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FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- For nearly a month, the Fairfield University men's basketball team has traveled across the country, playing in Indiana, Ohio, Texas, and New York since its last home game on November 14. The season-long seven-game road trip comes to an end this weekend when the Stags will head to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for a match up with LIU Brooklyn on Sunday. This game will be the team's fifth true road game which mixes in with two neutral site games played in Dayton, Ohio as part of the Wright State Thanksgiving Tournament. But before the team can return to campus for its December 17 match up with Old Dominion University at Alumni Hall, Fairfield must first get past this Sunday's game with the Blackbirds, a team which has won its last two outings.

The Blackbirds are already 10 games into their 2017-18 schedule, bringing a 4-6 mark into this weekend's action. LIU Brooklyn comes off a 75-71 win over Stony Brook, giving the team its first back-to-back wins of the young season. The program defeated Hartford at home four days earlier, a 79-78 decision as Joel Hernandez netted the game-winning free throw to give the guard a career-high 27 points. Against Stony Brook, Hernandez once again paved the way with 23 points while teammate Raiquan Clark posted 20 points with six rebounds for the Blackbirds.

Clark and Hernandez have been instrumental in the team's overall success this season, dropping 19.3 points and 18.4 points per game, respectively. The team likes the three-point shot, averaging eight made per game on an average of 25 attempts beyond the arc per contest. Defensively, the Blackbirds are a formidable opponent, securing 3.4 blocks and just over seven steals per game.

Fairfield looks to end a three-game skid which was extended following its 88-66 setback at the University of Houston on December 6. The Stags  other two losses during this stretch were by a combined three points, a 57-56 decision at Wright State and a 78-76 setback at Wagner. In the Houston game, Fairfield fought admirably against the Cougars and came within nine points of the counterpart after trailing by 15 at the half. But turnovers enabled Houston to push through Fairfield's second-half run as the Cougars posted 24 points off the Stags' 16 turnovers during the game. Three Fairfield student-athletes reached double figures, namely Tyler Nelson (17), Jesus Cruz (16), and Jerome Segura (11). Matija Milin, who secured a team-best seven rebounds, just missed double digits with nine points.

Milin has been Fairfield's top rebounder or co-leader four times in eight outings, helping the junior post a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game. Nelson's scoring average fell below 20 points, but his 19.6 points per game still places third among the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) scoring leaders. Ferron Flavors Jr. continues to flourish as a reserve, averaging 11.4 points per game as the team's only other double-figure scorer.