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NEWARK, NJ—NJIT, off to a 2-2 start in Great West Conference play, steps outside the GWC to entertain Colgate of the Patriot League in the first-ever men's basketball meeting between the schools at 7 pm on Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
NJIT, which is 8-1 at home, including wins in its last six games on Fleisher Family Court, is nonetheless looking to rebound from a rough weekend on the road. The last two home wins for the Highlanders came to start play in the Great West. Taking to the road, they lost at North Dakota last Thursday, 80-63, and then 81-58 at Utah Valley two days later.
 
The Highlanders have been a team of contrasts—8-1 at home and 1-10 on the road is the most obvious. But the scores from their wins and losses look almost like two different teams. In the season opener, NJIT fell on the road at Manhattan, 62-48. In the 10 losses since, they have allowed their opponents to top 76 points nine times. In the nine NJIT wins, the opposition has not scored more that 62 points.
 
The two top scorers for the Highlanders are Isaiah Wilkerson (16.2 ppg) and Chris Flores (12.9 ppg). Wilkerson, the top scorer in the Great West this season, has taken the top spot on NJIT's career list for points (1,384) and rebounds (525) in the Division I era (since 2006-07). Flores was Great West Player of the Week twice in January (Jan. 9, Jan. 23).
 
Ryan Woods (8.4 ppg; 27 3-pointers); PJ Miller (6.8 ppg; 37 assists); Lamar Kearse (6.4 ppg); and, Arjun Ohri (5.9 ppg; 27 3-pointers) are other scoring threats for the Highlanders.
 
Colgate is 6-15 overall and 1-6 in the Patriot League in its first season under head coach Matt Langel, who was an assistant under Fran Dunphy at Penn and then Temple.
 
Senior guard Mike Venezia, who hails from Westfield, NJ, is the only Raider averaging double-figure scoring (10.2 ppg). However, sophomore guard Pat Moore is right behind (9.9 ppg), as are junior guard Mitch Rolls (9.6 ppg) and senior forward Sterling Melville (8.9 ppg). A native of Texas, Melville prepped at The Hun School in New Jersey. The top Colgate rebounder is 6-foot-10 senior center Nick Pascale (5.2 rpg).
 
Both Colgate and NJIT employ the 3-point shot as a key part of their respective arsenals. NJIT is 152-442 (.344) in 20 games and Colgate is 142-372 (.382) in 21 games. NJIT has four players with at least 27 threes made, while the Raiders have three players with at least 35 threes made.
 
The teams also have three common opponents to date. NJIT's only home loss came against St. Francis (NY) on Nov. 26, 79-60. Colgate hosted the Terriers a couple of weeks later (Dec. 10) and beat them, 65-63.
 
The Highlanders own wins over Colgate's Patriot League brethren at Army and Lafayette. NJIT's only road win came at Army, 54-53, on Nov. 30, and the Highlanders had one of their most impressive non-conference wins in the Division I era, topping Lafayette, 78-58, on Jan. 2. Colgate lost at Army, 91-75, on Jan. 18 and then at home vs. Lafayette, 82-76, last Wednesday.
 
Although this will be the first game between NJIT and Colgate, there are some ties between the programs. Colgate head coach Matt Langel played at Penn from 1996 to 2000 under coach Fran Dunphy, while NJIT assistant Ira Bowman is a 1996 graduate of Penn, where he was 1996 Ivy League Player of the Year under the guidance of Dunphy, who is recognized as one of the top coaches in college basketball.
 
Among the players, Colgate's center and top rebounder, Nick Pascale, was a teammate of Highlander sophomore guard Lamar Kearse in the ultra-successful Jamesville-DeWitt High School in the Syracuse, NY, area.
 
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.