NEWARK, NJ -- The NJIT men's basketball team looks to win consecutive games for the first time this season when the Highlanders (1-1) welcome the Boston University Terriers (1-1) in their home opener on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m at Fleisher Athletic Center, preceded by NJIT women vs. Lehigh at 5 pm and a special ceremony honoring NJIT's trip to the 2015 CIT semifinals right before the men's game..

TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED AT NJITTIX.COM.
 
The Highlanders evened their record at 1-1 with a dramatic 60-57 come-from-behind victory over South Florida (0-2) on Monday. Trailing by seven points with less than three minutes remaining, the Highlanders scored the final eight points of the contest – including the game-winning, three-pointer by junior guard Damon Lynn with 0:48 left to play.
 
Lynn finished with a game-high 27 points (9-20, 5-12, 4-5) while senior guard Ky Howard posted the third double-double of his NCAA career with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Howard also tied with his teammate, senior guard Winfield Willis, for a game-high four steals.

Meanwhile, BU is coming off an impressive 69-64 home win over UAlbany. The Terriers started their season with another thriller – an 87-84 overtime home loss to Northeastern.
 
This is the first-ever meeting between NJIT and Boston University. All-time, the Highlanders are 6-20 against Patriot League opponents.

NJIT Men's Basketball Gameday Information
 

Game 3	Boston University (1-1; 13-17 in 2014-15) at NJIT  (1-1; 21-12 in 2014-15)
Date/Time	Thursday, November 19, 2015/ 7:30 pm
Location/Arena	Newark, NJ/Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center (1,500)
Live Video	ESPN3, streaming telecast (WatchESPN app, www.watchespn.com)  Matt Provence (play-by-play); Dave Calloway (color)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Social Media	@njithighlanders
All-Time Series	First meeting
Game Notes	NJIT notes / BU notes

 
The game is being shown live worldwide exclusively on ESPN3 with Matt Provence on the play-by-play and former Monmouth head coach and star player Dave Calloway provided expert commentary.
 
For details on how to watch NJIT on ESPN3, go to the section at the bottom of this page.
 
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page NJIT TV section, click Upcoming Events for a list of scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the right of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN3 portal where you can access the desired program..
 
ARRIVE EARLY
The NJIT-Boston University game at 7:30 is part of a doubleheader, starting with a 5 pm women's game between NJIT and Lehigh.
 
BANNER NIGHT CEREMONY BEFORE THE MEN'S TIPOFF
Last year NJIT men's basketball made history, first bursting onto the national scene with an upset victory in December over #17 Michigan. Later, the Highlanders returned to the stage when they received their first invitation to a national postseason tournament, bringing March Madness to NJIT with one of 32 spots in the 2015 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
 
The excitement grew with each of the Highlanders' three CIT victories, all played in front of standing room only crowds in the Fleisher Athletic Center. NJIT defeated New Hampshire, then Cleveland State and finally Canisius as the CIT field shrunk from 32 to four survivors
 
NJIT will honor that great season with the unveiling of a banner commemorating NJIT's journey to the 2105 CIT semifinals. The banner will hang in the Fleisher Athletic Center and then move with the Highlanders to the new Wellness and Events Center when that showcase building opens in 2017.
 
PREVIEWING BOSTON UNIVERSITY at NJIT
The Highlanders return from a two-game weekend road trip to the southeastern United States, where they lost their opening game #2 Kentucky, but salvaged a split with the late comeback victory over South Florida in Tampa on Monday.
 
Those games and this one are part of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Classic, a multi-team affair that will last until late December, with group play taking place at on-campus sites of participating teams.
 
Down 10 points with 6:05 remaining, NJIT fought back and took the lead, 58-57, on Damon Lynn's 3-point basket with 48 seconds left. Later, Ky Howard, whose 3-pointer preceded Lynn's go-ahead trey for the lead, then secured the victory with two late free throws.
 
One of the storylines for Thursday night will be the coaching matchup that finds BU's Joe Jones, in his fifth year with the Terriers going against Jim Engles of NJIT. For five years, the two coaches worked side-by-side at Columbia, where Jones was head coach and Engles was his top assistant. The combination separated when  Engles headed to NJIT as head coach in April 2008, but the two remain close friends.
 
The two actually matched wits on January 9, 2009 in Engles' first season with the Highlanders and the Jones-led Lions prevailed. But they have not faced off since, as Jones left Columbia to become an assistant at Boston College and then on to BU as head coach.
 
This season, both teams began their seasons with a loss and then bounced back to win the second game. As noted, NJIT lost to Kentucky and then defeated USF of the high-major American Athletic Conference.
 
Boston University opened with an overtime loss to its archrival Northeastern and the Terriers recovered to win the second game vs. UAlbany, the 3-time defending America East Conference champions.
 
The Terriers, who are first-time opponents for NJIT in men's basketball, compete as members of the Patriot League.
 
Between Boston U and Columbia, coach Joe Jones owns a record of 157-166 in 11 seasons, including 71-58 early in his sixth year leading the Terriers.
 
Boston University team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 76.5 ppg; +1.0 ppg): John Papale (6-3, Sr; 16.5 ppg); Kyle Foreman (6-1, Fr; 15 ppg); Cheddi Mosely (6-3, So; 13.5 ppg); Nathan Dieudonne (6-7, Sr;12.5 ppg)
Rebounding (team 35.5 rpg; -3.5 rpg): Dieudonne (6.5 rpg); Justin Alston (6-8, Sr; 6 rpg)
Assists: Foreman (12)
Blocks: Nick Havener (6-8, So; 3)
Steals: Foreman (2); Mosely (2)
3-pt FGM: Papale (9); Mosely (7)
 
NJIT Outlook
The Highlanders return the top five scorers and six of the top seven scorers from last season, which was the program's best ever, with a record 21 wins that included the victory at #17/#16 Michigan and a run to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com national postseason tournament (CIT).
 
Playing as the only Independent program in Division I college basketball, the Highlanders defeated teams from nine different conferences, including three wins over teams that ended as conference champions.
 
This season, they are the newest members of the Atlantic Sun Conference,
 
NJIT team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 58.6 ppg; -13.5 ppg): Damon Lynn (5-11 Jr; 23 ppg); Ky Howard (6-4, Sr; 11.5 ppg)
Rebounding (team 29.5 rpg; -17.5 rpg): Howard (6 rpg); Terrence Smith (6-6, Jr; 4.5)
Assists: Winfield Willis (6-0, Sr; 6)
Blocks: 3 tied (1)
Steals: Tim Coleman (6-5, Jr; 5); Howard (4); Willis (4)
3-pt FGM: Lynn (9; 126; 2nd in the nation in 2014-15)
 
How to watch NJIT sports programming on ESPN3
ESPN3 is the live platform for at least 23 NJIT men's basketball games this season. Link to NJIT-BU
 
Starting in January, every NJIT game played in the Atlantic Sun Conference, home and away, throughout the regular season and into the A-Sun postseason tournament will be covered on ESPN3.  Before that, NJIT and ESPN3 will offer live coverage of every men's basketball non-conference home game vs. Division I opponents.
 
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network.  It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. 
 
The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. 
 
ESPN3 is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks. That means devices served by NJIT's on-campus computer network can link directly to ESPN3.
 
Others can access ESPN3 through WatchESPN if they receive ESPN programming from an affiliated service provider. Those users need to provide the username and password they use in online communication with their regular service provider (can usually be found on regular billing material from the service provider).
 
Here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions about WatchESPN.