Monmouth basketball vs. Elon: 3 keys as Hawks face big CAA test in home finale

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WEST LONG BRANCH – The 2023-24 Monmouth basketball season was something to behold at OceanFirst Bank Center, with the Hawks closing on a 13-game home winning streak, with dramatic wins that team’s calling card.

And this season, thanks to some heroics by Abdi Bashir and Madison Durr, the games on campus have once again been pretty darn good.

Now Monmouth (11-18, 9-7 CAA), which has won 20 of its last 22 home games, needs to squeeze one more victory out at the Jersey Shore when they host Elon (17-12, 8-8 CAA) tonight (7 p.m.; FloCollege) in a key CAA clash.

Monmouth plays its final home game of the 2024-25 season Thursday when the Hawks host Elon at OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J.

The Hawks, winners of six of their last eight games, are alone in sixth place in the 14-team league, a game ahead of Elon and Hampton. With the regular season finale Saturday at Drexel (2 p.m.), the Hawks are trying to hold their position, which would allow them to avoid the top two seeds until the semifinals at the CAA Tournament, which opens in Washington, D.C. on March 7, with Monmouth in action a day later.

More: Monmouth’s Bashir scores 30 in record-setting effort: Takeaways from win over Northeastern

Elon beat Monmouth, 83-71, in North Carolina on Jan. 23, as sophomore TJ Simpkins scored 26 points off the bench for the Pheonix, while his brother, junior TK Simpkins, added 18 points, and is averaging a team-best 15.8 ppg.

Here are three keys for Monmouth against Elon:

1. Clean the glass

Elon is big, with 6-11 senior Sam Sherry averaging 14.0 points and 7.4 rebounds, and 7-4 center Matthew Van Komen grabbing 8.4 rebounds on average. And the Phoenix are the best rebounding team in the CAA at 40.5 per-game. They had a 40-31 advantage in rebounding in the first meeting, with 10 offensive rebounds leading to 15 second chance points.

Monmouth was plus-18 in rebounding margin, its best showing in eight years, against Northeastern. But this represents a huge challenge for the frontcourt,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/monmouth-basketball-vs-elon-3-114648883.html

Author : App.com | Asbury Park Press

Publish date : 2025-02-27 11:46:00

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