HACKENSACK, N.J. -- With two games remaining on the non-conference slate, the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team travels to Amherst to face the University of Massachusetts on Friday afternoon.

Game 11
Fairleigh Dickinson (5-5, 0-0 NEC)
vs UMass (6-5, 0-0 A10)
Date: Friday, December 21
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Mullins Center (Amherst, Mass.)
Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats | Radio
All-Time Series...First-ever meeting

Opening Tip

• The Knights close out non-conference play with a pair of road games beginning at UMass on Friday afternoon.
• The Holloway brothers (Mike and Rashaan) will square off on Friday for the first time in their careers. Rashaan is the older of the two.
• The Knights are 3-18 all-time against the Atlantic 10 but Greg Herenda is 1-2 since arriving in Hackensack in 2013-14. Herenda's Knights earned a road win at St. Joseph's in the 2014-15 season opener and dropped a pair of games to Fordham in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
• With five non-conference wins this season, the Knights have matched their previous high in the Herenda era, which occurred in 2014-15.
• Last time out, the Knights topped Saint Peter's 83-74 at the Rothman Center and featured five players in double figures.
• The key to the Knights' defense this season has been their 8.7 steals per game average, which leads the NEC and ranks 25^th in the nation.
• Last Saturday against NJIT, Senior guard Darnell Edge became the 28^th Knight to eclipse 1,000 career points. He currently ranks fourth in the NEC with 17.6 points per game and first in minutes (35.5 mpg)

The Coaches

• Head Coach Greg Herenda is in his sixth season at the helm of the Knights. Last season, the Knights enjoyed their third consecutive .500 or better season in NEC play as Herenda led the team to a 9-9 conference mark. Under Herenda, the Knights have qualified for the NEC Tournament in four of his five seasons, including a 2016 NEC Championship when the team earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament featuring the third-youngest team in the nation. 
• Matt McCall is in his second season as head coach at UMass and posted a 13-20 overall record in 2017-18. Entering his fourth year as a head coach, he holds a 61-38 overall record. Spending the prior two seasons at Chattanooga, McCall led the Mocs to a 48-18 record. McCall is a 2004 graduate of the University of Florida.

Scouting Massachusetts
The Minutemen (6-5) are coming off of an eight-day break and will have another eight days off prior to their next game. FDU and UMass have two common opponents with the Knights falling at both Providence and Holy Cross earlier this season. UMass topped PC by one point, 79-78, on December 7. UMass is led this season by Luwane Pipkins who is the top returning scorer in the Atlantic 10 after notching 21.2 points per game last year. He was named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason First Team. Through 11 games played, UMass has the best scoring average (79.4 pts) in the Atlantic 10 and ranks third in field goal percentage (47.0). Defensively, UMass ranks 12^th in the league giving up 73.7 points per night.

Knights Last Time Out
For the second time in the last three games, five Knights scored in double figures as they topped Saint Peter's by nine. Fresh off of recording his 1,000th-career point,  Edge kept it rolling with a team-high 21 points, while Xzavier Malone-Key chipped in 18 points with four steals and two boards. Jahlil Jenkins filled up the stat sheet for the second straight outing by scoring 12 points with six assists, four rebounds and four steals in the victory.

Joining the trio in double figures were Mike Holloway Jr. with 13 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots and Kaleb Bishop, who finished with 10 points and four boards. Saint Peter's (2-9) senior guard Davauhnte Turner led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting and added four assists and four rebounds to his ledger in the loss.

The Knights (5-5) led by as many as 23 points and forced 22 turnovers with 13 steals in the contest. The Burgundy and Blue also shot 50 percent from the field and took care of business at the free throw line by converting 29-of-34 (85.3 percent) in the win.

Coach Herenda's Thoughts
"That was a really hard game for me personally. Shaheen [Holloway] means so much to me and we are so close. His team is really banged up and we were fortunate to play them when we did but give our guys credit – we were ready."

"Darnell, Xzavier and Jahlil were very good against a very physical Saint Peter's team. We were ready to really turn it on and we got sloppy and didn't finish the way we would have liked."

"I am very proud of how we have handled our exam week and prepared for tonight. This team has a ways to go but we are growing up each and every game. Now we are off to UMass to play a very potent A-10 team. We need to get some rest and get on the bus."

Next Up
The Knights conclude non-conference action on Saturday, December 29 when they travel to Tampa, Fla. to face University of South Florida at 1:00 p.m.