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Fresh from passing a big test with Thursday night's 65-49 win over Great West Conference foe North Dakota, NJIT jumps into another challenge when it hosts defending conference champion South Dakota Saturday afternoon at 4 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The win over North Dakota pushed the Highlanders to 4-1 in the Great West, while UND, which came in having won 6 of its previous 7, fell to 4-2 in the GWC.
South Dakota, too, is 4-2 in the GWC and could pull into second place with a victory at NJIT. Utah Valley leads the pack, with its only loss coming at South Dakota. In turn, NJIT's only loss was at Utah Valley, while South Dakota's two conference losses came against rival North Dakota, which just lost to the Highlanders.
The Coyotes dominated the inaugural season of GWC play in 2009-10, going 11-1 in the regular season and then winning two close games to take the Great West Tournament crown. That win earned them a bid into the CollegeInsider.com tournament, where they lost at Creighton to finish 22-10 overall. … The success as a reclassifying Division I program, was not a surprise for the Coyotes, who were a national Division II power (10 national tournament bids) under veteran coach Dave Boots, who is closing in on 600 career wins (592-256 record). Boots has had 16 20-win seasons at USD. … With 2009-10 GWC Player of the Year 6-8 Tyler Cain, 6-11 center Steve Smith and 1st-team all-GWC Roman Gentry all lost to graduation, there was bound an adjustment for the current Coyotes, but they have won 4 of the last 5. … South Dakota averages more than 78 ppg, led by newcomer Charlie Westbrook (16.2 ppg), a 6-foot-4 junior college transfer. Louie Krogman, a 6-1 junior, averages 14.1 ppg. And Jake Thomas, a sophomore who averaged 13.3 ppg as a freshman, is getting 12.5 ppg this season. Krogman and Thomas have combined to make 100 3-pointers. Freshman Trevor Gruis, a 6-9 center, is the top rebounder for the Coyotes (7.3 rpg). … The only two all-time meetings between NJIT and South Dakota were last year, with the Coyotes winning both. South Dakota won at the Prudential Center on Feb. 25 and then the Coyotes won big in South Dakota, 83-49, in the regular season finale on March 7.
NJIT, 8-2 in its last 10 games overall, has won its last six home games and is 8-4 on Fleisher Family Court this year and 16-7 there the last two years (the first NJIT-USD game in Newark was played in the Prudential Center, so this will be the first visit to the NJIT campus for the Coyotes).
NJIT's three pre-season all-GWC picks are leading the way for the Highlanders. Junior Isaiah Wilkerson coming off a game-high 21 points in the win over North Dakota is averaging a team-best 13.5 ppg, including 19.4 ppg in 5 conference games. He also leads the Highlanders in rebounding (6.2 rpg).
Sophomore Chris Flores is next in scoring (12.8 ppg) and he leads NJIT in assists (62) and steals (31).
Senior Jheryl Wilson checks in with 12.7 ppg and is second in rebounding (4.8 rpg), assists (61), and steals (23). Wilson scored 8 against North Dakota, raising his career total to 1,256 points and passing Reggie James (1,250 points from 1985-89) for ninth on the Highlander career list.
Fans unable to make the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary from Matt Provence, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed. Audio coverage, which begins a few minutes before the 2 pm game between the NJIT and South Dakota women and will continue with full coverage of the men's game.
