Navy (7-14, 4-4 Patriot League) at Lehigh (7-12, 2-6 Patriot League)
Wednesday, Jan. 29 • 7 p.m.
Stabler Arena • Bethlehem, Pa.

Series History
Overall: Navy leads, 55-36 / Patriot League: Navy leads, 36-30
Last Game: Lehigh, 77-65 / Jan. 31, 2024 (Bethlehem, Pa.)
at Lehigh: Navy leads, 23-15 / Patriot League: Navy leads, 20-13
Last Game: Lehigh, 77-65 / Jan. 31, 2024 (Bethlehem, Pa.)

Broadcast Information
Video: ESPN+ / Matt Markus
Navy Radio: WNAV / Matt Sabados

Five Starting Notes
1 – Wednesday's game is Navy's fifth road game in a span of seven games. The Mids are in the middle of playing seven out of 10 games on the road.
2 – 14 of the last 20 Navy-Lehigh games have been decided by single digits.  This includes 10 games that were determined by no more than five points.
3 – Tyler Whitney-Sidney (73) and Keith Higgins Jr. (47) have totaled 120 of the 172 career points scored by Lehigh players against the Mids.  Austin Benigni leads Navy with 46 of the team's 125 points against the Mountain Hawks.
4 – This is Navy's fourth trip of the season to play games in Pennsylvania (at Saint Joseph's, at Penn [3 games], at Bucknell, at Lehigh).  The Mids will make their fifth trek of the year to the Keystone State Feb. 8 at Lafayette.
5 – The team making more three-point field goals in Navy-Lehigh games has won nine-straight games since 2019 (there also were two games during this span in which the teams tied for the number of three-point field goals made).

Game Information
•    The Mids head back out on the road for a Wednesday night game at Lehigh.  The tip in Stabler Arena is set for 7 p.m.
•    The game will be streamed through ESPN+.
•    Matt Sabados will have the local WNAV radio call of the game.

About Lehigh
•    Lehigh plays host to Navy with an overall record of 7-12 this season. Six of the team's seven wins have come in home games (6-2 record at home).
•    The Mountain Hawks have tallied a 2-6 record in Patriot League games, which includes a 2-2 record in league games played in Stabler Arena.
•    The Mountain Hawks began league play with a 66-64 overtime victory over Bucknell.  They then lost six-straight games before defeating Lafayette, 86-47, Saturday.
•    Five of those six losses were by no more than six points.  

Series History
•    Navy and Lehigh first met on Jan. 21, 1911.  The teams faced each other 15 teams through the 1933-34 season, then didn't play again until they met for five games in the early 1980s.  Those were the last games in the series until both teams were in the Patriot League starting in 1991-92.
•    Navy leads the all-time series by a count of 55-36.  This includes a 23-15 record in games played in Bethlehem and a 22-15 record in games played in Stabler Arena.
•    The Mids also are in front of the Mountain Hawks by the count of 36-30 in league regular season games.  Navy holds a 20-13 edge in league games played at Lehigh.
•    The home team won each game played during the 2024 season for the first time since 2017.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted a 15-11 record in games played on Jan. 29.  This includes a 5-3 record in Patriot League games.
•    Navy won the lone previous game against Lehigh played on Jan. 29 as it won a 100-75 decision in 2000.

Against Pennsylvania
•    Navy has totaled a 391-269 record in games played against opponents located in Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania
•    Navy has totaled a 77-143 record in games played in Pennsylvania.  This includes a 24-16 record in games played in Bethlehem.

A Look Back (Navy 66, Army 53)
•    The Mids built a 24-16 lead late in the first half but went into the break holding a 26-24 lead.
•    The score would be tied at 33, 34 and 36 early in the second half.  Navy went on a 9-0 run to take a 45-36 lead with 7:30 still to play.
•    Army cut the margin down to 45-41, but the Mids soon built leads of 51-41 and 63-46.
•    Jordan Pennick was 4-6 from three-point range in scoring 15 second half points.  He totaled five triples and a career-high 20 points in the game.
•    Aidan Kehoe set Army-Navy game record with 8 offensive boards and 20 rebounds in all.
•    Austin Benigni was 10-10 from the foul line in the second half.
•    Navy held a 57-35 edge on the glass.

A Look Ahead 
•    Navy returns to Annapolis Saturday for its only home game in a span of five games when the Mids play host to Bucknell at 2 p.m.

Benigni Scores 1,000th Point
•     Austin Benigni became the 27th Mid to score 1,000 career points during Navy's Jan. 18 game at Bucknell.
•    Benigni is now in 26th place for the most career points by a Mid with 1,041.  Jack Conrad ranks 25th with 1,088.

