Game 8	NJIT (2-5) at Army West Point (3-3)
Date | Time	Wednesday, December 4, 2019 | 7:30pm
Location | Arena	West Point, NY | Christl Arena
Live Video	Patriot League Network
Live Stats	In-game statistics
All-time series	NJIT Leads 5-3
Game Notes	NJIT Notes (PDF) | Army Notes

NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team continues its season-long, four-game road trip on Wednesday when it heads north to take on Army West Point in West Point, NY.

LAST TIME OUT
The NJIT men's basketball team was defeated by host Rutgers 85-58 in non-conference action on Tuesday evening at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

NJIT (2-5) opened the contest on a thunderous dunk from San Antonio Brinson and the Highlanders led for more than eight minutes early and by as many as six.

Rutgers (5-1) stayed close and tied the game 18-18 with 9:27 before halftime and closed the half on an 22-4 run, eventually taking a 36-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Scarlet Knights picked up right where they left off in the second half, shooting 65.6% from the field after halftime en route to the 27-point victory.

Cooks Off to Hot Start
Through seven games, Zach Cooks is averaging 23.3 ppg which ranks tops in the ASUN Conference and 12th. The junior captain was held to 10 points at Rutgers after scoring a program-record 35 points against Binghamton and following it up with a 30-point performance at Brown in his previous two games. Cooks' fourth point against the Bears was the 1,000th of his career. 

SportsCenter Top 10 for Number 11
Senior captain Shyquan Gibbs' heroic, last-second basket to beat Cornell was featured as the #5 play on Wednesday evening's SportsCenter Top 10. Reilly Walsh inbounded the ball to Gibbs with 3.6 seconds to play and Gibbs took it towards the basket and finished an incredible shot between two Cornell defenders to put the Highlanders ahead with just :0.5 seconds to play. 

The Flying Dutchman
Sophomore Kjell de Graaf started for the first time this season, and third time in his career last Tuesday at Rutgers. The Netherlands native made the most of it, setting new career-highs in points (13), rebounds (five) and minutes (38).

Brushing Up on the Black Knights
Army West Point is .500 through six games, earning wins against Division III USMMA, FDU and Marist, while falling to Villanova, Air Force and Binghamton. 

Four Black Knights are averaging double figure scoring numbers, led by Matt Wilson (12.5 ppg) and Tommy Funk (12.3 ppg), while Wilson is also the team's top rebounder, averaging. almost nine boards per game. 

Army was picked to finish sixth of 10 teams in the Patriot League.

All-Time Series
Wednesday marks the ninth meeting all-time between NJIT and Army West Point, with the Highlanders holding a 5-3 advantage in the series. The Black Knights won the first three meetings, while NJIT has won the last five.

Last three meetings:
12/4/18: NJIT 77, AWP 72  -- Newark, NJ
3/16/16: NJIT 79, AWP 65  -- Newark, NJ (CIT)
11/15/13: NJIT 89, AWP 85  -- West Point, NY

Last Year vs. Army West Point
Sophomore Zach Cooks scored a career-high 27 points as the Highlanders defeated Army West Point, 77-72, in a back-and-forth affair on Tuesday, December 4 at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) in Newark.
 
Senior Abdul Lewis complimented Cooks with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds while junior Shyquan Gibbs chipped in 10 points and a team-high four assists. Cooks, who shot 8-for-12 from the floor and 4-for-7 from deep, also contributed a career-high seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.

Common Opponents
To this point, the only team both NJIT and Army West Point have played is Binghamton. The Bearcats came from behind to defeat the Highlanders on Nov. 20 in Newark and defeated the Black Knights by double digits three days later in Vestal, NY.

Up Next
NJIT will wrap up its four-game road trip on Saturday when it heads to Florida to take on UCF in Orlando. Tip-off is slated for 12pm at Addition Financial Arena and the game will be streamed free of charge on ESPN3.