(NEWARK, NJ) – The Highlanders return to action Saturday having started 5-1 for the first time since 1994-95 (D-III) and 2-0 on the road for the first time since 2000-01 (D-II). NJIT now looks to extend its hot start with a road bout against an NCAA Tournament team from a season ago in LIU Brooklyn (3-2). Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Steinberg Wellness Center.
The Highlanders won their second-consecutive road game with a 71-60 victory at Wagner College (2-3) on Tuesday. It was a solid bounce-back from their first loss of the season three days earlier against Cornell University.
That said, it did not start so well on Staten Island. NJIT failed to convert a field goal until a three-pointer by sophomore
Zach Cooks more than six minutes into the contest. In fact, the Highlanders trailed by 12 points with just 1:16 remaining in the first half.
The game finally took an about-face at the 11:53 mark of the second half. Trailing, 45-38, NJIT went on an 11-0 run, holding Wagner scoreless for 3:53 to take a lead it would not relinquish.
Cooks finished with a game-high-tying 22 points – and has now averaged 23.5 points per game over the past couple of contests. For the season, he ranks third in the ASUN in scoring at 16.7 ppg. With five more steals Tuesday, the Lawrenceville, Ga., native leads the conference at 3.2 spg and ranks second in Division-I in total thefts at 19 – trailing only national leader Brian Beard Jr. (22) of Florida International University.
At five-foot-nine, Cooks also leads NJIT in rebounding at 4.8 rebounds per game.
Senior
Diandre Wilson finished with 17 points on Tuesday and is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 ppg – good for sixth in the ASUN.
Junior
Shyquan Gibbs netted 13 points and is now averaging 17.7 ppg over his last three affairs.
The victory marked the 100th for the Highlanders since third-year Head Coach
Brian Kennedy joined NJIT as a top assistant to Jim Engles in 2012-13 -- during which time the program is 100-93 (.518).
At 5-1, NJIT owns the second-best record among the 21 metropolitan area Division-I programs behind only St. John's University (5-0). LIU ranks tied for seventh at 3-2.
All-Time Series
LIU Brooklyn leads the all-time series,
4-1. However, the Highlanders snapped the drought with a 73-69 win last season on Nov. 28, 2017, in Newark.
Abdul Lewis finished with game-highs in points (23) and rebounds (18) along with a team-high four assists. Wilson recorded 16 points, five rebounds and a game-high four steals.
LIU junior Julian Batts (13 points) and senior Raiquan Clark (12 points) were two of four Blackbirds in double-figures.
LIU won the last meeting at Steinberg Wellness Center, 65-49, on Dec. 14, 2014.
The two teams have one common opponent this season -- and remarkably both scored one-possession, home victories over Brown University with LIU emerging, 83-81, on Nov. 6 and NJIT winning, 63-60, in Nov. 11.
NJIT is now
16-12 all-time against Northeast Conference opponents after the victory at Wagner on Tuesday. In fact, the Highlanders have won three-straight meetings with NEC foes going back to a last season's victory over LIU and a 71-68 home win against Fairleigh Dickinson (Dec. 16).
Blackbird is the Word
Last season, LIU defeated top-seeded Wagner in the NEC Championship Game, 71-61, for the program's sixth conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. There, the Blackbirds were part of the First Four and fell to fellow No. 16 seed Radford, 71-61.
This season, LIU has started 3-2 after being selected third in NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Blackbirds defeated New Rochelle, Brown and Fairfield University before dropping back-to-back road tilts in the Belfast Classic Basketball Hall of Fame 2018 against University of San Francisco (84-52) and Milwaukee (92-87 OT).
The Blackbirds returned 11 letter winners and four starters from their fourth-place finisher (18-17, 10-8 NEC) last season, including junior guards Jashaun Agosto and Julian Batts and senior Raiquan Clark.
Clark was selected as a member of the Preseason All-NEC Team, after earning third-team All-NEC honors last year. As a junior, he finished the regular season averaging 17.2 ppg -- the sixth-highest total in the league.
Clark has continued to soar this season, averaging a team-best 20.6 ppg.
The squad is one of the most experienced in recent years, with just one freshman, Senegal native Ousmane Ndim, on the roster. Another newcomer, redshirt sophomore Ty Flowers, is off to a hot start after sitting 2017-18 season -- ranking second on the team at 15.4 ppg. The six-foot-nine UMass transfer, along with Ndim (7-0), has added needed height to the LIU lineup.
Agosto is LIU's third of three double-digit scorers, averaging 13.2 ppg.
Head coach Derek Kellogg is in his second season at the helm of LIU after spending nine seasons as the bench boss at UMass (2008-17).
During his tenure with the Minutemen (155-137), Kellogg led his alma mater to three-straight 20-win seasons, three-consecutive postseason appearances and the 2014 NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed.
Kellogg had an illustrious playing career at UMass from 1992-95 and ranks fifth all-time in school history in assists (453) and seventh in three-pointers made (138).
Prior to taking over as the head man at UMass, the Springfield, Mass., native was an assistant for eight seasons at the University of Memphis -- including the team that reached the 2008 National Championship Game.
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