2023-24 Monmouth Basketball  Preview: Game Twenty-Two
Monmouth Hawks (11-10, 4-4 CAA) vs. Drexel Dragons (15-7, 8-1 CAA)
Thursday, February 1, 2024 - 7:00 p.m.
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
TV
SNY/NBC Sports Philadelphia/FloSports
Play-by-Play: Matt Harmon
Analyst: Chris Williams
QUICK BULLETS
-This is the second meeting between Monmouth and Drexel this year
-King Rice reached 200 career victories with Monmouth's win over Hofstra
-Xander Rice reached 1,500 points in his college career against Hofstra
-The Hawks have won eight in a row at home dating back to November
-Xander Rice is five assists shy of 400 for his collegiate career
-Rice has three 30-point games this season, the fourth most in MU history
-MU came back from down 13 against Hofstra, its second largest comeback in a win this season (Northern Illinois - 19)
-Rice is the 19th active NCAA head coach with 200+ wins at one institution
-Monmouth leads the CAA in three-point percentage at 37.0%
-The Hawks have started the same lineup in all 21 games
A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...
-mark the 12th win of the season for Monmouth
-extend the home winning streak to nine
-move Monmouth's CAA record back over .500 to 5-4
-register as the 201st win of Rice's career
-be King Rice's fourth career win over Drexel
-mark Monmouth's second straight win over Drexel at home
-hand Drexel its eighth loss of the season and second in CAA play
-be MU's fifth win in the calendar year of 2024
-propel MU two games over .500 overall at 12-10
MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
-Drexel leads the all-time series, 12-4
-Drexel won the previous matchup this season, 78-74 in Philadelphia
-This is the 17th all-time meeting between the teams
-The teams split the regular season meetings last season, with Drexel winning in the CAA Tournament
-MU won both ends of a home-and home in 2015-16 and 2016-17 over the Dragons
-The first meeting came in 1993
-King Rice and Zach Spiker are meeting for the seventh time dating back to Spiker's time at Army West Point
NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT
-King Rice earned his 200th career win, the first coach in Monmouth's Division I history to reach that mark.
-Rice becomes the 19th active Division I head coach to win 200 games at one school.
-Xander Rice scored his 1,500th career collegiate point with his first three on the day
-Monmouth has won eight in a row at home.
-MU posted its second largest comeback win this season, trailing by as many as 13 (19 – Northern Illinois).
-Rice scored 30+ points for the third time this year, tying Justin Robinson for career 30-point games.
-Rice is now tied for third in single-season 30-point games, behind Rich Pass (5 in 1984-85), Alex Blackwell (4 in 1990-91) and Corey
Albano (4 in 1996-97).
-31 points is the second highest scoring total of Rice's career.
-Rice's 12 made free throws is a career high.
-Monmouth snapped a seven-game losing streak to Hofstra, dating back to the 2013-14 season opener.
-Abdi Bashir posted his fourth double-figure scoring game.
-Bashir has now made multiple threes in 13 games this year.
-Jaret Valencia posted his sixth double-digit game this year.
-MU made 25 free throws, a season high.
-The Hawks were fouled shooting three pointers four times.
-Monmouth outscored Hofstra in the second half 43-28.
NEXT UP
-Monmouth hits the road to play at Delaware on Saturday
-The teams will meet for the only time this season
