Rejuvenated Monmouth riding confidence, experience into AC, MAAC tourney

As Monmouth enters MAAC tournament on heels of resurgent sweep, Marcus McClary has reminded his teammates to take care of business. (Photo by Monmouth University Athletics)

A mid-February sweep at the hands of Iona turned out to be a revelatory moment for King Rice.

Rice, the longtime head coach at Monmouth, had come into the back-to-back series against Rick Pitino’s Gaels with a chance for his Hawks team to establish itself as the frontrunner in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, but after a furious comeback fell short in the first of two games and a 23-point setback in the second, the coach took his lumps along with his players and moved on.

“I tried to learn from Coach Pitino,” Rice said as Monmouth, the second seed in this week’s MAAC tournament, opens its postseason Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round contest between Fairfield and Manhattan. “You don’t go into that game thinking you’re going to outcoach him. He came after us harder than a lot of teams do. He tried to take us out of running on the break, they did a good job and we’ll be better prepared for it if someone tries it again.”

“He showed us that getting up on us and banging us, and being really physical set us back. We usually try to do that to people, and he did it to us. When somebody’s more aggressive than you, it sets you back a little bit, and we accept that.”

Also chief among the teaching moments is that of getting the MAAC’s deepest bench firing on all cylinders to join Monmouth’s three all-conference seniors in George Papas, Melik Martin and Deion Hammond, who had his own struggles against Iona. It is Rice’s hope that Donovann Toatley, who has battled adversity on and off the floor in recent weeks, can be the spark plug he served as in the first half of the year to join the starting unit in forming one of the most imposing squads on the court at Boardwalk Hall.

“We want all of our kids to play well, especially this time of year, and we’re hopeful that Donovann can get back going,” Rice reflected. “It’s a hard thing, guys. He’s dealing with COVID, he’s dealing with school, he’s dealing with some things at home, he just has a lot on his plate. I think a lot of these kids are struggling with these things, and I’m hopeful he can find himself and play like himself the rest of the way.”

As it relates to Hammond, Rice reiterated the senior’s leadership by example, and its tendency to manifest itself when needed most.

“We don’t have to say a lot to Deion,” he said. “He’s a highly motivated kid that really wants to do well. We need him to play his best basketball, but it’s not a thing where I’m coming to him saying, ‘Hey, come on, Deion, you gotta start playing.’ Deion usually figures it out, and as long as he’s healthy, he’ll be going.”

Monmouth came into last week’s regular season finale against Rider still with a chance to position itself at the top of the league, an opportunity not lost on the players in the Hawks’ locker room as the road to a championship has reached the next stop.

“I told the guys we just have five more games to go, and then we’ll be the champs,” senior guard Marcus McClary reminded his teammates. “And everyone just followed suit. We played hard and won two rivalry games at Rider, going to AC with two wins. Our confidence has been high the whole season, now we know what to do. Now it’s time to take care of business.”