NJIT Game Notes (PDF)


JACKSONVILLE, FL – The Highlanders (9-16, 1-8 ASUN) will try to snap a six-game skid on Thursday night when they battle the North Florida Ospreys (10-16, 5-4 ASUN). Opening tip from UNF Arena in Jacksonville is slated for 7 p.m.
 
NJIT is coming off an 87-63 loss to Lipscomb on Saturday, while North Florida snapped a three-game skid with a 96-64 win over Stetson.
 
The game can be seen on ESPN3 (all remaining NJIT basketball games can be seen 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.
 
Matt Provence, the voice of the Highlanders will be on the audio call with the pregame show beginning at 6:45 p.m. The broadcast can be accessed for free at www.njithighlanders.com
 

ALL-TIME SERIES
 
North Florida leads the all-time series 2-1, but the Highlanders won the last meeting with an 84-78 win on Jan. 14 at Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark.
 
Senior guard Damon Lynn drained six three-pointers en route to 33 points and NJIT held off a late rally from the Ospreys. Freshman forward Anthony Tarke added a career-high 23 points for head coach Brian Kennedy's squad.
 
A 15-5 run midway through the second half allowed the Highlanders to lead by as many as 18 at one point.
 
Senior guard Dallas Moore tallied 30 points to pace the Ospreys.
 
UNF won both meetings during the 2015-16 season with victories of 94-80 and 107-71 over the Highlanders.
 

F-U-N WITH U-N-F
 
The Ospreys outscored Stetson 53-26 in the second half en route to the 96-64 win on Saturday night.
 
Moore led four players in double figures with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting and freshman guard Garrett Sams drained five threes and chipped in with 20 points of his own.
 
Moore-the program's all-time leading scorer-leads the ASUN in scoring and is tied for fourth in the country at 23.3 ppg. He is joined in double figures by senior forward Chris Davenport (11.7 ppg) and Sams (10.2 ppg).
 
As a team, UNF shoots 45.0% from the floor and 33.4% from beyond the arc.
 
Head coach Matthew Driscoll is in his eighth season at the helm of the Ospreys and has led the program to back-to-back ASUN regular season titles along with consecutive postseason appearances.
 
Last season's squad won a regular season school-record 21 games and hosted Florida in the opening round of the NIT.
 
Prior to coming to North Florida, Driscoll spent six seasons as the top assistant at Baylor and helped lead the Bears to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 20 seasons in 2008.
 
Driscoll's son, Chase, is a junior guard for the Ospreys.
 
Freshman forward Wajid Aminu's brothers, Alade and Al-Farouq, played collegiately at Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, respectively. Al-Farouq currently plays for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers while Alade plays professionally in Isreal.
 
Freshman guard C.J. Fisher's father, Charles, was a Hall of Fame basketball player at James Madison and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 9th round of the 1983 NBA Draft.
 
Freshman guard Benedikt Haid's father, Johannes, was a two-time NAIA All-American at Hawaii Pacific and signed with the Detroit Pistons before suffering a severe knee injury.
 

NJIT OUTLOOK
 
Lipscomb buried 15 three-pointers on its way to the 87-63 win over NJIT on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.
 
Both teams shot well from downtown as the Highlanders hit 10-of-20 (50%) and the Bison sank 15-of-34 (44.1%).
 
Sophomore center Abdul Lewis topped the 20-point plateau for the fifth time in six games with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Tarke contributed 15 points of his own.
 
Sophomore guard Donovan Greer made his first appearance of the season for NJIT and knocked down three triples en route to a career-high 11 points, shoooting 4-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Greer, who missed the first 24 games of the season due to an ankle injury, transferred to NJIT after spending the 2015-16 season at San Jacinto C.C. (Texas).
 
During ASUN play, Lewis is averaging a double-double with 14.9 ppg and 10.7 rebounds per game.
 
Over the past three games, NJIT has received 123 of its 180 points (68.3%) from the trio of Lewis, Tarke and freshman guard Shyquan Gibbs.
 
A win on Thursday would give the Highlanders their 100^th win in program history against a Division-I opponent.


Write-up courtesy of Joe Fitzhenry