FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- After a 13-day layoff, the Fairfield University men's basketball team will return to the hardwood on Saturday, December 21 with a road trip to Oakland University. The Stags are playing for the first time since hosting William & Mary at Alumni Hall on December 8. This game will start another lengthy road trip for Fairfield, a run which continues with a December 28 match up at Wagner College and finishes in upstate New York with dates against Niagara and Canisius.

In the William & Mary game, four Stags starters reached double figures, the first time that has happened since the team met Loyola Maryland on November 17. Vincent Eze led all Fairfield scorers with 13 points and added nine rebounds, just missing his second straight double-double. One game earlier, Eze posted 10 points and secured 13 rebounds against Texas A&M. Jesus Cruz (11 points), Landon Taliaferro (10 points), and Taj Benning (10 points) rounded out the foursome.

The Stags held several leads in the game but never were ahead by more than two points in the game. Fairfield's last lead came at 37-35 with 14:16 remaining but the Tribe scored the next nine points to move in front for good. Taliaferro enters this weekend as the team's top scorer with his 15.1 scoring average, netting 10 or more points in each of the last six games and in eight of nine contests this year. Cruz is the team's other double-figure scorer with his 14.7 points per game. Eze continues to build upon his team-leading rebounding average with now stands at 5.4 per game, raising his season average by 1.5 rebounds over the last two games.

Two Fairfield student-athletes are listed among the top 50 in Division I for two statistical categories (games through December 17). Landon Taliaferro places 13th in the nation for three-point field goals per game, netting 3.44 per game. He stands 49th nationally for total three-pointers made with 31. The senior just missed the top 50 for three-point field goal percentage as his .425 mark stands 51st in the nation. Taj Benning rates 36th in Division I with his .897 free throw percentage, making 26 of 29 charity tosses. 

The Golden Grizzlies come off a solid showing at Syracuse, falling to the Orange by a 74-62 margin. Oakland trailed by only two points with two minutes to go in the first half before Syracuse closed it out with an 8-2 run that captured an eight-point halftime lead. The Golden Grizzlies came as close as four points midway through the second half but could not come any closer. Brad Brechting led Oakland with 20 points while Xavier Hill-Mais added 16 markers. Hill-Mais represents the team's top scorer and rebounder with 15.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Oakland is the top defensive team in the Horizon League, allowing 65.1 points per game and holding the opposition to a .404 field goal percentage. 

This game will represent the second meeting between these two teams with the first coming a year ago in Fairfield. These two teams met for the first time in program history last year at George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall with the Golden Grizzlies coming away with an 87-86 victory.