HAWKS LOOK TO TAKE WEEKEND SET FROM QU SATURDAY

2020-21 Monmouth Basketball Game Eleven Preview

Monmouth Hawks (6-4, 6-3 MAAC) vs. Quinnipiac Bobcats (3-4, 1-2 MAAC)
Saturday, January 16, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. EST
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ

TV
ESPN+
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 lone Bobcat in double figures. Seth Pinkney leads the conference in FG% at 84%.

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 7-2 home mark this season after winning 11 games at the OceanFirst Bank Center a year ago. They are 7-1 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 23-20.
-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.

MELIK MARTIN TEARING IT UP
Melik Martin posted career-highs of 23 points, eight rebounds, eight made field goals and three triples in the 1/15 win over Quinnipiac, continuing a strong stretch for the senior. In the last three games, he has scored in double figures three times, and is averaging 17 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and is shooting 62.5% from the field. Martin has made a whopping 20 field goals in the last three contests.

WHAT. A. COMEBACK.
Monmouth came back to force overtime and eventually win in the extra session against all odds on 1/15 vs. Quinnipiac. Monmouth trailed by 12 in the second half, by nine with four minutes to play, and by eight with 90 seconds left. MU also was down by four with 12 seconds to go and QU shooting one-and-one, which they missed. A Martin three, a split pair of Bobcat free throws, and a McClary baseline jumper sent the game to OT, capping the furious comeback.

ICE IN HIS VEINS
Marcus McClary hit arguably the two biggest shots in the 1/15 win over Quinnipiac. The senior knocked down a baseline jumper with 0.6 seconds left to cap a monster comeback, and then drilled a three in OT to essentially ice the game for the Blue and White.

THE SENIORS VS. QUINNIPIAC
In the 1/15 win over Quinnipiac, the four Monmouth seniors all went into double figures, the first time the group has done that in the same game. The four combined for 71 of MU's 92 points, 23 rebounds, 10 assists, six blocks and nine steals. The group made 20 field goals and 23 free throws, and all played over 26 minutes with three playing more than 32 minutes.

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 THREE-POINT RECORD
Deion Hammond enters this game with 253 made threes, putting him in third place all-time and four 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 seven triples shy of. Hammond is already the runaway program leader in threes attempted despite being just 10 games into his senior season with 695, and in five more attempts will be the first Hawk to attempt 700 career triples.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#13 Marcus McClary: G; 6' 3"; Senior

Players Mentioned

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

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

#13 Marcus McClary
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G

Players Mentioned

#3 Deion Hammond

#2 Melik Martin

#13 Marcus McClary

Players Mentioned

#3 Deion Hammond

#2 Melik Martin

#13 Marcus McClary