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LOWELL, MA—NJIT is set for its second-to-last road game of the season when it visits UMass Lowell in a rematch of their first meeting at the Division I level, a 55-44 win for the Highlanders in Newark back on December 7.
 
Aside from the obvious fact that the game is in Massachusetts and not in New Jersey, a lot has changed. Back in December, NJIT moved to 6-4 after beating UMass Lowell, the best 10-game start since the Highlanders began DI competition in 2006-07.
 
UMass Lowell, meanwhile, was looking for its first win against a Division I team in its own first year of DI competition. After beating the River Hawks, NJIT lost its annual game against Seton Hall to start at 5-game losing streak.
 
The Highlanders bounced back a bit and went 3-4 in January. They actually came close to a winning record for the month, losing in the closing minutes vs. Duquesne on January 29 on a score of 71-64 in a game NJIT led by 10 midway through the second half.
 
UMass Lowell, 1-8 after it lost at NJIT and eventually 1-11, has gotten on track with a 5-4 record in its new conference, the America East. Indeed, UML has won its last two heading into the NJIT game, having beaten Binghamton and Maine.
 
UMass Lowell's uptick has coincided with the return to action of senior wing player Antonio Bivins, who is averaging 15.1 ppg and shooting better than 50 pct from the floor (.526), whereas the team's overall field goal percentage sits at .379. UML is 5-3 in his 8 games after starting 1-11 without him He complements a strong backcourt of senior Akeem Williams (14.3 ppg; 19 pts vs, NJIT in Dec.) and Chad Holley (10.9 ppg; 15 pts vs, NJIT).
 
The series record between the schools is open to interpretation. We know NJIT won the only game between the schools at the Division I level earlier this season. We also know that NJIT won when the teams were both in Division II (57-54 on Nov. 15, 1998). Nearly 40 years before that, NJIT (then called Newark College of Engineering and playing in the NAIA) played Lowell Tech in 1957-58 (Lowell won, 75-69) and again in 1962-63 (NCE won, but the score is not known). UMass Lowell was formed in 1975 by the merger of Lowell Technological Institute (Lowell Tech) and Lowell State College with the merged institution taking its current name in 1991.
 
NJIT's top scorer is freshman guard Damon Lynn (16.9 ppg). He enters play Monday as the newly-minted 3-point season record holder for the Highlanders.
 
He made one 3-pointer in each half vs. Duquesne (1/29), but both were significant, as he tied and then surpassed the program record for 3-points in a season, tying and surpassing the old mark of 84 in this season's 23rd game.
 
His triple in the first half tied him for the school single season record for 3-pointers made (84). The record was achieved first by Clarence Pierce in 1994-95 in 30 games for an NJIT team had its best season in Division III, winning 28 of 30 games and reaching the Division III Elite Eight. Pierce's mark stood lone until last season, when Ryan Woods (NJIT Class of 2013) matched it in 28 games. Now Lynn has connected on 85 triples with six February contests still to be play.
Sophomore Terrence Smith averages 12.3 points and a team-best 6.4 rpg. He scored 20 points on 10-12 shooting vs. Duquesne, while also pulling down 9 rebounds. He has jumped up to 15th in Division I field goal percentage (59.2 as of Feb. 1). Classmate Ky Howard, averaging 12 points and 4 assists over the last 7 games is a bucket shy of a double-digit scoring average for the season (he would need 210 points and has 208, leaving him at 9.9 points per game).
 
Matt Provence, voice of the Highlanders, will have all of the action here on www.NJITHighlanders.com, with coverage beginning at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled 7 pm tip.