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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
2 |
Zion Russell |
6-2 |
185 |
R-Sr. |
11.5 |
4.1 |
36.7 |
Dished out 17 assists in last three games |
| G/F |
4 |
Ralph Martino, Jr. |
6-6 Â Â |
180 |
So. |
6.2 |
2.4 |
54.0 |
Averaging 8.5 ppg in last two games |
| GÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
F |
Skylar Wicks |
6-6 |
190 |
R-Sr. |
18.3 |
7.3.5 |
40.7 |
Leads the NEC in defensive rebounds |
| G |
15 |
Victor Payne |
6-4 |
190 |
So. |
5.8 |
3.7 |
37.5 |
NEC career-high 11 points against Le Moyne |
| FÂ Â Â Â |
21 |
Gestin Liberis |
6-9 |
225 |
R-Jr. |
4.9 |
4.5 |
50.0 |
Set to play first NEC game since March 2, 2023 against Le Moyne |
| Top Players Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| GÂ |
1 |
KJ Swain, Jr. |
6-1 |
165 |
R-Sr. |
2.1 |
0.8 |
28.6 |
Career-high seven assists in last home game played |
| G |
0 |
Chris Moncrief |
6-6 |
190 |
Sr. |
3.2 |
0.8 |
35.0 |
Returned to action with two points, two assists on Friday |
| G |
3 |
Brandon Russell |
6-5 |
185 |
Fr. |
2.7 |
1.4 |
25.5 |
Played first NEC game on Friday |
| G |
7 |
Paris Papadatos |
6-4 |
185 |
Fr. |
7.1 |
1.3 |
41.3 |
Scored at least nine points three times |
| F |
20 Â Â |
Cam Tweedy |
6-6 |
240 |
R-Sr. |
4.9 |
2.9 |
55.6 |
Faces his former team on Sunday |
| G |
55 Â Â Â |
Ahmad Harrison |
6-1 |
190 |
Sr. |
6.9 |
1.7 |
39.0 |
Averaging 10.0 ppg. in last two tilts |
SELECT GAME NOTES VS. FDUÂ (FULLÂ GAME NOTES PDF)Â
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Sunday's game between Saint Francis and FDU marks the 107th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1954-55 season.
• The series is tied at 53, but the Red Flah holds a 32-19 advantage at home.
• While the matchup is tied at 53, 18 times a team has swept the two games in the regular season, including the last two years. The Knights took both games in 2023-24 before the Red Flash won both tilts last season.
• The Frankies have swept a season series with FDU six times, with five of those occasions coming in the last 15 years.
• FDU is the only team Saint Francis has played over 100 times. Robert Morris (94), St. Francis Brooklyn (91), LIU (91), and Mount St. Mary's (90) are the only teams the Red Flash has played 90 or more times.
• While FDU is the most played rival, it is not the oldest rivalry with the teams the Red Flash are currently playing. That distinction goes to Mount St. Mary's, which began in 1921-22, which was 12 years before Maurice Stokes was born and 42 years before Stokes and the Frankies would play FDU for the first time in program history.
• With this being the 35th Anniversary of the 1991 NEC Championship, the Knights were an important opponent to that team's success. Saint Francis defeated FDU 97-82 in Loretto on March 2, 1991, to win the first NEC title in school history, and ended a two-game postseason losing streak to FDU after the two teams tangled in the previous two tournaments.
• Weekend doubleheaders in the NEC used to be a tradition (even tried Thursday doubleheaders one year), but during the COVID season of 2020-21, the NEC turned to a mirror schedule, and the tradition went away. This will be the first NEC doubleheader in the Lo' since Sunday, February 23, 2020, against LIU.
• The last time the Red Flash participated in an NEC doubleheader with both teams was Saturday, January 29, 2022, at Mount St. Mary's for its Winter Homecoming.
• Saint Francis did have a home non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, December 8, 2022, when the Red Flash women hosted Vermont and the men followed with a game against St. Vincent.
•
FUN FACT: The Frankies have opened the season at George Washington (2021-22), St. Bonaventure (2022-23), UCLA (2023-24), and Oklahoma (2024-25) as part of a doubleheader in the last five seasons.
