WEST LONG BRANCH – In its second season as a member of the highly competitive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Monmouth University men’s basketball team has secured a well-deserved bye in the first round of the conference tournament.
With two games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks (16-13, 12-6) are still jockeying for position in the conference standings and the resulting tournament seeding’s. They’re now tied with Manhattan College (15-12, 12-6) for third place, a game behind Rider (19-10, 13-5) in second. The Jaspers hold the tiebreaker over Monmouth via a season-sweep, so the Hawks need to sweep their final two games and get a lot of help from both Rider and Manhattan to finish in second place.
After finishing ninth in their inaugural MAAC season with a 5-15 record and 11-21 overall, the Hawks were picked sixth in this season’s MAAC preseason coaches’ poll. Monmouth retuned their top six scorers from last season and the turnaround has been dramatic under fourth-year head coach King Rice. With only three seniors filling out this year’s roster; it definitely appears the Hawks are heading in the right direction.
Rice was a NCAA final-four point guard under legendary University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith (1987-91) where he set the school’s career assist-to-turnover ratio with a 2.36 per game average. He’s sixth in UNC history with 629 career assists while averaging 6.2 points, and 4.5 assists per game for the Tar Heels.
Prior to coming to Monmouth University, Rice was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt University (2006-2011) where the Commodores qualified for the NCAA tournament four out of his five seasons there.
The Hawks got off to a 4-0 start in league play this season, their best opening since the 2004-5 campaign, when they won the NEC regular season championship.
They’ve won eight of their last 12 games after a heartbreaking 69-68 loss at Iona Sunday in which they held a 68-66 lead with 33.1 seconds remaining. But after giving up a three-point play, they missed two shots in the closing seconds that would’ve handed them the win and a chance at the regular season title. The win clinched the regular season MAAC championship for the Gaels.
The Hawks strength comes from the guard position. They run a guard-oriented offense that utilizes three guards in their starting lineup with a fourth guard being the first man off the bench.
Senior guard Andrew Nicholas and junior guard Deon Jones combined for 939 points last season, which tied for sixth-highest combined single-season point total in program history. Nicholas became the 20th player in Monmouth’s Division I history to score 1000 career points this season when he scored 24 points, including a career-high six three-pointers, November 23 against Townson.
Nicholas is the first man off the bench and is third on the team in minutes, logging 25.3 minutes per game. He’s averaging 7.7 points per game, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists. Jones – a starter – is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 12.4 and 4.5 respectively.
He is joined in the starting backcourt with sophomore Justin Robinson and senior Max DiLeo. Scoring at a 13.3 points per game clip, Robinson leads the team in scoring, assists and steals – dishing out 3.8 assists per game with 48 steals on the season. DiLeo, averaging 24.6 minutes per game, is second on the team with 38 steals while averaging six points, 3.2 boards and 1.5 assists a game.
Six-foot-8 senior Brice Kofane has had a solid year starting at the forward spot for the Hawks. He leads the team in rebounds – averaging six per game – and blocked shots with 50 on the season. He’s also averaging 6.0 points and 24.8 minutes per game.
Joining forces with Kofane in the paint are 6-foot-10, 280-pound sophomore center Zac Tillman – who gets the nod as starter – and another sophomore, 6-foot-10, 240-pound center Chris Brady. Both players average close to 15 minutes of playing time and 4.0 points a game. Brady grabs 3.1 rebounds while Tillman gets his hands on 1.8 boards a game.
Sophomore Colin Stewart and freshman Austin Tilghman are both in the guard rotation and have seen increased playing time after the Hawks lost sophomore guard Josh James for the season with a foot injury early in January.
James’ injury was a significant loss to the Hawks. As a starter, James was averaging 23.5 minutes of playing time per game, scoring 4.8 points, grabbing 2.5 boards and handing out 1.2 assists per game.
Stewart and Tilghman are each averaging around 15 minutes per game and have done a nice job handling the increased playing time. Stewart is dropping in 5.9 points a game while the freshman Tilghman is averaging 3.0 points a game, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game.
Former Shore Regional star and All-Shore selection Dan Pillari is a backup guard for the Hawks and has seen limited playing time this season.
The 2015 MAAC Basketball Championship will be held at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. March 5-9. The Hawks will play on Saturday, March 7 in a quarterfinal game. The opponent and time TBD.
— By Mike Ready
Follow me @getmready
