2023-24 Monmouth Basketball  Preview: Game Twenty-Nine

Monmouth Hawks (15-13, 8-7 CAA) vs. North Carolina A&T Aggies (7-21, 5-10 CAA)
Saturday, February 24, 2024 - 2:00 p.m.
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ

TV
NBC Sports Philadelphia/FloSports

Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti

Analyst: Dave Calloway

QUICK BULLETS

-Monmouth will honor six seniors prior to the game as part of Senior Day 2024

-MU is looking to tie a program record with its 13th straight home win

-Nikita Konstantynovskyi posted the fourth 20-20 game in MU history and the sixth in Division I this season last time out

-Jaret Valencia earned his second straight CAA Rookie of the Week, the first Hawk since '08 to earn the award consecutively

-MU turned it over just four times against Stony Brook, the lowest since 3/6/20

-Five Hawks scored in double figures vs. SBU for the second time this year

-Xander Rice banked in a buzzer-beating three to beat Campbell last Thursday

-Rice scored 37 points, a career-high and tied for the most points ever in the OFBC

-Rice banked in two threes in the final 3.2 seconds against the Fighting Camels

-King Rice is the 19th active NCAA head coach with 200+ wins at one institution

A MONMOUTH WIN WOULD...

-mark the 16th win of the season for Monmouth

-complete a 13-game home win streak, tying the longest in program history

-tie the most home wins in a season (13 in 2003-04)

-make MU 9-0 in CAA play at home

-move Monmouth's CAA record two games over .500 to 9-7

-secure at least a .500 CAA mark for Monmouth

-register as the 205th win of Rice's career

-give Monmouth a win over North Carolina A&T in the only meeting this year

-hand NC A&T its 22nd loss of the season

-be MU's ninth win in the calendar year of 2024 and fifth in February

-propel MU to three games over .500 overall at 16-13

-be Monmouth's fourth win in a row over North Carolina A&T

MORE INFO ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES

-Monmouth has won all three meetings between the schools

-The Hawks swept North Carolina A&T last season

-MU's first ever CAA win came at NC A&T last season

-This is the fourth ever meeting between the programs

-The first game was a non-conference tilt in November 2014, a Hawks victory in West Long Branch

-Both teams joined the CAA together last season

-This is the only meeting between the schools this year

NOTES FROM THE LAST TIME OUT

-Rice scored in double digits for the 24th time this year.

-Collins scored in double figures for the 16th time this season.

-Jakari Spence had three steals for the fourth time this year.

-Quinn Peters made his second three of the season and first since 11/18 against Princeton.

-Monmouth and Towson each had 12 points off turnovers.

-MU shot a better % from 3, 40% to 36%.

-The Hawks posted a positive assist-turnover ratio at 10 to eight.

NEXT UP

-Monmouth will visit Hampton on Thursday night at 7pm

-The Hawks topped Hampton at home earlier this season

-The game will air on FloSports and on the radio via the Monmouth Digital Network