Game 24 - Saturday, February 6, 2010
Monmouth (10-13, 6-5 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (7-16, 6-5 NEC)
Garden State Rivalry Series - Part II
Location: the MAC - West Long Branch, N.J.
Tip: 12:03 p.m.
Television: MSG, FCS - Jared Greenberg (play-by-play), Terry O'Connor (color), Matt Harmon (sideline)
On the air: 88.9 FM WMCX - www.wmcx.com
NO HawkVision videostream will be available for this game!!

All-Time Series: FDU leads 37-26
Calloway vs. FDU: 13-15
Last Meeting: FDU, 75-69 (2/4/10)
Series Streak: FDU, W3

FDU Men's Basketball
FDU Roster
FDU Statistics

With bragging rights at stake, the inaugural Northeast Conference (NEC) Rivalry Week is set to take flight with six pairs of men's and women's hoops rivals set to meet in home-and-home contests this Thursday and Saturday. The pairings are as follows: Long Island-St. Francis (N.Y.), Fairleigh Dickinson-Monmouth, Robert Morris-Saint Francis (Pa.), Quinnipiac-Sacred Heart, CCSU-Bryant and Mount St. Mary's-Wagner. The innovative concept of playing back-to-back games against a local rival in a 48-hour span is the only one of its kind among the nation's 31 NCAA Division I conferences. "NEC Rivalry Week provides an exciting and unique approach to creating a buzz among our fanbase," said Noreen Morris, NEC Commissioner. "By highlighting a number of long-standing rivalries, it should make for a dynamic weekend of hoops action across the Conference. In many cases, the geographic proximity of our institutions will allow fans the opportunity to attend both ends of the home-and-home series."

BLUE & WHITE BITS:
Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway not only opened his 13th season as the head coach of the Hawks' men's basketball program, but helped usher in a new era in Monmouth Athletics with the opening of the $57-million Multipurpose Activity Center, by defeating FIU 99-70 on Friday the 13th.

With his Northeast Conference victory over Bryant, Calloway now has 120 NEC wins to stand in fourth place all-time. Calloway now seeks to catch Ron Ganulin (129) for third place.

Monmouth's five-game win streak earlier this season was the Hawks' first since the 2004-05 season, when MU won six consecutive in January.

The last time Monmouth open an NEC slate at 4-1 was during the 2005-06 campaign - a season in which the Hawks won their fourth NEC Championship. That year, the Blue and White opened 5-1 in the leauge.

Travis Taylor, who recorded a new career-high of 28 points against Penn, tied the third-best single-game field goal percentage in MU history when he went 12-for-14 from the floor. Taylor, who averaged 24.0 points and 7.5 rebounds, while connecting on 67.7% from the field in two games, was named the Choice Hotels/NEC Player of the Week on December 14.

Taylor, who scored in double-figures in each of the Hawks' 18 games this season, now has 41 career double-digit scoring games after his seventh career double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds) at Robert Morris.

Monmouth, which opened at home for the first time since 2001-02, welcomed the FIU Golden Panthers to town, winning by 29 points, while connecting on 63.3% from the field as a team.

The Blue and White, which is 3-10 on the road so far this year, was 2-15 away from home last year.

Monmouth faces Garden State foes this season... the Hawks are 0-6 so far (Seton Hall, Saint Peter's, Rutgers, Princeton, Rider, FDU) and are playing six of the seven D-I New Jersey institutions this year. Left on the Garden State slate is one more battle with Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Hawks, selected ninth in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, return 82.8% of last year's offense and 79.0% of the rebounding from a season ago.

Monmouth returns 11 letterwinners from a season ago, 10 of which started a game last year.

With his 20-point performance against Penn, Whitney Coleman became the 18th player in Monmouth's Division I history to eclipse 1,000 career points. The guard now ranks in the top-10 in school history in assists, steals, three-pointers, minutes played and starts.

At the end of the 2008-09 campaign, forward Travis Taylor and guard Will Campbell were both named to the Northeast Conference All-Rookie Team.

Freshman forward Ed Waite, who started all three games in Wyoming, was named the NEC Rookie of the Week on November 30. The power forward matched his career-best with 17 points in the win over Quinnipiac, while adding six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

The Blue and White are now 3-9 in season openers during the Calloway era, as head coach - MU is 16-9 now in NEC openers all-time.

Junior point James Hett, who dished out a career-high nine assists in the season opener and against Bryant, now has 336 total assists, in 82 games played (4.09 apg in career). Hett became just the sixth player in MU's D-I history collect 300+ assists in a career. He is also just 397 minutes played away from becoming the 18th player to eclipse the 3,000-minute mark in MU history.