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NEWARK, NJ—Great West Conference leader Utah Valley brings an eight-game winning streak to town when it visits second-place NJIT for a crucial conference men's basketball matchup at 7 pm on Thursday in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
With the conference schedule half-complete with five games in the books, Utah Valley is 5-0, two full games ahead of NJIT and Texas-Pan American, each of which stands at 3-2.
 
UVU, which won first place last year with an 11-1 record (there is one fewer team this season) and was the favorite to repeat in the conference coaches' preseason poll, has not lost since January 3, when it dropped a non-conference game to Wyoming (76-70).
 
NJIT, which finished second last year with a 9-3 GWC record, would strengthen its first-place hopes dramatically with a win over Utah Valley. An NJIT win would pull the Highlanders to within a game of the Wolverines in the standings with four left to play. A loss would drop the Highlanders three games back with four to play—not mathematical elimination, but extremely long odds.
 
The Wolverines, who were 7-10 after the Wyoming loss, began their current winning streak with back-to-back non-conference wins over Seattle and followed with a win over Saint Mary, an NAIA team from Kansas. The rest of the winning streak has been the first five games of the Great West Conference schedule.
 
Four of the five conference wins for Utah Valley have been close, with nine points being the widest margin of victory. The only comfortable GWC win for the Wolverines was an 81-58 result at home against NJIT. In that game, the Wolverines shot a strong 11-for-24 (45.8 pct.) from long range and outscored the Highlanders at the foul line, 22-6. Perhaps most important, Utah Valley absolutely dominated the rebounding, 55-27, led by a school-record 18 rebounds from senior forward Geddes Robinson.
 
For Robinson, the 18 rebounds were part of a career night, but they were not out of line with his capabilities, as the Bronx, NY, native ranks 12th in the nation, averaging 10.6 rebounds per game. As a team, Utah Valley is outrebounding its opponents in Great West play by nine full rebounds per game (41.2-to-32.2). Robinson is averaging 12.4 rpg in five conference games and would be averaging 11 rpg even without his record night against the Highlanders.
 
Robinson, averaging exactly 10 points per game, is second on his team in that category behind fellow senior, Isiah Williams, the 2010-11 GWC Player of the Year. A guard, Williams averages 15.5 ppg, which is second in the league to NJIT's own Isaiah, senior forward Isaiah Wilkerson (16.5 ppg).
 
Williams, who has a quick release on his jump shot, has made 64 3-pointers in 25 games. In the earlier meeting with NJIT on January 28, Williams scored a game-high 26 points.
 
His backcourt mate, sophomore point Holton Hunsaker, averages 9.7 points and scored 19 points earlier vs. NJIT, with 15 coming on 5-for-10 3-point shooting. Uncharacteristically, Hunsaker was 2-for-4 at the foul line in that game. He is 75-for-83 at the line for the season and his percentage (.904) ranks third in the nation. He has 79 assists.
 
Ben Aird, a burly 6-foot-9 sophomore, is the center, while 6-foot-6 senior Keith Thompson rounds out the starting lineup. Aird, a second-team all-GWC honoree as a freshman, averages 9.3 ppg and 7.1 rpg. Thompson averages 8.9 points.
 
The Wolverines are led by veteran coach Dick Hunsaker, the 2010-11 GWC Coach of the Year and won multiple Division I Independent Coach of the Year awards before the Great West came into being. Before Utah Valley, Hunsaker led Ball State to two NCAA Tournament berths, including 1990, when the Cardinals advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. As acting coach at Utah, he guided that team to the 2001 Mountain West Conference crown.
 
Utah Valley leads the all-time series vs. NJIT, 10-1, including 4-1 since the Great West Conference began in 2009-10. NJIT got its only series win on Jan. 30, 2010 with a 71-46 victory at home. Last year in Newark, on March 3, Utah Valley topped the Highlanders, 61-56, paced by 17 points and 13 rebounds for Aird.
 
NJIT comes into the game having won on February 4 at Chicago State, 73-64, paced by a career-best 26 points from Isaiah Wilkerson, who got 10 of them in the last minute. He also grabbed nine rebounds and leads NJIT in both categories (16.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg).
 
Junior Chris Flores averages 12.9 ppg and leads the Highlanders in assists (68) and 3-pointers (41). Ryan Woods (8.6 ppg), PJ Miller (6.9 ppg), Lamar Kearse (6.2 ppg), and Arjun Ohri (6.1 ppg) are other scoring threats for NJIT.
 
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.