• Saint Francis hits the road for two games in New York, starting Thursday at Wagner. The NEC schedule makers must have had fun with it, because the next three games after FDU are the Red Flash's three opponents from last year's march to the NEC Tournament title (Wagner, LIU, and CCSU).
• Saint Francis opened the NEC schedule 0-1 for the 25th time in program history after its loss to Le Moyne.
• If we learned anything from last year or the great thought by Art Hunter, "It doesn't matter how you start, it's how you finish." Â
• Last season, the Red Flash lost its first two, four of its first six, and was 5-8 in the NEC, going into the league's final stretch, and the outlook of even making the playoffs was in question. The squad won the next three games not only to get into the tournament but also to clinch the No. 4 seed, and the rest is history.
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AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Even the NEC record to 1-1
• Be the third-straight win against FDU
• End a five-game losing streak
• Give Luke McConnell his first NEC win
• Be the third win at DeGol Arena this season
• Improve to 5-2 at home and third-straight win on this date
• Even the team's record at DeGol Arena to 3-3
• Beat FDU at DeGol Arena in the 35th Anniversary of the NEC Championship, the team the Red Flash won to earn the NEC title in 1990-91
ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
• FDU comes into the contest 4-10 overall and 1-0 in NEC play after defeating Mercyhurst 74-67 in the NEC opener on Friday.Â
• The Knights had a non-conference strength of schedule of 199, and the win against the Lakers marked FDU's first win against a Division I opponent, and their first win away from home.Â
• Eric Parnell paced FDU on Friday with 19 points. Taeshaud Jackson (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Joey Neisman (16 points) also found double figures for the Knights.Â
• Parnell leads the team with 11.9 points per game. Niesman is second with 9.6 points per game, and fuels the team in assists (51) and steals (16). Jackson has a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Chris Moncrief scored on a jumper in the lane with 52 seconds left in overtime to lift Saint Francis past FDU 85-80 on February 22, 2025.Â
• Riley Parker paced the Red Flash with 28 points, while Moncrief finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Juan Cranford, Jr. also recorded 14 points and nine rebounds, and Daemar Kelly had 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
• Terrence Brown powered the Knights with 27 points. Jo'el Emmauel (15 points), Brayden Reynolds (12 points), and Dylan Jones (10 points) also scored double-figures.
• The Red Flash played in back-to-back overtime games for the first time in 70 years. The only other time the Frankies played consecutive extra sessions was Maurice Stokes' final two games in a Saint Francis uniform in 1954-55.
• The game was the second win to help drive the Red Flash to the NEC Championship in a six-game winning streak that ended with the Frankies' cutting down the nets in New Britain.Â
LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis drops the NEC opener to Le Moyne on Friday. The Red Flash lost the NEC opener for the third consecutive season.
• Zion Russell paced the Red Flash with 12 points, five assists, three steals, and two rebounds, while Victor Payne added 11 points and five rebounds.
TRENDING UP
• Redshirt senior Zion Russell has scored double figures in four-straight games for the first time in his career and has hit 10 points in seven of his last 10 games. The graduate student is averaging 12.8 points per game in his current four-game streak and 10.6 points per game over his last 10 tilts. He added five assists to reach five dimes for the fourth time this season and each time has posted a double-figure performance. Russell recorded three steals for the second time this season after he had three thefts against Mount St. Mary's on November 11 when he scored a career-high 22 points.
• Sophomore Victor Payne registered his first 10-point game in league play with his 11 points against Le Moyne. The last time the sophomore had double figures was when he posted career highs of 15 points against Troy on November 26 and against Franciscan three days later. Payne hauled in five rebounds for the fifth time this season and for the first time since he had six boards against Radford on December 7.
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks was held to single digits for the first time this season, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds against the Dolphins. While Wicks last played at UTSA, the best example of what he can do after being held to single digits is looking at his season at Incarnate Word in 2023-24. He scored 10+ points in 21 of the 30 games played and averaged 11.6 points per game in the next game after he was held to single digits. If you want to quantify it further, he was held to two points twice in this stretch but played less than 12 minutes, so he is also averaging 14.3 points per game when he gets at least 12 minutes of play after being held to single digits that season.Â
• Senior Ahmad Harrison is averaging 10.0 points per game in his last two games after posting 11 points against Robert Morris on December 20 and nine points against Le Moyne.
