THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball looks to complete a perfect run through its current three-game road trip, carrying five-game winning streak to Amherst, Mass. for a Sunday, Dec. 19 matinee at UMass. The action tips off at the Mullins Center at 1 p.m. and will be televised live on NESN with an ESPN+ online simulcast. Due to the televised NESN broadcast, availability on ESPN+ may be limited in some areas.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield scored the first 14 points of Wednesday's non-conference clash at Fairleigh Dickinson and never looked back en route to a 72-54 road victory. Chris Maidoh led all players with 13 points as the Stags ran off their fifth straight win.
 
Taj Benning joined Maidoh in double figures with 12 points and Jake Wojcik added 11. Supreme Cook pulled down seven rebounds, while Benning and Caleb Green each hauled in six to lead Fairfield to a 43-34 edge on the glass.
 
In addition to his five points and six rebounds, Green was Fairfield's top facilitator as he tied his season high with seven assists.
 
STREAKS AT STAKE
The Stags are looking to extend their season-long winning streak to six games with a win on Sunday. Fairfield's last regular season winning streak of six games came in 2017-18 when the Stags won the last four outings of the regular season and then won three postseason games en route to an appearance in the MAAC Championship Game.
 
Fairfield has also won five straight road games for the first time since besting hosts Austin Peay, Rider, Saint Joseph's, Old Dominion and Canisius in succession in December of 2012.
 
The last road winning streak of six or more games came when the Stags won all 12 of their road contests in the 1985-86 MAAC Championship season. Fairfield added a win in the first road outing of the following season to cap the streak at 13 straight road wins.
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MINUTEMEN AT A GLANCE
UMass will enter Sunday's game off of a week-long hiatus from competition, most recently falling to North Texas last Saturday in Springfield to drop to 6-5 on the year. The early-season schedule for the Minutemen is highlighted by Power 5 wins over Penn State and Rutgers. UMass is 5-0 at the Mullins Center.
 
Noah Fernandes has scored 16.8 points per game to lead four Minutemen averaging double figures. That quartet includes former Quinnipiac standout Rich Kelly's 12.5 points per contest.
 
UMass was tabbed for ninth of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.
 
THE MINUTEMEN IN 2020-21
UMass went 8-7 overall and 6-4 in the A-10 last season. The Minutemen earned the fifth-seed in the conference tournament and routed 13th-seeded Saint Joseph's, 100-66, to reach the quarterfinal round.
 
LAST MEETING: MASSACHUSETTS 62, FAIRFIELD 60 (11/9/2019)
In the second game of Jay Young's tenure as Fairfield head coach, UMass erased a 10-point deficit in the second half to escape Webster Bank Arena with a 62-60 win. Tre Mitchell, who is currently averaging 11.6 points per game for the University of Texas, scored 18 points to lead the visitors.
 
Landon Taliaferro paced the Stags with 15 points, while Jesus Cruz added 14 along with five rebounds and Taj Benning posted seven points and seven boards.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
The most recent meeting staked UMass to a 4-3 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1963. That 2019 encounter revived a series that had been dormant since a 74-73 win for the Minutemen at Madison Square Garden in 1975. The eighth all-time meeting of the two teams this Sunday will be just the second played in Amherst -- the first being a 65-60 Fairfield in in 1967.
 
The seven prior meetings have been played in five different cities or towns: Fairfield, Bridgeport, Amherst, Springfield and two New York City boroughs (Staten Island and Manhattan).
 
NON-CONFERENCE WINNING STREAKS
Wednesday's win completed the Stags' second three-game winning streak against non-conference foes this season. In addition to the recent victories over Holy Cross, William & Mary and Fairleigh Dickinson, Fairfield also defeated Medgar Evers, Sacred Heart and Stony Brook in succession from Nov. 16-24.
 
Prior to this season, Fairfield's last three-game winning streak against non-MAAC competition came in 2016-17 when the Stags opened that season with victories over Sacred Heart, Dartmouth and Wagner.
 
The Stags' last four-game non-league winning streak came on Dec. 12-29, 2012 with wins over Milwaukee, Drexel, Saint Joseph's and Old Dominion. The streak ran to five straight non-conference wins in total, though the games were not played consecutively as a win at Austin Peay on Dec. 1 was followed by a MAAC loss to Canisius prior to the Dec. 12-29 stretch of victories.
 
BALANCE AT THE TOP
With 13 points in Wednesday's win at Fairleigh Dickinson, Chris Maidoh became the 11th Stag to own (or share) the team lead in scoring through 11 games. A different Stag led the way through the first nine contests before Caleb Green and Taj Benning each netted 15 points at William & Mary to pace the team in scoring for the second time.

That balance has turned Fairfield into the highest-scoring offense in the MAAC at 76.5 points per game, despite only one player (Benning, 11.7 ppg) among the league's individual top-20 scorers.
 
LOCK DOWN DEFENSE
Fairfield's 47 points allowed in Sunday's win at William & Mary are the fewest the Stags have conceded in a game since limiting Saint Peter's to 47 in last season's MAAC Championship Semifinal win (52-47). In addition, the 23-point margin of victory over the Tribe is Fairfield's largest against a Division I opponent since a 78-49 thrashing of Manhattan during the 2016-17 season.
 
PROTECT BALL, WIN GAME
The Stags lead the MAAC with a conference-low 10.5 turnovers per game and a 1.43 assist/turnover ratio. Individually, Caleb Green leads the league and ranks 13th in the nation with a 3.64 a/t ratio.
 
Taking care of the basketball has proven vital in the Stags' success this season. Fairfield is averaging only 8.8 turnovers per game in its eight wins compared to 15.3 giveaways per game in its three losses.
 
UP NEXT
Fairfield wraps up the non-conference slate and kicks off a four-game homestand on Thursday, Dec. 23 with a 2 p.m. visit from Wagner.
 
The Seahawks are 4-2 on the season after most recently thrashing Division III Immaculata, 104-46, on Thursday. The preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference, Wagner also owns victories over Hartford, VCU and Stony Brook this season.