2023-24 Monmouth Basketball  Preview: Game Thirty-One

Monmouth Hawks (16-14, 9-8 CAA) at Elon Phoenix (13-17, 6-11 CAA)
Saturday, March 2, 2024 - 1:00 p.m.
Schar Center, Elon, NC

TV
FloSports

Play-by-Play: Taylor Durham

Analyst: Katie Bennert

Radio

Monmouth Digital Network

Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti

Analyst: Steve Bazaz

Quick Bullets

-Xander Rice and Jakari Spence are the second teammates with 100-assist seasons in MU history, first since 87-88

-Rice is the fourth Hawk in MU's Division I history to score 600 points in a season

-Monmouth won a program record 13 straight home games this season

-The Hawks finished '23-24 with a 13-1 home record

-Nikita Konstantynovskyi posted the fourth 20-20 game in MU history and the sixth in Division I this season on 2/17

-Jaret Valencia won back-to-back CAA Rookie of the Week honors (2/12 & 2/19), 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

-Monmouth has started the same lineup in 28 of 30 games this year

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

A Monmouth Win Would...

-mark the 17th win of the season for Monmouth

-be the second victory on the road for the Hawks

-be MU's first road CAA win of the season

-complete Monmouth's CAA record at 10-8

-register as the 206th win of Rice's career

-give Monmouth its first win over Elon ever

-hand Elon its 18th loss of the season

-be MU's 10th win in the calendar year of 2024 and sixth in February

-propel MU to three games over .500 overall at 17-14

More Info on the All-Time Series

-This is the second ever meeting between the schools

-Monmouth and Elon met for the first time in MU's final home game last year

-This marks Monmouth's first ever trip to Elon

-Jack Collins and Klemen Vuga had 17 and 16 points respectively against the Phoenix

Notes From the Last Time Out

-Xander Rice became the fourth Hawk in the programs Division I history to reach 600 points in a season.

-Monmouth's 49 rebounds were a season high and the most since 53 on January 15, 2021 against Quinnipiac.

-Nikita Konstantynovskyi grabbed double-digit rebounds for the second straight game and eighth time this season.

-Cornelius Robinson Jr. posted his third double-digit scoring game.

-Jack Collins scored in double figures for the 18th time this year.

-Rice posted his 26th double figure scoring game of the season.

-Monmouth splits the season series with Hampton.

-Monmouth was better from the foul line, 79% to 63%.

-The Hawks topped Hampton on the glass, 49-42.

-MU was better on the fast break, 14-4.

-Each team dished out 14 assists.

Scenarios

-Monmouth can finish the regular season as the #7 or #8 seed

-A Monmouth win coupled with a Stony Brook loss to Delaware would secure the #7 seed for Monmouth

-A Hawks win coupled with a Stony Brook win or a Monmouth loss would secure the #8 seed for Monmouth

Next Up

-The CAA Tournament at Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, DC will begin for MU on Saturday, March 9

-The Hawks will play at 12:00 p.m. if they are the #8 seed and 6:00 p.m. if they are the #7 seed.