Game 12	Kean (2-8) at NJIT (2-9)
Date | Time	Sunday, December 22, 2019 | 2pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center
Live Video	ESPN+ ($$$)
Live Stats	In-game statistics
All-time series	NJIT Leads 29-24
Game Notes	NJIT Notes (PDF) | Kean Notes (n/a)

NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team looks to end its seven-game losing skid on Sunday when it hosts Division III-foe Kean at the Wellness and Events Center.

LAST TIME OUT
Host St. Francis (NY) held off visiting NJIT on Saturday, December 14, winning 73-71 as a pair of potential game-tying layups rimmed out for the Highlanders in the final seconds.

SFC's Chauncey Hawkins went 1-of-2 from the foul line with seven seconds left to put the Terriers ahead by two. NJIT grabbed the rebound on Hawkins' miss, went the length of the floor and got off a pair of good looks that would've tied the game, but neither went down as St. Francis improved to 5-6 on the season, while the Highlanders dropped to 2-9.

The contest was back-and-forth throughout as there were 11 lead changes with neither squad leading by more than seven points.

Cooks Off to a Hot Start
Junior captain Zach Cooks was a unanimous selection to the preseason All-ASUN Team and is proving voters right. Cooks has scored 20+ points in 10 of 11 games this season and is averaging 23.4ppg, the most in the league and fifth most in the nation. Prior to last Wednesday's game, Cooks was honored for his 1,000th-career point, which came earlier this season at Brown. 

Next Man Up
Junior San Antonio Brinson and sophomore Kjell de Graaf have missed the last two games for NJIT, but Gibbs and several other teammates have picked up their play. Gibbs scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in each of the last two games while barely coming off the floor averaging 39.0 mpg. Byron Breland III started both games for the first time in his career and averaged 27.0 mpg and pulled down a career-best nine rebounds last time out vs. St .Francis.

All-Time Series
Saturday's meeting is the 54th all-time between the Highlanders and Cougars, and third since NJIT moved to Division I. 51 of the previous 53 contests took place prior to 1990.

Last two meetings:
11/14/18: NJIT 73,Kean 40 -- Newark, NJ
11/22/17: NJIT 116, Kean 63 -- Newark, NJ

Familiar Foes
The two squads are meeting for the third-consecutive season.

Last Year vs. Kean
Junior guard Shyquan Gibbs posted game-highs in points (15) and assists (4) to lead NJIT past Kean University, 73-40, on Wednesday at the Wellness and Events Center. With the win, the Highlanders have started a season 4-0 for the first time since they competed at the Division-III level in 1996-97.

Gibbs also stuffed the stat sheet with four rebounds and three steals, while his fellow starting guard, sophomore Zach Cooks, finished with 14 points, three assists, a game-high-tying five rebounds and a game-high four steals.

NJIT improved to 22-0 all-time against D-III foes and 29-0 vs. non D-I opponents -- with an average margin of victory of 38.6 points.

Next Up
NJIT will close its non-conference schedule on Sunday, December 29 when it travels to Hartford to take on UConn at 1pm.