THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball concludes the 2024 calendar year and the non-conference portion of the schedule on Saturday, Dec. 28 with the Stags' first-ever visit to Columbia. All of the aciton live on Broadway will air on SNY and ESPN+ with Lance Medow and Barry "Slice" Rohrssen on the call beginning at 4 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield cut a 20-point deficit down to seven with eight minutes to play on last Saturday at Monmouth, but the Stags were never able to come all the way back as the host Hawks put away an 88-74 final. Prophet Johnson had his third double-double of the season for the Stags with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
 
Johnson's 19 points included 14 in the second half as the Stags mounted their comeback. Braden Sparks also had 14 of his 16 after halftime with the duo combining for 28 of Fairfield's 41 second-half tallies. The career-high and game-leading 15 rebounds for Johnson included 10 from the offensive glass as the junior guided Fairfield to 19 second-chance points and a 40-36 overall advantage on the boards.
 
Deon Perry was the third Stag to reach double figures on the day, netting 12 points along with a game-best six assists. Kyle Jenkins added seven points and five rebounds, with Peyton Smith contributing six points and four boards from the post.
 
Abdi Bashir Jr., who entered the day averaged over 21 points per game, had a game-high 27 points. Jack Collins finished with 13 points, four rebounds and five assists for the Hawks.
 
COACH CASEY ON THE MONMOUTH GAME
"We got off to a slow start on the road against a good opponent, and that just made it very difficult on ourselves for the rest of the game. I thought we found our stride offensively and we kept fighting and made a few runs. But we allowed Monmouth to play from in front and, to their credit, they continued to make plays and never let us all the way back in it."

THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIONS
Columbia returns to action after a 19-day hiatus sporting a record of 10-1. The Lions have not played since defeating a pair of Division III foes on Dec. 7-9 and have not met a Division I competition since an 88-73 loss at UAlbany for their only setback of the campaign.

The Lions, who received votes in the AP Poll earlier this season, racked up eight wins in November including a 90-80 victory at Villanova for a Quad 1 win. Columbia's other seven triumphs all fall into "Quad 4" as the Lions have earned a NET ranking of 98.

All-Ivy candidate Geronimo Rubio de la Rosa leads Columbia with 18.9 points per game along with 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per outing. Kenny Noland joins him in double figures eith 12.5 points per contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Believe it or not, Fairfield and Columbia have met just once before. The Stags defeated the Lions in overtime, 82-81, at Alumni Hall on Nov. 27, 2015.

STAGS VS. THE ANCIENT EIGHT
Fairfield is 37-18 all-time against the Ivy League, with nearly half of those matchups (26) coming against in-state foe Yale. On Saturday, the Stags will be playing an Ancient Eight opponent other than the Elis for the first time since hosting Penn to open the 2017-18 campaign. The Stags' longest hiatus is against Cornell, with Fairfield and Big Red last meeting in 1975.

PROPHET JOHNSON ON THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
Prophet Johnson shares the MAAC lead (with QU's Paul Otieno) and ranks third nationally with 4.08 offensive rebounds per game. Johnson's 7.5 boards per contest overall are good for second in the MAAC behind the 7.8 rebounds per game by Terrell Ard of The Mount.

Johnson's 10 offensive rebounds at Monmouth were the most by a Stag since Anthony "Peanut" Johnson had 10 rips from the offensive glass against Rider in 2010.

NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW
Fairfield has made the most of its possessions this season, leading the MAAC and ranking 30th nationally with only 10.0 turnovers per game. The Stags are also second in the conference with a turnover margin of +2.5 and top the league with a 1.35 assist/turnover ratio.

THREE AT A TIME
Louis Bleechmore's .485 three-point percentage (16-for-33) is the best in the MAAC among players with at least 25 attempts from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT
The Stags kick off 2025 with a return to the MAAC slate, visiting Merrimack on Friday, Jan. 3 for their first trip to North Andover since 1958

Fairfield is back home at Mahoney Arena on the following Friday, Jan. 10 to host Iona at 7 p.m.