SHU Returns Home for NEC Home Opener Versus FDU
1/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sacred Heart (2-11, 1-1 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (5-8, 1-1 NEC)
Thursday, January 7, 2016 - 7:00 pm - William H. Pitt Center (2,067) - Fairfield, Conn.
Games Notes | Video | Live Stats
The Sacred Heart men's basketball team returns home for just the second time this season to host Fairleigh Dickinson in Northeast Conference on Thursday night at 7 pm.
Bridgeport Fire Victims... Sacred Heart University Athletics is asking fans to help support the victims of the New Years Eve fire in Bridgeport, which left 100 people from an apartment complex homeless, during home games this weekend. Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim put out a plea for donations, asking for adult and children's clothing, food, pet food and toys to replace lost holiday gifts. Pioneer student-athletes and staff will deliver all donated items, while any monetary gifts will be submitted to the American Red Cross in Bridgeport. All fans that make a gift valued at $10 or greater will receive a thank you gift from SHU Athletics.
Scouting Fairleigh Dickinson... Fairleigh Dickinson is the top offensive team in the Northeast Conference, leading the league with averages of 75.5 points on 43.4 percent shooting, and dishing out 13.9 assists per contest. The Knights' 12.0 turnovers and 8.8 steals per game are also atop the conference, as is their 1.16 assist to turnover ratio. FDU does however struggle defensively and on the glass, ranking in the bottom three in opponent's points per game and opponent's field goal percentage, as well as ninth in rebounding margin. The Knights are led by four sophomores, Earl Potts Jr., Darian Anderson, Stephan Jiggets and Marques Towndes. In fact, there is just one lone upperclassmen on the team, redshirt junior Tyrone O'Garro. Potts Jr. leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.3 points (fifth in the NEC) and 5.3 rebounds per game, respectively. Anderson is second on the team, and in the top six of the league, with averages of 15.0 points and 4.0 assists, and leads the conference with 2.4 steals per game. Jiggets chips in with 11.7 points per game, leading the team in three point shooting percentage, while Potts Jr. adds 9.5 points per contest.
Series History... Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson first met in in the Pioneers' first season as a Division I school in 1999-2000, with all meetings having come as members of the Northeast Conference. FDU is one of two NEC teams that Sacred Heart has a winning record against, the other being Bryant. After sweeping the season series in 2014-15, SHU leads the all-time series 15-11, including winning five of the last six. Victorious in five of the past seven matchups in each venue, the Pioneers hold the edge both at home and on the road against the Knights. Sacred Heart is 8-6 all-time at the William H. Pitt Center, including winning three in a row, and 7-5 all-time in Hackensack.
Last Meeting… Sacred Heart shot a season best 61.0 percent from the floor, including 69.2 percent (18-26) in the second half, and held a 48-22 rebounding advantage, as it held off Fairleigh Dickinson, 90-85, on February 26 at the Rothman Center. Evan Kelley led the Pioneers with a season high 27 points on 11-14 shooting, while Cane Broome added 23 in what was SHU's first game with two twenty point scorers since February 2nd of 2014. With 17 points and 19 rebounds, Tevin Falzon recorded his sixth double double of the season and was one rebound shy of the first 20-rebound game by a Sacred Heart player since 1996.
Career Numbers vs. Fairleigh Dickinson...
NAME (GP-GS) PPG RPG APG MPG
Tevin Falzon (5-1) 6.6 7.4 1.2 17.2
Cane Broome (2-1) 18.0 6.5 2.0 31.5
Filip Nowicki (2-1) 2.0 4.5 - 13.0
Jordan Allen (2-0) 6.0 6.5 2.0 24.0
Chris Robinson (2-0) 3.5 2.0 0.5 7.0
- Falzon pulled down a career-high, and program Division I record, 19 rebounds against Fairleigh Dickinson on February 26 of last season. Going into the game scoring 16 points in four career games against the Knights, he also added 17 points.
-One of just two games he did not start in 2014-15, Broome came off the bench for 23 points, tied for his third highest output of the season, against the Knights on February 26
-After scoring two points in the first meeting with Fairleigh Dickinson last season, Allen came off the bench for ten points on a perfect 4-4 from the field on February 26
NEC Home Openers... Sacred Heart will look to snap a two-game losing streak in NEC home openers after falling 73-71 to preseason favorite St. Francis Brooklyn a year ago. Although they are just 7-9 all-time in conference home openers, the Pioneers have never had longer than a two game losing streak in such games.
-The last time SHU played Fairleigh Dickinson in its conference home opener came in the 2001-02 season, a thrilling 133-130 four overtime victory. The Pioneers also faced off with the Knights in their first ever NEC opener in its inaugural Division I season in 1999-2000, losing 67-48.
Back at Home...Finally... SHU is one of just three programs in Division I basketball yet to have played more than one home game, joining Arkansas Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State.
Home Cookin... Returning to the William H. Pitt Center will be a welcoming feeling for the Pioneers. After going 1-10 at the William H. Pitt Center in 2013-14, Sacred Heart went 10-5 at home last year. It was the first time the Pioneers won ten games at home since the 2008-09 season, when it went 10-4 for the year.
-The home loss to Lafayette, SHU's only home game of the season on December 12, snapped a four-game winning streak on Coach Dave Bike Court.
NEC Thursdays... This will be Sacred Heart's first Thursday game of the season. The Pioneers have also not played, and will not play a game this season, on Sunday or Tuesday.
-SHU will play on seven of the next eight Thursdays, the lone exception being on January 28, as the Pioneers will instead play at LIU Brooklyn on Wednesday the 27th for a game that will be broadcast on MSG and Fox College Sports.
Pioneer Points…
- Coming off a week in which he averaged 29.0 points per game in three games, including a career-high 33 in the conference opener at Robert Morris, sophomore Cane Broome won his second Northeast Conference Player of the Week award of the season, and third overall, on Monday.
- Following just his second single digit scoring effort of the season at Hofstra on December 28, Quincy McKnight opened his Northeast Conference career by averaging 14.0 points on 11-22 shooting. He was SHU's second leading scorer in both contests.
- Playing just 13 minutes, two shy of a season low, and scoring six points, three shy of a season-low, in the conference opener, Jordan Allen bounced back with 11 points on 5-7 shooting at Saint Francis U on Monday.
- After missing the previous two games due to injury, his fourth and fifth of the year, Tevin Falzon returned to action with 13 points 5-7 shooting and seven rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench on Monday. He is seven rebounds shy of becoming the third active player in the NEC with 500 career rebounds.
- After failing to score a point in SHU's previous seven games, including not appearing in three, Eyimofe Edukugho has made 14 of his last 16 shots for 87.5 percent and averaged 11.3 points in the Pioneers' last three games.
