Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Dylan Fearon
Monmouth has done just about everything this season. Beat a Pac-12 program on the road to start the year? Check. How about defeat an ACC team that was in the Elite 8 last season? Double check. Earn road wins against BIG EAST and Big Ten teams in a four-day span? Triple check. And of course, garner national attention with a hilarious bench mob? Yeah, it did that too.
But there’s one thing the Hawks haven’t accomplished since 2006.
Beat Quinnipiac in the Bobcats’ house.
Thursday night, King Rice’s Monmouth Hawks travel to Hamden to accomplish yet another accolade while keeping their postsaesaon dreams alive. At 15-5, Monmouth is atop the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, trying to keep an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in tact in case things don’t go its way in the conference tournament. Every game from here on out is crucial for the Hawks’ chance to go dancing.
The Bobcats, however, are trying to get out of a big funk. Since Dec. 9, Quinnipiac is 1-8, including an 88-74 loss to Monmouth in West Long Branch. Tom Moore’s team is now 5-12 overall, including 2-6 in MAAC play, which puts them in 10th place.
When Monmouth defeated Quinnipiac on Jan. 9, forward Chris Brady won the battle inside against Bobcat big men Chaise Daniels and Donovan Smith. The six-foot-ten Brady had 16 points and corralled 13 rebounds, while Daniels and Smith combined for just six points and five boards.
“That was Chaise’s first game back. He didn’t look winded but he didn’t look explosive, so he was still favoring it,” Moore said. “It was a rough day for both of those guys. It was a frontcourt matchup that we lost that day. It’s been pointed out to those guys and hopefully they use it as motivation. They (the Hawks) have great size at the five and not much size at the four. They’re so good at driving the ball, especially (Justin) Robinson. The way we guard, the ball screens with Robinson, Donovan and Chaise have a lot of responsibility in addition to James Ford.”
One guy who played really well for Quinnipaic at the Multipurpose Activity Center? Daniel Harris. The Hawks started the game on an 11-0 run, but after a Tom Moore timeout, Harris hit four three-pointers to eventually give Quinnipiac a 19-15 lead. The junior finished with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“Danny has been really good. We were in a really rough spot at the start of that game,” Moore said. “The crowd smelled blood and Danny was the first guy in the pool, in terms of jumping in and making those shots. It got us settled down and it got us going. I’m hoping he will draw in on that and hopefully it will help him.”
It’s no secret Quinnipiac’s offense has been struggling this season. The Bobcats are shooting just 37.3 percent on two-point field goal attempts, which ranks them 351st, or last, in the country. The struggle has been team-wide, but one player that will have to contribute Thursday and that has continued to go in the right direction is sophomore Ayron Hutton.
“Sorting out roles with this group has been a challenge as we’ve gone through it but he’s one that’s emerging,” Moore explained. “In terms of minutes, his sophomore year is almost mirroring his freshman year. He didn’t get a lot early, but in the middle of the year he starts to emerge. He’s growing as a player and he knows what he can do and what he shouldn’t be doing offensively. He’s gotten better defensively too and he’s committed himself more.”
Even with the recent decline, there is still that feeling that Moore and the Bobcats can make some noise come March. When 7:30 rolls around Thursday night, there will have a MAAC tournament feel in the air. Quinnipiac is trying to end a rough stretch, while Monmouth hopes to keep rolling.
For Moore, he wants to see his players do one thing in front of what is a expected to be a large turnout: compete.
“It would be an awesome opportunity for us to get a win to break this streak we’re in and in front of a big crowd,” Moore said. “We would love to do it in front of a big crowd because then I think the crowd is more likely going to want to come back if they see us play well and compete hard. That will be our biggest focus, just to really compete at a high standard.”
