Game #15 / Patriot League Game #4 • at Lafayette
Saturday, Jan. 13 • 2 p.m. • Kirby Sports Center Center • Easton, Pa.

Multimedia Information
Live Streaming - ESPN+ / Gary Laubach, Jone Leone
Navy Radio - WNAV AM-1430, FM-99.9, wnav.com, Audacy app  / Pete Medhurst
Live Statistics - NavySports.com

Five Starting Notes
1 – The Navy-Lafayette series dates back 104 years and three days to Jan. 10, 1920.  
2 – Saturday will be the 91st Navy-Lafayette game.  The only opponents the Mids have played more often are Army (139) and American (103). The series ranks sixth for the most games played against an opponent by the Leopards.
3 – Saturday's game will be the 39th Navy game to be played in the Kirby Sports Center.  Only Philadelphia's The Palestra with 48 games has played host to more Navy games outside of Annapolis.
4 – Five of the last eight games in the series to be played at Lafayette have been decided by single digits.
5 – Lafayette's Kyle Jenkins has scored 35 career points in games played against the Mids.  The players on the current Navy roster have totaled 18 career points in games played against the Leopards.

Game Information
•    The second of back-to-back road games for Navy (6-8, 2-1) takes place Saturday when the Mids face Lafayette (4-12, 3-0) at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. (2 p.m.).
•    ESPN+ will provide a video stream of the game.
•    WNAV will carry the game on the radio.
•    Links to live statistics from the game can be accessed at NavySports.com.

Last Game 
•    A big night from Mac MacDonald boosted Navy to an 80-70 win at Holy Cross Wednesday night.
•    Holy Cross jumped out to leads of 25-13 lead before the Mids were able to take a 29-28 lead.  The Crusaders went into halftime holding a 30-29 advantage.
•    Holy Cross started the second half by scoring the opening five points (35-29).  It soon was a 40-35 lead for the Crusaders when the Mids rallied and took a 44-42 lead.
•    It was a 49-48 lead for Holy Cross, but Navy bounced back to take a 55-50 lead with seven minutes left.
•    The Navy cushion was six points when MacDonald converted a four-point play to push the lead to 70-60 with just under two minutes left.
•    Navy was 10-10 from the foul line over the remainder of the game.
•    MacDonald made seven triples and scored 35 points.
•    Navy was 25-30 from the free throw line and Holy Cross was 5-7.

About Lafayette
•    After posting a 1-12 record prior to the start of league play, the Leopards recorded their third league win in as many games Wednesday night with a 69-64 win at Colgate.
•    Lafayette also has defeated Army (52-47) and Boston U. (59-51) during the brief league season.
•    The Leopards lost to, among other non-league teams, UCLA, Pepperdine, Penn, Quinnipiac and Richmond.  Lafayette's lone win in 2023 was a 69-53 victory over Wilkes.

Navy-Lafayette Series
•    Navy leads the series with Lafayette by the count of 55-35.  The Leopards lead the Mids, 20-17, in games played in Easton, all of which have been played in the Kirby Sports Center.
•    The Mids hold a slim 32-30 edge in Patriot League regular season games played between the teams.  Lafayette leads the Mids, 20-17, in league games played in Easton.
•    12 of the last 17 games in the series have been decided by single digits.  This includes five of the last eight games to be played at Lafayette.
•    The first Navy-Lafayette game took place Jan. 10, 1920,  when Navy won a 30-23 game in Annapolis.
•    This season marks the 56th season with at least one Navy-Lafayette game, and is the 43rd season in the last 45 in which they are facing each other.  The teams have played in all but two seasons since the 1979-80 campaign (1988-89 and the 2020-21 COVID season).
•    Saturday's game will be Navy's 39th in the Kirby Sports Center.  That will break a tie with Stabler Arena for this most total games played by the Mids in a current Patriot League arena.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted a 20-11 record in games played on Jan. 13.  This includes a 4-1 record in Patriot League games.
•    This will be the fourth Navy-Lafayette game to be played on Jan. 13 (1926, 1996, 2007).

Against This State
•    Navy has posted a 387-263 record in games played against opponents located in Pennsylvania.

In This State
•    Navy has posted a 76-136 record in games played in Pennsylvania.

Up Next
•    Navy returns home for a week of home games starting with a Jan. 17 game against Lehigh and ending with a Jan. 20 game against Army (not the Star Game).

Six First-Time Starters
•    Nine Mids have started at least one game this season.    It marked the first career start for six of those nine.

