Princeton at Monmouth, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3
For our latest HoopsHD Report video podcast, CLICK HERE.
The Under the Radar Game of the Day will be in New Jersey tonight as the Monmouth Hawks will be hosting cross-state foe Princeton in a non-conference matchup. Monmouth (9-2 overall, 2-0 in MAAC play) has very quietly been putting together another solid season, which includes a win last week at Memphis and a heart-breaking one point overtime loss at South Carolina. The Hawks are once again featuring a tough, balanced scoring attack, with the likes of Justin Robinson, Micah Seaborn, Chris Brady, Je’lon Hornbeak and more able to put up double-digits in scoring on any given night. Hornbeak was particularly impressive in the Memphis win, hitting 6 out of 7 from beyond the arc.
Tonight, the Hawks will be hosting a Princeton team that we thought, at least at the start of the season, might be able to put itself in position for an at-large bid. The Tigers (4-5 overall) have been somewhat disappointing, however, with losses at Lehigh and at home to St. Joseph’s having likely put the team in need of the Ivy League’s automatic bid in order to dance. The Tigers are a solid eight players deep at least and should provide Monmouth with a very tough test. Steven Cook and Henry Caruso have led the way so far this season, and if they can both provide solid scoring and defense tonight, we should be in for a very good game.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-EAST CAROLINA AT UNC WILMINGTON. I think UNCW is currently inside the bubble and should remain there as long as they hold serve. That means winning home games against non-tournament teams.
-GEORGIA AT GEORGIA TECH. This is a rivalry game between two teams who have a lot of work to do.
-EASTERN WASHINGTON AT XAVIER. Buy game, but Eastern Washington is a Big Sky frontrunner.
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT ARKANSAS. Buy game, but North Dakota State should be one of the better teams in the Summit League
-NORTHEASTERN AT OAKLAND. This game doesn’t really pop out at you when you look at the two teams, but Northeastern just beat Michigan State and Oakland has just one loss on the year.
-NEW MEXICO AT ARIZONA. This appears to be a mismatch between an NIT road team and a solid NCAA Tournament home team. Still, it’s good to see this series renewed after a recent hiatus.
-FRESNO STATE AT OREGON. This may SOUND like a buy game, but Fresno State is technically from a conference that’s not Under the Radar (emphasis on “technically), they are 8-3, and they are a team that made the NCAA Tournament last year. So, we can’t throw it in with the other buy games. We wanted to, but it’s against the rules. In all serious, Fresno at least has some sort of a pulse and as much as Oregon has struggled they may be able to compete.
BUY GAMES
-Charlotte @ Maryland
-Youngstown State @ Ohio State
-Radford @ West Virginia
-Mississippi Valley State @ Iowa State
-Southern @ Nebraska
-IUPUI @ Northwestern
-Albany @ SMU
-Maine @ Providence
-North Dakota @ Iowa
-Charleston Southern @ Virginia Tech
-Idaho State @ BYU
-TAMUCC @ Saint Mary’s