Sacred Heart Heads To Colgate In Search of Second Consecutive Win
12/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Setting the Scene... The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team travels to Hamilton, N.Y. for a 7 pm tip with Patriot League member Colgate on Wednesday night.
Series History... For the fourth consecutive game, Sacred Heart will be meeting its opponent for the first time ever.
Last Time Out... Evan Kelley scored a season-high 27, including 19 in the first half, and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as the Sacred Heart men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating Campbell, 72-61, on Sunday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center. The Pioneers took their second lead with 3:25 remaining in the first half and did not trail the remainder of the game.
All-Time vs. Patriot League... Sacred Heart is 12-16 all-time vs. current Patriot League members, and 11-15 in the Division I era. Its only meeting against Loyola came in the Division II era, as well as one of its meetings versus Holy Cross. The Pioneers are currently on a six game losing streak against Patriot League opponents, going 0-3 in each of the last two years against Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh. SHU's last win against a PL member was December 11, 2011, when it beat Lafayette, 84-79.
All-Time Records vs. Patriot League Teams
Army 3-3
Lehigh 2-4
Holy Cross 6-6
Loyola 1-0
Lafayette 2-3
Scouting Colgate... Colgate enters Wednesday's matchup with a 1-5 record on the season, with its five losses coming by an average of 5.6 points per game. The Raiders most recently fell to Arizona State, 78-71, on Saturday. Despite the record, they are outshooting opponents by nearly two percent per game, shooting 45.7 percent from the field, while holding the competition to 43.8 percent. Colgate is getting outrebounded by a margin of 3.2 per game and turning the ball over an average of 3.0 more per game than its opponent. They are led by two double-digit scorers in Damon Sherman-Newsome and Austin Tilllotson, at 18.0 and 14.2 per game, respectively. Sherman-Newsome averages over three 3-point field goals per game, while Tillotson is also the leading assist man for the Raiders at 4.0 per game. Luke Roh is the leading rebounder at 6.8 per contest.
Similar Opponent... Both Sacred Heart and Colgate have played against Campbell and James Madisoin already this season. Both teams beat Campbell and fell to James Madison
SHU Opponent Colgate
L, 79-72 James Madison L, 77-71
W, 71-62 Campbell W, 54-48
Looking for Two Straight... Coming off a win Sunday, SHU will be looking to win two straight games for the first time since January 19-
26, 2013, when it won three straight over Saint Francis U, Bryant, and Monmouth.
Road Worries... The Pioneers have lost 9 of their last 10 on the road, including a 0-2 start this season. The lone win in that stretch came in the second to last contest of the year as they defeated eventual NEC tournament champion Mount St. Mary's, 72-65, on February 27.
Stingy Defense... The Pioneer defense held an opponent under forty percent shooting for the third time in five games this season on Sunday, a mark Sacred Heart accomplished in only seven out of 31 games in 2013-14.
SHU is 6-4 dating back to last season when holding opponents under forty percent shooting, and 1-25 over the last two seasons when opponents shoot better than forty percent.
-SHU ranks third in the conference in both FG percentage defense (.449) and blocked shots (3.4)
Hot and Cold... SHU ranks third in the NEC in scoring offense (63.2) and second in FG percentage (.401).
-In wins Sacred Heart is shooting 51.4 percent and averaging 71 points, while in loses they are shooting 33.3 percent and scoring 58 points.
Crashing the Boards... SHU ranks second in the NEC in both rebounds per game (36.2) and rebounding margin (+0.4). That being said, the leading rebounder on the team, Tevin Falzon (5.4), ranks only 10th individually in the conference. The Pioneers have nine players averaging at least 3 per game.
Outrebounded but Winning... Sacred Heart defeateded Campbell on Sunday despite being outrebounded, 38-32. It was just the second time in the last 24 occurrences that has happened.
Failing to find the Range... Sacred Heart ranks last in the NEC in 3 pt FG per game (5.0) and eighth in 3 pt FG percentage (.267).
-Despite that the Pioneers have averaged just 2 three pointers in their two wins, while averaging 6.3 in their loses.
