FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball hosts Sacred Heart on campus for the first time ever when the Pioneers come to the Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Opening tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. All of the action will be broadcast live by the Stags Sports Network on ESPN+ with Bob Heussler and Joe DeSantis on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT: FAIRFIELD 67, SAINT PETER'S 55
After opening the 2022-23 season with eight consecutive games away from home, Fairfield made its long-awaited debut at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Saturday evening with a 67-55 win over visiting Saint Peter's. Caleb Fields netted 19 points as one of four Stags in double figures as the Stags knocked off the defending MAAC Champion Peacocks before a standing room only crowd of 3,516.
 
Fields play all 40 minutes on his way to 19 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field with two three-pointers and converting 7-of-8 from the free throw line. As a unit, the Stags shot 19-of-42 (45.2%) from the floor, 4-of-11 (.36.4%) from three-point range and 25-of-31 (80.6%) from the stripe.
 
Supreme Cook grabbed 11 rebounds for the third straight game, this time also netting 11 points to post his first double-double of the campaign. Allan Jeanne-Rose matched Cook with 11 points, highlighted by the first-ever basket scored in a men's basketball game at Mahoney Arena, and Jalen Leach was the fourth Stag to score in double figures with 10 points. The output marked the second time this season that four Stags reached double-digits, the other being the second game of the year on Nov. 11 at New Hampshire.
 
Isiah Dasher led Saint Peter's with 15 points and Reid recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
 
THE SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY PIONEERS
Sacred Heart travels to Mahoney Arena coming off of a 70-59 loss to UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon to fall to 5-4 on the season. The Pioneers have lost to UMass Lowell twice in addition to losses at Rutgers and at home to NJIT. SHU has earned wins over Hartford, Columbia, Binghamton, New Hampshire and Dvision III Western New England.
 
Nico Galette leads the Pioneers with 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Niagara transfer Raheem Solomon adds 13.0 points per game for SHU. Solomon is one of three MAAC transfers on Anthony Latina's roster. Aidan Carpenter, formerly of Siena, appeared only in the Pioneers' opener while Brendan McGuire, last year's starting point guard at Quinnipiac, played in the first three games of the campaign. The status of both is unknown for Wednesday.
 
Sacred Heart was selected second in the NEC Preseason Poll after finishing 10-20 overall and 6-12 in the league last season.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
The Stags are 8-0 all-time against Sacred Heart dating back to 2007. Last season's meeting marked the first time one of the squads ventured to the other's campus (or met within the Town of Fairfield), as six of the prior meetings were held at Webster Bank Arena in addition to a neutral site contest at Mohegan Sun Arena in 2010.
 
Fairfield and Sacred Heart were slated to meet at Alumni Hall during the campaign, but the game was canceled due to Covid-19 protocols within the SHU program.
 
THE STAGS VS. THE STATE
Fairfield is 113-73 all-time against all Connecticut opponents and 57-60 against the current Division I teams in the Nutmeg State.
 
Fairfield currently has a trio of in-state opponents on tap in Sacred Heart, Yale and a first-ever meeting with the Coast Guard Academy. The Stags have not played three Connecticut teams in the non-conference slate since 2011-12, when Fairfield opened with a win over then-NEC Quinnipiac, visited defending National Champion UConn, and then defeated Yale in the opening round of the CIT. Excluding the postseason, Fairfield has not played three in-state foes in the non-conference season since 1997-98 when they defeated Hartford and Yale in back-to-back outings, then meeting #10 UConn.
 
The Stags are challenging three consecutive Connecticut opponents for the first time since January of 1956 when they met New Haven Teachers' College (SCSU), Bridgeport and the Teachers' College of Connecticut (CCSU) in a six-day span.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Fairfield defense had its best showing of the season on Saturday, limiting Saint Peter's to 55 points. The Stags have conceded 60 points or less in four straight games after allowing an average of 73.8 points per game during the opening five outings of the season.
 
Overall, the Stags rank fifth in the MAAC with 66.2 points per game allowed and jump up to third in the conference when only including games against Division I opponents.
 
BEATING THE ELITE
Saturday's win over Saint Peter's marked the first time that the Stags defeated an Elite Eight team from the prior season. Fairfield had not challenged a reigning Elite Eight team since challenging defending National Champion Louisville, led by current Iona head coach Rick Pitino, in the 2013-14 campaign. With the Cardinals' tournament run from that season having since been vacated by the NCAA committee on infractions, Fairfield last "officially" played an Elite Eight team from the season prior in 2011-12 when they met defending National Champion UConn.
 
A LONG TIME COMING
Prior to this past Saturday, the Stags last played on campus AND in front of fans on March 1, 2020, which was a span of 1,004 days.
 
Fairfield played the entirety of the 2020-21 season on campus but with no fans permitted due to Covid-19 protocols and then played all of 2021-22 at Webster Bank Arena (now Total Mortgage Arena) in Bridgeport during the construction of Mahoney Arena.
 
UP NEXT
The Stags continue their eight-game homestand with another Connecticut foe -- the Yale Bulldogs -- on Monday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.