Pioneers to Pack Pitt Against First Place Mount St. Mary's
1/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sacred Heart (3-14, 2-4 NEC) vs. Mount St. Mary's (8-11, 5-1 NEC)
Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 7:00 pm - William H. Pitt Center (2,067) - Fairfield, Conn.
Sacred Heart hosts its annual "Pack the Pitt" event on Thursday at 7 pm, welcoming first place Mount St. Mary's to the William H. Pitt Center for a game to be nationally televised on the CBS Sports Network.
Scouting Mount... After entering Northeast Conference play losers of four straight to finish its non-conference schedule at 3-10, Mount St. Mary's has opened league play 5-1 and currently sits alone atop of the NEC standings. With four of the five wins coming by ten points or more, including most recently defeating Saint Francis U 82-72, the lone blemish is an 82-79 double overtime loss to Bryant. Much of the Mountaineers success comes from their ability to force turnovers, as they lead the league and are fourth in the NCAA causing opponent's to turn it over 18.6 times per game. Averaging only 12.8 turnovers as a team, their + 5.8 turnover margin is the fourth best in the country, while their 8.5 steals per contest is atop the conference and 19th in NCAA. The lone category the Mount is in the bottom three of the NEC is rebounding, as its 28.5 rebounds per game and - 11.6 rebounding margin are last in the league. Preseason All-NEC selection BK Ashe leads an offense that is second in the conference in made three pointers per game, 7.3, as he averages 14.4 point, good for sixth in the league. Also a preseason All-NEC choice, Gregory Graves paces the Mountaineers grabbing 5.0 rebounds per contest. Junior Robinson leads the team with 3.6 assists per game, in addition to being second on the team with an average of 11.1 points.
Series History... The two teams met once, a Mount St. Mary's win in 1986, before Sacred Heart joined the Northeast Conference in 1999-2000. The Mount has since won 20 of those 29 NEC contests for a commanding 21-9 edge in the all-time series. However, the two teams have split the past six meetings, including each taking the last two on the opponent's home floor. With those two wins in Fairfield, the Mountaineers hold a 9-5 advantage in the William H. Pitt Center, and have now won five in a row and six of the last seven. They also lead 11-4 in Emmitsburg despite the consecutive losses in 2014 and 2015, as they were on a nine game home winning streak prior. The Mount has also won both postseason matchups, which came in consecutive years. They first defeated SHU in the 2008 NEC championship game and then again in the 2009 semifinals. Sacred Heart's most successful stretch in the series was three consecutive wins in 2002-03.
Last Meeting… De'von Barnett scored eight of his game-high 17 in the final 6:00 minutes of the game to help lift the Sacred Heart to a, 62-55, road victory at Mount St. Mary's on February 12. Steve Glowiak and Jordan Allen came off the bench to combine for 26 points on 11-13 shooting, including 17 on a perfect 8-8 in the second half. Allen added 10 rebounds for his first career double double, while Glowiak contributed a game-high four assists. Those three scored 39 of SHU's 44 second half points to help the Pioneers win their third straight Northeast Conference contest. After losing its previous nine in Emittsburg, Sacred Heart has won at the Mount two straight years. Gregory Graves led three Mountaineers with 14 in the loss.
Career Numbers vs. Mount St. Mary's...
NAME (GP-GS) PPG RPG APG MPG
Tevin Falzon (5-1) 8.2 5.4 0.6 18.2
Cane Broome (2-2) 6.5 3.5 1.0 23.5
Filip Nowicki (2-1) - 0.5 - 6.0
Jordan Allen (2-0) 7.5 7.0 2.0 21.0
TV Games... This will be the first of three Northeast Conference television games for Sacred Heart in 2016.
-The Pioneers went 2-2 in such games last year, and have gone 5-8 in the NEC's TV package since 2010-11, including 3-4 in the William H. Pitt Center.
-SHU has played the Mount four times in the package since then, losing the first three before defeating the Mountaineers, 62-55, on ESPN 3 last February.
Getting Better at the Line... Sacred Heart has had two of its best three free throw shooting percentages of the year in the last two games, making 16-19 for 84.2 percent at CCSU and then 23 of 29 for 79.3 percent at St. Francis Brooklyn.
Pioneer Points…
- After scoring just four points against Wagner on January 9, Quincy McKnight averaged 16.5 points in SHU's two games last week, including scoring the game-winner with .2 seconds remaining last Thursday at Central Connecticut.
- With 11 points on Saturday at St. Francis Brooklyn, Matej Buovac has scored in double figures in two of the last three games.
- Cane Broome has led the Pioneers in scoring ten straight games. He is averaging 23.2 points in Northeast Conference play through the first six games, 6.0 more than the next closest player.
- Eyimofe Edukugho is shooting 61.3 percent in conference play, good for third in the league.
