King Rice knows the deal.

His Monmouth basketball team beat Seton Hall like a drum last year in the Prudential Center while collecting a “guarantee” fee – typically in the $75,000-$100,000 range – commonly utilized in non-conference college hoops.

The bigger program pays the smaller program to visit and, most times, that visit ends in a loss for the latter.

“When you win those games, they don’t invite you back,” Rice said.

Yet Monmouth is returning to Newark Thursday for another non-conference game at Seton Hall, a testament to Hall coach Shaheen Holloway’s commitment to playing metropolitan-area opponents and to his relationship with Rice, whom he considers a mentor.

“He pays us to come up there, and it helps our program and we need it,” Rice said. “He invited us back and gave us a b

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