NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men's basketball team (11-4, 1-1 C-USA) hits the road for a pair of Conference USA games this week. First, on Thursday Jan. 10 at 7:00 p.m., ODU will take on FAU (10-5, 1-1 C-USA) in Boca Raton, Fla. Then on Saturday, Jan. 12, the Monarchs will travel to Miami, Fla. for a showdown at FIU (10-5, 1-1 C-USA) at 7:00 p.m. Both games will stream on ESPN+. Old Dominion has won nine of its last 10 contests.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-The Monarchs rank fourth in the nation for holding teams to 36.9% shooting from the floor for the season.
-Old Dominion’s defense also ranks fifth in the country for scoring defense, allowing just 58.1 points per game.
-ODU turns the ball over just 11.1 times per game, which ranks 24th in the country.
-Ahmad Caver ranks 14th in the nation for his 3.44 assist to turnover ratio.
-Caver’s 36:42 minutes played per contest ranks 19th in Division I.
-B.J. Stith’s seven double-doubles this season ranks 18th in the country and first in the conference.
ODU IS...
-11-2 when scoring 60 or more points.
-11-2 when allowing 69 points or less.
-9-1 when shooting 40% or better from the floor.
-10-3 when outrebounding its opponent (has outrebounded opponent in all but two games).
-8-2 when committing less turnovers than its opponent.
-6-1 when leading at half.
CURRENT MONARCHS CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME LEADERBOARDS
AHMAD CAVER
-His 161 career steals rank 10th in school history.
-His 400 career assists rank 14th in school history.
-His 1,221 points rank 32nd in school history.
B.J. STITH
-His 1,063 points (doesn’t include the 13 he scored at UVA) rank 42nd in school history.
COMEBACK KIDS - Largest Deficits Overcome in ODU Victories:
21 (13:07 - 1H) vs. Western Kentucky – Largest comeback in school history.
17 (2:37 - 1H) vs. VCU
13 (00:44 -1H) at No. 25 Syracuse
FAU
The Owls are led by a new head coach this season, Dusty May. May joined FAU after three years as an assistant coach at the University of Florida, where he helped the Gators compile a 69-37 record, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Jailyn Ingram (18.9 ppg), Anthony Adger (16.2 ppg) and Xavien Stapleton (10.6 ppg) all average double-figures for Florida Atlantic. FAU has notable wins at UCF (80-79) and at Illinois (OT, 73-71).
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. FAU
-Thursday night will mark the ninth all-time meeting between these two schools.
-ODU owns the all-time series, 7-1.
-ODU beat FAU twice last season.
-ODU won the first five meetings in this series.
-ODU is 2-0 all-time when playing at FAU.
-The two teams first met during the 2006-07 season.
FIU
The Panthers are also led by a first year head coach in Jeremy Ballard. Ballard arrived at FIU after serving as associate head coach at VCU in 2017-18. He has spent 14 seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level with coaching stints at Pitt, Illinois State, VCU, Tulsa and his alma mater Colgate.
Florida International has been led by Brian Beard Jr. (18.5 ppg), Devon Andrews (16.0 ppg), Trejon Jacob (13.0 ppg) and Antonio Day Jr. (12.0 ppg) so far this season.
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. FIU
-Saturday night will mark the seventh all-time meeting between these two schools.
-ODU owns the all-time series, 6-0.
-ODU defeated FIU twice last season.
-ODU is 3-0 all-time when playing FIU in Miami, Fla.
-The two teams first met during the 2013-14 season and have played each other every season since.
-ODU’s largest margin of victory over FIU is 26 (79-53), which was accomplished the last time these two schools played.