Washington (Md.) (2-0 / 0-0 Centennial) at Navy (1-2 / 0-0 Patriot League)
Friday, Nov. 14  I  7 p.m.  I  Alumni Hall  I  Annapolis, Md.

Video - ESPN+  I  Matt Sabados
Radio - WNAV  I  Matt Sabados

Five Starting Notes
•    Navy and Washington (Md.) are meeting for the fifth year in a row and the eighth time in the last decade.
•    The teams met nine times from the 1914-15 through 1925-26 season, then didn't play again until the 1975-76 campaign.
•    The Mids have played nine of the 11 teams that comprise the Centennial Conference. 
•    Jinwoo Kim has set new career scoring highs in each of the last two games.  He first scored 16 points against Yale and then totaled 25 points at Penn State.
•    Donovan Draper tallied 22 points and 12 rebounds at Penn State.  It was the 15th double-double of his career and the third in which he had at least 20 points and 10 caroms.

Game Information
•    The men's basketball team returns to Alumni Hall Friday night when it plays host to Washington (Md.) in a 6 p.m. game.

Attending the Game
•    Only those vehicles driven by someone with a Department of Defense (DoD)-approved identification card will be allowed onto the USNA.
•    Fans without DoD approved vehicle access to the USNA must park outside of The Yard.  The simplest way to do this is to take the free shuttle bus, which starts running at 5 p.m.
•    The shuttle bus will depart from and return to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (550 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Md., 21401).  Enter the blue / west parking lot through gate 5 off of Taylor Avenue.  There is a $10 per vehicle parking fee.  The free fan shuttle bus will leave from and return to the Blue Angel jet.  
•    Whether a visitor rides the shuttle bus or walks through one of the USNA gates, everyone ages 18 and over must have a valid picture ID (i.e.: State issued driver's license with REAL ID or a government issued passport). Visitors ages 17 and younger who do not have a valid picture ID must be accompanied by an adult. Foreign passports are not permitted for general access.

Washington (Md.) Preview
•    Washington (Md.), which competes on the NCAA Division III level, posted an overall record of 8-17 and a Centennial Conference mark of  3-10.
•    The Shoremen tied for eighth place in the 10-team league.
•    The team enters the game having defeated Bard, 68-43, and Immaculate, 85-73 this season.

Series Notes
•    The teams first met on Jan. 16, 1915.
•    Navy holds a 19-2 advantage in the series.
•    The Mids posted a 91-33 victory in last season's game.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted a 3-4 record in games played on Nov. 14.

Against This State 
•    Navy has posted a 199-80 record against teams located in Maryland.

A Look Back
•    Navy is coming off of an 80-71 loss at Penn State on Tuesday night.
•    The Nittany Lions opened up a 29-18 lead in the first half, but the Mids narrowed it down to six (38-32) at halftime.
•    It was a 38-36 Penn State lead early in the second half, then a baseline three-point attempt from Jinwoo Kim would have tied the game at 44, but his effort missed and the Nittany Lions scored five points on their next two possessions to take a 49-41 lead.
•    Penn State eventually took a 12-point lead at 57-45 only to see Navy close to within three at 63-60 with just under six minutes left on the clock.
•    The Nittany Lions scored the next seven points as part of an 11-2 run that gave them a 74-62 lead.
•    Navy was hampered by turnovers as it committed 16 and forced nine.
•    Jinwoo Kim made five three-point field goals on his way to scoring a career-best 25 points.
•    Donovan Draper also had a productive night with 22 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
•    Austin Benigni added 12 points, eight assists and four steals.

A Look Ahead
•    Navy heads back out on the road for a Tuesday night game at North Carolina.
•    The Tar Heels are currently ranked 18th in the Associated Press poll and 20th in the coaches poll.

Navy vs. 2025 NCAA Tournament Teams
•    The Mids will play games this season against 2025 NCAA Tournament teams Yale, North Carolina and UNCW.  
•    This is just the third time since Navy joined the Patriot League in 1991-92 in which it will play as many as three non-league games against teams that appeared in the previous year's NCAA Tournament (2006-07, 2021-22). 

About the 2025-26 Navy Team
•    Navy returns from the 2024-25 season:
    * all 5 starters
    * 14 of 19 letter winners
    * 18 of 26 players
•    Navy leads the NCAA with 86.6 percent of its scoring back from last year.
•    Navy is one of nine teams in the country that returns at least 65 percent of its points, rebounds and assists from last season.

