SCOUTING THE STAGS
Fairfield comes in off an overtime victory over Manhattan in the MAAC opening round on Tuesday night, 59-58 behind 16 and seven from senior Jesus Cruz. Jake Wojcik and Taj Benning score in double figures for Fairfield.

FAIRFIELD HEAD COACH JAY YOUNG
No stranger to the Garden State, Jay Young is in his second season at Fairfield after spending time at Rutgers as an assistant under Steve Pikiell. He has 20 wins under his belt with the Stags.

MONMOUTH AWAY FROM HOME
The Hawks finished the regular season 5-5 on the road, and did not play any neutral site games. MU is one of five MAAC teams to finish .500 or better away from home this season.

FAIRFIELD AWAY FROM HOME
The Stags finished 3-8 away from home this season, and picked up a neutral site victory last night in the MAAC opening round in OT.

SERIES NOTES

-Monmouth leads the all-time series 11-6.
-Since becoming MAAC foes, Monmouth leads the series 11-4.
-After a February 2014 setback, the Hawks won seven straight over Fairfield until 2017-18 when the Stags swept the series.
-MU has lost to Fairfield in West long Branch just once since they became MAAC foes, and two times ever.

THE KING
Monmouth 10th year head coach King Rice was named the MAAC Coach of the Year on Wednesday, his third time earning the honor in the last six seasons. Rice becomes the first coach in Monmouth history to earn Coach of the Year honors three times, and just the third coach in conference history to do so. Saint Peter's coach Ted Fiore won it three times (1986-87, 1988-89, 1990-91) and Niagara's Joe Mihalich also captured the honor a trio of times (1998-99, 2004-05, 2012-13). 

NOTES ON OUR SENIOR ALL-CONFERENCE GUYS
On Monday, Monmouth became one of just two teams in the league to have three players named to All-MAAC teams. Senior Deion Hammond was a unanimous selection to the First Team, while guard George Papas was named Second Team and forward Melik Martin was Third Team. 

-Rice now has seven seniors in eight seasons earn All-MAAC honors (Deon Jones - 2015-16, Justin Robinson - 2016-17, Austin Tilghman - 2017-18, Diago Quinn - 2018-19, three this season).
-This marked the third time in program history that Monmouth had three players represented on all-conference squads (1989-90 - Alex Blackwell, Dave Calloway, William Lewis, 2015-16 - Justin Robinson, Micah Seaborn, Deon Jones).
-Deion Hammond is the second player for MU since joining the MAAC to earn First Team honors multiple times (Justin Robinson 3x), and seventh overall dating back to Monmouth's NEC days (Alex Blackwell 3x, John Giraldo, Corey Albano, Rahsaan Johnson, Blake Hamilton). 
-MU has had a player represented on an All-MAAC team in seven consecutive seasons.

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
After finishing the regular season tied for the most wins in the league, Monmouth captured its third ever MAAC regular season title this year and third in six seasons. After winning at Rider Friday night to secure win #12, Canisius defeated Siena on a late jumper from guard Majesty Brandon to close out the regular season with MU and the Saints notching 12 wins apiece. It is the fifth regular season crown, with MU now topping the total number of titles won in the NEC with three in the MAAC. MU won a pair of regular seasons in the Northeast Conference, coming consecutively in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

MAAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Monmouth is playing in its seventh MAAC Tournament in its third different venue since 2013, and the Hawks have compiled a 7-5 record in tournament games in the MAAC under King Rice. The Hawks are 1-0 against Fairfield after a semifinal win in 2015-16 en route to the MAAC Finals, behind 17 from Micah Seaborn and 15 from Justin Robinson in a 76-63 victory. Monmouth's last MAAC Tourney game came in the 2019 Finals after last season's was canceled due to COVID -19. Manhattan and Marist are the only teams the Hawks have never played in a MAAC Tournament game.

ALL-ACADEMIC
Monmouth junior guard Samuel Chaput was named to the MAAC All-Academic team on Wednesday morning, his second consecutive time being honored. Chaput is a business management and decision sciences major. To be eligible for the MAAC All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale.

PLAYING EVERYONE
Monmouth and Fairfield will become two of three teams in the league tonight to have played every other team across the conference when they match up with each other. The Hawks and Stags only missed opponent in the regular season was each other. Rider played against each team in the league at least once, accomplishing that by topping Canisius in the opening round, the only team they missed in the regular season. Marist and Saint Peter's could still complete the league fully, if one of them were to match up with Iona at some point in this season's tournament.

SECURING A BYE
Monmouth has now secured an opening-round bye in the MAAC Tournament five times in eight seasons, doing so twice as the #1 seed, once as the #2 seed, and twice as the #4 seed. In 2018-19, Monmouth finished 10-8 in the MAAC and placed sixth, one spot outside a bye, and in the process became the first team in conference history to post a record over .500 in league play and have to compete in the opening round.

MAAC WEEKENDS THIS YEAR
Monmouth played nine MAAC weekends this season, all of them back-to-backs due to this year's COVID-19 scheduling policies. The Hawks recorded five sweeps and won the opening game of the weekend seven times, only dropping a pair of games twice. 

LOCK IT UP
Monmouth allowed just 62 points in the regular season finale at Rider, a season best for the Hawks defensively. It was the lowest point total allowed by MU since March 4, 2020 when the Hawks gave up just 45 points in a win over Fairfield at home. 

WE PLAY FAST

According to basketball analytics website KenPom.com, Monmouth plays at the fifth fastest pace in the nation and have been as high as #2 this year.. Monmouth posts 74.6 possessions per game, scoring the Hawks in the top-five 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. 

HAMMOND'S CLIMB OF ALL-TIME SCORING LIST

Hammond is currently in fifth place on the all-time Division I scoring list with 1,604 points, which puts him 145 points behind John Giraldo and Alex Blackwell, who are knotted for second. Last week vs. Rider, Hammond moved into fifth place all-time on the program's scoring list. Hammond is the fifth player at the MU DI level to reach 1,600. Next in his sights is fourth place Rahsaan Johnson's 1,628 points, which Hammond is 24 shy of.

MELIK MARTIN PLAYING HIS BEST BALL
Melik Martin is has three double-doubles in the last seven games, and posted a career-high 24 points on 3/4 at Rider. He was named the MAAC Player of the Week following the Manhattan series in which he was a half rebound shy of averaging a double-double for the two games. He posted a double-double in the second game with 14 and 10 after going for 18 and nine the prior night. He posted his first career double-double on 1/30 against Niagara with 14 points and 11 rebounds. In the last 12 games of the regular season, he has scored in double figures 11 times (and netted nine points in the one he fell short of doubles vs. Quinnipiac), and is averaging 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, has 19 steals and is shooting 49% from the field. Martin has made a whopping 71 field goals in the last 12 contests, including 18 triples, and has blocked seven  shots while dishing out 21 assists. 

MAKE THEM COUNT FROM THE LINE

Monmouth shot a season-high 90.5% from the free throw line against Rider in the regular season finale, going 19-21 from the stripe. It is Monmouth's best foul-shooting percentage in a single game since making all nine attempts at Fairfield on February 4th, 2020.