Men's Basketball Hosts Maine Wednesday Night

CCSU plays its final home non-conference game before returning home for the NEC opener.

December 19, 2017

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team hosts Maine on Wednesday night at Detrick Gymnasium. The contest is the Blue Devils' final home game of the non-conference slate before opening Northeast Conference play on Dec. 29 at home against the preseason favorite, Saint Francis U.

CCSU fell at Boston College on Sunday in its last game played, while Maine fell at Saint Joseph's. Central is 5-6 on the season, while Maine is 3-9 overall.

Tickets for CCSU home games can be purchased at CCSUTickets.com or at the box office upon entry to Kaiser Hall and Detrick Gymnasium. Admission for all CCSU students, faculty and staff is free of charge with a valid Blue Chip card.

All CCSU home games and Northeast Conference games are available to watch online, for free, at NECFrontRow.com.

Through a partnership between Central Connecticut and The Ana Grace Project, December has been dedicated as "Love Wins Month" at CCSU. The Central community is encouraged to wear purple on each Friday during the month to recognize the project. To commemorate and support the Love Wins mission members of the Blue Devils staff and team will be wearing purple at Wednesday's game.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION | Detrick Gymnasium (New Britain, CT)

CCSU (5-6, 0-0 NEC) vs. Maine (3-9, 0-0 America East | Wednesday, Dec. 20 | 7:00 PM
VIDEO (NEC Front Row) | LIVE STATS | @KizerBlueDevil (In-game twitter updates)

GAME NOTES | 2017-18 NCAA Rules Review Video

TODAY'S GAME • Central Connecticut hosts Maine for its third home game of the season and final non-conference home contest. Central enters the contest looking to bounce back after a tough loss at Boston College on Sunday, while Maine is coming off a 72-59 loss at Saint Joseph's University.

SERIES HISTORY • The Blue Devils and Black Bears are meeting for the 15th time. Maine leads the all-time series, 10-4, but CCSU won last year's meeting, 82-61. Maine won the last meeting at Detrick Gymnasium, 81-74, on Nov. 29, 2015.

LAST TIME OUT • CCSU fell at Boston College, 84-65, on Sunday afternoon in Conte Forum. The Blue Devils hung close for the first half, before the Eagles shot over 50 percent in the second half to pull away. Junior Tyler Kohl scored 17 points and senior Mustafa Jones added 15 points for Central. Kohl added a team-high seven rebounds and four assists. Jones shot 7-of-10 from the floor and hit his only three-point attempt on the day. Junior Austin Nehls finished with nine points. Central shot 12-of-22 (.545) from the field and 5-of-8 (.625) on three-pointers in the opening period. CCSU would tie the game at 26-all, but the Eagles would build a seven-point lead at halftime and begin to pull away by holding Central to one field goal over a six-minute span in the second half.

BLUE DEVILS BALANCE THE SCORING • Central has been at its best when it has balanced scoring on the offensive end. When three or more Blue Devils score in double-figures, they are 5-2 on the season. CCSU has gone 4-1 when four or more score at least 10 points in a game. Tyler Kohl (14.3 ppg), Austin Nehls (11.9) and Mustafa Jones (10.5) all score in double-figures, while Deion Bute (9.5) and Joe Hugley (8.5) are just below 10.0 per game. Central ranks 3rd in the NEC, shooting .455 from the field as a team andhas assisted on 59.1% of its field goals this year (146 assists on 276 field goals) and had a season-high 17 assists at Cleveland State.

BLUE DEVILS TURNING AROUND AT THE FOUL LINE • The Blue Devils are shooting .668 from the foul line on the year, but have shown improvement at the free throw line in the past four games. In the last four games, Central has shot 34-of-45 (.756). In the first seven games of the year, CCSU didn't shoot better than .692 from the foul line as a team in any game. Central was perfect from the line (5-of-5) at DePaul, marking the first time the Blue Devils did not miss a foul shot in a game since going 18-of-18 at LIU Brooklyn on Feb. 27, 2014. Junior Tyler Kohl has gone 15-for-15 from the foul line in the past four games.

UP NEXT • CCSU closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule at UMass Lowell on Saturday, Dec. 23. The Blue Devils open NEC play at home against Saint Francis U on Friday, Dec. 29.