THE OPENING TIP
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's Connecticut contingent meets in Hamden for the first time in nearly two years as Fairfield University Men's Basketball travels north to challenge Quinnipiac on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 2 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
A hot-shooting day kept the Stags in front of visiting Iona into the final minute of Tuesday afternoon's contest at Webster Bank Arena. But the defending MAAC Champion Gaels scored five points in the game's last 60 seconds to come away with an 80-76 decision. The Fairfield scoring effort was led by 24 points courtesy of the career-best eight three-pointers from Jake Wojcik.
 
Taj Benning also scored in double figures with 13 points and Supreme Cook battled foul trouble and Iona's formidable big man Nelly Junior Joseph to notch 10 points.
 
All eight Stags to take the court contributed to the scoring, with Caleb Green added nine points, TJ Long hitting two three-pointers on the way to eight points, Jesus Cruz scoring six, Zach Crisler tallying four points and Allan Jeanne-Rose finishing with two.

THE MAAC IRON MAN
Tuesday's game against Iona was the 139th appearance as a Fairfield Stag for Jesus Cruz, breaking the program record held of 138 that he currently shares with Colin Nickerson. Cruz, who has never missed a game in his career dating back to 2017, is also the new MAAC record holder with his 139 appearances for the Stags and counting.

Taj Benning will take the court for the 129th 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 in MAAC history.

THE QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS AT A GLANCE
After falling behind 12-0 early in Friday night's game at Rider, the Bobcats rallied to knock off the Broncs in overtime, 77-70, to improve to 8-6 overall and 3-3 in the MAAC. Quinnipiac also owns MAAC wins over Manhattan and Niagara, with losses to Niagara, Canisius and Saint Peter's.

Quinnipiac ranks third in the MAAC in scoring at 73.9 points per game and slots in the middle of the pack defensively at sixth with 69.6 points per game allowed. Matt Balanc paces the Bobcats with 15.6 points per game, good for third in the MAAC. The boards are controlled by Kevin Marfo's conference-high 10.4 rebounds per contest, which ranks 10th in the nation.

THE BOBCATS IN 2020-21
Quinnipiac went 9-13 overall last season, including a 7-10 record in the MAAC. As the #8 seed, the Bobcats were the first road block on Iona's run to the title, falling to the Gaels by a 72-48 in the opening round of the tournament.

LAST MEETING: FAIRFIELD 77, QUINNIPIAC 70 (2/8/2021 at Alumni Hall)
Fairfield earned a split of the season series with the Bobcats, bouncing back from the prior day's 78-63 loss with a 77-70 victory at Alumni Hall. Taj Benning scored a then-career-high 23 points and hauled in seven rebounds to lead the scoring effort.

Jake Wojcik added 15 points, Chris Maidoh netted 12 -- shooting 4-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the stripe -- and Jesus Cruz was the fourth Stag in double figures with 10.

ALL-TIME SERIES
A recent 4-0 run in the all-time series has Quinnipiac on top, 10-7, in the 17 all-time meetings between the two programs. The clubs met once as non-conference foes at the 2011 Connecticut 6 -- a 72-60 Fairfield win. The Stags and Bobcats also clashed in the semifinals for the 2018 MAAC Championship Game with Fairfield taking a 74-64 decision.

CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Eight of the 17 meetings between the Stags and Bobcats have been decided by one possession and/or in overtime. Seven of those encounters featured either a game-winning or game-tying basket within the final five seconds of regulation.

In total, the 17 games in the series have been decided by an average of just six points.

HOT SHOT STAGS
As a team, the Stags shot 26-of-51 (.510) from the floor and 13-of-26 (.500) from three-point range this past Tuesday against Iona. The showing marked the first time that Fairfield shot .500 or better from the field and beyond the arc since the MAAC Championship Quarterfinal win over Monmouth last spring.

The Stags had not shot .500 both from the field and from downtown in a loss since a 77-69 defeat at Drexel in 2011.

WOJ BOMBS
Jake Wojcik set a new career high with eight three-pointers against the Gaels. The Fairfield record is 10 treys, established by Landon Taliaferro as a part of a 34-point day in a win over Texas A&M in the 2019-20 season.

Two Stags have also knocked down nine triples in a game: Curtis Cobb en route to a program-record 46 points at Manhattan in 2017 and Mike Evanovich in the "Miracle at Mason" 27-point comeback win over George Mason in the 2010 CIT.

1,000 IN THEIR SIGHTS
Taj Benning enters Sunday's game with 982 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 a total of 992 points between his two seasons at Holy Cross and his two-year tenure as an active member of the Stags.

Jesus Cruz netted his 1,000th point last season and has since risen to 18th on the career charts with 1,302 points. Next on the list for Cruz is Maurice Barrow, who scored 1,309 points for the Stags from 2010-14.

UP NEXT
The Stags return to Webster Bank Arena to host Monmouth on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of a Fairfield Basketball doubleheader (tickets). The Hawks, who will visit Marist and host Iona before coming to Bridgeport, are currently 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the MAAC.

Thursday's game is Fairfield's lone home outing before a three-game MAAC road swing featuring Marist, Rider and the return trip to Monmouth.