THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball opens a three-game, non-conference road trip on Sunday with a visit to William & Mary. Opening tip from Williamsburg, Va. is slated for 1 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Faced with a 33-28 halftime deficit to visiting Holy Cross on Wednesday at Webster Bank Arena, Fairfield outscored the Crusaders by a 46-26 count after the intermission en route to a 74-59 non-conference victory. Allan Jeanne-Rose led the scoring with a career-high 15 points, and Supreme Cook posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds in the Stags' third consecutive victory.
 
Cook's double-double was his first of the season and the second of his career. His 13 boards were the difference in a 36-23 advantage on the glass for the Stags.
 
The starting backcourt duo of Taj Benning and Caleb Green joined Jeanne-Rose and Cook in double figures with 11 points apiece. Benning also pulled down six rebound, while Green distributed five of the Stags' 14 assists on 30 made field goals.
 
BALANCE AT THE TOP
Through nine games, 10 different Stags have either held or shared the team high in scoring. Zach Crisler, Supreme Cook, Taj Benning, Jake Wojcik, TJ Long, Jesus Cruz, Caleb Green and Allan Jeanne-Rose have each paced the offense once, while Makai Willis and Jalen Leach shared the team lead with 14 points against in the win over Medgar Evers.

That balance has turned Fairfield into the highest-scoring offense in the MAAC with 77.8 points per game, despite only one player (Benning, 11.3 ppg) among the league's individual top-20 scorers.
 
The college of William & Mary tribe at a Glance
A 54-53 loss to visiting Hampton on Thursday dropped William & Mary to 1-10 on the season. The Tribe was tabbed for 10th of 10 teams in the CAA Preseason Poll. Reigning CAA Rookie of the Year Connor Kochera was named to the Preseason All-CAA Second Team and has lived up to that billing with 11.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
 
THE TRIBE IN 2020-21
William & Mary went 7-10 overall and 4-6 in the CAA last season. The Tribe won its opening postseason game, 73-60, over UNCW before falling to Northeastern in the CAA Championship Quarterfinals.
 
LAST MEETING: WILLIAM & MARY 62, FAIRFIELD 58 (12/8/2019)
The frontcourt duo of Nathan Knight (currently of the G League) and Andy Van Vliet (currently a pro in Israel) combined for 41 points and 20 rebounds as William & Mary held off the Stags for a 62-58 decision at Alumni Hall.
 
Vincent Eze paced four Stags in double figures with 13 points along with nine rebounds. Jesus Cruz netted 11 points for Fairfield with Taj Benning and Landon Taliaferro each adding 10.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Sunday's game will be the rubber match in a series currently knotted at 2-2. The Stags hosted and defeated Wiliam & Mary in 1973 before the series went dormant for more than 30 years until 2007. Fairfield won that meeting at Webster Bank Arena before falling to the Tribe on New Year's Eve 2007 in Williamsburg and then coming up short again at Alumni Hall two years ago.
 
STREAKS AT STAKE
The Stags are looking to open up a season-long four-game winning streak with a win on Sunday. Fairfield's last four-game winning streak came last March with a victory over Manhattan to cap the regular season followed by three consecutive playoff wins to reach the MAAC Championship Game.
 
The last regular season winning streak of four games came in 2017-18. Fairfield won the last four outings of the regular season and then extended the streak to seven straight wins, also en route to an appearance in the MAAC Championship Game.
 
Fairfield has also won three straight road games for the first time since 2015-16 -- a stretch that also included a sweep of the MAAC's Buffalo trip. The Stags haven't won four consecutive road games since besting hosts Austin Peay, Rider, Saint Joseph's and Old Dominion in succession in December of 2012.
 
PROTECT BALL, WIN GAME
The Stags lead the MAAC with a conference-low 10.7 turnovers per game and a 1.43 assist/turnover ratio. Individually, Taj Benning and Caleb Green hold the top two spots in the MAAC with assist/turnover ratios of 4.0 and 2.9, respectively.
 
Taking care of the basketball has proven vital in the Stags' success this season. Fairfield is averaging only 8.3 turnovers per game in its six wins compared to 15.3 giveaways per game in its three losses.
 
COMEBACK KIDS
The Stags have trailed in the second half in three of their six victories, playing from behind in the wins over Sacred Heart, Stony Brook and Holy Cross.
 
The overtime victory over Stony Brook featured the largest deficit that the Stags faced in an eventual win, trailing by 11 points in the second half. That victory over the Seawolves also marked the latest that Fairfield trailed in an eventual win, falling behind with 3:25 left in regulation and also overcoming a two-point deficit early in the overtime period.
 
1,000 IN THEIR SIGHTS
Taj Benning enters Sunday's game with 911 career points, the closest active Stag to becoming the 45th member of the program's 1,000 Point Club. In addition, Caleb Green has scored 930 points between his two seasons at Holy Cross and his two-year tenure with the Stags.
 
Jesus Cruz netted his 1,000th point last season and has since risen to 21st on the career charts with 1,257 points. Cruz is currently eight points away from tying Kevin George at 1,265 points to crack the all-time top 20. If maintained, his current scoring average of 8.6 points per game would slot him at 11th all-time (1446 points) if he appears in every game for the remainder of the regular season.
 
I AM IRON MAN
Jesus Cruz is chasing another Fairfield milestone, as Sunday's game at William & Mary is slated to be his 133rd game played as a Stag. The record currently belongs to Colin Nickerson, who played 138 games for Fairfield from 2009-13.
 
Taj Benning will take the court for the 122nd time on Sunday. If he plays every game the rest of the way, he will likely finish second behind only Cruz in total games played as a Stag.
 
UP NEXT
The non-conference slate rolls on to Hackensack, N.J. where the Stags will challenge Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. The Knights will enter the contest at 0-8 on the season.