Taking Advantage of More Court Time
•    Several Mids have either surpassed or are approaching the point totals for their careers with their efforts this season.

Player    Career through 2022-23    2023-24
Austin Benigni    146 pts / 31 gms.    201 pts. / 14 gms.
Mitch Fischer    8 pts. / 10 gms.    92 pts. / 14 gms.
Mac MacDonald    82 pts. / 28 gms.    123 pts. / 13 gms.
Lysander Rehnstrom    25 pts. / 16 gms.    52 pts. / 11 gms.
Kam Summers    46 pts. / 20 gms.    71 pts. / 14 gms.
Mike Woods    33 pts. / 18 gms.    82 pts. / 14 gms.

MacDonald Makes 7 3s, Scores 35 at HC
•    Mac MacDonald had a career high in Navy's Jan. 10 game at Holy Cross.  He was 7-11 from three-point range and 13-20 from the floor overall, plus 2-3 from the foul line, to total 35 points.
•    The 35 points ties him for fourth place for the most by a Mid in a Patriot League regular season game.
•    The last Mid to score 30 points in a game was Daniel Deaver, who scored 35 at Holy Cross on Feb. 4, 2023.
•    The Navy record for most three-point field goals made in a game is nine.  MacDonald's effort places him in a tie for eighth place at Navy (a Mid has made seven triples 14 times).  
•    The Navy record for the most treys made in a league game is eight, which places MacDonald in a 10-way tie for fourth place.
•    The last Mid to make at least seven three pointers in a game was George Kiernan, who made seven at Holy Cross on Jan. 26, 2019.

No Lead is Safe
•    Navy opened Patriot League play with a 62-60 victory over Boston U.  The Mids trailed by as many as 12 points (23-11, 8:40 first half) and were down by 11 points (50-39) with nine minutes left in the game.
•    Navy held a 30-15 lead (7:34 first half) in an 80-72 loss to the Raiders in the team's second game.
•    The Mids trailed Holy Cross by 12 points (25-13, 6:20 first half) before rallying for an 80-70 win in their third league game of the year.
 
Not Getting to the FT Line 
•    Navy ranked 343rd nationally during the 2022-23 season with an average of 13.5 free throws attempted a game, and 344th with an average of 9.5 free throws made a game.
•    In 2023-24, the Mids rank 153rd nationally in free throws attempted (20.0) and 152nd in free throws made (14.3) per game. Though relatively low nationally, both of those averages lead all Patriot League teams.
•    Compared to their opponents this year, the Mids are +3 in free throws attempted and +6 in free throws made.

Close Games by Patriot League Teams
•    Navy's four games this season decided by five or fewer points ranks second among Patriot League teams.

Navy Bench Has Been a Strength 
•    The Mids have received an average of at least 20 points a game from their bench since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
•    The Navy reserve players have outscored their foes 362-182 this year.
•    Navy ranks first in the Patriot League and 74th nationally in bench scoring this season.

3-Point Percentage Low in Navy Games
•    Navy ranks 16th in defensive three-point field goal percentage as opponents are shooting 28.0 percent from beyond the arc against the Mids. 
•    Navy ranks 311th (out of 351 teams) in the country in offensive three-point field goal percentage.  The Mids are making 29.9 percent of their three-point field goal attempts.

Rebounding 
•     Navy has been very good over the last number of years at winning the offensive rebound margin.
•    The Mids rank first in the Patriot League and 107th nationally this season with an average of 11.71 offensive rebounds per game.

Second-Chance Points 
•     Navy has scored more second-chance points than its foes in 187 of the 279 games (67.0%) it has played since the start of the 2014-15 season.  
•     39 of the 115 career points (33.9%) scored by Mike Woods have been second-chance points.
•    Navy has scored on 24 of the 43 (55.8%) career possessions in which Woods has grabbed an offensive rebound.
•    Navy has scored on 25 of the 42 (59.5%) possessions in which Donovan Draper has grabbed an offensive rebound.
•    Draper's offensive rebound average currently ranks among the best by a Mid in a season since it became an official statistics with the 1986-87 season.

Navy Pace 
•    Navy traditionally has been one of the more deliberate teams in terms of possessions per game under head coach Ed DeChellis.  
•    The Mids are playing at their "fastest" pace during the DeChellis era with an average of 67.2 possessions a game.
•    Lafayette ranks 240th nationally with an average of 67.6 possessions a game.