Mount St. Mary's Hosts American on Monday Night

Mount St. Mary's returns to Knott Arena for the first time in three weeks when American visits for a non-conference matchup on Monday night. This will be the 59th all-time meeting between the two schools.

The Mount (3-8) dropped the final four games of its five-game road swing to start December, including a 77-57 loss at Albany on Saturday night. Sophomore Raven Barber tallied a career-high 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting in the loss. Junior Lamar Trice chipped in 15 points off the bench in the game.

Trice leads the Mount in scoring (12.5), assists (37) and steals (12). Shawn Atupem is second on the squad at 10.8 points per game while pulling down a team-high 5.0 rebounds. Freshman Julian Norfleet is averaging 10.0 points while Barber is scoring 9.9 points per contest while leading the Northeast Conference in field goal percentage (.660).

American enters Monday's game with a 6-4 record on the season. The Eagles opened the year with a five-game win streak. Their losses have been to Columbia (64-62), West Virginia (71-50), Florida (67-48) and Northwestern (78-62). The Eagles defeated Albany, 57-44, on November 15.

Vlad Moldoveanu leads the Eagles in scoring at 19.7 points per game. Troy Brewer is second on the squad with 13.7 ppg while Stephen Lumpkins is averaging 11.6 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds. American is averaging 62.0 points while allowing just 61.3 per game.

Did You Know?...This will be the 59th meeting all-time between the Mount and American. The 58 games against the Eagles are the seventh-most against an opponent in Mount history. The two schools first met on March 5, 1942, a 47-42 win for American. The teams have met five of the past six years with the Mount winning on the road in each of the past two years. The Mount's last win over American at Knott Arena was an 89-82 victory on Feb. 17, 1993.

The All-Time Series... This will be the 59th meeting all-time between Mount St. Mary's and American.

* The Eagles hold a 30-28 advantage in the series which began on March 5, 1942.

* Mount St. Mary's has won the past two matchups, both on the road. Last year, the Mount posted a 73-62 win at American while earning a 57-52 victory the previous season.

* The Mount is 3-4 against American since moving to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.

* The Mount has not defeated American at home since an 89-82 victory on Feb. 17, 1993.

* Mount St. Mary's had an eight-game win streak against American from 1954 thru 1958.

* The Mount's 58 all-time meetings with American are the seventh most against a school in school history. Mount St. Mary's has faced Loyola a school-record 166 times. The Mount has played McDaniel 95 times, followed by Catholic (92), Washington (Md.) (88), Baltimore (70) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (63).

* Last year, a Pierre Brown three-pointer at the first-half buzzer ignited a 14-0 run that lifted the Mount to a 73-62 win at American. Jeremy Goode had 17 points and five assists to pace the Mount while Kelly Beidler chipped in 14 points and eight boards in the victory. Shawn Atupem added 13 points for the Mount while Stephen Lumpkins and Riley Grafft each had 17 points for the Eagles in the loss.

Last Time Out...The Mount saw its losing streak stretched to four with a 77-57 loss at Albany on Saturday night.

* Albany opened the game with a 13-to-3 run and led the rest of the way. The Mount cut the gap to 23-19 on a Raven Barber basket, but Albany closed the half with a 20-to-9 spurt for a 43-28 lead at the break.

* Raven Barber led the Mount with a career high 20 points, hitting 9-of-10 from the field. He nearly matched his previous career-best mark of 16 points with a 14-point effort in the first half.

* The game was the final one of a five-game road trip to start December. The Mount opened the swing with a win at Sacred Heart before dropping the next four contests.

* The loss gives the Mount a 1-7 record on the road this year.

Road Weary...The Mountaineers completed a five-game road swing with a 77-57 loss at Albany on Saturday night.

* The Mountaineers are now 1-7 on the road this season, having dropped the final four games of the five-game road stretch.

* Mount St. Mary's is averaging 58.4 points on the road, hitting 41.1 percent from the floor and just 23.9 percent from three-point range.

* After the home game with American, the Mount returns to the road for a tough three-game swing at Northwestern (Dec. 23), Vermont (Dec. 29) and Virginia Tech (Jan. 2).

* Mount St. Mary's is 14-31 over its past 45 road contests.

Barber Leads NEC in Field Goal Percentage...Sophomore forward Raven Barber scored a career-high 20 points in the Mount's 77-57 loss at Albany.

* Barber hit 9-of-10 (.900) from the field in the game and he now leads the Northeast Conference in field goal percentage at 66.0 percent.

* The 6-8 Barber is shooting 73.7 percent (28-of-38) over his past six games. He missed a pair of contests (at Quinnipiac and at Penn State) with the flu.

* Barber leads the Mount with 12 dunks this season. He is 33-of-50 from the field on the year.

Boardwork...Mount St. Mary's has struggled on the boards this season.

* The Mountaineers are 11th in the Northeast Conference in both rebounding margin (-4.9) and offensive rebounds (10.00).

