CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC
Fairfield University Men's Basketball heads across town to Sacred Heart for the February's first of two meetings with the Pioneers. Opening tip-off from the Pitt Center is slated for 7 p.m. with Randy Brochu and Freddie Coleman calling the action on ESPN+.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield was on the short side of a 72-65 decision to visiting Quinnipiac on Sunday before a season-high crowd of 3,204 fans at Mahoney Arena. Declan Wucherpfennig set the pace for the Stags with team highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Wucherpfennig's double-double was his sixth of the season, as the rookie shot 6-for-12 from the floor and made two of his three free throws. Brandon Benjamin was right behind him and just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
 
Braden Sparks led the backcourt with 13 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Tony Williams added eight points and Halon Rawlins scored four to round out the offensive output from the starting five.
 
The Fairfield bench produced 13 points, led by six from Deuce Turner on a pair of three-pointers. Cam Estevez added five points, and Isaac Munkadi pitched in three points, three rebounds, and two blocked shots.
 
Quinnipiac was led by the MAAC's reigning Player of the Year Amarri Monroe, who finished the day with 23 points and 13 rebounds.
 
COACH CASEY ON QUINNIPIAC
"I thought both teams played extremely hard. Credit to Quinnipiac, they made some plays in the second half. That's a very experienced physical team, and I think we were right there. I think we need to make a couple more shots, make a couple more free throws, and make a couple more layups. That's really what that comes down to."
 
THE SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY PIONEERS
Sacred Heart split its most recent MAAC weekend with a win at Quinnipiac and a loss at Merrimack to stand at 10-14 overall and 6-7 in the conference.
 
Anquan Hill leads the four Pioneers scoring in double figures with 17.0 points per game, as well as a team-leading 6.0 rebounds per contest. Mekhi Conner facilitates the scoring with a league-high 6.5 assists per outing.

The Pioneers are the MAAC's most efficient and effective three-point shooting team. Sacred Heart leads the conference in three-pointers made (10.8/game) and attempted (29.5), as well as in three-point percentage (.365).
 
Individually, Nyle Ralph-Beyer is first in the MAAC and 11th nationally with a .444 three-point percentage, knocking down 2.86 treys per game.
 
US AND THEM
Fairfield leads 10-3 in the all-time series. The Pioneers' victories last season were their first ever against the Stags. Thursday will be Fairfield's fourth trip to the Sacred Heart campus, where the Stags are 2-1 all-time.
 
(NEARLY) ALL NUTMEG
Fairfield will only leave the State of Connecticut once from February 1 to the end of the regular season. During that time, the Stags play eight MAAC games -- five at Mahoney Arena and road games at Sacred Heart (Fairfield), Saint Peter's (Jersey City), and Quinnipiac (Hamden).
 
SIX PIECE
For the second consecutive week and the sixth time this season, Brandon Benjamin has been named the MAAC Rookie of the Week. Benjamin averaged 13.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game as the Stags split a pair against Iona and Quinnipiac.
 
Derek Needham won a Fairfield record 10 Rookie of the Week Awards in 2009-10. The MAAC record of 11 Rookie of the Week honors belongs to Siena's Jalen Pickett, now of the Denver Nuggets.
 
FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME
The Jan. 30 win at Iona was Fairfield's first in New Rochelle since Jan. 14, 2007, snapping a 17-game losing streak at Hynes Athletics Center. Declan Wucherpfennig, the youngest active Stag, was one day old when the Stags last won at Iona prior to this season.
 
FASTEST TO 50
The win at Iona was Chris Casey's 50th as head coach of the Stags in his 92nd game at the helm. Casey is the fastest to 50 wins as a head coach in Fairfield's Division I history. He is the second fastest all-time behind legendary Head Coach George Bisacca, who needed just 79 games to earn his 50th career win.
 
EVERY POSSESSION MATTERS
Fairfield holds a 10-5 record in one possession games under Head Coach Chris Casey and has won its last six contests decided by three points or less.
 
The Stags are 23-13 in all games under Casey that were decided by either one or two possessions (six points or fewer).
 
REBOUNDING ROOKIES
Brandon Benjamin had nine rebounds on Sunday to extend his Fairfield freshman rebounding record to 238 boards and counting. He is only the third true freshman Stag to grab 200+ rebounds in a campaign.
 
LET THE SPARKS FLY
After averaging 20.0 points per game last week, Braden Sparks reclaimed sole possession of the title of the MAAC's leading scorer at 17.2 points per game entering the week.
 
With 413 total points, he is 87 points shy of only the 23rd 500-point campaign in 78 seasons of Fairfield Men's Basketball.
 
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN
Brandon Benjamin is one of 15 players in the nation to average a double-double, posting 13.9 points and a MAAC-best 10.3 rebounds per outing. Among those 15, Benjamin is one of only four true freshmen on the ledger. He ranks 11th in the nation in total rebounds per game and second nationally with 4.48 offensive boards per outing.
 
A six-time MAAC Rookie of the Week, Benjamin also leads the MAAC in field goal percentage (.579) and ranks second in blocked shots (1.57/game). He slots 13th overall in the conference and second among MAAC freshmen in scoring (13.9 ppg) and leads the league with 11 double-doubles this season.
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Stags have started four true freshmen (Benjamin, Rawlins, Williams, Wucherpfennig) in 11 games this season. To date, no other Division I team has reported a starting lineup featuring four true freshmen this season.
 
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS
Led by Benjamin's conference-best 10.3 rebounds per game, as well as 7.8 boards per contest from Declan Wucherpfennig, the Stags are currently leading the MAAC in total rebounding (39.21/game), offensive rebounds (14.54/game) and rebounding margin (+4.4). The Stags' offensive rebounding average is also good for sixth in the nation.
 
Fairfield has outrebounded its opponent by 10 or more boards in seven games this season, including five MAAC outings.
 
ONWARD AND UPWARD
At 14 wins and counting, the Stags have improved upon last year's 12-win campaign with a minimum of seven games remaining.
 
FOR STARTERS
Fairfield has used seven different starting lineups this season. Braden Sparks and Declan Wucherpfennig have both started all 24 games, and Brandon Benjamin has been in the starting five for all 23 games in which he was available.
 
RED FOXES, ROUND 2
Up next, Fairfield Men's Basketball returns to Mahoney Arena to host Marist at 7 p.m.
 
The game will be televised on SNY.