SATURDAYS ARE FOR THE STAGS
Fairfield University Men's Basketball returns to Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Saturday, Feb. 7 for a 7 p.m. visit from Marist. The Hall of Fame duo of Bob Heussler and Joe DeSantis '79 will call the action live on SNY and ESPN+.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield shot a season-best .574 from the floor, pouring in 92 points en route to a 92-87 victory on Thursday at Sacred Heart. Brandon Benjamin headlined the effort with a career-high 26 points and matched his career best with 15 rebounds.
 
Benjamin's 26 points came on 11-for-15 shooting from the field and a 4-for-5 day at the free throw line. He scored 18 points in the second half, including a crucial rebound and putback that extended the lead to 90-87 with under 20 seconds to play.
 
Braden Sparks added 21 points fueled by a 5-for-7 showing from three-point range. He also doled out five assists while playing all 40 minutes in the Fairfield backcourt.
 
Declan Wucherpfennig made the most of his 19 minutes of action with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting. Deuce Turner was the fourth Stag to net double figures, capped by the two free throws to ice the game at 92-87 in the closing seconds.
 
Ryan Zan contributed seven points off the bench on 3-for-4 shooting and pulled down five rebounds. Tony Williams and Halon Rawlins pitched in five points and three assists apiece, Isaac Munkadi scored four points, and Cam Estevez added three.
 
COACH CASEY ON SACRED HEART
"That's just a great win in a very difficult place to play against a very good team. We fought through some foul trouble, got some good minutes off the bench, and we made just enough plays to win the game. I think these last three games we played – at Iona, Quinnipiac at home, and this one on the road – these are MAAC Tournament type games. It sharpens us to play games like that."
 
HOT SHOTS
The Stags shot a season-best .574 (36-61) from the field in Thursday's win at Sacred Heart. It was Fairfield's best shooting performance since a 28-for-48 (.583) day from the floor in last season's 69-49 victory at Rider.
 
THE MARIST UNIVERSITY RED FOXES
Marist comes to Leo D. Mahoney Arena riding a four-game winning streak, most recently rolling past Rider by an 81-52 count on Thursday. The Red Foxes are 16-7 overall and 10-4 in the MAAC.
 
Marist leads the MAAC defensively with 62.6 points per game allowed. The Red Foxes also top the conference in opponent field goal percentage (.390) and three-point percentage (.274)
 
Individually, Rhyjon Blackwell and Elijah Lewis pace the offense at 12.9 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Justin Menard is also netting double figures at 10.8 points per contest.
 
EARLIER THIS SEASON
Fairfield saw its three-game MAAC winning streak come to an end on Jan. 17 with an 82-67 setback at Marist. Braden Sparks set the scoring pace for the Stags with 16 points in the road outing.
 
Sparks supplemented his team-leading 16 points with two assists and a pair of steals. Tony Williams joined him in double figures with 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers. In the starting frontcourt, Declan Wucherpfennig had six points and Brandon Benjamin scored five.
 
The bench scoring was led by Deuce Turner's nine points and seven from Eric Mejia. In total, the Stags racked up 28 bench points, with six points from Isaac Munkadi, four for Ryan Zan, and two from Nasir Rodriguez.
 
On the boards, Brandon Benjamin led the way with seven, and Ryan Zan hauled in five. Marist held a 37-30 rebounding advantage, only the second time that Fairfield has been outrebounded in eight MAAC games this season.
 
Marist was led by a game-high 17 points for Elijah Lewis
 
US AND THEM
The Stags and Red Foxes have split each of the last two regular season series, with the home team coming away with the victory in all four meetings. Fairfield also picked up a win over Marist in the 2024 MAAC Championship Semifinals.
 
Marist swept the home-and-home series in the 2006-07 campaign.
 
SECOND TIME AROUND
The Stags are 3-0 this season when playing an opponent for the second time.
 
To date, Fairfield has earned a home-and-home sweep of Niagara and took the back half of series splits with both Manhattan and Canisius.
 
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 MAAC Rookie of the Week Awards in 2009-10. The conference record of 11 Rookie of the Week honors belongs to Siena's Jalen Pickett, now of the Denver Nuggets.
 
FASTEST TO 50
The Jan. 30 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 24-13 in all games under Casey that were decided by either one or two possessions (six points or fewer).
 
REBOUNDING ROOKIES
Brandon Benjamin matched his career high with 15 rebounds on Sunday to extend his Fairfield freshman rebounding record to 253 boards and counting. He is only the third true freshman Stag to grab 200+ rebounds in a campaign.
 
LET THE SPARKS FLY
Braden Sparks ranks second in the MAAC in scoring at 17.4 points per game, just three points behind conference leader Kevair Kennedy of Merrimack (17.5 ppg).
 
With 434 total points, he is 66 points shy of only the 23rd 500-point campaign in 78 seasons of Fairfield Men's Basketball. His 74 three-pointers slot him three shy of joining the Stags' single-season top-10 from beyond the arc.
 
(NEARLY) ALL NUTMEG
Fairfield will only leave the State of Connecticut once from February 1 to the end of the regular season. During that span, 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).
 
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN
Brandon Benjamin is one of 13 players in the nation to average a double-double, posting 14.4 points and a MAAC-best 10.5 rebounds per game. Among those 13, Benjamin is one of three true freshmen on the ledger. He ranks ninth in the nation in rebounds per game and leads the country with 4.46 offensive boards per contest.
 
A six-time MAAC Rookie of the Week, Benjamin also leads the MAAC in field goal percentage (.588) and ranks second in blocked shots (1.63/game).
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Stags have started four true freshmen in 12 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 10.5 rebounds per game, as well as 7.5 boards per contest from Declan Wucherpfennig, the Stags are currently leading the MAAC in total rebounding (39.04/game), offensive rebounds (14.32/game) and rebounding margin (+4.4). The Stags' offensive rebounding average is also good for seventh in the nation.
 
Fairfield has outrebounded its opponent by 10 or more boards in seven games this season, including five MAAC outings.
 
FOR STARTERS
Fairfield has used seven different starting lineups this season. Braden Sparks and Declan Wucherpfennig have both started all 25 games, and Brandon Benjamin has been in the starting five for all 24 games in which he was available.
 
A RARE RESPITE
Up next, Fairfield hits a rare stretch of seven days without a game before heading to Jersey City to challenge Saint Peter's on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.