2023-24 Monmouth Basketball Gameday Preview: Game Nineteen
Monmouth Hawks (9-9, 2-3 CAA) vs. Hampton Pirates (4-14, 0-6 CAA)
Saturday, January 20, 2024 - 2:00 p.m.
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
TV
FloSports
Play-by-Play: Greg Mescall
Analyst: Dave Calloway
QUICK BULLETS
-This is the first of two meetings between Monmouth and Hampton this year
-Xander Rice posted a career-high 34 points at Charleston on Saturday en route to a CAA Player of the Week honor
-Rice ranks 2nd in the CAA and 11th nationally with 21.1 points per game
-MU is returning home after a three-game CAA road trip
-Nikita Konstantynovskyi (14 pts, 10 rbs) recorded his fourth double-double of the season at Charleston
-Jaret Valencia has 14 blocks in five games in the month of January
-King Rice is two wins from 200 career
-Monmouth leads the CAA in three-point percentage at 37.5%
-Monmouth finished non-conference play 7-6, the fifth non-league winning record under King Rice
-The Hawks have started the same lineup in all 18 games
A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...
-mark the 10th win of the season for Monmouth
-extend MU's home winning streak to seven
-even Monmouth's CAA record to 3-3
-register as the 199th win of Rice's career
-be King Rice's second career win over the Pirates and second in a row
-hand Hampton its seventh CAA loss of the season
-be MU's third win in the calendar year of 2024
-be Monmouth's first regular season victory over Drexel as a league member
-be Monmouth's first win over Hampton ever in West Long Branch
-proper MU over .500 overall at 10-9
MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
-This is the seventh meeting between the Hawks and Pirates
-Hampton and Monmouth have each won three games in the series
-Monmouth topped Hampton in the CAA First Round last season, setting a CAA record with a 36-point win, 100-64
-Last season, Hampton won both regular season contests
-The schools first met in 2003, a Hawks in as part of the Paradise Jam in the US Virgin Islands
-The teams met in the 2006 NCAA Tournament play-in game, Monmouth's first NCAA Tourney win and the first NEC team to
ever win a game in the NCAA Tournament
-The final non-conference matchup came in 2009, a Pirates win at the World Vision Challenge in Laramie, WY
-The programs both joined the league last season
NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT
-Xander Rice topped 20 points for the 14th time this season.
-Klemen Vuga led MU in rebounding for the first time this season, finishing with five.
-MU made six of its first seven shots to open the game.
-Monmouth matched its season low with six turnovers for the second game in a row.
-Monmouth outshot Drexel 46% to 38%.
-The Hawks and Dragons combined to shoot 50 free throws.
-MU was better from three, 36% to 32%.
NEXT UP
-Monmouth goes back on the road to play Stony Brook on Thursday
-The all-time series is led by Stony Brook, 2-1
-The teams split last seasons matchups
-The game will be aired on SNY and FloSports
