Pioneers Hit Road on Saturday for Matchup with Central Connecticut
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game 29: Sacred Heart (13-15, 7-8 NEC) at Central Connecticut State (4-24, 2-13 NEC)
February 21, 2015 3:30 pm - William H. Detrick Gymnasium (2,654) - New Britain, Conn.
Setting the Scene... Just off clinching its first postseason bid since 2012 with its win on Thursday, the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team travels to in-state rival Central Connecticut for a 3:30 pm start on Saturday afternoon. The game will follow the women's contest, which begins at 1 pm.
NEC Standings... Sacred Heart is currently tied for seventh place in the Northeast Conference, holding the tiebreaker over Wagner for the spot with a 7-8 league record. SHU sits one game back of fifth place Saint Francis U and LIU Brooklyn. CCSU moved into a tie for ninth place with a win on Thursday, improving its conference record to 2-13.
Series History... Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut State have met 55 times dating back to 1971,which is the third highest meeting rivalry in SHU's history, behind Quinnipiac and Southern Connecticut State. The Blue Devils have a strong edge in the all-time series, leading 36-19. SHU's win on January 5th snapped a four game Central winning streak. CCSU hold an edge in every aspect, leading 18-7 at home, 14-10 at SHU, 4-2 in the playoffs, and 26-10 in the Northeast Conference. The two teams faced off every year from 1971-1985, before a 13-year stretch until 1998 when they did not play each other. After taking another year off in 1998-99, the two teams renewed their rivalry when Sacred Heart joined the Northeast Conference in 1999-2000. The Blue Devils enjoyed eight straight victories to begin the NEC meetings, and won 18 of the first 20. CCSU has also won five straight in the William H. Detrick Center and 13 of the 15 meetings since Sacred Heart joined the NEC.
Last Meeting...Tevin Falzon's career night helped lead the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team to a, 75-66, victory over the Blue Devils on January 5 at the William H. Pitt Center. Falzon recorded career highs in points, rebounds, and blocks, with 22, 13, and 5, for his third career double double. It was the first time a Pioneer had five blocks in a game since Liam Potter had five on February 11, 2010. Matt Mobley scored a game-high 32 points for the CCSU.Cane Broome, Steve Glowiak, and De'von Barnett also scored in double figurers, with 16, 14, and 10, respectively for the Pioneers. Evan Kelley and Phil Gaetano each dished out a game-high six assists, as SHU had 19 assists on 27 made field goals. The six assists were a season-high for Kelley. SHU shot 45 percent (27-60), while holding the Blue Devils to 37.7 percent shooting (23-61). Sacred Heart also held a, 44-30, advantage on the glass.
Scouting Central Connecticut... The Blue Devils snapped a seven game losing streak with a, 53-50, victory over Saint Francis U on Thursday night. CCSU ranks in the top five of the NEC in two categories, shooting 71.1 percent from the line and blocking 3.5 shots per contest. A pair of Blue Devils are in the top 13 of the conference in scoring. Matt Mobley leads the team scoring an average of 16.5 points each time out, while Faronte Drakeford adds 13.2. Mobley also is second in minutes and third in three pointers made, making 2.3 per game in 36.6 minutes of action. Drakeford is sixth in free throw percentage (.786), eighth in rebounding (7.0), and tenth in steals (1.3). Brandon Peel is nearly averaging a double double, averaging 9.3 points in an addition to a team best 8.8 rebounds per game, which also ranks second in the NEC. Peel adds 1.6 blocks per games, which is also second in the league. Kevin Seymour dishes out a team leading 3.6 assists per contest.
Career Numbers vs. Central Connecticut...
NAME (GP-GS) PPG RPG APG MPG
Phil Gaetano (7-6) 3.0 3.1 6.2 30.6
Steve Glowiak (7-4) 13.7 2.7 1.2 27.4
Evan Kelley (7-5) 8.6 3.1 2.9 27.0
De'von Barnett (2-2) 15.0 4.3 0.3 31.7
Tevin Falzon (2-0) 12.7 8.7 0.3 23.3
Cane Broome (1-1) 16.0 7.0 4.0 34.0
Jordan Allen (1-1) 2.0 1.0 - 9.0
Filip Nowicki (1-0) 2.0 3.0 - 9.0
-Glowiak has scored in double figures against the Blue Devils in five straight meetings, averaging 15.7 points in that span. He made a season high six field goals in the January 5 meeting. Last year on February 15, Glowiak tied a career high with nine made field goals, including seven triples, en route to a 27-point performance, one shy of a career high.
