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NEWARK, NJ--NJIT aims for a 2-0 Great West Conference start on Saturday afternoon, when the Highlanders host Texas-Pan American (also 1-0 in the GWC) at 2 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
NJIT brings a 8-9 overall record into the game, including a 7-1 mark in the Fleisher Athletic Center, most recently taking an 85-62 win over visiting Houston Baptist in the GWC opening Thursday night.
 
UTPA (6-15) also picked up a Great West-opening win Thursday night, topping Chicago State 72-65 in the Windy City.
 
The win at Chicago State snapped a 25-game road losing streak that had dated back to November 17, 2010. A look at this year's Texas-Pan American road schedule reveals that the long losing streak was a bit deceptive given the strength of the opposition. This season alone, the Broncs have visited two teams from the Big Ten (Northwestern and Ohio State, ranked #1 in the nation at the time) and two teams from the Big East (De Paul and St. John's—UTPA led the Red Storm with less than 45 seconds remaining,  but lost by five)
 
Coach Ryan Marks is in his third season at UTPA, having previously built NCAA Tournament qualifiers at lower NCAA levels, leading Southern Vermont to the Division III Tournament in his second year there and then St. Edward's to the Division II Tournament three times in five years.
 
While this year's record is relatively modest at 6-15, the rebuilding Broncs have matched their win total from the entire 2010-11 season, when they finished 6-25. They were 6-27 in 2009-10. UTPA has 10 regular season games, plus at least one in the GWC Tournament to build on its win total this year.
 
Texas-Pan American averages just under 60 points per game on offense, paced by Brandon Provost's 13.1 ppg. Provost is a dangerous 3-point shooter, showing high volume (49 made) and accuracy (.467 on 49-105). He is also dangerous at the foul line (64-78; .821). Provost is a junior who is in his second year at UTPA after playing at Air Force as a freshman,
 
The other double-figure scorer is senior guard Jared Maree (12.6 ppg), while Earl Jefferson (5.1 rpg) leads the Broncs on the boards. Jefferson is a junior forward who played two years at junior college power Fresno City College.
 
Provost is far from the only 3-point threat on UTPA, which averages exactly 20 attempts per game from downtown, with 35 percent accuracy (identical percentage to NJIT, which is an above- average 3-point team itself). Five Broncs have made double-digit threes, from Provost's high of 49 to Ruben Cabrera's 13.
 
Texas-Pan American, which has been on the NJIT schedule since the Highlanders began Division I competition in 2006-07, holds an 8-3 lead in the all-time series between the schools. However, all three NJIT wins have come in the last four meetings. Last season, NJIT won at home (79-60) and in Texas (65-63 in overtime).

This season, NJIT and the Texas-Pan Am have two common non-conference opponents, Army and CSU Bakersfield. UTPA lost at Army, 61-59, while the Highlanders won at Army, 54-53. Recently, NJIT and the Broncs were back-to-back opponents for CSU Bakersfield. On January 7, CSUB beat the Broncs, 72-57. Three days later, CSUB nipped the Highlanders, 71-70.
 
NJIT, which captured second place in the Great West Conference standings outright last year with a 9-3 conference record, is looking to continue its first winning streak of the season, having beaten SUNY Cobleskill on Jan. 14, 95-67, and then having beaten Houston Baptist by 23 points in the GWC opener Thursday night.
 
Isaiah Wilkerson (16 ppg, 5.7 rpg) continued his stellar play, notching game-high totals of 24 points and 8 rebounds against HBU, while three other Highlanders reached double-figure scoring. Lamar Kearse picked up 15 points and career best-tying 7 rebounds off the bench, while Ryan Woods scored 11 points and Chris Flores added 10, along with a program DI record-tying 8 assists.
 
Flores averages 12.4 ppg, while Woods is third on the team at 8.2 ppg. Kearse gets 6.8 ppg and other steady scoring threats are Arjun Ohri (6.9 ppg) and PJ Miller (6.9 ppg).
 
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 begins a few minutes before the 7 pm game.
 
Schedule note: In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the first two seasons of Great West Conference basketball, the games were presented as doubleheaders, usually with a women's game first and a men's game second at the same site.
 
This year (2011-12), the GWC has adopted what is called “mirror scheduling”, with the teams from the two participating schools meeting on the same night, but the men's game at one site and the women's game at the other school's home. For example, when the NJIT men are playing the Texas-Pan American men in Newark, their women's counterparts will be squaring off in Edinburg, TX, on the same day.
 
As a result, most GWC games will be presented as single games. The only exception on NJIT's home conference schedule is on March 3, when both Highlander teams will host their Chicago State counterparts in a doubleheader, with the women's game at 2 pm and the men's game at 4 pm.