Men's Basketball Opens Season in CT6 Classic

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team opens the 2015-16 season in the annual Connecticut 6 Classic on Friday, Nov. 13, at 8:00 p.m. against Hartford. The Blue Devils are hosting the Classic this year, with the tripleheader set to tip off with Yale and Fairfield at 3:00 PM. Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart will follow at approximately 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the games are available at CCSUTickets.com.

Links for video and live stats for all of the games are as follows.

Yale vs. Fairfield  |  Live Stats  |  Video

Quinnipiac vs. Sacred Heart  |  Live Stats  |  Video

CCSU vs. Hartford  |  Live Stats  |  Video

Series Notes
• CCSU and Hartford are meeting for the 45th time dating back to 1958-59.
• Central has won seven of the last nine meetings in the series.
• Since turning Division I, the two programs have met 15 times and CCSU is 8-7.
• Head coach Howie Dickenman is 7-4 all-time vs. the Hawks.

Season Openers
• Central Connecticut is 9-10 in season openers under head coach Howie Dickenman
• Last season Central dropped its opener to Fairfield, 71-63, in the Connecticut 6 Classic at the TD Bank Center. 
• All-time in Division I the Blue Devils are 13-16 in season openers.
• This will mark the third time CCSU has opened the season against Hartford, and the first since 2010-11.  They are 2-0 in the previous two meetings.

Senior Leader
• Senior Brandon Peel is the lone senior on the Blue Devils' roster. 
• Peel started all 31 games last season and led the team in rebounding (8.8) and had 52 blocked shots - marks which both ranked second in the Northeast Conference.
• In 89 career games (70 starts), Peel averages 6.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
• Junior Khalen Cumberlander redshirted the 2012-13 season after suffering an injury in the season-opener.

New Look Blue Devils
• With just three returning starters and six returnees overall, the Blue Devils have eight newcomers in 2015-16.
• Among the newcomers are five freshman. Three junior college transfers round out CCSU's newcomers.
• It is the first time in Dickenman's tenure that he will have seven newcomers on scholarship.

History - 1,074 Wins
• This season marks the 79th season of Central basketball.
• CCSU's first year of competition was the 1934-35 season under coach Harrison J. Kaiser, whom the athletic building is named after.
• Central carries an overall record of 1,074-867 for a .553 winning percentage.  

Central Connecticut in the Northeast Conference
• CCSU has posted a 144-108 record (.571) in NEC regular season play over the last 13 seasons (19-1 in 2001-02, 12-6 in 02-03, 9-9 in 03-04, 8-10 in 04-05, 13-5 in 05-06, 16-2 in 06-07, 10-8 in 07-08, 8-10 in 08-09, 9-9 in 09-10, 11-7 in 2010-11, 10-8 in 2011-12, 9-9 in 2012-13, 7-9 in 2013-14 and 3-15 in 2014-15).
• They are 82-44 (.651) at home and 62-64 (.492) away.

Dickenman in Overtime
• CCSU has played 31 overtime game under head coach Howie Dickenman and have a 22-9 record in 19 seasons.
• The Blue Devils last went to overtime vs. Sacred Heart on Feb. 21, 2015, and won for the 22nd time (76-73).  

Peel Again
• Senior Brandon Peel grabbed 10+ rebounds in 11 contest last season, including four of the final six games.
• Peel has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 22 games during his career.
• The 6-foot-7 forward ranked second in the Northeast Conference in rebounding last year and is the top returning rebounder this year at 8.8 per game.
• Peel grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds against Robert Morris on Jan. 10, 2015. He had 11 rebounds at the break.

Double-Doubles
• Senior Brandon Peel had a team-high eight double-doubles in 2014-15 including 14 points and 14 rebounds in an overtime win over Sacred Heart on Feb. 21.
• Peel enters the season with 12 career double-doubles.

50 Points Allowed
• Central's defense locked up Hartford in a 56-47 win last season, the fewest points it allowed. CCSU also topped Saint Francis U. and Wagner by identical 53-50 scores last season. 
• The Blue Devils went 3-0 when holding opponents to 50 or fewer points. This marked the first time since 2010-11 that CCSU had three games of allowing 50 or fewer points.
• Central has won five straight games when holding opponents below 50.  The last loss came in the 2010-11 season when they lost 48-46 at FDU.   

Dickenman Milestone
• Head Coach Howie Dickenman, now in his 20th season at his alma mater, reached a pair of milestones in a win over UMBC last year.
• Dickenman became the second coach in school history to record his 275th victory, while at the same time he recorded his 150th career home victory with the win over the Retrievers.
• Dickenman trails only his former head coach Bill Detrick in career wins.  Detrick won 468 games in 29 seasons.

Peel's Blocks - Fifth All-Time
• Senior Brandon Peel enters the season with 131 caree

Central and the Three-Point Shot - A New Streak Begins
• The Blue Devils had a streak of 557 games with a three-pointer stopped at Wagner on Jan. 31, 2015.
• Central had made a three in every game since February 29, 1996 at the University of Missouri-KC in a 76-69 loss, before going 0-for-6 vs. the Seahawks, marking the first time under head coach Howie Dickenman CCSU did not make a three.
• CCSU hit a three in each of the season's final eight games, including a season-high 10 at Bryant.

Up Next:
• The Blue Devils return to action on Sunday, Nov. 15, when they travel to Penn for a 4:00 p.m. tip off at The Palestra.
• It will be the first all-time matchup for the two schools.
• Penn was picked to finish 7th in the preseason Ivy League media poll.
• The Quakers went 9-19 overall in 2014-15 and tied for seventh in the Ivy League with a 4-10 record.