Game 1	Penn Quakers (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) vs. NJIT Highlanders (0-0, 0-0 America East)
Date | Time	Monday, November 4, 7 p.m.
Location	Newark, N.J. | Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center
Live Video	ESPN+ (Nick DeLuca & Barry "Slice" Rohrssen)
Game Notes	NJIT Notes | Penn Notes
Follow	X/Twitter | Instagram | Live Stats
Tickets	Purchase Here

NEWARK, NJ – The 2024-25 season kicks off for NJIT men's basketball on Monday night as the Highlanders will host Penn at 7 p.m. inside the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Nick DeLuca and Barry "Slice" Rohrssen on the call.

2023-24 Quick Rewind

• NJIT finished the 2023-24 season with a 7-21 record under first year head coach Grant Billmeier.
• Billmeier earned his first win as head coach of NJIT on Nov. 20 with an 81-72 at home over Delaware State.
• Tariq Francis was named America East Rookie of the Year, finishing fifth in America East with 18.7 points per game during conference games.
• Francis and Levi Lawal were each named to the America East All-Rookie Team. Lawal started 14 of 16 games in league play, averaging 7.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest.
• NJIT's three wins in conference play were each exhilarating. The first was when NJIT erased a 22-point halftime deficit in a 75-74 win at UMBC, the program's largest ever comeback win. Less than two weeks later, the Highlanders defeated the America East's top two teams in consecutive games in Vermont and UMass Lowell.
• NJIT's win over Vermont snapped the Catamounts' 23-game America East winning streak, the longest conference winning streak in the nation at the time.

NJIT vs. Penn: All-Time Series
NJIT is 0-4 all time against the Quakers, and this will be the first meeting between the two programs since the 2013-14 season. This will be Penn's third ever trip to Newark, and its first to the Wellness & Events Center. Penn's last visit to Newark was an historic one, as its 54-53 win back on Jan. 17, 2013 was the 1,700th win in its program history.

Highlander Highlights

• Monday's game is the first of the 2024-25 season -- which marks NJIT's 19th season as a Division I member. fifth as a member of the America East and eighth in the Wellness & Events Center.
• Grant Billmeier enters his second season as Head Coach of the Highlanders after going 7-21 overall and 3-13 in America East in his first season in University Heights.
• NJIT boasts a young roster, with 13 of its 15 members being either freshmen or sophomores. The team also features a pair of graduate transfers, one each from the Division II and Division III levels.
• Six players return to Newark for their sophomore seasons in 2024-25, led by reigning-America East Rookie of the Year Tariq Francis. All-Rookie honoree Levi Lawal enters his second season as well, alongside Jeffrey Akintolu, Jake Goldberg, Cameron Piggee and Sebasitan Robinson.
• Seven freshmen join NJIT's roster in 2024: Walt Andrews Jr., Malachi Arrington, Quentin Duncan, Ari Fulton, Stefan Jimenez-Vojnic, John Kelly and Jordan Rogers.
• NJIT faces a difficult schedule in 2024-25 which includes three NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, three power conference teams and two NIT qualifiers, including NIT champions Seton Hall.
• NJIT will play its season opener inside the WEC for the fourth time in its eight years of existence. This will be the Highlanders' first time playing at home in the season opener since hosting Merrimack to open the 2021-22 season.
• This marks the Highlanders' first matchup with an Ivy League school since traveling to Brown back on Nov. 23, 2019.
• NJIT's last victory over an Ivy League member also came during the 2019-20 season, a 59-58 win at Cornell on Nov. 13, 2019.

Next Up
The Highlanders will face their first road test of the season on Friday when they travel to Villanova on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. on FS2.
Stay up to date on all things NJIT Men's Basketball throughout the season by following @NJITHoops on X/Twitter and Instagram.