2023-24 Monmouth Basketball Gameday Preview: Game Three
                                                                                       
Monmouth Hawks (1-1, 0-0 CAA) vs. Princeton Tigers (3-0, 0-0 Ivy)
Saturday, November 18, 2023 - 2:00 p.m.
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
 
TV
SNY/FloSports
Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti
Analyst: Dave Calloway

QUICK BULLETS
-Monmouth won its ninth high-major game under King Rice last Friday at WVU
-Xander Rice was named CAA Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 30 points against West Virginia
-Jack Collins registered his first career double-double against the Mountaineers
-Monmouth is playing its first home game of the season today
-King Rice won his 190th career game last Friday in Morgantown
-MU has started the same lineup the first two games of the year
-This marks the 22nd all-time meeting between MU and Princeton
-This begins a five games in nine days run
-Rice was named All-CAA Preseason Honorable Mention and was also named CAA Newcomer of the Year by Blue Ribbon Yearbook

A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...
-mark the second straight win for Monmouth
-give MU the lead in the series under King Rice, 4-3
-mark Monmouth's first home win of the 2023-24 season
-register as the eighth win in school history over Princeton
-be the Hawks 15th program win over a current Ivy League school
-register as the 191st win of Rice's career
-hand Princeton its first loss of the season
-be Monmouth's first 2-1 start since the 2021-22 season
-be MU's first win over Princeton since November 24, 2023

MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
-Monmouth and Princeton have met 21 times prior times
-The first ever meeting came on 11/20/91, a Princeton win
-MU has won 8 of the last 14 over the Tigers
-MU has won two of the last three in the series
-The 2006 matchup saw just 62 combined points, setting an NCAA record in a 41-21 MU victory
-Monmouth is 14-27 against Ivy opponents all time
-The Hawks have played every Ivy member in program history with the exception of Dartmouth
-Monmouth takes on two Ivy opponents this season, with an 11/29 matchup at Cornell
-This marks the first of three New Jersey matchups for MU this season (at Seton Hall, vs. Rider)

NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT
-It 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.
-It marked Monmouth's first win over a Big 12 school in program history.
-MU won 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 14th 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 190th of King Rice's career
-Gabe Spinelli made his Monmouth debut

NEXT UP
-Monmouth will host Lehigh in its final game before Thanksgiving
-Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot League
-The teams will meet for the 13th time ever
-The game will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia and FloSports

GO CRAZY, XANDER
Xander Rice dropped career highs in points with 30 and made threes with five, including 20 points in the second half in Monmouth's win over West Virginia. He earned CAA Player of the Week, NJHoops Player of the Week, Field of 68 Player of the Night for 11/10 and was listed by ESPN's Dick Vitale as the Prime Time Player of the Night.

NINE HIGH-MAJOR WINS
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Monmouth under King Rice has knocked off nine high-major opponents, averaging one per season in nine years, including the 2020-21 COVID season, when MU only played one non-league game and was unable to play a high-major. This seasons win over West Virginia was the ninth, joining Pitt and Cincinnati (2021), Memphis (2016) and UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, Georgetown and Rutgers (2015).

SECOND MOST POINTS EVER IN THE FIRST TWO
Xander Rice's 51 points in the first two games of the season is the second most by a Hawk in program history. The most came from John Giraldo to open the 1994-95 season, when he totaled 54 with 33 at Loyola Md. and 21 against Drexel. 

NATIONAL RANKINGS
MU as a team and several individuals rank atop the nation's rankings, led by Xander Rice, who enters the day fifth nationally in scoring at 25.5 points per game. Rice is also 11th nationally in three pointers per game and 32nd in minutes per game. As a team, the Hawks rank 17th nationally in fastbreak points, averaging 21.5 points per game on the move.

FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLE
After coming close several times last season, Jack Collins posted his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds at WVU. He has scored 17 points in each of the first two games.

MOVING THE BALL
Senior point guard Jakari Spence ranks third in the CAA and 66th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at eight assists to two turnovers through two games. He finished last season near the top of the CAA rankings as well. 

HOME OPENER
Monmouth under King Rice is a strong 8-4 in home openers, with the only setbacks coming to Penn in 2013, Lehigh in 2018 Hofstra in 2020 and Norfolk State in 2022.