Army West Point Athletics
Army Travels to Holy Cross for League Contest
January 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team closes its two-game road swing at Holy Cross on Wednesday. That contest is slated for 7 p.m. in the Hart Center and will be carried live on the Patriot League Network.
   The Black Knights are coming off an exciting 64-62 road win at Navy on Sunday. That victory marked the third-straight time Army defeated its archrival on its own home court. The win also pushed the Cadets record to 4-2 in the Patriot League, having dropped both conference games to the league front-runners, Bucknell and Boston U. Head coach Jimmy Allen has his team riding a three-game winning streak, which is the fourth time under Allen that the Black Knights have achieved that mark.Â
   During Army's most recent outing in Annapolis, Md., three reached double-digit scoring, with rookie Alex King leading the way with a team-high 17 points. Tommy Funk and Jordan Fox chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively. On the boards it was first-year Babacar Thiombane, who posted a team-best six rebounds. Funk added a game-high five assists, while also recording two steals.Â
   Fox is tops on the team with 14.6 points per game. He sits fifth in the league with a .463 shooting percentage and is second in 3-point field goal percentage (.466). The junior is also currently second in the conference with 2.8 treys per game. Also averaging twin figures for the Black Knights is Matt Wilson (12.1 ppg), King (10.8 ppg) and Funk (10.2 ppg). Wilson is pulling down a team-high 5.9 rebounds per contest to go along with Funk's 6.2 helpers per outing.Â
   Holy Cross is coming off a 54-40 loss to Boston U. on Sunday in which rookie Austin Butler led the team with 11 points. The next closest scorer with fellow classmate Jacob Grandison's seven points. Butler also pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while junior Patrick Benzan dished out a team-best three assists.Â
   The Crusaders are 3-4 on their home court but a mere 1-7 away from the Hart Center. Junior Jehyve Floyd leads the team with 10.5 points per game. He is the lone player averaging twin figures. Floyd is also tops in rebounds with 5.5 per outing.Â
   Holy Cross holds a slim 6-4 edge over the teams' last 10 meetings, including three of the last five. During the two teams last meeting, Jacob Kessler posted a career-best 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor to help Army to a 52-47 road victory. The junior also knocked down 3-of-6 shots from behind-the-arc to go along with his perfect 2-of-2 attempts from the free throw line.
HOW TO FOLLOW
ONLINE • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
        WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.)
               WLNA (1420 AM, Peekskill, N.Y.)
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • www.GoHolyCross.com
TICKETS • www.GoHolyCross.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Holy Cross
SWEEPING THE NATION
The Black Knights are among the nation's best in several statistical categories, both as a team and individually. Army currently sits fifth in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting at a clip of 42.1 percent, and is 23rd in treys per game with 10.1 per contest. Additionally, the squad's 172 makes from behind-the-arc place them tied for 38th in Division I. Leading that effort is junior Jordan Fox, who ranks 21st nationally at 46.6 percent from long range.
    That success from deep comes from sharing the ball, evident by Army's rank of ninth in the nation in assists per game with 18.2 and tied for 31st in total helpers with 310. Sophomore Tommy Funk has paced the team in that category. The Warrington, Pa., native has dished out 6.2 helpers per game and sports a total of 106 assists on the season, putting him at 19th and 23rd, respectively.Â
    Funk's classmate, Matt Wilson, is among the most efficient scorers in the nation, converting on 58.4 percent of the shots he takes with the 43rd-best field goal percentage in the nation.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Army is averaging 31.8 points per game from inside the paint. That number outscores its opponents, who are registering just 27.4 per outing in that category. Another notable stat is that the Black Knights are converting on average 16.2 points per contest from their opponent's turnovers. Lastly, the Cadets have not only seen strong offensive output from their starting five, but for the year Army's bench is averaging 28.0 points per outing, which is far more than their opponents' mark of 20.0 per game.
ABOUT THE CRUSADERS
Holy Cross enters Wednesday's matchup with the Black Knights on a two-game losing skid and have dropped 13 of its last 15 contests. Three of the Crusaders four wins on the season have come on their home court.Â
    Jehyve Floyd is the lone Crusader averaging double-digit points at 10.5 points per game, while also sporting a team-best .656 field goal percentage. Floyd adds 5.5 rebounds per contest for Holy Cross and has collected a team-high 19 blocks. Caleb Green and Karl Charles lead the team in assists with 46 and 42, respectively.Â
A WIN OVER HOLY CROSS WOULD…
Give Army back-to-back wins at Holy Cross for the first time in program history after picking up a 52-47 victory at the Hart Center on Feb. 15 of last year. It would also be Army's fourth-straight victory, the longest streak in the Jimmy Allen era. That streak would be the longest since the Black Knights won five in-a-row from Feb. 8-23 2016, against Colgate (82-72), American (65-59), Holy Cross (72-68), Navy (80-78, 2OT) and Boston U. (80-71).
EFFICIENCY IS KEY
The Black Knights are among the best teams in the Patriot League in field goal percentage, both on the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Army leads the league in defensive field goal percentage, limiting its opponents to a 41.4 percent success rate. Additionally, the Cadets currently rank second in the front court, scoring on 46.3 percent of their shots behind only Boston U. (46.5 percent).
I GOTTA FIND BUBBA!
Rookie Babacar Thiombane, known as Bubba to his teammates, has been a defensive standout for the Black Knights of late. The 6-7 first-year has posted 23 rebounds and eight blocks in the last five games, including multiple blocks in two of those contests. Against American on Jan. 8, the Los Angeles, Calif., native collected a career and game-high eight rebounds while adding two blocks, including a key stop with five seconds left on the Eagles' leading scorer, Sa'eed Nelson, to preserve the victory. He added a team-high six rebounds and two steals in the Cadets' 64-62 victory over service-academy rival Navy on Sunday.Â
CONTROLLING THE GLASS
One of Army's greatest strengths this season has been rebounding, collecting a Patriot League-high 37.4 boards per game. Crashing the glass has been a key to victory for the Black Knights this season, winning all seven games in which they outrebound the opposition. However, the Cadets are 4-6 in the six games they've been outrebounded.Â
NEXT UP
Army returns to Christl Arena on Saturday to face Lehigh at 2 p.m. The Mountain Hawks host Colgate on Wednesday at 7 p.m., prior to their matchup with the Black Knights.
