2023-24 Monmouth Basketball Gameday Preview: Game Fifteen
                                                                                     
Monmouth Hawks (8-6, 1-0 CAA) vs. Northeastern Huskies (5-9, 0-1 CAA)
Monday, January 8, 2024 - 7:00 p.m.
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
 
TV
CBS Sports Network
Play-by-Play: John Fanta
Analyst: Tarik Turner

QUICK BULLETS
-Monmouth is coming off its fifth straight home win, a 51-43 defensive battle over Towson to begin CAA play 1-0
-Xander Rice scored a game-high 21 points, including the final 16 for the Hawks
-Jack Collins tied a career high with 13 rebounds on Thursday night
-Monmouth finished non-conference play 7-6, the fifth non-league winning record under King Rice
-This is the first of two meetings against Northeastern this season
-MU is playing its fourth home game in the last five contests
-This is Northeastern's first trip to West Long Branch since 1992
-Xander Rice has taken 95 free throws - a top-30 mark in the nation
-The Hawks have started the same lineup in all 14 games

A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...
-mark the ninth win of the season for Monmouth
-be MU's sixth home win of the season
-start Monmouth 2-0 in CAA play for the first time ever
-register as the 198th win of Rice's career
-be King Rice's first career win over the Huskies
-hand Northeastern its 10th loss of the season
-be MU's fourth win in five games, all at home
-be MU's second win in the calendar year of 2024
-be Monmouth's first victory over Northeastern as a league member

MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
-The all-time series is tied, 2-2
-The first matchup came on December 29, 1990, at the Albertson's Christmas Classic in Boise, Idaho, a 66-59 Monmouth win
-Monmouth and Northeastern played in a home-and-home in the '91-92 and '92-93 seasons. The Hawks took the first meeting in West
Long Branch, 92-55, and the Huskies responded with a 47-46 win in Boston the following season.
-The teams met for the first time as conference foes last season, a Northeastern home victory, 77-62, where Klemen Vuga (23) and Jack
Collins (11) were MU's two leading scorers.

NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT
-Monmouth held Towson to 43 points, the lowest in a win since allowing just 40 to Kennesaw State on November 22, 2019.
-Xander Rice scored Monmouth's final 16 points of the game, including a personal 12-0 run.
-Monmouth held Towson off the scoreboard from 7:51 to the :39 second mark of the second half, a 7:12 run of shutout defense.
-MU won its CAA opener for the first time ever.
-The Hawks outrebounded Towson 45-42, with Towson entering the game 10th nationally in rebounding margin.
-Jack Collins tied a career-high with 13 rebounds, his fourth double-digit rebounding game this year.
-Rice scored 20+ points for the eighth time this season.
-Monmouth opens conference play 1-0 for the fifth time under King Rice.
-The Hawks top Towson for the first time as league members, and the first time ever at home.
-Jaret Valencia and Nikita Konstantynovskyi each tied a career-best with three blocks.
-Towson shot 27.6% from the field, Monmouth's best field goal % defense since limiting Fairfield to 22.2% on March 4, 2020.
-The game featured 14 lead changes and four ties, though Monmouth led for 26:18.

NEXT UP
-Monmouth makes its first CAA road trip with a game at UNC Wilmington on Jan. 11
-The Hawks are 0-3 against UNCW all time
-This will be the first of three straight road games for the Hawks
-The game will air on FloSports

FINDING A NEW WAY TO WIN
After entering the contest versus Towson ranked 18th nationally in 3PT%, the Hawks made just one of their 15 long-range attempts. The
last time the Hawks won a game where they made one or fewer three pointers was last season's 61-54 win at Stony Brook where they
made zero. Monmouth put together a strong defensive performance, tallying a season-high eight blocks and holding the Tigers to just
43 points - the lowest single-game total since Kennesaw State only scored 40 on November 22, 2019. 

APPROACHING 200
Head Coach King Rice is three wins shy of 200 for his career, all of them coming at Monmouth. He is already the winningest Division I
coach in program history, and is aiming to become the first DI coach at MU to reach 200 wins. Monmouth's all-time winningest coach is
Bill Boylan, who won 364 games from 1956-1977.

LOOKING FOR 20
The Hawks are looking to open conference play 2-0 for the first time since joining the CAA and the fourth time under King Rice, having
done so in 2021-22, 2016-17 and 2014-15, all as a member of the MAAC.

RICE'S RUN
Xander Rice led Monmouth to a conference-opening win over Towson by scoring Monmouth's final 16 points, including a personal 12-0
run to propel Monmouth over the Tigers. Rice has scored 20+ points in eight games this season. 

LOCKDOWN
MU limited Towson to just 43 points and 26.7% shooting, both season lows for Monmouth defensively. The 43 points was Monmouth's
best defensive effort since allowing just 40 to Kennesaw State at the MAAC-ASUN Challenge on 11/22/19.  Monmouth kept Towson off
the board from the 7:51 mark to the :39 second mark of the second half, a 7:12 stretch of shutout defense, and the 26.7% FG was the
lowest by a Hawks opponent since Fairfield shot 22.2% on 3/4/20.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Four of Monmouth top seven in minutes played are freshmen or sophomores, including two true freshmen in Bashir and Robinson, a
redshirt freshman in Jaret Valencia and a sophomore and 2023 CAA All-Rookie selection in Jack Collins.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
Monmouth was one win shy of tying a program record for non-league wins set at eight (2021-22, 2015-16, 1991-92, 1990-91). The
2015-16 group beat nine non-league opponents on the season, topping Bucknell in the NIT that season. This marked the fifth winning
record King Rice has recorded in non-league play.