WEST LONG BRANCH – Beer garden or no beer garden, and there won’t be one tonight against Drexel, the crowd can have an enormous impact on what happens at OceanFirst Bank Center in the biggest moment of Monmouth’s brief tenure in Coastal Athletic Association.
Because it doesn’t take much to connect the dots.
Towson has a 17-game home winning streak, including handing Drexel its first league loss. Charleston was 17-1 at home a year ago, and 8-1 this season. Drexel’s 8-1 so far, and 20-4 over the past two seasons, with two of those losses to Princeton and Penn. And UNC Wilmington is 6-0 this season, 19-3 over the past two.
Every one of the top CAA teams has a big homecourt advantage, and Monmouth head coach King Rice talked about that last month after the Hawks dropped games at Charleston and UNC Wilmington.
Which brings us to tonight’s visit by first-place Drexel (15-7, 8-1 CAA) tonight, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. (SNY; NBC Sports Philadelphia; FloSports.com). Monmouth’s 8-1 at home, having won eight straight since losing to Princeton. And it was a raucous crowd that helped push the team to a win over Hofstra that was a decade in the making.
Atmosphere and crowd noise matters even if it doesn’t appear in the box score, and the last two home games have been the best of the season. But if that same energy isn’t there, that’s an advantage for Drexel.
What the program needs more than anything are more students have to show up and crowd the baseline, something the Hawks have to deal with in opposing arenas but is rarely a factor for the opposition at OFBC.
If you haven’t seen this Monmouth team, they put on a good show. The Hofstra game ended on Xander Rice’s three free throws with 2.5 seconds left. The Northern Illinois game was won on Jakari Spence’s buzzer-beater.
And Monmouth gave Drexel all it wanted two weeks ago in Philadelphia. The Hawks took a 70-69 lead on Abdi Bashir Jr.’s 3-pointer with 3:30 to play, and it was a one-score game with 11 seconds left after Xander Rice’s 3-pointer.
Here are three keys for Monmouth in Thursday’s showdown with first-place Drexel. And check back right here later tonight for compete analysis:
1. Clean the glass
Monmouth is 7-1 this season when they win the rebounding battle. Drexel is the best rebounding team in the CAA. You see where this is going.
Drexel forward Amari Williams had a double-double in their first meeting (21 points, 11 rebounds). It’s a tall order for the Monmouth frontcourt of 6-10 center Nikita Konstantynovskyi, sixth in the CAA in rebounding at 7.2 rpg., 6-9 forward Jaret Valencia and 6-6 forward Cornelius “Boog” Robinson Jr., whose role has been expanding off the bench. He grabbed seven rebounds in 20 minutes against Hofstra, and had eight boards in 17 minutes against Hampton three games back.
2. Stay united
Monmouth coach King Rice as eluded to unhappiness about playing time several times in recent weeks. In one sense, it’s a good problem to have because a lot of young guys are pushing for more to have their role expanded. But it’s also something Rice will have to manage carefully, on and off the court.
“They are kids and they want more.,” Rice said after the Hofstra game. “Everybody always wants more, and back in the day that used to bug me. I probably would have sat somebody for that. But I was mad when coach (Dean) Smith didn’t play me. I was mad at him a lot. You didn’t get to express it but you were mad. Well, keep your head in the right place, keep working, eventually it is going to happen for you. But that’s hard when you’re 18 to 24.”
3. Whatever it takes
In-game adjustments made a huge difference in the outcome against Hofstra. After the Pride hit 11 first-half 3-pointers, Rice went to a small lineup to start the second half and changed the way they defended ball screens outside, and they went from giving up 50 points in the first half to 28 in the second.
Whether it’s more pressure or an occasional zone, or a complete change of course, coaching will make a difference down the stretch.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth NJ basketball vs first place Drexel: 3 keys in big CAA test
