Monmouth will have six straight games on the road (including on a neutral court) against non-conference teams before they'll return to play in West Long Branch against St. Joseph's Nov. 28
Three teams in the next five games are Power 4 schools; those meetings are arranged as "buy" games where high-major schools pay mid-majors, including Monmouth, to travel and play. Major-conference teams generally pay mid-major or low-major visiting teams roughly $70,000 to $120,000 per game.
The smaller programs rarely pull off upsets but Monmouth coach King Rice says his team can weather the storm from the tough stretch of games.
"I'm excited," Rice said. "I told the kids this is one of our hardest ones. But what people have to understand now is this isn't King playing hard games because he likes hard games … I'm playing these other games so I can get money to try to limit how much the school has got to come up with so we can have a team to put out here, because in our league teams are spending $3-4 million; we're not spending that. So every (time) that I can get somebody to pay us to play, we're going to do that."
It was only this past weekend when the Hawks took Big East member Seton Hall down to the wire before falling 53-50 on a last minute 3-pointer.
Monmouth also had an unofficial closed exhibition with Manhattan but statistics haven't been made public.
Here are some takeaways on how Monmouth is looking with the season near:
1. Monmouth's backcourt has depth and divvying up playing time will be interesting
Rice mentioned after the Seton Hall game that he had to ask non-players to exit the locker room to address players who appeared to be unhappy with playing time. The late additions of fifth-year players Jack Collins and Madison Durr (Durr rested Tuesday) adds to that pot of sharing time on the floor. Despite that, this is a good problem for Rice and Monmouth to have — a load of talented guards.
That's led to Monmouth having tremendous success when pressing the ball on defense, leading to scores in transition. Transfers Jakai Walker, Lureon Walker and Torrey Brooks Jr. (who was inactive against RIC) each have tremendous quickness and the ability to get by defenders. On Tuesday, Asbury Park College Achieve grad Jebron Harris played well, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points.
"We have so many kids," Rice said. "The young boys, this is what guys got to understand, you get an opportunity. Guys want to do other things that what they're best at. Jebron makes open 3's, that's what he's best at and he's great going to the rim cause he's a strong kid so he can bump you off and finish. That's what he did tonight."
2. 'We'll be all right': Rice unfazed by free throw percentages
Monmouth has guards that can get paint touches, and when out in transition, they have guys throughout the roster who can tear the rim down. However, free throws have been a question. Against Seton Hall, Monmouth shot 57.1% from the charity stripe. On Tuesday, the Hawks shot 56%.
"Nah, we'll be all right," Rice replied when asked if it was a concern. "We just started practicing them. We practice them in practice, but now they're all on 100 (free throws) a day. So those numbers will get better. We got kids that can shoot, right now they're not shooting them as well as they need to but we work on them."
3. New Monmouth bigs and forwards 'just need reps'
When the three bigs for Monmouth combined for 11 points and 12 rebounds and returnee Stefanos Spartalis fouled out with over seven minutes left against Seton Hall, it may have been too early to raise an eyebrow.
Against Rhode Island, some of the same problems were still there, but there were also positive signs in the second half.
"Our intensity for 40 minutes with the bigs" needs work, Rice said. "We just need reps and when they get more reps they'll get more comfortable on all the things that we do and really playing to their strengths."
Spartalis rested on Tuesday so freshman Stefan Marjanovic and Kansas State transfer Osei got more minutes. Marjanovic, who had a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds, got going in the second half when he rolled to the basket, got second chance points, and even a knocked down a shot from deep.
Marjanovic mentioned that playing in America has been "a lot" different than in his native Serbia. He mentioned that in America players are more athletic; in Europe, the style of play is "more tactical" and "slower," he said.
Rice is high on the young big and said he'll "be on NBA radars at some point."
"I just let the game came to me, play defense, do what coach Rice said, fight to get a win," Marjanovic said. "My teammates trust me."
There were times when Monmouth bigs would double clutch around the basket, struggled to finish through contact, and allowed offensive boards. Rhode Island scored 38 in the paint, and was edged out Monmouth in the rebound battle 44-42. Those same bigs still had flashes of good defense, running the floor and scoring in transition. So the talent is there but it's a work in progress.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth basketball wins exhibition, next is opener vs. No. 14 St. John's | 3 takeaways