Five Starting Notes
1 – Navy opens its 31st season as a member of the Patriot League. The Mids have won each of their last three league opening games and have posted an overall record of 13-17 in their first Patriot League game of a season.
2 – This is the second time Navy and Holy Cross will meet in the first game of a Patriot League season. Holy Cross won the lone previous game, a 70-57 decision at the start of the 2001-02 league season in a game played in Worcester.
3 – The game will feature brothers Patrick and Nolan Dorsey facing each other for the first time. Each player has had injuries impact their respective 2021-22 seasons. Patrick has yet to dress for a Navy game this year and Nolan has appeared in just three games for Holy Cross and hasn't taken to the court since Nov. 15. There are eight sets of brother vs. brother pairings (11 games) across the country this season.
4 – Navy is playing a game on New Year's Day for the first time since Jan. 1, 2012, and the fifth time in school history.
5 – Navy and Holy Cross did not face each other during the 2020-21 season. The teams split the two regular season games that were played during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
Series History
• Holy Cross leads the all-time series with Navy, 45-26.
• The teams first met during the first round / quarterfinals of the 1947 NCAA Tournament. The Crusaders posted a 55-47 victory over the Mids that day in Madison Square Garden on their way to winning the eight-team tournament.
• Each team was coached –– Navy, Ben Carnevale; Holy Cross, Doggie Julian –– by a future member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Additionally, future hall-of-famer Bob Cousy scored six points in the game for the Crusaders.
• The second game in the series also occurred in the NCAA Tournament. Holy Cross defeated Navy, 87-74, in Philadelphia in the first round of the 1953 East Regional.
• The Crusaders hold an 25-7 edge in games played in Worcester, with all of those games taking place in the Hart Center.
• Holy Cross also leads Navy in Patriot League regular season games played between the teams, 35-23.
• Holy Cross has posted a 22-7 record against Navy in league games played in Worcester.
• Navy and Holy Cross did not meet during the 2021 Patriot League season.
• The teams split the two regular season games played in both 2019 and '20.
• The home team has posted a 13-2 record over the last 15 Navy vs. Holy Cross games dating back to midway through the 2013-14 season.
