THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball looks to sweep its three-game road swing as the trek makes its final stop on Friday evening at Monmouth. Opening tip from the Jersey Shore is slated for 7 p.m. with all of the action broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Taj Benning matched his career high with 24 points and Jake Wojcik netted his third 20-point game of the season to power Fairfield to a 76-65 victory at MAAC foe Rider last Friday. Wojcik also paced the effort on the boards with a team-best eight rebounds.
 
Benning and Wojcik's 44 combined points included nine of the Stags' 11 three-pointers. Benning knocked down a career-best six triples on nine attempts, while Wojcik canned three for his fifth straight game with at least three conversions from downtown.
 
Supreme Cook also reached double figures with 11 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds as the Stags were clipped on the glass, 33-36.
 
Jesus Cruz scored all eight of his points in the first half as the Stags built a 34-24 lead over the opening 20 minutes. Rounding out Fairfield's offensive effort, Chris Maidoh scored six points, TJ Long netted four, Zach Crisler scored two and Allan Jeanne-Rose split a pair of free throws.
 
SECOND TIME AROUND
Fairfield's win over Marist on Sunday was their first "return game" of MAAC schedule. Last season, the Stags went 8-5 when seeing an opponent for the second (or third) time. In addition to the MAAC "back-to-backs" that comprised the majority of last season's schedule, this record also includes the second non-conference meeting with Hartford and seeing Manhattan, Saint Peter's and Iona for a third time in the MAAC Championship.
 
THE MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY HAWKS AT A GLANCE
A three-game winning streak bookended by a pair of one-point overtime losses have Monmouth sitting at 13-7 overall and 5-4 in the MAAC. Most recently, the Hawks were on the short side of a 70-69 overtime defeat at home to visiting Niagara.
 
Monmouth boasts three of the top eight scorers in the MAAC in George Papas (16.1 ppg), Walker Miller (14.8 ppg) and Shavar Reynolds (14.6 ppg).  The trio has guided Monmouth to fifth in the MAAC in scoring offense at 71.1 points per game. The Hawks rank fourth in the conference defensively at 68.2 points allowed per contest.
 
LAST MEETING: MONMOUTH 61, FAIRFIELD 58 (1/20/22 at Webster Bank Arena)
After six ties and 11 lead changes, Fairfield trailed by one point with possession in the final minute of Thursday's clash with Monmouth. However, the trip came up empty and the visiting Hawks sank a pair of free throws to seal a 61-58 decision.
 
Taj Benning scored 13 points for Fairfield, including the 1,000th of his career, as one of three Stags to net double figures. Jake Wojcik led the Fairfield scoring tonight with 15 points, knocking down five of the Stags' 10 three-pointers.
 
Jesus Cruz was the third Stag in double figures, scoring seven of Fairfield's final eight points down the stretch as a part of his 14 for the game.
 
Monmouth was led by 16 points from George Papas, including four three-pointers.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
A seven-game winning streak in the series from 2015-18 has propelled Monmouth to a 12-7 advantage on the all-time ledger. Monmouth leads the MAAC series, 9-6, since 2014 with the Stags winning two non-conference meetings in the 1990s and each club owning a MAAC postseason victory over the other.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEEING 20/20
In last Friday's win at Rider, the Stags were fueled by 24 points from Taj Benning and 20 from Jake Wojcik. The duo is the first pair of Fairfield teammates to net 20 points in the same game since Tyler Nelson dropped 23 and Jonathan Kasibabu scored 20 in a 69-66 win over Monmouth on Feb. 24, 2018.
 
CONFERENCE CALL
The Stags' top five scorers (Benning, Wojcik, Cook, Cruz and Green) are all posting a higher scoring average in conference games than non-league outings this season. The four guards in that group are all shooting at a higher percentage from three-point range against MAAC foes than during the non-conference portion of the schedule.
 
BANK HOLIDAY
Friday's game at Monmouth is Farfield's last road outing before a six-game homestand from Feb. 6-18. The stretch is the longest homestand comprised solely of conference games in both Fairfield and MAAC history, excluding the "back-to-back" scheduling model used due to Covid-19 concerns during the 2020-21 season.
 
The streak is the longest overall for the Stags since a program-record seven consecutive home games during 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.
 
SEE YOU (MUCH) LATER
The Stags have seen eight of their 10 MAAC opponents at least once, with both ends of the home-and-home series against Manhattan and Saint Peter's still on the slate. While Fairfield was originally set to host Manhattan on Dec. 31 -- a game that was subsequently moved to Feb. 16 -- the original schedule did not pit the Stags against Saint Peter's until the 16th game of the 20-game MAAC ledger on Feb. 18.
 
This scheduling quirk his has only happened once before in seasons with a 20-game MAAC slate (excluding the "back-to-back" schedule in 2020-21). In the 2014-15 campaign, Fairfield did not meet Niagara for the first time until the 17th MAAC game of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Stags' six-game homestand at Webster Bank Arena tips off on Sunday, Feb. 6 with a 2 p.m. visit from Siena.