FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball tips off its 78th season on Monday, Nov. 3 at Penn State. The action from the Bryce Jordan Center in Happy Valley starts at 7 p.m. live on Big Ten Network Plus.
STAGS AT AN EXHIBITION
Eight days before the official start of the 2025-26 season, Fairfield traveled to Richmond, Va. for a Sunday, Oct. 26 exhibition game at reigning Atlantic 10 Champion VCU. The Stags closed a 13-point halftime deficit to just five points in the second half before the host Rams pulled away to take an 82-64 decision.
Making his first appearance in a Fairfield uniform,
Brandon Benjamin led the Stags with a double-double comprised of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow newcomers
Cam Estevez and
Declan Wucherpfennig added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Wucherpfennig also hauled in eight rebounds.
A total of nine Stags contributed to the scoring. Benjamin, Estevez, Wucherpfennig,
Deuce Turner,
Halon Rawlins,
Nasir Rodriguez, and
Eric Mejia all – unofficially – netted the first points of their Fairfield careers in the exhibition. Coach Casey utilized 12 players in total, with Turner leading the way with 25 minutes played.
COACH CASEY ON THE VCU EXHIBITION
"I loved how hard we competed today for a full 40 minutes. But there are certainly some things that we can improve upon. At 48-43 with 12 minutes to go, we have to be better on both ends of the floor down the stretch. We're looking forward to the upcoming week in the gym as we prepare to go on the road again and compete hard at Penn State."
FOR STARTERS...
The Stags are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak in season openers. Fairfield last won its opener in the 2017-18 season, starting 2-0 with wins over Penn and Loyola Maryland at Webster Bank Arena.
This year's trip to Penn State marks the sixth consecutive season that Fairfield begins with a true road game. The last time that the Stags won a true road contest to start their season came in the 2003-04 campaign, when Fairfield topped Harvard in Cambridge and then knocked off St. John's at Madison Square Garden to open the year at 2-0.
The Stags opened with a win away from home four additional times in that span, but all four were on a neutral court as part of the Connecticut 6 Classic.
I'M YOUR CAPTAIN
Head Coach
Chris Casey has selected seniors
Luke Davidson and
Braden Sparks and graduate student
Deuce Turner as team captains for the 2025-26 season.
Davidson enters his second season as a team captain. He is the co-president of Fairfield's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, secretary of MAAC SAAC, and the conference's representative on the NCAA Division I SAAC. He was also recently selected as a student-athlete representative on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee.
Sparks is Fairfield's top returning scorer from last season, when he averaged 9.5 points per game fueled by a team-leading 47 three-pointers. He reached double figures in 15 games, including 13 times in 21 outings against MAAC opponents.
A Preseason All-MAAC Third Team selection, Turner will enter his first season with the Stags as a tri-captain. The graduate student scored 9.6 points per game in 2024-25 at UC Santa Barbara, where he logged nearly 20 minutes per game as the sixth man for the Gauchos. He spent the two prior seasons at the University of San Diego, earning 2023-24 West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year and All-WCC Second Team honors.
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Nine members of Fairfield's 18-man roster were also a part of the 2024-25 Stags. The Stags welcome back 34.9% of their scoring, 37.9% of their rebounding and 34.9% of the total minutes played by last season's club.
Five current Stags were also on the 2023-24 team that reached the MAAC Championship Game (Curtis, Davidson, Ganton, Rogan, Smith).
Michael Rogan is the lone four-year member of the Stags dating back to his redshirt season as a true freshman in 2022-23.
THE NINE NEWBS
The other half of Fairfield's roster is comprised of nine newcomers. Five of the new Stags are true freshmen (Rodriguez, Williams, Rawlins, Benjamin, Wucherpfennig), three played elsewhere in the Division I ranks last season (Turner, Estevez, Zan), and
Eric Mejia comes to Fairfield after an All-America season on the JUCO circuit.
REVVED UP LIKE A DEUCE
Graduate student tri-captain
Deuce Turner was selected to the Preseason All-MAAC Third Team. Turner scored 9.6 points per game in 2024-25 at UC Santa Barbara, where he logged nearly 20 minutes per game as the sixth man for the Gauchos. He spent the two prior seasons at the University of San Diego, earning 2023-24 West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year and All-WCC Second Team honors.
MAKING AN IMPACT
In a partnership with Team IMPACT, Fairfield Men's Basketball has officially signed Jahson ("Juju") to be a part of the Stags family. The signing was held in the Walsh Athletic Center following a team practice on Sunday, Oct. 5. Juju, his parents, and his sister Jaiana will join the Stags at games, practices, and other team events.
Team IMPACT, a national non-profit organization, has developed a unique multiyear program that matches children facing serious illness and disability with college athletic teams. Based on a clinical model, Team IMPACT guides a symbiotic relationship between teams and children focused on socialization, empowerment, and resilience.
IT'S JUST A HOUSE PARTY
Fairfield is partnering with NIVEA MEN to present the Mahoney Classic – the first-ever "Multi-Team Event" (MTE) at Leo D. Mahoney Arena. The event will be held from Nov. 14-16, 2025 and will feature the first home games of the season for the Stags against regional foes Stonehill College and Loyola University Maryland.
The Mahoney Classic presented by NIVEA MEN will mark the home debut for the 2025-26 Stags, hosting Stonehill on Friday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. and Loyola on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. The two visiting teams will go head-to-head at Mahoney Arena on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.
HOME SWEET HOME
Fairfield's two games in the Mahoney Classic will be the first of 16 home contests on the 2024-25 slate. The Stags have not played 16 home games in the regular season since the 1993-94 campaign.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Stags' three-game, season-opening road trip also includes awat games at NJIT on Nov. 8 and on-campus at Seton Hall on Nov. 10. Fairfield kicks off the home schedule with the inaugural Mahoney Classic presented by NIVEA MEN from Nov. 14-16, challenging Stonehill and Loyola Maryland at its home MTE.
