FDU and New Hampshire, and are led by Tymu Chenery as the long Bobcat in double figures. Seth Pinkney leads the conference in FG% at 82.6%.

QUINNIPIAC HEAD COACH BAKER DUNLEAVY
Fourth year QU Head Coach Baker Dunleavy has 46 wins to his credit and has coached the Bobcats to MAAC Tournament opening round byes the previous two seasons. He previously won a national title as an assistant under Jay Wright at Villanova.

MONMOUTH AT HOME
The Hawks have a 6-2 home mark this season after winning 11 games at the OceanFirst Bank Center a year ago. They are 6-1 at home in MAAC play.

QUINNIPIAC ON THE ROAD
This weekend will mark Quinnipiac's first true road games of the season and first contests outside the state of Connecticut. The Bobcats have played four home games, and played a pair of contests in "Bubbleville" at the Mohegan Sun in early December.

SERIES NOTES
-Quinnipiac leads the all-time series 23-19.
-The teams met in the 2019 MAAC quarterfinals, a memorable game that saw MU win a shootout, 98-92.
-MU and Quinnipiac came over from the NEC to join the MAAC together on July 1, 2013.
-MU and QU were supposed to match up in the 2020 MAAC Tournament quarterfinals in the #4-#5 game before the weekend was halted due to COVID-19.

1,000 WINS AS A PROGRAM
Monmouth won it's 1,000th game as a program on Sunday, 1/10 against Marist, 72-62. The milestone win came in the programs 65th season dating back to 1956, when the Hawks debuted with a 51-47 win over Jersey City State behind 17 points from Jack Perri on 12/1/56 at the Long Branch YMCA. In that time, remarkably, the program has had just five full-time head coaches and all coached at least 10 seasons for the Blue and White. This excludes longtime Monmouth assistant Ron Krayl, a 35-year MU assistant, who won seven games as the interim head coach in 1986-87.

DEION NARROWING DOWN TO THE THREE-POINT RECORD
Deion Hammond enters this game with 251 made threes, putting him in third place all-time and six shy of Justin Robinson's 257 in second place. Waiting for Hammond after that is Dave Calloway's program mark of 260 makes, a number the current Hawk guard is nine triples shy of. Hammond is already the runaway program leader in threes attempted despite being just nine games into his senior season with 686, and in 14 more attempts will be the first Hawk to attempt 700 career triples.

HAWKS, PAPAS LIST ATOP NATIONAL THREE-POINT RANKINGS
Monmouth is seventh in the country in three-point percentage ar 41%, having made 77 of 188 attempts. This is the best mark in the MAAC, and sits behind three undefeated teams (The Citadel, Drake, Baylor) as well as a Big Ten member in Illinois and an A10 school in Saint Louis. There are only 11 schools nationally shooting 40% or better from beyond the arc. Individually, George Papas is 12th in the country in three-point shooting at 49.1%, shooting 28-57 from deep. His numbers also lead the MAAC, and he is one of just eight players in the top 12 to have played in more than four games. Papas' 28 makes are also 64th in the country and tops in the MAAC.

DEION AMONG NCAA ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
Deion Hammond is 14th in the NCAA in made three-pointers among active players at 251, and ninth among active players in three-pointers attempted with 686. His 1,449 total points is also 34th among active players.

WE PLAY FAST
According to basketball analytics website KenPom.com, Monmouth plays at the eighth fastest pace in the nation. Monmouth posts 75.8 possessions per game, scoring them in the top-10 nationally based on an estimate of the tempo (possessions per 40 minutes) a team would have against the team that wants to play at an average D-I tempo. The next fastest team in the league ranks as Canisius, who is 164th in tempo at 69.3 possessions per contest.

HAMMOND'S CLIMB OF THE ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Hammond is currently in seventh place on the all-time Division I scoring list with 1,449 points, which puts him exactly 300 points behind John Giraldo and Alex Blackwell, who are knotted for second. Next up on the guard's radar to pass is William Lewis, who netted 1,517 points from 1988-92. Hammond needs 68 points to move into sixth.

NEVER EVER TRAILED
In last week's two-game sweep of Marist, Monmouth not only led for 78:19 of the 80 minutes, the Blue and White did not trail for one second on the weekend. In Saturday's game, a Hammond jumper put MU up 25 seconds in, and on Sunday, Melik Martin netted a runner 36 seconds in.

MELIK COMING ON
Senior Melik Martin, who has started every game this season, scored his 12th and 13th games in his career in double figures last weekend, including a 16-point outburst on Sunday, tying his season high and one off his career best. In the two contests, he was 12-18 from the field and averaged 5.5 rebounds and grabbed three steals while averaging 24 minutes.

MYLES THE POINT GUARD
Freshman point guard Myles Ruth has impresses early, starting three of his first nine games, including the last two. He has contributed in all facets of the game, scoring a career-best eight points on Saturday vs. Marist before dishing out a career-high five assists Sunday, including helpers on the first four baskets of the game. He is shooting a whopping 61.5% from the field and is 3-4 from three and 6-8 from the foul line.

TOATLEY OFF THE BENCH
Donovann Toatley has been a weapon off the bench for MU, coming off it in all eight games and scoring in double figures four times. He went 5-6 from three last weekend, and was able to come in and knock down critical shots just as Marist was beginning to make a run. Overall, he is posting a 46.4% from beyond the arc and is scoring just shy of double figures at 9.5 points per contest.

HOME COOKING
After this weekend's series with Quinnipiac, Monmouth will have completed half of the MAAC schedule and played in 11 games, with nine of them coming at home. Four of the five MAAC series the Blue and White will have completed will have been in West Long Branch, meaning the Hawks will wrap the season with four of five on the road with trips to Manhattan, Iona, Niagara and Rider with a home set with Fairfield in the middle.

FIRST PLACE?
Due to modified tiebreaker rules in the MAAC this season, Monmouth currently is in first place in the MAAC and have the most wins in the league with five, becoming the first team to reach that mark.

FOSTER TO THE LEFT
Freshman Myles Foster has provided a spark in the front court off the bench, converting 54.2% of his field goals and scoring 30 points in nine games, and doing so in 62 minutes on the floor. He has also shown ability in other areas, including passing out of the post (three assists) and two blocks.

HAMMOND AND PAPAS LEAD THE CHARGE
Monmouth senior guards Deion Hammond and George Papas have paced the MU offense, combining for 294 of the teams 714 points and 104 of the Hawks 188 three-point attempts. Both are scoring in double figures, led by Hammond's 19.1 points with Papas at 13.6.

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Players Mentioned

#3 Deion Hammond: G; 6' 5"; Senior

#2 Melik Martin: F; 6' 6"; Senior

#5 George Papas: G; 6' 5"; Senior

#4 Donovann Toatley: G; 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore

#0 Myles Foster: F; 6' 7"; Freshman

#24 Myles Ruth: G; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#3 Deion Hammond
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G

#2 Melik Martin
: 6' 6"; Senior
: F

#5 George Papas
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G

#4 Donovann Toatley
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#0 Myles Foster
: 6' 7"; Freshman
: F

#24 Myles Ruth
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: G