HACKENSACK, N.J. - FDU men's basketball (6-8, 0-0 NEC) begins 2024 with a clean slate as the Knights kickoff the New Year with a pair of Northeast Conference matchups, beginning with a rematch of last season's NEC tournament final when the Knights do battle with Merrimack (6-8, 0-0 NEC) on Thursday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. ET. Thursday's game will take place at Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass and broadcast live on NESN (New England region) and NEC Front Row. The Knights also opened last season with Merrimack.

FDU ends week one of conference action with the first-ever meeting between the Burgundy and blue and the newest member of the NEC - Le Moyne (5-9, 0-0 NEC) - on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. ET with all the action from Stratis Arena in Hackensack airing on the YES Network and streaming on the YES App. Tickets for Saturday's game are available at FDUKnights.com/Tickets. FDU men's basketball will be hosting a free postgame one-hour kids clinic for boys rising grades 2-6 and girls rising grades 2-8. Clinic participants will receive complimentary admission to the FDU-Chicago State game on Wednesday, Jan. 10. For additional information on the clinic, please contact Director of Men's Basketball Operations Nick Battle at n.battle@student.fdu.edu.
 

About FDU

FDU opens up their 42nd season as founding members of the Northeast Conference after suffering their third non-conference defeat in a row. The Knights closed-out 2023 with a road trip to then-No. 11/9 Illinois on Dec. 29 in the first-ever regular season meeting between FDU and the fighting Illini. 

FDU came within six of the Fighting Illini under the four-minute mark of the first half, but the No. 11-ranked team in the nation created a 20-point lead down the stretch of the opening period, an advantage that would grow up to the final buzzer of the non-conference matchup. Despite falling behind in the infant minutes of the ballgame, the Knights created chances in transition as punctuated by FDU's first of 12 three-pointers courtesy of graduate student guard DeVante Jamison's (Dorchester, Mass./Jeremiah E. Burke) dish to senior forward Sean Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg). The bucket tied the game at five points all, the lone tie mark of the game.

The Knights attempted just one free throw in the first half, an 'and-one' make by senior guard Joe Munden Jr. (Harlem, N.Y./Monsignor Scanlan). The home Illini went to the line 13 times in the first half, making 10 of their attempts from 15-feet (76.9 percent).

Illinois was the beneficiary of balanced scoring with six Illini players posting 10 points or higher, led by Dain Dainja's 19. FDU's Ansley Almonor (Spring Valley, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional [Mont.]) led all scorers with 20 points while adding three rebounds, an assist, steal and blocked shot. The 20-point-or-higher outing was Almonor's 14th at FDU, tied for the most in a three-year span with former Knight Demetre Roberts hitting the mark (all accomplished in 2023-24 season).

'Bullet' [D. Jamison] continued to dish out assists as the NEC leader contributed a team-high five on the evening. FDU's five blocked shots set a new game high this season.
 

About Merrimack

The defending NEC champions welcome the Knights to North Andover, Mass. as the two clubs share the same number of non-conference victories this season (six). The Warriors enter Thursday's contest off a road loss to regional foe Boston University of the Patriot League. Devon Savage, the second leading scorer on this year's Warrior team, posted a game-high 19 points in the outing. Savage trails only New Jersey native and sophomore guard Jordan Derkack for the team scoring title. In the NEC, Derkack's 220 points are just shy of FDU's Almonor and his 237 points. Both average 16.7 points a game. Warriors' head coach Joe Gallo, another Jersey product, is in his eighth season leading his alma mater.

FDU sits in the top three in rebounding in the NEC while the Warriors rank in the bottom third in nearly all rebound categories. The teams have no common non-league opponents.

Jordan Minor, the 2022-23 NEC Player of the Year, transferred from Merrimack to Virginia (ACC) for his final season of collegiate eligibility. Minor was a member of the 2019-20 Warriors, the first team at Merrimack to play a Division I schedule.
 

About Le Moyne

FDU and the Dolphins face off on Jan. 6 in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. From just outside of Syracuse, N.Y., Le Moyne officially joined the now nine-team Northeast Conference on July 1, 2023 after years in the Northeast-10 Conference (Division II). Le Moyne finished their out-of-conference slate with five victories, the first of which against a Division I member came on Nov. 21 at CSUN. FDU and Le Moyne have two things in common from non-league play: both sides faced an AP Top 25 team (Villanova/Illinois) and both played Fairfield.

An alumnus of Le Moyne graduating in 2014, Nate Champion is now in his fifth season on "the Heights" leading the Dolphins.

Champion's team is paced by Luke Sutherland who averages 15.1 points and 3.6 rebounds a game. The Dolphins average 73.9 points a game (second in NEC) and are one of three NEC teams to have a positive scoring margin (Central Connecticut, Wagner).

The matchup against FDU on the 6th is the first-ever NEC contest for Le Moyne.
 

About the Series

FDU is 2-6 all-time against Merrimack and 0-1 inside Lawler Arena. The programs first competed on Jan. 23, 2020, a double-overtime affair resulting in a 74-71 win for Merrimack. FDU swept the regular season series last season but fell to the Warriors in the NEC Championship Final on March 7, 2023 (67-66).

The Knights and Dolphins will face off for the first time on Jan. 6.
 

What a Win Would Mean (MC)

• Third-straight regular season win over Merrimack
• Snap a three-game skid
• Give FDU a 1-0 start to league play for the third-consecutive season
• Be the 384th win for FDU against an NEC team

 

Headlines (MC)

• FDU and Merrimack do battle in the NEC opener for both teams... Thursday's game marks the second time in three seasons FDU opened-up league play with the defending tournament champion.
• DeVante Jamison's hometown of Dorchester is just 30 miles away from North Andover, the site of Thursday's matchup
• Almonor tied Demetre Roberts for the most 20-point-plus outings since 2021-22 (14).
• FDU is 0-1 all-time inside Lawler Arena, typically the home of Merrimack's hockey programs... The Knights are 1-4 against Merrimack in the program's typical home of Hammel Court. This is the first regular season game for FDU inside Lawler.

 

What's Next

After the weekend, FDU welcomes future NEC member Chicago State to Stratis Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 10 in the final non-conference game of the season at 7 p.m. ET on YES and the YES App. Tickets are available at FDUKnights.com/Tickets.

Connect with FDU men's basketball on X and Instagram, @FDUKnightsMBB.

Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor for the 2023-24 FDU men's basketball season.