CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team will look to bounce back as they welcome FDU to the Queen City on Wednesday night. The Royals are coming off a 62-52 loss at Drexel on Sunday afternoon at the Market Street Challenge.
 
GAMEDAY GUIDE
Dates: November 22, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Curry Arena (Charlotte, N.C.)
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THE MATCHUP
The midweek showdown between the Royals and the Knights will be the second all-time after the two schools clashed last season in Hackensack, N.J. The Royals used a dominant first-half performance to defeat the Knights 82-73 to improve to 10-3 in their inaugural Division 1 campaign. Five different Royals reached double figures as AJ McKee led the way with a team-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. At the time, the victory improved the Royals unbeaten streak when reaching 80 points to 30 games.
 
SCOUTING THE ROYALS (2-3 overall, 0-0 ASUN)

• Queens is coming off a 1-1 weekend at the Market Street Challenged hosted by Drexel. The Royals took down Fairfield on Saturday night before falling to the Dragons on Sunday afternoon. The weekend was all about runs as the Royals went on a 16-0 run over the final seven minutes of the first half against Fairfield to drop the Stags. The next day, a nine-minute second half scoring drought plagued the Royals as they went 1-for-16 from the field.
• The Royals return home to Curry Arena where they are 1-0 on the year and 237-78 since 2013-14.
• This season has been a tough start shooting from the field for the Royals as they are connecting on 39 percent of their shots. Through the first five games last season, the Royals were connecting on 48 percent of their opportunities.
• Veteran scorers AJ McKee and BJ McLaurin became the 21^st and 22^nd players to eclipse 1,000 career points in program history. The duo reached the milestone in the Royals victory over High Point on November 14^th.
• Preseason All-Conference recipient AJ McKee anchors the Royals offense and is averaging 17.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. The Charlotte native sits fifth in the league in scoring and top 25 in assists. McKee is coming off a 38-minute performance at Drexel matching his career-high.
• Junior guard Deyton Albury has put together a solid start to his first campaign in the Queen City. The Nassau, Bahamas native turned in a game-high 19 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists against the Herd in the season opener. On the year, Albury is second on the team in scoring averaging 14.0 points per game while also leading the squad in rebounds and assists per game. In the ASUN, the guard is top 10 in assists and top 15 in rebounding and scoring.
• Senior BJ McLaurin is finding his rhythm lately averaging 12.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last week. Against High Point, McLaurin notched his 1,000^th career point and then followed it up with a career-high 12 rebounds against Fairfield in the opener at the Market Street Challenge.
• Queens is not afraid to shoot their shot from behind the arc as they averaged the fourth most three-pointers per game last season, and currently sit sixth in the league this season. Three-point specialist Chris Ashby went 5-for-14 from behind the arc at Marshall across 33 minutes of action.
• Winning the battle on the boards is a part of the Royals basketball culture. In Division 1, Queens is 17-6 when outrebounding their opponent and 3-11 when losing the battle on the glass. This season, Queens is 10^th in rebounds per game, a category which they were second in last season.
• The Royals are one of the nation's most efficient teams at getting to the free-throw line. Deyton Albury, AJ McKee, and BJ McLaurin sit top 20 in the league in free throw percentage. Queens is 12-5 in non-conference Division 1 games in which they attempt more free throws than their opponent.

 
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS (4-1 overall, 0-0 Northeast Conference)

• FDU enters Wednesday night 4-1 overall and coming off a 124-66 victory over Penn State Schuylkill last Saturday. The 124 points were the most points scored by the Knights since Nov. 15, 2017. All 13 available Knights played and scored in the outing.
• FDU brings an explosive offense that is averaging 89.8 points per game, a mark that is 26^th best in the nation.
• The Knights bury the eighth most three pointers in the country at 11.6 per game.
• Preseason All-Conference recipient Ansley Almonor leads the Knights with 15.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
• The Knights were picked to finish third in the NEC Preseason Poll following a 21-16 season which featured a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. FDU stunned the world becoming the second #16 seed to upset a #1 seed when they ousted Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
• Head Coach Jack Castleberry enters his first season at the helm of the Knights. The first-year head coach was briefly on staff at Queens before departing for an assistant position for the Knights.

 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Royals will break for Thanksgiving before returning to the road to close out the weekend. The Royals will head to Richmond, Virginia for a non-conference clash with Richmond on Saturday, November 25^th. Tip-off has been pushed back to 7:00 p.m. due to the Spiders hosting a playoff football game during the afternoon. Fans can purchase their tickets in advance by visiting the Richmond Athletics website.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to follow the Royals on Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics on social media to stay up to date on all the Royals sports in action.