Navy (5-10, 2-0 Patriot League) at Holy Cross (9-6, 1-1 Patriot league)
Wednesday, Jan. 8 • 6 p.m.
Hart Center • Worcester, Mass.

Series History
Overall: Holy Cross leads, 47-30 / Patriot League: Holy Cross leads, 37-27
Last Game: Navy, 76-66 / Feb. 25, 2024 (Annapolis, Md.)
at Holy Cross: Holy leads, 25-10 / Patriot League: Holy Cross leads, 22-10
Last Game: Navy, 80-70 / Jan. 10, 2024

Broadcast Information
Video: ESPN+ / Kevin Gehl, Jacob VanRyn
Navy Radio: None

Five Starting Notes
1 – Navy's Donovan Draper was named this week's Patriot League Player of the Week.  Max Green from Holy Cross was selected as this week's rookie of the week.
2 – The first two Navy-Holy Cross games occurred in the 1947 and 1953 NCAA Tournaments.
3 – Navy has won the last three games in the series as well as the last three games to be played in Worcester.
4 – Navy posted a 1-2 record this season against Harvard, Maine and Quinnipiac and Holy Cross totaled a 2-1 record against those same three opponents.
5 – Navy has had five players score in double figures in two of the last three games.  Three players reached double figures against American with two additional Mids scoring nine points.

Game Information
•    Navy takes to the road Wednesday for a 6 p.m. game at Holy Cross in what will be the first of two road games this week for the Mids and the start of five road games in a span of seven games.
•    The game will be streamed on ESPN+.  There will not be a WNAV radio broadcast of the game.

About Holy Cross 
•    Holy Cross has posted an overall record of 9-6 this season and split its two league games last week.
•    The Crusaders have tallied a 4-1 record in home games this year, which includes a 74-72 win over Loyola last week.
•    Holy Cross lost its second league game of the campaign as it fell 75-64 at American on Sunday.
•    Two of the team's road losses came at Wisconsin and at Virginia.
•    Navy and Holy Cross both faced Maine, Harvard and Quinnipiac during the pre-league season.  The Mids defeated the Crimson and the Crusaders posted wins over Harvard and Quinnipiac.

Series History
•    Holy Cross leads the series with Navy, 47-30.  
•    The first two games between the teams took place in the NCAA Tournament.  Holy Cross defeated Navy 55-47 in the first round (8 teams) of the 1947 tournament as well as 87-74 in the first round (22 teams) of the 1953 event.
•    The Crusaders lead the Mids, 25-10, in games played in Worcester.  All of those games have been played in the Hart Center.
•    Holy Cross also holds a 22-10 advantage in league regular season games played in Worcester.
•    The road team has won five of the last six games.  The only outlier in this span was the Mids winning, 76-66, in the last game played between the teams on Feb. 25, 2024, in Annapolis.
•    Navy has defeated Holy Cross on its last three trips to Worcester and has a three-game winning streak in the series regardless of site.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted a 17-15 record in games played on Jan. 8.  This includes a 3-4 record in Patriot League games.
•    This is the first Navy-Holy Cross game to be played on Jan. 8.

Against Massachusetts
•    Navy has totaled a 27-37 record in games played against opponents located in Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts
•    Navy has posted a 65-72 record in games played in Massachusetts.
•    This includes a 10-26 record in games played in Worcester.

A Look Back (Navy 71, Lafayette 70)
•    Navy took leads of 17-11 and 33-24 in the first half before holding a 41-33 lead at the break.
•    Lafayette closed to within 45-42, then used an 8-0 run to take a 53-52 lead.
•    Navy was up 61-55 and 63-58 only to see Lafayette take a leads of 70-65 with 2:20 left.
•    Jinwoo Kim hit a jumper with 1:04 left to make the score 70-67. A Lafayette missed shot ensued, with a jump ball being called in the carom.  The arrow pointed toward the Mids.
•    Aidan Kehoe was fouled with 18.6 seconds left.  He made the first attempt but missed the second.  However, Lafayette was called for a lane violation.  Kehoe made the second attempt (70-69).
•    Navy was unable to foul, but Lafayette was unable to advance the ball very far before it called its last timeout with 10. 4 seconds left.  The Leopards were unable to inbound the ball before a five-second violation was whistled.
•    Navy inbounded the ball to Austin Benigni, who drove down the left side of the lane before being stopped.  He turned backward and found Donovan Draper open near the top of the key.  Draper made the midrange jumper with 2.1 seconds left to account for the final points.
•    Draper led five Mids in double figures with 17 points and 9 rebounds.  Aidan Kehoe posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 caroms.

