BALTIMORE—The NJIT men's basketball team aims to begin the 2015 part of its 2014-15 schedule along the lines of how it ended the 2104 part—a 77-65 home victory against Saint Francis U on December 30. The Highlanders will visit UMBC Friday night at 7 pm.
UMBC (full name: University of Maryland, Baltimore County) has been playing its best ball of the season since mid-December, following a rocky start.
The Retrievers, who compete in the America East Conference and are a first-time opponent for the Highlanders, began the season 0-9, as coach
Aki Thomas' club, experienced some fixable obstacles and a bona fide road block in the early going.
First, the team had to mesh with a young squad that lists four freshmen and five sophomores on the 14-man roster. On top of that, two of the team's top players are college veterans in their first years with the Retrievers playing without the typical transfer year of practice, but no competition, to adjust to the new program.
The duo are the leading scorer,
Wayne Sparrow (12.8 points per game) and the co-leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, 6-foot-8 post player
Cody Joyce (9.8 ppg; 4.9 rpg). Sparrow played three seasons at Richmond before graduating in 2014. He is playing his final year of eligibility as a grad student at UMBC.
Joyce, a Maryland native, played his first two seasons at Houston Baptist, playing three games against the Highlanders when he was a freshman and NJIT and HBU were part of the now-gone Great West Conference. He stayed in Houston last season and expected to sit out 2014-15 when he came home to UMBC, but was granted a waiver and became eligible to play immediately this season. Joyce's co-leader in rebounding at 4.9 rpg is senior Davarick Houston.
The lack of familiarity with a young roster and key new players likely contributed to the rough start this season. But the blow that wasn't fixable was a season-ending labrum injury that required surgery after the first game for sophomore point guard
Rodney Elliott. The team's primary ball handler, Elliott was the America East Rookie of the Year in 2013-14 after averaging 15 points per game as a freshman.
Taking all of that into account, the Retrievers fought through the 0-9 start and won back-to-back games against Longwood and Kennesaw State before dropping a 58-55 decision in their latest game to a quality Lehigh team on December 28.
NJIT, coming off the win over Saint Francis, is aiming for back-to-back wins for the first time since it defeated #16/#17 Michigan on December 6 and then St. Francis Brooklyn on December 9.
The Highlanders have three men averaging double-figure points—sophomore
Damon Lynn (17.6 ppg) and juniors
Ky Howard (12.4 ppg) and
Winfield Willis (10.1 ppg). Howard leads the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and assists (58). Lynn's 22 steals top the Highlanders, while
Daquan Holiday has a team-leading 20 blocked shots.
Playing at a high level in recent games is versatile sophomore
Tim Coleman, who matched his career high with 15 points vs. Saint Francis, a game after scoring 14 at Lafayette. His season rebounding high is 7, which he did in each of the last two games.
Matt Provence is on the call for all 29 games this season, describing the action live on the Highlanders Sports Network here on
www.njithighlanders.com.