• Senior Chris Moncrief returned to action for the second time this season after missing games due to an injury. The senior was injured in the game against TCU on November 6 and then missed the next seven games. He then played 11 minutes off the bench at Radford on December 7, then started and played 29 minutes against Temple on December 14, recording a season-high four assists before leaving the game with an injury, and then missed the next two contests. He had two points and two assists against the Dolphins in eight minutes. Moncrief was a key component to the Red Flash run last season, averaging 10.0 points per game in the last 10 tilts.
• Redshirt senior Cam Tweedy will face his former team for the first time on Sunday. Tweedy played in 50 games with the Knights in 2022-25 with three starts and registered 116 points and 165 rebounds. He was a member of the Knights 2023 NCAA Tournament team and had 10 points and six rebounds in the 63-58 upset of top seed Purdue on March 13, 2023. He also set a personal best with 13 points against Merrimack in the NEC Championship Game, a mark he surpassed with 14 points against TCU on November 6 with the Red Flash.Â
LEAGUE LEADERS
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks powers the NEC in defensive rebounds (5.75 rpg.), and ranks second in scoring (18.3 ppg.), third in minutes played (33.08 mpg.), fourth in rebounding (7.3 rpg.), fifth in free throw percentage (79.5), fifth in 3-pointers made (2.17 pg.), seventh in steals (1.50 spg.), and 10th in assists (2.50 apg.).
• Prior to Friday's game against Le Moyne, Wicks ranked 49th in scoring, 50th in defensive rebounds per game, and 79th in minutes per game in NCAA Division I.
• Redshirt senior Zion Russell ranks fifth in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.38), sixth in assists (3.14 apg.), 10th in steals (1.36 spg.), and 17th in scoring (11.5 ppg.).
• Senior Ahmad Harrison ranks ninth in steals (1.43 spg.).
• Saint Francis Saint Francis ranks fourth in steals (7.86), fifth in assists (13.50), fifth in turnover margin (-0.93), and fifth in offensive rebounds (11.00 rpg.).
IN THE LOÂ
• Saint Francis is 2-3 at DeGol Arena this season with wins its only two wins coming at home this season.
• The Loretto program has lost back-to-back games in the Lo' for the first time since opening the 2024-25 NEC slate against CCSU (January 3) and Stonebhill (January 5, 2025)
• Saint Francis is averaging 75.8 points per game and allowing 67.6 points per game at home this season.
• Redshirt senior Zion Russell is averaging 13.8 points per game with a career-high 22 points against Mount St. Mary's among his four 10+ point games at DeGol Arena.
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks is neraly averaging a double-double with 14.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in three games. Wicks registered ad 15 points and 13 rebounds in his DeGol Arena debut against the Mount and 19 points against Robert Morris, but did not play against the two NCAA Division III teams.Â
• Sophomore Victor Payne has posted a pair of 10+ point games at home, including a career-high matching 15 points against Franciscan on November 29.
• Redshirt junior Gestin Liberis (16 points, 10 rebounds, Franciscan), junior Trey Weiand (17 points, Penn State Shenango, December 3), and sophomore Ralph Martino, Jr. (12 points, Penn State Shenango) and freshman Paris Papadatos (19 points, Penn State Shenango)all registered career highs against a Division III team while playing all four games in the 'Lo.
• Saint Francis finished 10-4 overall and 5-3 in NEC play last season. The Red Flash won its final four at DeGol Arena, including a 53-50 win against Wagner in the NEC Quarterfinals.Â
ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis 10-11 overall and 4-2 at home on this date.Â
• Behind 24 points from Ben Millaud-Meunier, Saint Francis defeated Sacred Heart 86-80 on this date in 2016. Greg Brown added 19 points, while Isaiah Blackmon (13 points) and Ronnie Drinnon (10 points, 10 rebounds) also posted double figures for the Frankies. It was the third time of 11 the Red Flash beat Pioneers head coach Anthony Latina at DeGol Arena, who went 0-11 in Loretto before Sacred Heart left for the MAAC.
FUN FACTS...
• Maurice Stokes and the Red Flash defeated Wayne State 47-44 in the first known Frankies overtime game on this date on the road in 1954.
• The first time Saint Francis was home on this date the Red Flash defeated Robert Morris 76-74 in 1986.
