FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball resumes Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action on Friday, Dec. 30 against visiting Marist. The Stags and Red Foxes tip-off at 7 p.m. with Bob Heussler and Joe DeSantis calling the action for the Stags Sports Network on ESPN3.
 
LAST TIME OUT: FAIRFIELD 86, COAST GUARD 45
All 12 active Stags contributed at least two points and one rebound as Fairfield rolled past Coast Guard, 86-45, on Sunday, Dec. 18 at Mahoney Arena. Supreme Cook paced the Stags with a career-high 21 points and matching his season best of 13 rebounds.
 
James Johns Jr. was the only other Stag in double figures with 11 points to go along with a career-best eight rebounds for the freshman. Jalen Leach added nine points with three three-pointers, and TJ Long knocked down a pair of treys on his way to eight points.
 
Jack Brown made his season debut and scored a career-best five points, including his first three-pointer as a Stag. Mark Henry also took the court for the first time in 2022-23, netted two points and two rebounds.
 
All 12 Stags to take the court played between 11 and 25 minutes.
 
SUPREME'S COURT
After racking up 21 points and 13 rebounds in the Dec. 18 win, Supreme Cook is averaging 13.0 points per game and leads the MAAC with 8.4 boards per contest.  Cook is also fifth in the MAAC in field goal percentage (.567) and 12th in free throw percentage (.659). He tops the MAAC in free throws made and attempted, ranking 22nd nationally with 82 tosses from the charity stripe. Cook's three double-doubles are one behind Iona's Nelly Junior Joseph for the conference lead.
 
THE MARIST COLLEGE RED FOXES
Marist resumes its MAAC slate with a record of 4-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The Red Foxes have lost three straight games, falling by a bucket to Boston U. and then dropping MAAC games to Manhattan and at Rider. Marist had won three in a row before the current stretch, nothing an overtime triumph at Bucknell, a home win over Columbia and a 62-61 victory over Maine in London.
 
Marist attempts more three-pointers than any other MAAC team with 27.5 tries from distance per game. The Red Foxes are shooting 33.1% from beyond the arc, led by 28 made triples on 32.6% shooting from Noah Harris and 19 treys at a team-best 36.5% clip by Javon Cooley. Patrick Gardner is the only Red Fox averaging double figures with 17.4 points per game and also leads the squad with 7.6 rebounds per contest.
 
LAST MEETING
Trailing 66-65 with time ticking away at Marist on Jan. 23, 2022, Jesus Cruz scored the go-ahead bucket with 1:02 to play and added a fade-away jumper with 10 seconds remaining to propel Fairfield to a 69-66 victory. Cruz finished with nine points and seven rebounds, and Jake Wojcik led the Stags offensively with 17 points in the MAAC road triumph.
 
Wojcik scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, including three three-pointers. Taj Benning shouldered the scoring effort early on, starting the day 4-of-5 from three-point range in the first half.
 
Carrying the load in the post and on the boards was Supreme Cook, who scored 13 points and hauled in a game-best nine rebounds. The Stags held the edge on the glass, 35-34, with each team collecting seven offensive rips.
 
Despite committing a season-low six turnovers, the Stags were on the negative side of turnover margin, as Marist suffered just three giveaways.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
After splitting the home-and-home series last season, Fairfield owns a 40-27 lead in an all-time series that dates back to Jan. 23, 1984. The Stags and Red Foxes have split the series in each of the last three seasons. Since Marist joined the MAAC beginning in the 1997-98 campaign, the Stags hold a 31-22 lead in the series.
 
WHATCHA GONNA DO?!
The first-ever game between Fairfield and Marist on Jan. 23, 1984 was not held at Madison Square Garden, which was occupied that day by Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Title from the Iron Sheik. However, the Stags and Red Foxes have played each other seven times inside "The World's Most Famous Arena," most recently doing so in 2001.
 
SETTLE FOR SEVEN
With the Dec. 22 game against Drexel postponed and not currently rescheduled, Fairfield no longer has a program-record eight-game homestand on the slate. A seven-game stretch of home contests would tie the program standard established in the 1986-87 MAAC Championship season. That run saw Fairfield host La Salle, Lehigh, Fordham, Saint Peter's, Manhattan, Iona and Yale all in succession. However, only six of those games were played to completion at Alumni Hall, as the Jan. 10 meeting with Fordham was suspended and then finished in the Bronx on Feb. 7.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Fairfield leads the MAAC with 64.8 points per game allowed. The Stags have allowed 60 points or fewer in six of their last seven games.
 
The Red Foxes are fifth in scoring defense, though the margins are slim as Marist has ceded just 66.0 points per outing.
 
JAMES JOHNS JR: MAAC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
James Johns Jr. was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week after averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as the Stags split a pair at Mahoney Arena against in-state foes Yale and Coast Guard.
 
In the loss to reigning Ivy League Champion Yale, Johns scored eight points with three rebounds in 18 minutes of work off the bench. He again played 18 minutes as a reserve in the win over Coast Guard, reaching double figures with 11 points and corralling a career-high eight rebounds.
 
On the season, Johns is averaging 14.2 minutes per game in 10 games played and has contributed 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest. His MAAC Rookie of the Week nod is the first conference weekly award of his career and the first for the Stags overall in the 2022-23 season.
 
UP NEXT
The Stags will ring in 2023 at Mahoney Arena on New Year's Day with a 2 p.m. visit from Siena.