-Falzon had a career performance against CCSU in January, posting career-highs in points (22), rebounds (13), blocks (5), FG made and attempted (8-12), and minutes (31).
-Barnett has scored in double figures in all three of his career games against the Blue Devils.
-Broome's seven rebounds on January 5 is a conference high for the freshman so far this year. The 16 points are tied for his second highest conference output.
-Kelley registered a season high six assists in the January 5 meeting.
-Gaetano has averaged 7.4 assists in the past five meetings.
-The two points scored by Allen on January 5 are tied for his season low, and the nine minutes are the fewest he has played this season.
Offensive Disparity...The matchup will feature the highest scoring offense in the NEC vs. the lowest scoring. SHU ranks first, scoring 72.4 points per game, while CCSU averages just 58.0 points. In addition, the Pioneers have the best shooting percentage in the conference, 45.6, and the Blue Devils have the lowest, 39.7.
Assisting... Sacred Heart also leads the league in assists per game, dishing out 14.3 each time out. Central Connecticut ranks last with an average of 10.9 apg.
Don't Expect Threes... The two teams come into the Monday night's contest in ninth and tenth place in the conference in three-pointers made per game, each making under five per contest. They are also both in the bottom four in three-point percentage.
Blue Devil Advantage... Where Central will look to have an edge is at the foul line, where it is shooting 71.9 percent, second in the NEC. SHU's 64.3 mark from the line is the lowest in the conference.
Welcome Back... With the win over Robert Morris on Thursday, SHU clinched its first postseason playoff birth since 2012. The Pioneers had missed three of the previous four NEC tournaments.
Top Five... Saturday will be the first time since January 22 against Fairleigh Dickinson that Sacred Heart will play a team outside of the top five in the NEC standings at the time of the game. After winning against Robert Morris, the Pioneers finished that stretch 5-3.
Going for the Sweep... Sacred Heart will be going for the season sweep of Central Connecticut for the first time since 2009 on Saturday. SHU has swept Bryant this season but prior to that, it had not completed the sweep of a conference opponent since the 2011-12 season, when it swept three opponents.
Quite Some February... With one more win, Sacred Heart would clinch its first winning month since January of 2013, when it went 6-3. The Pioneers have started the month 4-1, doubling its win total from the past two Februarys combined. The Pioneers won one game each in the month the past two campaigns.
Road Struggles... After the loss to St. Francis Brooklyn last Saturday, Sacred Heart is now 3-10 on the road in 2014-15.
-With the home win on Thursday, the Pioneers are now 9-5 in the William H. Pitt Center. The nine wins are the most for the program since a 9-4 home campaign in the 2009-10 season.
Quadrupling Conference Wins... Standing at 7-8 in the conference, SHU will look to quadruple its conference win total from the 2013-14, when it only went 2-14.
-The Pioneers have not won eight conference games since the 2012 NEC season.
Getting it Done at the Line... Going into Thursday, the Pioneers had not eclipsed the 67 percent mark from the foul line in 12 straight games. Against the Colonials, they shot 78.3 percent (18-23) for its third best percentage of the year, as well as second highest in NEC play.
-SHU's best free throw shooting game in NEC play came against the Blue Devils on January 5, when they went 15-18 from the charity stripe (.833 percent).
Outshot in a Win... Sacred Heart won on Thursday despite having a lower shooting percentage than RMU. Prior to that, SHU had lost 22 straight games with a lower FG percentage than the opponent, including a 0-9 start to this season.
Rare Win When... Although SHU defeated Robert comfortably on Thursday night, the Colonials did manage to eclipse fifty percent shooting. The win was the second time the Pioneers have allowed an opponent to shoot fifty percent and still win since defeating Holy Cross, 77-75, on January 2, 2011 when the Crusaders shot 59.2 percent (29-49).
-The other occurrence also happened this season in the win over Wagner on February 5.
