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On Deck!
After 25 days on the road, the Red Flash men's basketball team will finally play a game within the confines of DeGol Arena when Monmouth visits on Thursday night for the 495th men's game in the history of the facility. SFU is 2-13 overall, and is looking for its first Northeast Conference win with an 0-4 league record. The Hawks are 5-11 overall, and 1-3 in the NEC. Saint Francis has played 12 of its first 15 games on the road, but has a 2-1 record at home. The game against the Hawks will mark the first of four straight in Loretto, a season-low homestand for SFU. The game can be heard on The EDGE?1400 AM (Loretto, Pa.) and The EDGE 850 AM (Johnstown), and a link to listen will be available at www.myedgeradio.com. A live video/audio feed of the game will also be available via Red Flash All-Access at www.SFUathletics.com.
On The Horizon
Saint Francis will return to DeGol Arena for the second game of a four-game homestand when Fairleigh Dickinson visits DeGol Arena at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Knights enter their Thursday night contest at Robert Morris with a 3-10 overall mark, and 2-2 NEC record.
History Lesson
The Saint Francis radio team of Bernie Jubeck and Joe Vesnesky love their history, so we dedicate this note to the voices of the Red Flash. Monmouth University is a private university located in West Long Branch, N.J. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956, and later Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter. The centerpiece of the Monmouth University campus is Wilson Hall. Originally, it was the site of the Shadow Lawn mansion, constructed in 1903 and housed 52 rooms. President Woodrow Wilson stayed in the mansion during his campaign in summer of 1916. After Shadow Lawn was destroyed by fire in 1927, the building that would become Wilson Hall was built as a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Templeton Parson. Mr. Parson was the former head of F.W. Woolworth Company.
Series vs. Monmouth
This will be the 51st meeting between Monmouth and Saint Francis in a series that dates back to the 1984-85 season. The Hawks won both contests last season, and have won four of the last five meetings. The Red Flash are 12-11 againts Monmouth at DeGol Arena.
Sizing Up The Hawks
Monmouth enters Thursday's game losers of two straight, and six of its last seven. The Hawks are 3-6 at home, but 0-5 on the road. They are paced by one player in double figure scoring as Ed Waite averages team-highs with 10.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 1.6 spg. He is the team's primary shot-taker with 65 field goals on 130 attempts (.500). Mike Myers Keitt is averaging 8.0 ppg and has a team-high 17 three-pointers on the season. Phil Wait has a team-high 13 blocks and has a .514 field goal percentage while averaging 5.5 pg and 4.4 rpg. The Hawks have been without the services of Will Campbell (8.6 ppg), Jordan Davis (6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.4 apg), Gary Cox (5.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg) and Matt Pritchett (1.2 ppg, 0.8 rpg) have been suspended indefinitely by head coach Dave Calloway, and did not play the last two games.
Inside The Box Score
Saint Francis lost its 11th straight game on Saturday night at Wagner to fall to 2-13 on the season. Here is a closer look and some notes from the box score:
- Wagner scored 81 points, tying a season-high for a league opponent (Long Island also scored 81).
- The Red Flash were held to 53 points, and have now scored fewer than 60 points in six straight games. The streak of six games is the longest since going eight straight games during the 1948-49 season.
- SFU had a season-high 26 turnovers.
- Saint Francis had 6 team blocks, including 3 by sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs). The 6 blocks were one shy of a season high (7 vs. Colgate).
- The Red Flash held a 31-26 rebounding edge, and out-rebounded an opponent for the first time in eight games.
- Freshman Kameron Ritter made all four of his field goal attempts for a career-high 11 points. He also tied career highs with 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
- Senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) was 2-for-2 at the free throw line, and has now made 15 straight free throws over the last four games.
- Sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) had a team-high 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Road Warriors
Saint Francis has played 12 of 15 games on the road, where it has an 0-12 record. SFU played 10 of its last 11 away from DeGol Arena. The Red Flash were 2-14 on the road last season, and are 2-38 since a win at Morgan State on Dec. 1, 2008.
Where's The Offense?
The Red Flash have struggled to find balanced scoring thus far in 2010-11. They are 11th in the 12-team Northeast Conference in scoring (58.9 ppg), and have yet to hit the 70-point plateau in 15 games this season. Saint Francis has not gotten out of the 50's on offense in the past six games, peaking at 58 points against Ohio (Dec. 15) and Cincinnati (Dec. 23). Additionally, the Red Flash have not had more than three players score in double figures in any game this season.
3-Point Struggles
Saint?Francis had 203 three-pointers (6.77 per game) during the 2009-10 season, which was good for third in program history, and ranked second in the Northeast Conference with a 36.8 three-point field goal percentage. However, SFU has struggled from long distance so far this season. The Red Flash are averaging just 4.47 field goals per game from outside the arc, and rank 11th in the league with a 27.8 three-point field goal percentage. SFU has struggled in its past three games, going a combined 6-for-36 (.167) from long distance.
Growing Pains
As one of the youngest Division I teams in the country, Saint Francis is suffering through some growing pains as head coach Don Friday is in the midst of a rebuilding process. With just 11 total years of Division I experience on the roster heading into 2010-11, most of SFU's minutes are being played by student-athletes with less than two years of experience. The five Red Flash sophomores have accounted for 61.6 percent (1847 of 3000) of the minutes played so far this season. Add in the six newcomers who have seen action, including junior transfer Jon Taylor (Bowie, Md./Montgomery College-Germantown), and 80.4 percent (2413 of 3000) of the minutes played are being contributed by first or second-year Division I players.
Super Sophomores
As previously mentioned, Saint Francis' five sophomores are putting in significant minutes this season. SFU has started four freshman/sophomores in 11 of its 15 games this season, and the five second-year players have contributed 1847 of 3000 possible minutes (61.6 percent) thus far. Most of the team's production is also coming from the five players. Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs), Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh), Tony?Peters and Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) have scored 610 of 883 points and have pulled down 250 of 491 rebounds, accounting for 69.1 percent of the team's offense and 50.9 percent of its rebounds.
