WASHINGTON – After its first two weekends of play were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols, the long-awaited season opening weekend has arrived for American University men's basketball with two road games scheduled against Navy to open the 2021 campaign on Saturday and Sunday.
 
QUICK INFO

• Date/Time: At Navy – Saturday, Jan. 16, 12 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 17, 12 p.m.
• Site: Annapolis, Md. (Alumni Hall)
• Series History: AU leads, 49-44
• TV: ESPN+
• Talent: Pete Medhurst (pxp), Joe Miller or Mike Heary (color)

INSIDE THE SERIES

• AU swept the series against Navy a season ago after previously dropping four of five contests in 2018 and 2019.
• American has never faced Navy in a Patriot League opener.
• The two programs have faced off 93 times since first meeting on February 2, 1929. It is the second most-played series for the Eagles behind Loyola (97 meetings).
• In consultation with League officials and Navy, the matchup on Sunday was moved from Bender Arena to Alumni Hall. Navy will come to D.C. for a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 6 and Sunday, Feb. 7. Times for those games are still to be announced and will be updated on aueagles.com.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN

• The Eagles will be looking to collectively replace their all-time leading scorer and Patriot League Player of the Year, Sa'eed Nelson. The 2,116-point scorer was the heart and soul of the program the last four years, and Coach Brennan will be leaning on a veteran backcourt in Jamir Harris and Stacy Beckton Jr. to step up in his place.
• American will be seeking just its second season-opening win of the Brennan era (currently 1-6). The Eagles topped George Mason, 78-75, to begin the 2018-19 season. In conference openers under Brennan, AU is 2-5, picking up its most recent win against Boston University on Jan. 2, 2019. 
• The departure of Sa'eed Nelson is not the only loss for the Eagles. Looking at the numbers, AU will have to replace 1,078 points (50% of scoring) from a season ago. Additionally, AU will have to replace 2,541 minutes (42.2%) from 2019-20. With six freshmen plus one junior college transfer, Brennan welcomes his largest incoming class since 2017-18 (9 newcomers).

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NAVY

• Buoyed by a veteran core, Navy has jumped out to a 4-0 start in PL play and is riding a six-game winning streak dating back to November 28, 2020 against Mount St. Mary's. The Mids are the only PL program without a league loss through two weekends of play.
• As Cam Davis goes, so do the Midshipmen. A second-team All-PL player a season ago, Davis was named preseason All-League this year and averages 18.8 ppg on 53 percent shooting from the field. 
• Richard Njoku has been hard to stop in the paint all season. The junior big man ranks second in the league by shooting 65.8 percent from the field.
• The Mids were predicted to finish fourth in the PL preseason coaches poll. A season ago, Navy earned the No. 6 seed in the PL tournament, dropping a 69-63 nod to the eventual champions, Boston University, in the quarterfinals. 

OTHER NOTABLES

• With the addition of Lorenzo Donadio (Rome, Italy) and Christian Lorng (Paris, France) to the roster this season, AU continues its legacy of international-born ballers as 11 different players from 10 different countries have now played for Coach Brennan. Most recently, Yilret Yiljep (Nigeria) and Mark Gasperini (Russia) carried the torch as international players. The legacy of international players continues all the way back to the Jeff Jones era as an international player has been an Eagle for at least 20 straight seasons.
• In his eighth season at AU, head coach Mike Brennan looks to make moves on the all-time wins list. He is six wins away from becoming the fifth AU skipper to reach 100 wins. Eight wins this season will put Brennan in fourth place on the all-time wins list.
• Senior guard Stacy Beckton Jr. is looking to make his mark on the AU Men's Basketball record book this season. He currently sits in 9th on the all-time blocks list at AU with 76 career swats. His 36 blocks in 2018-19 also put him in 9th place on the single-season list. The Third Team All-PL honoree and PL All-Defensive Team member has also improved offensively over the course of his career and looks to continue that momentum this season. He enters the season 325 points away from becoming the 33rd member of the 1,000 point club at AU.
• Jamir Harris made an immediate impact in his first year starting for the Eagles as he led the team with 62 made threes and ranked second with 10.7 ppg last season. More than anything, though, Harris was lights-out from the charity stripe. He broke the single-season record for free-throw percentage at AU (93.2), surpassing Arvydas Eitutavicius's mark of 90.5 percent set in 2006-07. 
• When play tips off at noon on Saturday, the Eagles will become the second-to-last NCAA D-I men's basketball program that hasn't officially opted out of competition to open its season. Loyola Maryland is slated to tip off at 4 p.m. on Saturday and will be the final program to open play. Both programs went on pause prior to the first scheduled weekend of play due to a positive COVID-19 test within its Tier 1 personnel.

POSTSEASON PLANS

• Teams in the Patriot League are split into three mini-conferences: South (American, Loyola, Navy), Central (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh) and North (Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross). Teams will play multiple games within those mini-conferences with other games as crossovers to others.
• Eight teams, as opposed to 10, will qualify for the Patriot League Tournament this year.
• Each of the three mini-conference winners earns a spot into the tournament field and host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (one through three) by their overall League record winning percentage.
• Each of the second-place mini-conference finishers earns a spot in the tournament field. The runner-up team with the best overall record would earn the No. 4 seed and the right to host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (four through six) by their overall League record winning percentage.
• The seventh and eighth seeds are determined by a list of procedures, including but not limited to: best two overall League record winning percentages and head-to-head record (if applicable).

VIRTUALLY "PHIL BENDER" ARENA PRESENTED BY GEICO

• American University Athletics has announced a new virtual ticket campaign in an effort to sell out Bender Arena this coming basketball season. This new season-long initiative, presented by "TEAM AU" partner GEICO, will challenge Eagles fans and alumni to sell out each seat in Bender Arena for the 2020-21 basketball schedule. The "AU Founder" ticket price of $18.93 commemorates the year AU was founded. Click here to support AU Athletics by buying virtual tickets. 

HOW TO WATCH ESPN+

• A subscription to ESPN+ is available for purchase via ESPN.com, ESPNPlus.com, or the ESPN App. Fans can access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed. To subscribe, click here. It costs $5.99/month or $59.99/year.

KEEP UP WITH US

• For the latest on American University Men's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_MBasketball), Facebook (/AU.MBasketball) and Instagram (@au_mbasketball).