NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team will finally get to play some home games this week, when they host Maine on Saturday and Sunday in America East Conference action at the Wellness and Events Center in Newark.
No Spectators Allowed at Wellness and Events Center
No spectators will not be permitted inside the Wellness and Events Center until further notice due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All NJIT games will be streamed on ESPN+ or ESPN3 this season.
Last Time Out
he NJIT men's basketball team suffered a 74-60 setback to host UMass Lowell in the second game of an America East Conference series hosted by the River Hawks on Sunday, January 3.
NJIT (3-3, 2-2 America East) won the series opener by six points on Saturday and hung tough on Sunday before a late run from UML (3-7, 2-4 America East) gave the hosts the series split.
Antwuan Butler paced four Highlanders in double-digits with a career-high 15 points, eclipsing his previous best of 14, set last season at Austin Peay. Butler was 10-of-12 from the foul line and also grabbed four rebounds and recorded three steals.
Brushing Up on the Black Bears
Maine's nine wins last season, inclduing five in the America East, were its most since the 2012-13 season. The Black Bears were picked to finish at the bottom of the 10-team conference this season.
Through five games, Maine is 1-4, with its lone win coming at New Hampshire last weekend. The Black Bears have yet to score more than 62 points this season and have failed to reach the 60-point mark in three of five games. They have only given up more than 65 once, however.
Leading the way for Maine this season have been LuChaun DuHart (11.2 ppg) and Stephane Ingo (11.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg). Ingo is coming off of a big weekend at New Hampshire where he recorded a pair of double-doubles, including a 10-point, 17-rebound performance on Sunday.
All-Time Series
This weekend's meetings with Maine will be the seventh and eighth all-time, with the first six coming in non-conference action.
NJIT leads the series 4-2 and has won four in a row over the Black Bears.
Last Three Meetings:
1/19/15: NJIT 65, Maine 55 -- Bangor, ME
11/17/14: NJIT 90, Maine 86 -- Newark, NJ
12/4/13: NJIT 81, Maine 72 -- Newark, NJ
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 127 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.
#PROTECTTHEWEC
NJIT enters its fourth campaign in the state-of-the-art Wellness and Events Center (WEC) . In three seasons playing in the WEC, the Highlanders are 26-19 in this three story, 220,000-square-foot building that features a 3,500-seat basketball arena.
Up Next:
The Highlanders will hit the road once again next weekend for a two-game America East series at Albany. Game times are slated for 5pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday.
