REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Fairfield University Men's Basketball concludes the 2025-26 regular season when Mount St. Mary's comes to Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Sunday, March 1. Opening tip from Leo D. Mahoney Arena is set for 2 p.m. with Dave Popkin and Fairfield Hall of Famer Joe DeSantis '79 calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield jumped out to a 17-6 lead over visiting Siena and never looked back on Friday night at Mahoney Arena. Four players scored in double figures and the Stags led wire-to-wire in the 72-58 victory.
Braden Sparks led the Stags with 19 points – including 14 in the first half of the wire-to-wire win. Also in the backcourt,
Deuce Turner came off the bench and netted 17 points with a pair of three-pointers.
In the post,
Isaac Munkadi drew the start and scored a career-best 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field. He also pulled down eight rebounds in his 25 minutes of work.
Declan Wucherpfennig notched a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, setting the pace as the Stags held a commanding 49-24 advantage on the glass.
Tony Williams added five points,
Eric Mejia scored four along with four rebounds and two steals, and the duo of
Michael Rogan and
Ryan Zan scored two apiece.
Overall, the Stags shot 31-for-60 (.517) from the field – their eighth game overall and sixth in MAAC play shooting at .500 or better from the floor.
COACH CASEY ON SIENA
"All the things you do with the scouting report and all the things you do with offensive and defensive schemes are important. But the most important thing is how hard you play and how hard you play for the length of the game on both ends of the floor. We're doing that, and that's what's helping us be successful."
SENIOR SALUTE
Prior to Sunday's game, Fairfield Men's Basketball will recognize the contributions of seniors
Noah Best,
Luke Davidson,
Michael Rogan,
Braden Sparks, and
Ryan Zan, and graduate student
Deuce Turner.
EIGHT OF TEN
Fairfield and MAAC Regular Season Champion Merrimack have both won a league-best eight of their last 10 contests.
SECOND TIME AROUND
Fairfield went 7-1 when playing a MAAC opponent for the second time. Saint Peter's was the lone league foe to win its second game with the Stags in 2025-26.
| Team |
Last 10 |
in Second Meeting |
| Fairfield |
8-2 |
7-1 |
| Merrimack |
8-2 |
8-0 |
| Marist |
6-4 |
4-3 |
| Mount |
6-4 |
4-4 |
| Siena |
6-4 |
4-3 |
| Iona |
5-5 |
3-4 |
| Quinnipiac |
5-5 |
2-5 |
| Sacred Heart |
5-5 |
5-3 |
| Saint Peter's |
5-5 |
3-4 |
| Manhattan |
4-6 |
3-4 |
| Niagara |
3-7 |
3-5 |
| Canisius |
2-8 |
0-7 |
| Rider |
2-8 |
1-6 |
KEEPING IT 100
Chris Casey is 55-44 through 99 games as leader of the Stags. He is tied for the second-most wins by a head coach in his first 100 games at Fairfield. The record belongs to George Bisacca with 66 wins in his first 100 games. Casey and Fred Barakat's 55 wins are also the most through 100 games in Fairfield's Division I history.
THE MOUNT ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY MOUNTAINEERS
The reigning MAAC Champions dropped a 77-69 contest at Sacred Heart on Friday to fall to 14-16 overall and 10-9 in conference play. The Mount is 6-11 on the road this season.
Arlandus Keyes leads the Mount with 12.1 points per game. Luke McEldon adds 11.6 points per contest, shooting a league-best .646 from the floor. He is also the team's top rebounder with 6.0 boards per contest.
The Mount ranks 10th in scoring at 68.4 points per game and slots sixth defensively, conceding 71.1 points per outing.
US AND THEM
Fairfield has won five of six meetings since The Mount joined the MAAC beginning in the 2022-23 season. Mount won the lone non-conference meeting in 1949, pushing the Stags' lead in the all-time series to 5-2.
EVERY POSSESSION MATTERS
Fairfield holds an 11-5 record in one possession games during its three seasons led by Head Coach
Chris Casey. Fairfield has won its last seven contests decided by three points or less.
The Stags are 26-13 in all games under Casey that were decided by either one or two possessions (six points or fewer).
REBOUNDING ROOKIES
Only four true freshmen have grabbed at least 200 rebounds in Fairfield Men's Basketball history, and two of them share the frontcourt this season.
Brandon Benjamin has a rookie-record 289 rebounds, and
Declan Wucherpfennig has also surpassed the milestone with 237.
ON THE CONFERENCE LEVEL
With
Brandon Benjamin already in possession of the Fairfield rookie rebounding mark, the MAAC record for rebounds by a true freshman belongs to La Salle's Lionel Simmons, who posted 322 boards (9.8 rpg) in 1986-87. Benjamin is second behind Simmons and within striking distance of eclipsing him in both total rebounds and rebounds per game by a MAAC rookie.
LET THE SPARKS FLY
Braden Sparks ranks second in the MAAC in scoring at 17.7 points per game. With 530 total points, he has tallied just the 23rd 500-point campaign in 78 seasons of Fairfield Men's Basketball. Sparks is currently 14th on the Stags' single-season scoring list.
Sparks' MAAC-high 89 three-pointers rank fifth in a season in Fairfield history. He is first in the MAAC with 2.97 three-pointers per game and third in the conference among NCAA qualifiers with a .401 three-point percentage.
TROUBLE BUSSING IN FROM OUT OF STATE
Fairfield Men's Basketball heads to Atlantic City next week for the 2026 MAAC Championship. More information will be available when the bracket is finalized at the close of Sunday's slate.
