HACKENSACK, N.J. - FDU men's basketball (14-15, 8-6 NEC) closes the 2024 regular season with two crucial Northeast Conference matchups as the Knights host league-leading Merrimack on Thursday, Feb. 29 for Senior Night, followed by the regular season finale at Wagner on Saturday, March 2. Both games will air live on NEC Front Row and the NEC on the Run app.

Tip-off for Thursday's game against the Warriors inside the Bogota Savings Bank Center is set for 7 p.m. with the Senior Night ceremony beginning at approximately 6:50 p.m. FDU will honor graduate students Heru Bligen, DeVante Jamison and Sébastien Lamaute and seniors Joe Munden Jr. and Sean Moore before the game. Junior Ansley Almonor will also be recognized for scoring more than 1,000 career points at FDU in a pregame ceremony.

FDU will host the 2024 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Trophy on Thursday as part of the NCAA Trophy Tour. Fans will have the ability to take their photo with the trophy inside the arena.

The 2024 NEC tournament commences on Thursday, March 6 at campus sites for the quarterfinal round. Click here for the 2024 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Championship Headquarters.
 

About FDU

FDU enters the ultimate week of the Northeast Conference sitting among the top four in the nine-team league. The Knights have already clinched a berth in the upcoming NEC tournament, marking the 35th time FDU has participated in the league's 42-season history. Before the attention turns to the madness of March, FDU has business to attend to in the NEC, beginning with Thursday's tilt against Merrimack, the defending Northeast Conference champions.

The Knights enter the week with an opportunity to match their season-high three-game win streak to close the campaign after splitting last week's two battles, falling against Sacred Heart and emerging triumphant against newcomer Le Moyne last Saturday in a stellar defensive showing. Last Saturday's game against the Dolphins marked the eighth time FDU held their opponent to 70 points or less. FDU is 6-2 in those contests.

In their first meetings of the season, FDU fell to both Merrimack and Wagner, looking to earn splits of the season series this week. The Knights swept three NEC opponents home and away, matching last season's total. After topping the Warriors in both regular season tilts in the 2022-23 campaign, FDU to fell to top-seeded Merrimack in the NEC final, though due to NCAA reclassifying rules, Merrimack was ineligible for the NCAA Championship, leading to FDU earning the program's seventh March Madness bid.
 
FDU junior forward Ansley Almonor, last season's NEC Most Improved Player, has emerged as a candidate for conference Player of the Year. Six points shy of 500 for the season, Almonor has shot the ball lights-out from deep, averaging over three made triples a game. The Spring Valley, N.Y. native averages 17.0 points a night and set a career high last week against Le Moyne with 30 points, 18 of them from the three-point ball. In the Knights' 68-58 win over the Dolphins, Almonor was responsible for over 44 percent of the team's points and was one of two to score in double figures, the other being Joe Munden Jr. who finished with 19 points.

Almonor's 494 points are the most-ever in an FDU player's junior season. 92.21 percent of Almonor's 1,066 points have come in the last 65 games (2022-23, 2023-24).

Munden Jr. has come into the fold as of late as FDU continues to share the basketball as the NEC tournament approaches. Munden Jr. contributed a career-high 23 points at Sacred Heart in the Knights' ferocious comeback effort. Five Knights average seven or more points a game with Almonor leading the pack at 17.0, followed by Sean Moore (12.2), Jo'el Emanuel (11.2), Munden Jr. (9.7) and Terrence Brown (7.7). Moore, nicknamed 'Fuzz,' is the top rebounder in the NEC, averaging 7.8 rebounds overall with 143 caroms on the defensive end.

Continuing their uptempo style of basketball, Jack Castleberry's Knights are ranked 13th in the country in tempo per KenPom (72.7) and are also one of the best assist-to-field goals made teams in Division I with 57.0, good for the top 15 percent.
 

About the Opponents

Merrimack visits Hackensack for the first time since Dec. 29, 2022. The Warriors enter the game having won nine-straight, the third-longest active win streak in Division I, behind Saint Mary's (14) and South Florida (13).

Led by Jersey native Joe Gallo, the Warriors sit first in the NEC followed by Central Connecticut. Facing FDU for the final time in the regular season, Merrimack prepares to depart the NEC for the MAAC in July after joining the NEC in 2019 from Division II. Sitting with an overall record of 18-10 and an NEC mark of 12-2, Merrimack opened conference play 3-0.

The Warriors' Jordan Derkack leads the NEC in scoring (17.1) and is seventh in rebounding (5.9). Freshman Adam "Budd" Clark, a favorite for NEC Rookie of the Year, sits second in the NEC in assists (3.9) and leads the league in steals (2.1) followed by Derkack's 2.1.

Clark's 360 points this season are the most of any NEC freshman.

In their second game of the week, FDU heads to the Spiro Sports Center on Staten Island to face the Wagner Seahawks. Wagner (13-13, 7-7 NEC) has been riddled with injuries as the Seahawks dress under nine players and play primarily with a seven-player rotation.

The Seahawks' scoring defense mark of 63.2 is second in the league (NEC games only) to Merrimack, while their team three-point percentage (34.7) is second in the conference.

Head coach Donald Copeland is in his second year at Wagner.
 

About the Series

Thursday marks the 10th all-time meeting between FDU and Merrimack. The Knights are 2-7 against the Warriors, though FDU swept both regular season meetings last season.

First meeting on Dec. 16, 1955, FDU and Wagner have faced 120 times heading into Saturday's late afternoon tilt. Wagner owns the all-time series 61-59.
 

What's Next

FDU awaits the final shake-out of the NEC standings and seeding for the upcoming Northeast Conference Championship which begins on Wednesday, March 6 at campus sites. Stay tuned to FDUKnights.com for the official tournament bracket and ticketing information.

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