2023-24 Monmouth Basketball Gameday Preview: Game Six
                                                                    
Cathedral of College Basketball Classic                   
Monmouth Hawks (3-2, 0-0 CAA) vs. Lafayette Leopards (1-4, 0-0 Patriot)
Saturday, November 25, 2023 - 2:00 p.m.
The Palestra, Philadelphia, PA
 
TV
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Joe Tordy
Analyst: Vince Curran

RADIO
Monmouth Digital Network
Play-by-Play: Matt Harmon

QUICK BULLETS
-This is MU's second game as part of the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic
-Nikita Konstantynovskyi scored a career-high 22 points vs. Belmont
-Jaret Valencia grabbed 11 rebounds against Belmont, a career best
-Nikita Konstantynovskyi posted his first career double-double vs. Lehigh
-Abdi Bashir exploded for 21 points and five threes vs. Lehigh
-Xander Rice is fourth nationally in points per game
-Rice has scored in double figures in all five contests this season
-MU is in the midst of four games in six days
-MU has started the same lineup the first five games of the year
-This marks the third meeting for MU against Lafayette, with all three coming under King Rice

A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...
-mark the fourth win of the season for Monmouth
-be MU's second ever win over Lafayette
-make King Rice 4-0 all time at The Palestra
-be MU's first win over Lafayette since 2012
-register as the 193nd win of Rice's career
-hand Lafayette its fifth loss of the season
-be Monmouth's first 4-2 start since the 2020-21 season
-mark Monmouth's third win in a row
-make MU 2-0 in the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic

MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
-Monmouth and Lafayette are meeting for the third time in MBB competition
-Monmouth has played 50 times against Patriot League members in history
-MU is playing two Patriot opponents this season, having already topped Lehigh
-Monmouth is 27-23 all-time against the Patriot League
-Monmouth fell at Lafayette in 2011 and beat the Leopards in West Long Branch in 2012, the only prior two meetings 
-Jesse Steele led MU in scoring in the 2011 meeting with 12
-Steele and Andrew Nicholas led the Hawks against Lafayette in a win the following year, each scoring 18 points

NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT
-Monmouth scored a season-high 93 points, the most since the 100 in the 2023 CAA Tournament against Hampton.
-Monmouth scored 181 points the last two games, the most since 12/27-28, 2020 against Canisius, when the Hawks also totaled 181.
-Nikita Konstantynovskyi netted a career best 22 points.
-Jaret Valencia grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds.
-Konstantynovskyi and Rice became the first duo to score 20 each in a game since February of last season, when Myles Foster and Klemen
Vuga did so vs. Hampton.
-MU is now 3-2 against current MVC members, winning for the first time since 2005 (Southern Illinois).
-Monmouth won its first ever game in its first meeting against Belmont.
-Xander Rice opened the season with five straight games in double figures, the first time a Hawk has done so since Deion Hammond in 2020.
-Jayden Doyle made his first three of the season.
-Jack Holmstrom posted his first game with multiple threes this season.
-Every Hawk to play in the game scored, the first time that has happened since 12/22/22 against Yale.
-MU scored 51 points in the first half, the highest scoring half of the season for Monmouth.
-Monmouth dished out a season-best 17 assists.

NEXT UP
-Monmouth is playing three games in three days at the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa.
-The Hawks will face Penn tomorrow in the final game
-MU is playing Penn for the 10th time in program history
-The game will air on ESPN+ and on the radio via the Monmouth Digital Network