With the season at stake, the Monmouth Hawks (6-25, 0-0-0 ATS, 5-13 CAA) will duke it out with the Hampton Pirates (8-23, 0-0-0 ATS 5-13 CAA) for a third time. These schools finished tied at the bottom of the CAA standings, but Hampton swept Monmouth in the regular season. The Pirates won 83-66 in January and 86-81 last Thursday, the penultimate game for both teams. For the Hawks, wiping the slate clean will be paramount, as a win here is much more important. Playing in Washington D.C.'s Entertainment & Sports Arena, tipoff for this game is slated for 2:00 p.m. on Friday to kick off the CAA Tournament.
Monmouth momentarily appeared to find their footing, winning five out of six between January 28 and February 13. However, they lost their last four to end the season. Losing was the norm this season for one of the nation's worst teams. KenPom has them rated 354th nationally out of 363 schools.
Their season-ending loss came to the hands of William & Mary, a game that they could've won. Unfortunately, the Hawks went 13/22 from the free-throw line and committed 19 turnovers. Junior Myles Foster saved his best for last at least, pouring in a career-high 23 points in the season finale.
If we're discussing Monmouth's woes, the offense is the best place to start. Nationally, Monmouth is 353rd in field goal percentage at 40.0% and 360th in three-point percentage, hitting 27.9%. Free throws hurt them last game, which is nothing new, as they only hit 65.9%, 335th in the nation. This al l leads to 61.0 points per game, more than only four teams in the nation score, despite playing a bit uptempo.
The defense doesn't save the Hawks though. On that end, they allow opponents to shoot 46.3% from the floor, the worst mark in the CAA and a number that's 323rd nationwide. A lot of the damage is done from downtown, as their foes hit 37.5% of their triples, which is 346th in the country. Monmouth also puts opponents at the free throw line 21.4 times per game.
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