(PHILADELPHIA, PA) – With a 6-1 record, the Highlanders are off to their best start since 1994-95 – when they competed at the Division-III level. NJIT now looks to improve to 7-1 on Wednesday, when it travels to Philadelphia to take on Drexel University (3-3). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
NJIT has started perfect away from Newark this season -- opening 3-0 on the road for the first time since a Division-II season in 2001-02. Additionally, the Highlanders currently boast a three-game, road winning streak for the first time since Jan. 15 to Feb. 1, 2006 (Stetson, Kennesaw, Lipscomb).
With a win at Drexel, NJIT will start 4-0 for the first time since 1988-89 (7-0) and have a four-game road surge for the first time since 2001-02 (6).
However, it will be no easy task against a Colonial Athletic Associate (CAA) opponent in the Dragons, who have stated 2-0 at home after wins over Bryn Athyn (D-III) and Boston University.
The Highlanders road wins have come at Binghamton University and against two Northeast Conference champions a season ago in Wagner University (regular season) and LIU Brooklyn (tournament).
Their most recent edition came in the form of a 77-70 defeat of the Blackbirds on Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y. NJIT led for 33:31 of the game including the final 32:50 after a layup by freshman
Diego Willis – a basket that ignited a 9-0 run.
The defensive effort was again a key in the win. NJIT held LIU to 70 points despite the fact the Blackbirds entered the affair having averaged 84.0 point per game. The Highlanders rank second in the ASUN and 57
th in the nation in scoring defense (64.4 ppg) and second in the conference and 96
th in D-I in field-goal percentage defense (.405).
Sophomore
Zach Cooks, since named ASUN Co-Player of the Week, notched team-highs in points (22) and steals (3) along with five rebounds and three assists on Saturday. He has now scored at least 22 points in each of the last three games – playing all 40 minutes in each of the contests.
Perhaps the biggest key factor moving forward was the reemergence of ASUN preseason All-Conference selection
Abdul Lewis. After sitting out the first four games and showing some rust in the next two, the Newark native drained four of his last seven field-goal attempts – including three-consecutive after LIU pulled to within four midway through the second-half – to finish with a season-high 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Lewis ranks 15th in career rebounds (753) among active NCAA D-I players.
Cooks leads the team and ranks third in the ASUN in scoring at 17.4 ppg. He also leads the conference at 3.1 spg and ranks second in the nation with 22 thefts -- trailing only Brian Beard Jr. (25) of Florida International University. Despite his five-foot-nine frame, the product of Lawrenceville, Ga., paces NJIT with 34 rebounds to go along with a team-high 16 assists.
NJIT's two other double-digit scorers are senior
Diandre Wilson (14.2 ppg) and junior
Shyquan Gibbs (11.1).
The Highlanders are one of 25 teams in Division-I to have reached six wins and one of just five squads to have notched three victories on the road.
All-Time Series
NJIT leads the all-time series with Drexel,
1-0, after a 65-53 home win on Nov. 25, 2017. In that meeting,
Reilly Walsh had a game-high 14 points while NJIT held the Dragons to 19 points in the second half and to just 19-for-58 shooting (32.8%) for the game.
All-time, NJIT is
1-3 against opponents from the CAA. Prior to the win over Drexel, NJIT had not faced a CAA foe since a 75-64 loss at Hofstra on Dec. 30, 2013. NJIT had two previous defeats against James Madison University (70-66) on Dec. 30, 2006, and at Towson University (61-48) on Nov. 24, 2008.
Dragon's Lair
Last season, the Dragons finished tied for seventh in the CAA after going 13-20 overall and 6-12 in conference. Although not overly impressive, Drexel achieved a four-game improvement from two years ago.
This season, the Dragons own a neutral-site victory over Big 5 rival La Salle (89-84) to go along with their home wins referenced above. Their road losses have come at Eastern Michigan (66-62), at Rutgers (95-66) and, most recently, at Bowling Green (81-71) this past Sunday.
Selected ninth in the preseason CAA poll, Drexel has two starters back in juniors Alihan Demir and Kurk Lee.
Lee received honorable mention for the CAA preseason All-Conference teams after registering 12.4 ppg and a team-best 107 assists last season. This year, the Baltimore native ranks sixth on the team at 9.7 ppg. His father, Kurt, played in the NBA for the New Jersey Nets and is sixth on Towson's career scoring list with 1,541 points.
Demir sits second at 13.2 ppg while averaging 7.3 rpg.
Newcomer Trevor John, a graduate transfer from Cal Poly, leads the team at 13.3 ppg. The other three of five double-digit scorers on the roster are freshman Camren Wynter (11.0), senior Troy Harper (10.3) and junior Zach Walton (10.3). Walton is also a newcomer having arrived after two seasons at Edmonds Community College (WA).
Wynter leads the team and ranks second in the CAA in handing out 5.5 assists per game.
Head Coach Zach Spiker enters his third season at Drexel (25-46) after previously spending seven years at Army. While in West Point, he guided 102 victories -- which tied with Hall-of-Famer Bob Knight for the second-most in school history. In 2015-16, Spiker led the Black Knights to a 19-14 campaign -- which marked their highest win-total in a season since 1977-78. That same campaign, Army participated in the
CollegeInsider.com Tournament and fell at NJIT, 79-65, in the opening round.
Spiker is 1-5 in his career against NJIT.
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