MORGANTOWN, WV – For the ninth time under King Rice, Monmouth University Men's Basketball knocked off a high-major program, with Xander Rice leading the way with 30 points as the Hawks toppled West Virginia Friday night in Morgantown, 73-65. Jack Collins added a double-double, as MU earned its first win of the season over the Big 12 foe.
 
Monmouth jumped out in the second half, with Rice and Jack Collins knocking in threes 31 seconds apart to stake the Hawks to a five-point lead, one they would not relinquish. Collins' three at 13:57 made it 49-40, but WVU scored seven in a row to trim it back to two. MU responded with nine of the next 11, seven of them from Rice plus a transition dunk from Nikita Konstantynovskyi to make it 58-49 Monmouth with 7:51 left. Again, the Mountaineers cut it to five but Rice hit two threes with a Collins basket in between to give the Blue and White their largest lead of 13. A 10-1 run had the home team within four with 41 seconds to play, but Rice and Jakari Spence knocked in foul shots to seal the win for the Hawks.
 
A back-and-forth opening half saw MU seize a five-point lead after a 7-0 run, with freshmen Abdi Bashir Jr. and Cornelius Robinson Jr. scoring five of those seven to make It 17-12. West Virginia used the foul line to regain the lead before an 8-0 Hawks run sparked by Rice made it 27-22. Jack Holmstrom's triple at 1:38 put MU up 30-29, and it took a last second fadeaway off a long rebound for WVU at the buzzer to send it to break with the Mountaineers up, 33-32.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES

"This is a tight group. It was Monmouth's night, that's because our kids believe in each other and believe in what we're telling them. Jack Collins goes out and gets a double-double and he guarded Quinn Slazinski, who is 6-9 and killed us when he was at Iona and played for Coach Pitino, so Jack had a double-double and guarded the toughest guy on their team. Xander watched the program when he was young, he watched Justin Robinson, he watched Micah Seaborn, he watched Je'lon Hornbeak, and he knows how I coach, so tonight he got going." – Head Coach King Rice
 
-This marked the ninth high-major win since 2015 under King Rice for Monmouth
-Xander Rice set a career high with 30 points, five more than his previous best
-Rice's five threes was also a career best, having made four triples eight separate times
-This marked Monmouth's first win over a Big 12 school in program history and second over a current Big 12 member (beat Cincinnati in 2021 while a member of the AAC)
-MU wins its first ever game over West Virginia in program history
-Monmouth made 10 3's, its most since the 2022 MAAC semifinals against Rider
-Xander Rice posted the 14^th 30+ point game under King Rice
-Jack Collins posted his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 boards
-Nikita Konstantynovskyi scored his first points as a Hawk, finishing with six and seven boards
-Jack Holmstrom knocked in his first three of the season
-This was MU's first road win since February 8, 2023 at Stony Brook.
-The win was the 190^th of King Rice's career
-Gabe Spinelli made his Monmouth debut
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot West Virginia, 45% to 31%.
-MU was better from deep, 43% to 22%.
-The Hawks won points off turnovers, 18-9.
-MU dominated the fast break to a 28-8 final.
-The Hawks led for 26:22, including the final 17:39.
-The game featured 11 lead changes and six ties.
-Monmouth won the second half, 41-32.
 
UP NEXT
-Monmouth's home opener is set for November 18 at 2:00 p.m. against in-state foe Princeton. Season tickets are available at MonmouthHawks.com/Tickets.