* In the latest Ken Pomeroy ratings (www.kenpom.com), the Mount is 329th out of 345 teams in opponents offensive rebound percentage. The Mount's opponents are rebounding 40.2 percent of their missed shots this season.

Block Party...Junior forward Danny Thompson leads the Mount with 17 blocked shots this year.

* Thompson is fourth in the Northeast Conference in blocks at 1.55 per game. Wagner's Naofall Folahan leads the league at 2.00 per game.

* Thompson has recorded at least one block in each of the past five games, averaging 2.20 blocks in that stretch.

* Over the past eight games, Thompson is averaging 2.00 blocks per game.

* He posted a career-high four blocks at Niagara (Nov. 22) and at Loyola (Dec. 11).

Trice as Nice...Junior guard Lamar Trice is the Mount's leading scorer this season.

* The 5-11 guard has settled into his role as one of the top sixth-men in the Northeast Conference. He leads the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game while dishing out a team-high 37 assists.

* Trice has scored in double figures in eight of the Mount's 11 games this season. He is averaging 14.8 points over the past five contests.

* Trice scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Mount to a 66-52 win at Sacred Heart on Dec. 2. He followed with a team-high 17 points and six assists at Quinnipiac while scoring 16 points in the Mount's loss at Penn State.

* Trice averaged 1.9 points while playing a total of 157 minutes in 28 games for the Mountaineers last season.

At the Stripe...Mount St. Mary's has picked it up at the charity stripe, shooting 78.7 percent (74-of-94) on free throws over the past six games.

* For the season, the Mount is now shooting 71.1 percent at the line, making 145-of-204. That is fourth in the NEC.

* Freshman Josh Castellanos is the Mount's top free throw shooter, converting 28-of-33 (.848) on the year. Freshman David Golladay (18-of-22 .818) and senior Shawn Atupem (.750, 27-of-36) are also shooting 75 percent or better at the line on the season.

From the Field...Mount St. Mary's shot 19-of-32 (.594) from the floor in the first half of the 77-75 loss at Quinnipiac.

* The 19 field goals made were the most in one half by a Mount team since gonig 19-for-29 (.655) in the second half of the Mount's 93-63 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 21, 2009.

* The 42-point effort in the first half of the game was the Mount's highest-scoring half of the season.

Defending the Knott...The Mount has made Knott Arena a difficult place for the opposition in recent years.

* Mount St. Mary's had its 11-game homecourt win streak snapped by Navy, 81-68, on November 29. It was the Mount's second 11-game homecourt win streak since the start of the 2008-09 season.

* Mount St. Mary's is 24-6 (.800 winning pct.) at home over the past two seasons. Last year, the Mount went 10-3 at home after posting a 12-2 mark at Knott Arena in 2008-09.

* The Mount has been even better in Northeast Conference play, posting a 16-2 mark over its past 18 NEC regular season home games. Including the playoffs, the Mount has won 19 of its past 21 home games against NEC opponents on Jim Phelan Court.

* The Mount has recorded a winning record at home in each of the past five seasons and has been .500 or better at home in 18 of the 23 seasons since Knott Arena opened.

* All-time, the Mount has a 171-118 (.592) record at Knott Arena.

Non-Conference Numbers...Since joining NCAA Division I, the Mountaineers have struggled in non-conference play. The Mountaineers are 62-148 (.295) in non-conference games since the move to Division I in 1988-89.

* Of those 210 non-conference games, 125 have been on the road, 65 at home and 20 at a neutral site.

* The Mount is 20-105 on the road, 35-30 at home and 7-13 at a neutral site in non-conference action since 1988-89.

* The Mount has had just one winning season in non-conference play at the Division I level. The 2002-03 team went 5-4 in non-conference action before finishing the season with a 11-16 record.

December Musings...Mount St. Mary's is 52-95 all-time in the month of December since moving to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.

* The Mountaineers are 30-27 at home, 17-62 on the road and 5-6 at neutral sites in those games.

* This season, the Mount will have seven of its eight December games on the road.

* The last time the Mount had a winning mark in the month of December was when the 2007-08 squad went 6-2.

Freshmen in the Lineup...The Mount started a trio of freshmen (Josh Castellanos, David Golladay, Julian Norfleet) the past seven games.

* It was the first time since Nov. 30, 2005, that the Mount had a trio of freshmen in the starting five. That game, Joey Butler, Sam Atupem and Markus Mitchell started against La Salle.

* Golladay and Norfleet started the first four games for the Mount this season. It was the first time the Mount has had a pair of freshmen in the starting lineup since Jeremy Goode and Kelly Beidler started at Maryland on Dec. 28, 2006.

Third Coach in 57 Years...Robert Burke became the third men's basketball coach in 57 years at the Mount when his hiring was announced on May 10.

* Burke comes to the Mount with 22 years of Division I coaching experience, including helping 10 of his last 12 teams reach the postseason and six NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2007 Final Four with Georgetown. He has coached 39 players who earned all-conference honors. In addition, he was named one of the top-10 assistant coaches in country according to a peer survey conducted by Fox Sports in 2008.

