NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team returns to the road this weekend, when they travel up the New York Thruway to take on Albany on Saturday and Sunday in America East Conference action at the SEFCU Arena in Albany.
Last Time Out
The NJIT men's basketball team fell 45-41 to Maine in a defensive slugfest on Sunday in the final contest of a two-game America East series.
Both squads struggled offensively, but the Black Bears (2-5, 2-4 America East) got a huge three-pointer from Precious Okoh with 1:36 to play to break a 37-37 tie and held on to defeat the Highlanders (4-4, 3-3 America East) a day after NJIT earned a 63-54 victory.
Getting to Know the Great Danes
Albany, which was picked fourth of 10 teams in the America East Preseason Coaches Poll, is off to a 1-5 start and is 1-3 in America East action. The Great Danes dropped a pair of games to UMBC, before splitting with Vermont two weeks ago in Burlington.
Albany is led by Preseason All-Conference selection Cameron Hardy, who has not played since the season-opening series vs. UMBC, but projects to be back in the lineup this weekend. With Healy sidelined the last four games, CJ Kelly and Antonio Rizzuto have picked up the slack, averaging 13.2 ppg and 11.3 ppg, respectively.
The Great Danes enter the weekend with the eighth-best scoring offense in the America East and ranks sixth in the conference in scoring defense.
Splitsville
NJIT has split all three of its America East series heading into this weekend's two-game set at Albany. The Highlanders are 2-1 on day one and 1-2 on day two of the back-to-back contests.
All-Time Series
This weekend's meetings with Albany will be the sixth and seventh all-time, with the first five being won by the Great Danes in non-conference action.
Albany is one of just two America East teams the Highlanders have never defeated.
Last Three Meetings:
11/27/15: Albany 74, NJIT 73 -- Albany, NY
2/13/15: Albany 65, NJIT 59 -- Newark, NJ
11/19/14: Albany 65, NJIT 48 -- Albany, NY
A New Home for NJIT
The 2020-21 season will feature NJIT's first season as a member of the America East Conference. The Highlanders, who became the 10th full member of the America East effective July 1, 2020, will play a full basketball double round‐robin schedule of 18 conference games against the other nine schools. The schedule format consists of weekend series (Saturday and Sunday) where a team hosts the same opponent on back‐to‐back days for two games.
NJIT departs the ASUN Conference after five seasons as a member (first season 2015-16), which marked the first time that the Highlanders had been a full member of an automatic qualifying NCAA Division I multisport conference.
2019-20 Quick Rewind:
The Highlanders finished the 2019-20 season with a 9-21 overall record and completed their final season in the ASUN Conference with a 6-10 record to earn the eight seed in the ASUN Tournament.
Highlights from last year's season include:
• A 20-point come-from-behind victory at Cornell that saw senior captain
Shyquan Gibbs hit a game-winning driving layup in the final second. The play was featured at #4 on ESPN's #SCTop10.
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San Antonio Brinson erupted for a program-record 37 points in an upset win at eventual ASUN Regular Season Champion, North Florida.
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Zach Cooks led the ASUN in scoring (19.7 ppg), steals (1.9 spg) and minutes played en route to being named Second Team All-ASUN.
• After playing in just 16 games as a freshman,
Souleymane Diakite had a breakout sophomore season, avering 7.8 ppg and 8.5 rpg, while setting a Division I program record with 59 blocked shots.
GEORGIA ON YOUR MIND:
NJIT's two seniors both hail from the state of Georgia and have combined to start 131 games over their prolific careers.
Zach Cooks (19.7 ppg) and
San Antonio Brinson (11.0 ppg) led NJIT in scoring during the 2019-20 season. The duo has combined to score 37+ points nine times in their careers, with the Highlanders winning six of those contests. The most points they've combined for in a game was 57 (35 for Cooks; 22 for Brinson) on November 22, 2019 in a loss to Binghamton. Brinson currently holds the program's single game scoring record after a 37-point performance at North Florida last season, while Cooks' 35-point game against the Bearcats ranks second all-time.
LOU HENSON AWARD WATCH LIST :
Senior captain
Zach Cooks was named to the Lou Henson Award Preseason Watch List for the second-straight season.The Lou Henson Award is given annually to the nation's top Division I mid-major player. The award honors the late Henson, a former Illinois and New Mexico State coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons. Henson is the winningest coach in Illinois basketball history with 423 victories. During his 21 seasons (1975-1996), Henson led the Fighting Illini to 16 postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA tournaments and a Final Four appearance in 1989. Overall, 50 players were named to the Preseason Watch List. Cooks was one of just two America East players (Obadiah Noel; UMass Lowell) and one of just two from an NJ squad (Jahlil Jenkins; FDU) named to the watch list.
UP NEXT:
The Highlanders return to the Wellness and Events Center next weekend when they welcome Stony Brook to Newark for a pair of games. Both Saturday's and Sunday's contests will begin at 2pm.
