Game Preview (Video)


NJIT Men's Basketball Gameday Center
 

Game 26	Stetson (9-16; 3-6 A-Sun) at NJIT (14-11; 5-4 A-Sun)
Date/Time	Thursday, February 11, 2016/ 7 pm
Location/Venue	Newark, NJ/ Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center (1,500)
Live Coverage	ESPN3 streaming telecast (WatchESPN app; www.watchespn.com)  Matt Provence (play-by-play), Dave Calloway (analysis)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Buy Tickets Online	NJITTix.com
Social Media	@njithighlanders
All-Time Series	NJIT leads, 1-0 (71-59 at Stetson, January 16, 2016)
Game Notes	NJIT notes / Stetson notes

 
The game will be shown live on ESPN3 (all remaining NJIT basketball games--home and away--will be live on ESPN3)
  
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.
 
For more details on how to watch NJIT on ESPN3, go to the section at the bottom of this page.
 
Matt Provence, voice of the Highlanders, is on play-by-play.
 
Atlantic Sun Conference Game: Stetson at NJIT (Thursday, 7 pm)
NJIT heads into its next-to-last regular season home game aiming to extend a three-game winning streak against Atlantic Sun Conference rival Stetson. If the Highlanders win, they will have four straight wins for the first time this season and they will have swept Stetson.
 
In the first-ever meeting between the teams nearly a month ago in DeLand, FL, NJIT got a much-needed victory, 71-59. It was a historic win for the Highlanders, as they claimed their first-ever men's basketball conference victory as the newest members of the A-Sun.
 
It was a wire-to-wire win for NJIT, which got 21 points from Tim Coleman, Damon Lynn's first career double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds), and 14 points from Chris Jenkins.
 
Derick Newton, a strong candidate for A-Sun Newcomer of the Year, and Luke Doyle each netted 13 points to pace the Hatters.
 
This game (and all those remaining), has postseason implications as the eight A-Sun teams jockey for position in the standings with less than three weeks until the Atlantic Sun Tournament. With A-Sun Tournament games played at the home of the higher-seeded team, positioning in the standings is vital to determine if, and how much, a team has to travel.
 
NJIT is 5-4, tied with Florida Gulf Coast, while defending champ North Florida and Jacksonville are tied at the top with 7-2 records. The Highlanders can help themselves with a strong finish, as they will go head-to-head with every team ahead of them in the standings before the season ends.
 
Stetson, tied with Stetson at 3-6, would not get a postseason home game if the season ended today. However, the Hatters, with a strong finish, can still earn at least one home game in the A-Sun Tournament.
 
A LOOK at STETSON (9-16; 3-6 A-Sun)
Picked in a seventh-place tie with Kennesaw State in the A-Sun preseason coaches' poll, the Hatters went 6-9 outside the conference before starting conference play.
 
A young team, Stetson has had a difficult conference schedule, opening at home vs. defending champ North Florida and then visiting Florida Gulf Coast (picked #2 in the preseason poll). Those were decisive losses (97-79 at UNF and 82-53 at FGCU).
 
After losing their first meeting with NJIT, the Hatters have been tested on the road, playing five away games in a row before a one-game return on February 6. They will visit NJIT on Thursday and USC Upstate on Saturday. But then they'll play their last four regular season games at home.
 
Stetson's next win will be its 10th, one more than the Hatters compiled all last season. And they showed their potential with an 86-82 upset at North Florida on February 1.  
 
Coming off a 9-22 record a season ago, the Hatters needed help from their newcomers and one, 6-foot-7 freshman Derick Newton has stepped in as the team's top scorer (15.9 ppg). He scored 30 in the win over USC Upstate.
 
Sophomore guard Divine Myles and junior forward Brian Pegg are two other strong performers for third-year head coach Corey Williams, who was member of the 1993 NBA champion Chicago Bulls in his playing days.
 
Stetson team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 79.6 ppg; -3.9 ppg): Derick Newtown (6-7, Fr; 15.9 ppg); Divine Myles (5-11, So; 13.4 ppg); Brian Pegg (6-7, Jr; 12.2 ppg)
Rebounding (team 35 rpg; -5.4 rpg): Pegg (9.7 rpg); Newton (5.6 rpg)
Assists: Angel Rivera (5-8, So; 110); Myles (109)
Blocks: Pegg (21)
Steals: Myles (41)
3-pt FGM: Luke Doyle (6-5, R-So.; 50)
 
A LOOK at NJIT (14-11; 5-4 A-Sun)
The Highlanders ran their winning streak to three with a 78-59 home win over Kennesaw State last Saturday.
 
That is the longest for NJIT in A-Sun play and matches an earlier streak in non-conference games as the longest of the season for the Highlanders.
 
Damon Lynn scored 19 points, all in the first half, to lead the win over Kennesaw State. Tim Coleman had a double-double (17 pts, 10 rebs). Ky Howard, the newest 1,000-point career scorer in program history, added 14 points and Chris Jenkins scored 12, all on 3-point shots.
 
NJIT team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 76.6 ppg; +2.1 ppg): Damon Lynn (5-11 Jr; 18.1 ppg); Tim Coleman (6-5, Jr; 14.4 ppg); Ky Howard (6-4, Sr; 13.6 ppg);
Rebounding (team 35.2 rpg; -1.6 rpg): Coleman (7.2 rpg); Howard (4.5 rpg);
Assists: Howard (109)
Blocks: Coleman (22)
Steals: Lynn (42); Coleman (39)
3-pt FGM: Lynn (87)
 
How to watch NJIT sports programming on ESPN3
ESPN3 is the live platform for at least 23 NJIT men's basketball games this season. Every NJIT game in the Atlantic Sun Conference throughout the regular season and into the A-Sun postseason tournament will be covered on ESPN3. 
 
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.