* He was an assistant coach under Jeff Jones at American last year. The previous nine seasons, he worked with John Thompson III at Georgetown (five years) and Princeton (four years). Burke was an assistant for Paul Hewitt at Siena (three seasons) while also serving as an assistant at Loyola Marymount (three seasons) and Maryland-Baltimore County (six seasons).

* Legendary Mount St. Mary's coach Jim Phelan was at the helm of the program for 49 years (1954-2003), posting 830 career wins. The Mount won the NCAA College Division National Championship in 1962 under Phelan while advancing to five NCAA Division II Final Fours. Phelan guided the Mount to the 1995 and 1999 NCAA Division I Tournaments.

* Milan Brown coached the Mount the past seven seasons, leading the team to the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

BCS Flavor...The Mount will be playing four teams from BCS conferences this season, the most in school history.

* Mount St. Mary's has road games against Cincinnati (Big East), Penn State (Big 10), Northwestern (Big 10) and Virginia Tech (ACC).

* The Mount has played three BCS schools in the same season on 10 occasions, including each of the past four years.

Brown and Krajina Out of the Lineup...Senior Pierre Brown and sophomore Kristijan Krajina are out indefinitely with injuries. Brown, who averaged 2.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in 31 games last year, is out with a foot injury. Krajina, a 6-9 forward who averaged 1.6 points and 1.1 rebounds in 20 games played last season, is out with an ankle injury.

Mount Signs Taylor Danaher to NLI... Mount St. Mary's has signed Taylor Danaher (Fredericksburg, Va./Fredericksburg Christian School) to a National Letter of Intent to enroll at the Mount next fall.

* Danaher, a 6-10, 200-pound center with a 7-2 wingspan, averaged 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks per game as a junior while playing in the Central Virginia Homeschool Athletic Association.

* He was named First Team All-Tournament at the Homeschool Sports Network Championships last March. Danaher played AAU with the Hoop Booth organization.

The Mount and the Northeast Conference...The Mount is 185-194 all-time in NEC regular season games.

* The Mount is 110-78 at home and 75-116 on the road during the NEC regular season.

* Mount St. Mary's has posted a winning record in nine of the 21 seasons the team has been in the league.

* Since joining the league in 1989-90, the Mount has had 17 All-NEC selections, including six first-team honorees.

* The Mount won NEC Tournament titles in 1995, 1999 and 2008 and won the NEC regular season crown in 1995-96.

Strong Debut...Freshman guard Julian Norfleet tallied 15 points in his collegiate debut at Dayton

* The 15 points were the most by a Mount player in their collegiate debut since 2002. Landy Thompson, who is eighth all-time at the Mount with 1,733 career points, had 28 points in his first collegiate game at North Carolina State on Nov. 22, 2002.

* The only other double-digit performance by a freshman in their first game at the Mount since 2002 was from Sam Atupem, who had 13 points at Virginia Tech on Nov. 18, 2005. Atupem is the older brother of current Mountaineer Shawn Atupem.

* Norfleet had 16 points in his Mount debut, the most by a Mount player in their first home game since Jeremy Goode had 18 in a double-overtime win against James Madison in the 2006 home opener.

Norfleet Named NEC Co-Rookie of the Week...Freshman Julian Norfleet was named the Northeast Conference Co-Rookie of the Week on Monday.

* The freshman averaged 11.5 points per game in a win over Savannah State and a loss to Cincinnati.

* In a 69-59 loss at Cincinnat, Nofleet drilled a three-pointer with 59 seconds left to pull the Mount within 62-58. He finished the game with seven points, six rebounds and three assists.

* In the Mount's 68-62 overtime win over Savannah State, Norfleet's clutch shooting down the stretch helped the Mount rally from a seven-point deficit. Trailing 41-34 with eight minutes left, Norfleet hit a pair of three-pointers in a 12-0 run that helped the Mount regain the lead.

* After Savannah State rallied to send the game into overtime, Norfleet connected for a three-pointer 21 seconds into the extra session to give the Mountaineers the lead for good. He finished the game with a season-high 16 points, including a 5-for-10 mark from beyond the arc.

* Norfleet is the first Mountaineer to earn NEC Rookie of the Week honors since Shawn Atupem won the award on Feb. 18, 2008.

International Appeal...Sophomore Kristijan Krajina is the Mount's first international player since Pat Atangana (Cameroon, 2000-04).

* The Mount has had three other European players in the team's history. Robert Balgac (1996-00, New Belgrade, Serbia), Gerben Van Dorpe (Erembodegem, Belgium, 1994-98) and Matt Meakin (Awsworth, England) are the others.

* Other international players to don the Mount uniform include Rodolpho Ruiz (Tampico, Mexico, 1920-24), Roberto Ruiz (Tampico, Mexico, 1926-27) and Paul Miller (Havana, Cuba, 1920-21).