Kehoe On the Glass at Army
•     Aidan Kehoe set several standards during Navy's Jan. 26 game at West Point.
•    He snared 20 rebounds on the afternoon, which broke the record for the most rebounds by a player in an Army-Navy game (19, Army's Kevin Ferguson, Feb. 20, 2016, 2 OT).
•    Kehoe is the first Mid to grab at least 20 rebounds in a game since David Robinson had 21 against James Madison on Jan. 10, 1987.
•    Through games of Jan. 27, the 20 rebounds is tied for sixth for the most in the NCAA this season.
•    The 20 boards also broke the Navy record for the most by a Mid in a league regular season game (19, Matt Fannin, American, Jan. 12, 2005).
•    Kehoe also grabbed eight offensive rebounds, which set a new record for the most offensive caroms by a player in the Army-Navy series (previous high was seven and attained four times).

The Flying Mids 
•    Navy is trying to play at a faster pace this season.
•    Using the adjusted tempo statistic (possessions per 40 minutes) on KenPom.com, the Mids are playing at their fastest pace during the Ed DeChellis-coached era (66.7 possessions a game, 204th in the NCAA).
•    Lehigh is averaging 67.2 possessions a game to rank 179th.

Missing Home
•    Navy is in the middle of playing seven road games in a span of 10 games from Jan. 8-Feb. 8.
•    Wednesday's game also is Navy's fifth road game in a span of seven games from Jan. 8-29.

DeChellis Ranks Third at Navy for Career Wins
•    Navy's Jan. 2 win over American moved Ed DeChellis into third place for the most wins as a Navy head coach with 188.
•    He also is nearing the Navy record for the most games as a Navy head coach as with 413 games played he is four behind Ben Carnevale's mark of 417.

Navy Good Again on the Offensive Boards  
•    Navy has been very good over the last number of years at winning the offensive rebound margin.
•    The Mids ranked first in the Patriot League and 40th nationally during the 2023-24 season with an average of 12.45 offensive rebounds per game.
•    Navy stands first in the league and 92nd nationally with an average of 11.90 offensive boards a game this year.
•    Aidan Kehoe (3.81 OR/G, 1st PL, 9th NCAA) and Donovan Draper (2.33 OR/G, 5th PL) rank among the league leaders in offensive rebounds.

Second-Chance Points 
•    Navy has regularly turned those second-chance opportunities into points. 
•    The Mids have scored at least 10 second-chance points in seven straight games and are averaging 11.0 points per game in that span.  Navy's foes have totaled 45 second-chance points (6.4 ppg) in this time.

Benigni's 20+ Point Scoring Streaks
•    Twice this season Austin Benigni has scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games.  
•    He opened the year with 23 points at Saint Joseph's, 34 against Harvard and 23 against Rider.
•    Then from Jan. 15-22, he has totaled 25 points against Colgate, 23 at Bucknell and 21 vs. Boston.
•    The last Mid to score at least 20 points in as many as three-straight games was Cam Davis, who did in three games in a row during the 2020-21 season.

At the FT Line – Austin Benigni / 2024-25 
•    Benigni ranks first in the Patriot League and 10th in the NCAA for free throws made (120).
•    He ranks second in the league and 24th in free throws attempted (139). 
•    He also ranks second in the league and 64th nationally with a free throw percentage of 86.3 percent.
•    Benigni ranks third at Navy during the Patriot League era (1991-92 to present) and 20th in program history for the highest career free throw attempts per game average with 401 attempts in 83 games (4.83 fta/g).

Kehoe's Double-Double Run 
•    Aidan Kehoe saw his streak of double-doubles end at five when he registered six points and 11 rebounds Jan. 15 against Colgate.
•    The last Mid to have as many as five-straight double-doubles was David Robinson, who had 15 in a row (last 12 games of 1985-86, first 3 games of 1986-87).
•    Kehoe is tied for first in the Patriot League and tied for 34th in the NCAA with seven double-doubles this year.
•    He has missed a double-double by one rebound in three additional games.

Kehoe on the Offensive Boards
•    Navy has scored on 28 of the 40 possessions (70.0%) in which Aidan Kehoe has grabbed an offensive rebound since the start of the 2025 Patriot League season.

Kehoe Successful From the Floor 
•    Kehoe ranks among the players with the highest field goal percentage by a Mid for a season.
•    He ranks third with a percentage of 61.9 percent.

Kehoe Lately 
•    Aidan Kehoe moved into the regular rotation during Navy's Feb. 21, 2024, game at Loyola and made his first start in the next game against Holy Cross.
•    He had totaled 26 points (1.0 ppg) and 40 rebounds (1.5 rpg) in 26 career games prior to taking to the floor against the Greyhounds.
•    Since then, he has totaled 271 points (10.0 ppg) and 248 rebounds (9.2 rpg). 

Pennick Lately
•    Jordan Pennick had appeared in 16 games prior to Navy's Feb. 17, 2024, game at Boston U., and totaled 26 points (1.6 ppg) and 18 rebounds (1.1 rpg).
•    Since then, he has scored 236 points (8.4 ppg) and grabbed 91 rebounds (3.3 rpg).
•    Pennick totaled a career-high 20 points in Navy's Jan. 26 game at Army.  He was 4-6 from three-point range and 5-8 from the floor overall in scoring 15 second-half points.