THE MATCHUP
The Leopards travel to Holy Cross on Monday evening to take on the Crusaders. Holy Cross enters the contest at 8-17 (5-7 PL) following an 86-68 loss to Army. The Crusaders are led by senior forward Gerrale Gates who is averaging 17.1 points per game.

LAST MEETING
The last meeting between these two teams took place in Easton, Pa. on Jan . 14, 2023. The Leopards earned a 62-48 victory at Kirby Sports Center. Sophomore guard TJ Berger led all scorers with 19 points and eight rebounds.

FOUR IN A ROW
The Leopards won four games in a row for the first time since the shortened 2020-21 season. The Maroon and White captured victories over American (70-59), Holy Cross (62-48), Bucknell (74-67) and Navy (59-50). Senior Leo O'Boyle led the Leopards by averaging 15.7 points per
game over that span. The win streak, which began on Jan. 11 at Navy, was snapped in a 61-49 loss at Lehigh on Jan 21.

FINDING THE FRESHMAN
Freshman forward Josh Rivera netted a career-high 27 points at American on Jan. 18. On Jan 28. at Colgate, Rivera recorded his first career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Against Army on Jan. 1, Rivera managed 16 points and six rebounds in a losing effort. During the second game of the season against St. John's, the freshman scored a then career-high 17 points, secured five rebounds and managed two blocks. Rivera is averaging 10.7 points per game in conference play. He earned Patriot League Rookie of The Week on Jan. 30 after his performances against Colgate and Loyola Md. Last time out against Lehigh, freshman Rivera almost recorded his second career double-double, finishing with 23 points and nine rebounds.

SHOOTERS SHOOT
Lafayette ranks 13th in the country in three-point attempts per game at 27.3. Three different Leopards have attempted more than 100 shots from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard TJ Berger leads the Leopards with 158 three-point shot attempts. Senior Leo O'Boyle (132) and sophomore CJ
Fulton (126) round out the top three.

FAMILIAR FOES
Lafayette has played 478 games against current Patriot League members. In League play, Lafayette is 203-275 in the regular season and 23-28 in the Patriot League Tournament.

CASHING IN AT THE CHARITY STRIPE
Senior forward Leo O'Boyle ranks first in the Patriot League in free-throw percentage at 88.3%. O'Boyle has netted 53 of his 60 free-throws attempted in 2022-23.

DOMINATING DEFENSE
Lafayette has held four different opponents to 50 points or fewer this season: CCSU (50), Navy (50), Holy Cross (48) and Loyola Md. (46). The Leopards took home victories in all four of those games. The last time a Lafayette team held four or more opponents to 50 or fewer points was during the 2003-04 season. The Leopards currently rank first in the Patriot League in scoring defense, allowing only 64.6 points per game.

1,000 POINTS
Senior Leo O'Boyle is closing in on 1,000 points as a Leopard with 927 career points. He will need to average at least 10.4 points per game over the final seven contests to reach the century mark. O'Boyle currently averages 11.8 points per game. O'Boyle would become the 48th Leopard to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

THAT MIKE JORDAN
For the first time in 27 seasons, the Leopards have a new leader roaming the sidelines in 2000 Penn graduate Mike Jordan, the 19th head coach in Lafayette history. Jordan won three conference championships in the last four seasons as an assistant coach and was named head coach of the
Leopards on March 29, 2022. Jordan played 11 seasons professionally across Europe and was a three-time All-Ivy League selection, two-time Ivy League champion and Ivy League Player of the Year.

BLOCK PARTY
Junior forward Kyle Jenkins registered four blocks in an overtime win versus Bucknell on Jan. 8. That marked the second consecutive game that a Lafayette player recorded at least four blocks. At Boston University on Jan. 5 sophomore Justin Vander Baan recorded four blocks in a 73-69 overtime loss, and two blocks in a 62-48 victory over Holy Cross on Jan. 14. He also managed three blocks against Lehigh. Jenkins managed two more blocks in the victory at Navy on Jan. 11. Freshman Josh Rivera registered four blocks against Loyola Md. on Jan. 15 and two more blocks out at Colgate. The Leopards currently rank third in the Patriot League in blocked shots with 71 on the year and 3.08
blocked shots per game.

SHUFFLING STARTERS
The Leopards have used 14 different starting lineups throughout this season. Mike Jordan and his staff have shuffled through nine different starters, but have used the same starting five now for nine consecutive games. CJ Fulton is the only Leopard to start every game this season.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The Leopards scored a season-high 90 points in their second victory of the season against La Salle on Dec. 21. The Maroon and White had four players score in double figures in CJ Fulton (20), Leo O'Boyle (13), Josh Rivera (12) and TJ Berger (10). The Leopards shot 61.5% from the field and 57.7% from beyond the arc.

FAMILIAR FACES, FAMILIAR FOES
Mike Jordan and the Leopards took on some old pals along the way, highlighted by the final nonconference test at La Salle against his college head coach, Fran Dunphy, who is also in his first season as the head coach of the Explorers. Lafayette hosted Jordan's alma mater, Penn, earlier this year and will play his former boss and college teammate, Matt Langel of Colgate, twice in the league stretch of the schedule. Jordan worked as an assistant under previous foe Drexel's head coach Zach Spiker in 2020-21, helping lead the Dragons to their first-ever CAA title and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years.

SOLO SENIOR
Just one senior is rostered for Lafayette in Leo O'Boyle, who plays a versatile role as a big body and a shooter. O'Boyle netted a career-high 24 points against Bucknell on Jan. 9 and has scored in double figures during 15 games. Senior day will be held on Feb. 11 against Boston U.

NEED SOME ASSISTANCE?
Sophomore guard CJ Fulton is second in the Patriot League in assists at 4.9 per game. In 25 games, the Belfast, Ireland native has dished out 122 assists on the year. Fulton also ranks first in the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 2.7.

MAJOR MINUTES
CJ Fulton has led the Leopards in minutes played. In the overtime loss to Penn, Fulton played 42 minutes, scoring 12 points to go along with seven assists, and seven rebounds. Against UMBC, Fulton registered 39 minutes on the court. The Belfast, Ireland native also clocked 40 minutes versus St. Joseph's, where he totaled five steals. He currently ranks first in the league in minutes played with 36.2 per game. Teammate Kyle Jenkins sits behind him in sixth with 32.8 minutes per game.

KNOCKING DOWN THE THREE BALL
The Leopards are averaging 9.1 threes per game this season, ranking them first in the Patriot League. Leading the team in three-pointers made are senior Leo O'Boyle (51), sophomore CJ Fulton (50) and sophomore TJ Berger (49).