A Look Ahead 
•    Navy will play Saturday night at Loyola.

Draper Earns Weekly Award
•    Donovan Draper was named the Patriot League Player of the Week on Jan. 6.  It was the first time he earned the accolade.
•    Draper averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in Navy's two wins over American and Lafayette.  He shot 73.7 percent (14-19) from the floor in the games.
•    Draper neared a triple-double in the victory over American as he finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. 
•    He then tallied 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals in then win over the Leopards.  Draper sealed the victory by sinking a midrange jumper with 2.1 seconds left.

85 Points!
•    The Mids totaled 85 points in their Nov. 8 victory over Harvard.
•    The last time Navy scored 85 or more points against a Division I opponent was when the Mids scored 86 at Holy Cross in Feb. 4, 2022.
•    The last time the Mids scored at least 85 points in a 40-minute game against a Division I non-Patriot League opponent was when they tallied 85 points against St. Francis Brooklyn on Nov. 24, 2017.
•    Navy then bettered that total when it scored 86 points in a Nov. 29 game at Penn.
•    The Mids have scored at least 80 points in four games this season, three of which have been against NCAA Division I foes.
•    The four games ties this year's team for the most by an Ed DeChellis-coached Navy team.

Points Per Game Highs and Lows
•    This year's Mids are scoring at a higher average than previous Ed DeChellis-coached Navy teams (72.6 ppg).
•    Navy also is allowing opponents to score at a higher rate than other teams during the DeChellis era (72.5 ppg).

Balanced Scoring
•    Navy fell two points shy of having five Mids score in double figures in three-straight games.
•    Navy first had five players score at least 10 points in the Dec. 29 game at William & Mary.
•    Three Mids then reached double digits in the Jan. 2 game against American, with Jinwoo Kim and Jordan Pennick each finishing with nine points.
•    All five starters would reach double figures in the Jan. 5 win over Lafayette.

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 (69.0 possessions a game, 157th in the NCAA).
•    Holy Cross is averaging 65.6 possessions a game to rank 306th.

Navy by President
•    Navy has posted a 63-54 (.538) record under President Joe Biden.
•    The Mids previously compiled a 58-44 (.569) record during Donald Trump's first term as President.

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.
•    Navy ranked fourth in the Patriot League and 149th nationally in bench scoring during the 2023-24 season (20.06 ppg).
•    This year, the reserves scored 45 of the team's 86 points against Penn and 39 of 63 points against Elon.
•    The Mids are fourth in the league and 221st in the NCAA this year with an average of 21.20 bench points per game.

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 112th nationally with an average of 11.08 offensive boards a game this year.
•    Aidan Kehoe (3.07 OR/G, 3rd PL, 49th NCAA) and Donovan Draper (2.53 OR/G, 4th PL, 121st NCAA) rank among the NCAA leaders in offensive rebounds.

At the FT Line – Austin Benigni / 2024-25 
•    Benigni ranks 16th in the NCAA for free throws made (84) and 30th in free throws attempted (97). 
•    He also ranks 75th with a free throw percentage of 86.6 percent.
•    Benigni ranks fifth at Navy during the Patriot League era (1991-92 to present) and 21st in program history for the highest career free throw attempts per game average with 359 attempts in 77 games (4.66 fta/g).

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 203 points (9.7 ppg) and 171 rebounds (8.1 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 185 points (8.4 ppg) and grabbed 73 rebounds (3.3 rpg).