Lots of TV Time
•     Navy has been selected to appear on the CBS Sports Network a minimum of five times during the regular season.
•    The Mids will appear on the network Nov. 7 against Yale, Jan. 12 at American, Feb. 9 at Bucknell and both games against Army (Jan. 24 in Annapolis and Feb. 21 at West Point).  
•    Navy's Feb. 28 home game against Colgate also could be chosen to be televised by the network.
•    Navy previously played five regular season games on the network during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns.  Including postseason games, the Mids were on the CBS Sports Network seven times during the 2021-22 season and five times during the 2016-27, 2018-19 and 2024-25 seasons. 
•    The Mids enter the season having appeared on the network 70 times since its inception as College Sports Television (CSTV) in 2004-05.
•    Also, Navy's Veterans Day game at Penn State will be aired on the Big Ten Network in what will be the second time (Nov. 27, 2020, at Maryland) in which the Mids appear on the network since it was launched in the fall of 2007.  
•    Additionally, the team's Nov. 18 game at North Carolina (7 p.m.) will be carried by the ACC Network.  Navy's two previous appearances on the network –– which began during the fall of 2019 –– were during the 2021-22 season when the Mids won a 66-58 game at Virginia and played at Louisville.

Happy Anniversary
•     The 2025-26 season marks 40 years since the 1985-86 Mids advanced to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.
•    Behind then-junior David Robinson, Navy compiled a 30-5 overall record and defeated Tulsa, Syracuse and Cleveland State in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Duke in the regional final.  
•    Robinson was the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year and earned multiple All-America accolades.  He averaged 22.8 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.9 blocks per game.  He recorded 207 blocks on the year, which bettered every team in the country except for the 213 by eventual national champion Louisville.
•    The 30 victories remains a service academy record.

Service Assignments Announced Soon
•     Seniors at the USNA will learn of their service assignment in either the Navy or Marine Corps over lunch on Thursday, Nov. 20.

Home in Alumni Hall
•     Alumni Hall has been home to the Navy basketball teams since the 1991-92 season.
•    The Mids have compiled an overall record of 289-190 record in the facility.
•    There have been 61 future NBA players to play in Alumni Hall since it opened.
•    The court was christened Dave Smalley Court during the 2005-06 season.
•    Smalley was associated with Navy athletics for over 50 years as a player, coach, physical education instructor and administrator.
•    The 1957 graduate of the USNA scored 856 points during his three varsity seasons.  He also played on the Navy baseball team before he served five years as an officer in the Marine Corps.
•    Smalley later served as an assistant coach for the men's team for four years before becoming the head coach beginning with the 1966-67 season.  He stayed in that role until becoming the first Navy women's basketball coach in the summer of 1976.

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 are +1,043 in offensive rebounding margin over the last 12 seasons.

Second-Chance Points 
•    Navy has regularly turned those second-chance opportunities into points.
•    The Mids have score 931 more second-chance points than their opponents in the last 12 years.

Benigni Scores 1,000th Point
•    Austin Benigni became the 27th Mid to score 1,000 career points during Navy's Jan. 18, 2025, game at Bucknell.
•    He reached the milestone in his 81st career game.  That ranks him 12th for the fewest games needed to score 1,000 points.
•    Benigni is in 14th place for the most career points by a Mid with 1,348 points.  

Benigni Leading in Points and Assists
•     Austin Benigni typically has led the Mids in either points (43) or assists (50) –– and occasionally both (33) –– in a game since the start of the 2023-24 season.
•     Benigni has totaled both 10 or more points and 5 or more assists in 23 career games.
•     Benigni became the third Mid to lead the team in total points and assists in multiple seasons since assists began being tracked with the 1972-73 season.

Draper's Steals and Rebounds
•    Donovan Draper spent the 2021-22 academic year as a football player at the Naval Academy Prep School.  He then was wide receiver at Navy on the 2022-23 team.
•    Draper, who was an all-county basketball player in high school, joined the Navy basketball team in the spring of 2023.
•    After going 994 days between his last high school basketball game and first as a Mid, he made an immediate impact as he ranked among the Patriot League and NCAA leaders in multiple statistical categories (steals, offensive rebounds, total rebounds).
•    He ranks among the Navy career leaders in steals (16h  116) and steals per game (7th / 1.71).
•    Navy has scored on 91 of the 175 possessions (52.0%) in which Draper has grabbed an offensive rebound.
•    Draper ranks among the Navy leaders for the most career offensive rebounds (14th / 184) and the highest career offensive rebounding average (2nd / 2.71).
•    Donovan Draper is the second Mid to have totaled over 500 points and 500 rebounds in their first two seasons with the team.
•    He is one of five Mids have posted 500 points and 500 rebounds by the end of their junior season.

Kehoe on the Boards
•    Aidan Kehoe set a Navy record in 2024-25 for the most offensive boards by a Mid in a season with 115.
•    Kehoe also ranked third at Navy for the most defensive rebounds in a season with his effort last year of 187.
•    He ranks among the Navy career leaders in offensive rebounding average (6th / 2.32)

Kehoe Shooting
•    Aidan Kehoe ranked second at Navy for the highest field goal percentage in a single season (.621) in 2024-25.
•    Kehoe also ranks among the Navy leaders for career field goal percentage (3rd / .612).