NJIT GAME NOTES (PDF)

NEWARK, NJ – The NJIT men's basketball team will christen the new state-of-the-art Wellness and Events Center (WEC) on Saturday, Nov. 11, when the Highlanders host the Wagner Seahawks of the Northeast Conference at 6 p.m.
 
NJIT concluded its final season at Fleisher Athletic Center -- their home of the past 50 seasons -- with an 8-4 home mark in 2016-17, including a 17-point, come-from-behind victory against USC Upstate in the final game on Feb. 23, 2017.
 
The WEC is a three story, 220,000-square-foot building that cost $102 M; and the 3,500 seat basketball arena will compare favorably with many Division-I mid-major facilities throughout the country.
 
The game can be seen on ESPN3 (all NJIT basketball games can be seen on ESPN3).
 
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, http://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.
 
Matt Provence, the voice of the Highlanders, will be on play-by-play with expert analysis from Rob Kennedy.

All-Time Series
 
Saturday marks the 20^th all-time meeting between the Highlanders and Seahawks with NJIT holding a 16-3 advantage (the first 16 games were played between 1926-1940). It is the fourth meeting with both schools competing at the Division-I level, with NJIT owning a 2-1 edge. The two teams last met twice during the 2009-10 season, when the Highlanders scored a 56-51 win on Nov. 24, 2009, and a 65-56 victory on Dec. 28, 2009.

NJIT is 13-11 all time against Northeast Conference foes including an 83-70 win over St. Francis (PA) in their lone tilt with an NEC member a year ago.
 
The Highlanders will also do battle against LIU Brooklyn and Fairleigh Dickinson during the 2017-18 campaign.
 
Scouting the Seahawks
 
Wagner went 16-14 (11-7 NEC) a year ago and finished third in the conference before falling to St. Francis (PA) University in the NEC semifinals. Last season started with a bang as the Seahawks picked up a 67-58 victory over No. 18 UConn in their opener.

Head coach Bashir Mason's squad was picked to once again finish third in the NEC Preseason Poll.
 
The Seahawks lose their top three scorers from last season, including two-time All-NEC selection Michael Carey. They do, however, return an intriguing player in redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders -- who scored a game-high 15 points in the upset win against UConn before suffering a season-ending injury in the second half.
 
Saunders averaged 9.8 points per game and knocked down 45 three-pointers as a sophomore in 2015-16.
 
Senior point guard JoJo Cooper returns for his final year on Staten Island after averaging 8.2 ppg and a team-high 3.6 assists in 2016-17.
 
Up front, redshirt junior forward A.J. Sumbry is back after swatting away a team-high 38 shots a year ago and averaging 4.2 ppg. Wagner also adds graduate transfer Nick Madray, who came to the Seahawks by way of Binghamton and Eastern Michigan.
 
Sumbry played part of his high school career at Newark's St. Benedict's Prep.
 
Mason enters his sixth season at the helm after spending two seasons as an assistant at Wagner from 2010-12. During his head coaching tenure, the Drexel University alum has led the Seahawks to four, top-four finishes in the NEC standings.
 
In 2015-16, Mason was named the Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year after capturing the school's second-ever, regular-season title and an opening round upset against top-seeded St. Bonaventure in the NIT.
 
Mason scored 1,126 points in his career as a point guard at Drexel and led the Dragons in assists and steals during each of his four years. Upon graduation, he ranked second all-time in thefts (226) and fourth in helpers (471).
 
Sophomore guard Blake Francis' cousin, Marques Hagans, played college football at the University of Virginia and was selected in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the then St. Louis Rams.

NJIT Outlook
 
Coming off an 11-19 campaign (3-11 ASUN) a year ago, the Highlanders lose four senior starters -- including the program's all-time leading scorer in guard Damon Lynn and the most prolific rebounder in school history, forward Tim Coleman.
 
After going 8-8 against a tough non-conference schedule that included a pair of Big Ten foes, NJIT saw its hopes of a conference title take a significant hit when Lynn tore his Achilles in the team's fourth ASUN contest.
 
Among this year's returners are a pair of preseason All-ASUN honorees in junior forward Abdul Lewis and sophomore forward Anthony Tarke. Tarke is the leading returning scorer at 9.9 ppg, while Lewis poured in 9.7 ppg of his own and led the team with 8.5 rebounds per game.
 
Lewis set program records for single-season rebounds (264) and single-game rebounds (19) and saved his best work for conference play -- posting averages of 13.4 ppg and 8.5 rpg in ASUN contests.
 
Tarke became the first-ever Highlander named to the postseason ASUN All-Freshman Team after shooting an NJIT-best 52.2% from the floor.
 
Sophomore guard Shyquan Gibbs started the final 12 games in 2016-17 and averaged 6.8 ppg in his final six games a year ago.
 
NJIT adds a talented, four-man recruiting class and also welcomes a junior college transfer in guard Diandre Wilson -- who ranked 11^th in the nation after scoring 22.3 ppg for Mott Community College (MI) last season.
 
Head coach Brian Kennedy is back for his second season at the helm of the Highlanders after previously spending four years as the top assistant.