Men's Basketball Travels to Rutgers for ESPN3 Game Tuesday

The Blue Devils are meeting the Scarlet Knights for the second time in program history.

December 5, 2016

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team travels to Rutgers on Tuesday for the first of seven straight road games. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. The Blue Devils are 2-4 on the year after dropping a 75-58 contest to Brown on Saturday. Rutgers, under the direction of former CCSU assistant Steve Pikiell, is off to a 7-1 start after a 72-58 win over Morgan State.

Bruce Biel (play-by-play) and Marc Robbins (analyst) will call the game for CCSU on News Radio 1410 and NEC Front Row.

CCSU Notes | Rutgers Notes

Series Notes:

• Rutgers leads, 1-0

• First Meeting: Dec. 8, 2015 (Rutgers, 59-75)

• Last Meeting: Dec. 8, 2015 (Rutgers, 59-75)

• Last CCSU Win:

Up Next

CCSU heads to Duquesne on December 10 to continue its seven-game road swing. It will be CCSU's longest road trip since opening 2014-15 with eight straight road games (1-7). The Blue Devils open Northeast Conference action on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 with road games at Wagner and St. Francis Brooklyn, respectively. CCSU will return home on January 5 against Sacred Heart.

KC Leads The Band of Returnees

Senior Khalen Cumberlander is CCSU's most experienced returnee. In 91 career games, 70 starts, Cumberlander has averaged 9.1 points, 2.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds. He has scored 826 career points and has 79 career steals. Last season against Hartford, Cumberlander posted 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for his first career double-double, which included highs for rebounds (12) and assists (8). Cumberlander is averaging 11.8 points per game and shooting .475 from the field (.438 3-pt fg) with four double-figure games this year.

Nehls Returns After NEC All-Rookie Season

Sophomore Austin Nehls earned Northeast Conference All-Rookie Team honors in 2015-16. Nehls is scoring a team-high 14.2 points per game and is shooting .490 from the field (.471 3pt fg). He is shooting a team-best .864 at the foul line. Nehls currently ranks 3rd in the NEC with 2.7 3fg/game and is 7th in the league shooting .471 from the arc. His 71 three-pointers tied the CCSU freshman record and tied-9th most in a single-season.

Balance Key For Blue Devils

CCSU has two players averaging double-figures and five scoring at least 7.0 points per game. Seven Blue Devils play at least 20.0 minutes per game, just two average more than 30.0 minutes per game. Central is assisting on 61.3 percent of its field goals. CCSU guards have combined for 76 assists against just 44 turnovers. The team's 1.19 assist-turnover ratio ranks 86th nationally.

Bowles and Batiste Point The Way

Sophomore Eric Bowles and freshman Tyson Batiste have given CCSU steady play at the point guard position to start the year. Bowles opened the season with a career-high eight assists and had zero turnovers against Hartford. Bowles' start has him atop the Northeast Conference stat rankings with a 4.4 assist-turnover ratio. He ranks 8th with 3.7 assists/game. Batiste has started every game and ranks 4th with a 1.6 assist/turnover ratio. His 3.7 assists/game ranks 5th in the NEC. As a team the Blue Devils rank second in the NEC with 15.8 assists per game and has 20+ assists in two games.

Blue Devils Sign Two

Eduardo Camacho and Talek Williams signed with CCSU during the November early-signing period. Camacho is a 6-1 guard from Miami, FL. He was named 2nd Team All-State after averaging 19.0 points and 9.0 assists per game as a junior. Miami Christian is one of the top teams in South Florida. Williams is a 6-2 guard from Allentown, PA. He averaged 19.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and was named an EPC First Team All-Star as a junior.

Ross Added To The Staff

Donyell Marshall announced that Anthony Ross would be joining his staff as an assistant coach on Nov. 18. Ross comes to CCSU after serving as an assistant at East Stroudsburg, his alma mater, last season. ESU went 21-7 and went to the PSAC Quarterfinals with him on staff last year. Ross was head coach at Penn State-Lehigh Valley for three seasons and was an assistant at Moravian College prior to that. He replaces Obie Nwadike who took a job with the NBA in China just before the season.

A Select Coaching Fraternity

CCSU head coach Donyell Marshall, along with Danny Manning (Wake Forest), are the only two coaches in the NCAA to have been a Top-5 pick in the NBA Draft. Marshall was the #4 pick of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Manning was the #1 pick in 1988 by the LA Clippers. Marshall is in his first season in charge of the Blue Devils, while Manning entes his fifth season (Tulsa, Wake Forest).

Central Already Winning in the Community

Since taking over the reigns of the Blue Devils program, Donyell Marshall has gotten the team involved in the community. Members of the program have participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's and the Light The Night Walk to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. They have also participated in the Challenger Basketball Clinic and held clinics with area Boys & Girls Clubs. The team's annual "Blue Devil Run" was also opened up toinclude members of the CCSU community. Members of the cross country and women's lacrosse teams also took part in the run.