You learn a lot about a team when it has its back against the wall.
And so, with the CAA leaders starting to slip away, and the memory of Saturday’s disheartening 23-point loss at Campbell lingering, Monmouth (5-14, 3-3 CAA) opens a late-week road trip against two of the league’s best Thursday (7 p.m.; FloCollege/Monmouth Digital Network), taking on Elon (13-6, 4-2 CAA) at the Schar Center in Elon, North Carolina.
Monmouth then faces CAA co-leader William & Mary Saturday at 2 p.m. in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Hawks have not swept one of the two-game road trips since joining the league in 2022-23.
So which Monmouth team will show up? The one that beat Charleston, or the one that got trounced by a pair of 300-plus NET teams?
The answer will say a lot about the Hawks’ prospects for the coming weeks.
More:Monmouth stumbles badly at Campbell, 81-58, as offense collapses in CAA road test
On paper, this is as tough a road game as Monmouth will face in league play. Elon lost by 14 points at North Carolina and had a near-miss at Notre Dame, while beating a Northern Illinois team that whipped Monmouth by 27 points.
But Elon also lost to Maine and Gardner-Webb, and comes in off a two-point loss at Delaware.
Here are three keys for Monmouth as it hits the road to face Elon. Check back Thursday night for complete game coverage:
1. Play defense for 40 minutes
Monmouth’s defense in the second half against Campbell was embarrassing. The Fighting Camels scored 54 points and shot 63% over the final 20 minutes, including 5-of-10 from deep. It was reminiscent of Delaware scoring 51 points and shooting 66.7%, hitting 8-of-10 three-points, in the first half, or Lehigh scoring 51 points and shooting 59% in the second half. Temple scored 54 points and shot 64 percent in the first half.
Every once in while the Hawks dig in on defense, but not for 40 minutes, game-in and game-out. That has to change or they have no chance to stay competitive in the league.
Elon has four player who average in double figures in 6-7 sophomore guard Nick Dorn (15.4 ppg.), 6-5 sophomore guard TJ Simpkins (15.0), 6-11 senior forward Sam Sherry (14.8), also averaging a team-best 8.1 rebounds, and 6-4 junior TK Simpkins (13.7).
2. Find more points
Elon is averaging 75.8 points-per-game. Monmouth is giving up 75.8 ppg. So finding a minimum of 75 points, which will likely require 15 to 17 assists, is critical. The 58-point output at Campbell definitely won’t cut it.
It sounds like a broken record, but if Monmouth doesn’t have at least four or five guys making serious contributions at the offensive end every game, the numbers don’t work.
Right now the Hawks only have two guys they can count on, with sophomore guard Abdi Bashir Jr. leading the CAA in scoring at 21.1 ppg., and junior point guard Madison Durr averaging 11.2 points but hitting for 16.5 ppg. over the past four games.
It’s time to find out what freshman guard Justin Ray can do. He has 84 points in 201 minutes, which equates to a point every 2:20 he’s on the court, third best behind Bashir and Durr. If he can score 13 points in 25 minutes it would really help.
And with starting forward Jaret Valencia having scored two or fewer points in four of the last five games, extending the minutes of sophomore forward Cornelius Robinson III seems logical. He’s averaging seven points, on 10-of-19 shooting, and five rebounds over the last three games.
3. Get Abdi open looks
Given the team’s offensive struggles, Bashir has to take a lot of shots. But it’s getting tougher and tougher, as defenses use double teams, often with a big man, while forcing him to go to his right whenever possible. It’s starting to show. Over the past five games, he’s shooting 34.4% (32-of-93) and 23.9% (11-of-46) from beyond the 3-point line.
The 6-7 sophomore has shown he can change the course of a game, and Monmouth’s ability to get him open looks could be the difference.
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