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The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team looks to get its second win in a row when it hosts Central Connecticut State on Monday at 7 p.m. on NEC Front Row.

OPENING TIP

• The two teams will meet for the only time during the regular season on Monday due to a Sacred Heart forfeit on January 6. 
• Sacred Heart posts a 12-game win streak against the Blue Devils with the last CCSU win occurring in 2015, 72-63. 
• Senior Aaron Clarke grabbed his 1,000th point against FDU as he became the 44th in SHU's history and 16th in the Division I era. Clarke posted 21 points in the outing which is his second-straight 21-point game after hitting the mark at Bryant. 
• CCSU enters Monday on a three-game losing streak after dropping its last two NEC matchups. The Blue Devils first fell, 66-57, to Merrimack before an 83-61 road loss at LIU. 
• In the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day NEC game, every team in the league will be sporting NEC Speaks Up warmup shirts to help promote conference members to use their voice to advocate for social change in areas that are important to them. 

TURNING THE AC ON
Aaron Clarke averages 20.5 points across the last four games and led the Pioneers in scoring in three. In three of the four, he posted 20-point performances, including back-to-back 21-point games against Bryant and FDU. Clarke also leads the NEC in made free throws with 49 and has only missed two from the stripe in 30 attempts in the last four outings. The senior is also sharing the wealth as he averages four assists against the NEC.

TYLER T, MVP?
Tyler Thomas does not shy away from getting shots up as he was once the national leader in field goal attempts with 249 and fifth in made field goals at 109 before the pair of NEC forfeits. Now Thomas ranks 26th and 40th in the categories. The once NEC scoring leader, now sits third at 18.6 points a night. Since the start of the NEC play, Thomas posts 18 ppg including a 24-point night against FDU. At Bryant, Thomas dished out a career-high seven assists. Thomas has only posted one single-digit scoring game all year when he was held to nine at Stony Brook.

OKAY NICO
Sophomore Nico Galette is the top rebounder both in the NEC and 29th nationally with 9.2 rebounds per game. Against NEC foes, Galette has gathered 35, for an average of 12 a night. In two of the first three NEC games, Galette posted two double-double. First against Bryant with a stat line of 18 points (tied career-high), 16 rebounds, four assists, and one steal, and again against FDU with 17 points, 11 rebounds. Against LIU, he was two rebounds short of a double-double with 16 points and eight rebounds, after securing 14 points and six rebounds in the second half alone due to early foul trouble in the first half.