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NJIT, second in the Great West Conference, needs a win against 1st-place Utah Valley to keep alive the Highlanders' chances of earning a share of the GWC regular season title when the teams go head-to-head on Thursday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center (scheduled start time of 7:30 pm).
This is the final regular season game for the Wolverines who are 10-1 in the GWC and can do no worse than tie for the top spot in the GWC, even if they lose to NJIT.
The Highlanders, meanwhile, need to defeat UVU and then, in their regular season finale, defeat Chicago State on Saturday in order to earn a share of the top spot.
Utah Valley, 18-10 overall, has won four in a row and 8 of the last 9. The second win in the 8-1 run came against NJIT, 71-58, on January 29 in Orem. The only GWC loss for the Wolverines this season was 89-85 at South Dakota on January 22.
UVU is 12-2 going back to Jan. 4 … NJIT is 12-3 since January 8, so both teams have played extremely well in 2011.
The Wolverines, who are strong on both ends of the court, boast 4 starters averaging double-figure scoring and the fifth starter, power forward Geddes Robinson, averages 9 points and is a force inside, pulling down 9.4 rebounds per game. He had a team-leading 13 points, plus 9 rebounds the first time around vs. NJIT.
Four of the five UVU starters, including Robinson, are newcomers this year. Junior college transfer Isiah Williams is the top scorer (17.3 ppg). He has made 77 3-point shots this year. … Center Ben Aird and point guard Holton Hunsaker, the coach's son, are freshmen, but they are mature, having graduated from high school in 2008 and then embarking on LDS church missions before starting college this year. Aird, the two-time reigning GWC Player of the Week, averages 11.6 ppg and 7.4 rpg, while Hunsaker gets 11 ppg. Hunsaker is one of three Wolverine starters shooting above 85 pct at the foul line (they are 77 pct as a team; 11th in Division I). … Jordan Swarbrick, the only holdover starter from last season, scores 11.5 ppg. Robinson, like Williams, is a junior college transfer.
Highly-respected among his peers nationwide, UVU coach Dick Hunsaker has been head coach at Utah, Ball State and Manchester (IN) and in the pro ranks, before going to UVU, where he has won nearly 65 pct of his games as he nears the end of his 9th season with the Wolverines.
When the teams met in January, UVU dominated early, building a 19-point lead in the first 11 minutes. NJIT fought back and pulled to within a point with just over 9 minutes left in the second half before falling back and losing by 13.
Utah Valley leads the all-time series, 8-1. The teams have played home-and-home each year since NJIT began Division I competition in 2006-07. The only win for the Highlanders was decisive, 71-46, on January 30, 2010 in Newark.
The Highlanders feature a triumvirate of players who have been jockeying for the team scoring lead all season.
The leader is junior captain Isaiah Wilkerson, who averages 13.7 points, plus a team-best 6.4 rebounds. Wilkerson, who became the 24th 1,000-point career scorer in program history when NJIT was in South Dakota on February 24, was honored earlier this week as New Jersey Division I Player of the Month for February by NJ Hoops and NJHoops.com.
Chris Flores is averaging 13 points per game and tied the school Division I record when he struck for 28 points in a win at Houston Baptist on February 17. He is second on the team in assists (67) and leads in steals (41). He tied his own school Division I record when he made six steals in just 19 minutes of action in a win at North Dakota on February 26.
The third-leading scorer for NJIT is the team's only senior, Jheryl Wilson, who averages 12.6 ppg, is tied for Flores for the team lead in 3-point baskets (44) and is second in rebounding (4.6 rpg) and third in assists (62). The ninth-leading scorer in program history with 1,304 points, Wilson will be playing his final two career home games this weekend.
Wilkerson, Flores and Wilson are the only double-figure scorers for NJIT, but guards Lamar Kearse and PJ Miller merit mention, as well. Kearse, who stepped into the starting lineup at North Dakota when Wilson was sidelined by conjunctivitis, led the Highlander scorers in that game. He is averaging 8.9 points and scored a combined 31 points in the two games on the Dakotas trip.
Miller, a sophomore is playing some of the best ball of his career. Over the last six games, the lanky point guard is shooting better than 60 percent from the field (24-39), while also sporting an excellent assists-to-turnovers ratio of 23-to-5.
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 5:30 pm game between the NJIT and Utah Valley women and will continue with full coverage of the men's game.
