Men's Basketball Hits the Road for Matchups at LIU and Stonehill
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team has a pair of road games in Northeast Conference action this weekend. CCSU will play at LIU Thursday night in a matchup of the league's top two teams before facing Stonehill on Saturday. Both games will be streamed on NECFrontRow.
CCSU GAME NOTES | HOME GAME PROGRAM LINKS | LIU NOTES | STONEHILL NOTES
LIU - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
STONEHILL - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
The Blue Devils and Sharks will be meeting for the second time this season in a series LIU leads, 31-25. CCSU and the Skyhawks are meeting for the first time this season. CCSU leads the all-time series, 29-7.
OPENING NOTES
• Central Connecticut plays back-to-back road games for the final time in the regular season when it heads to LIU (Jan. 30) and Stonehill (Feb. 1) this week.
• Head coach Patrick Sellers is in his 4th season in charge of his alma mater.
• Following Sunday's game, the Blue Devils will close the regular season by playing 5 of its last 7 games at home.
WITH A WIN THURSDAY ...
• CCSU would win its 4th straight game overall - its 3rd 4+ game win strak of the year.
• Central would win its 6th straight road game of the season.
• Head coach Patrick Sellers would improve to 30-27 in Northeast Conference games.
• The Blue Devils would win its 6th straight NEC road game dating back to Feb. 15, 2024 - a 69-64 OT loss at Le Moyne.
• Central would have 15+ wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since '05-06, '06-07.
• CCSU would collect 15 wins before the end of January for the first time since 2001-02 (15).
• The Blue Devils would split the season series against LIU, the team currently atop the NEC.
LOOSE ENDS...
• CCSU is committing 11.6 fouls per game, which ranks 2nd nationally.
• In 12 wins, Central has led for 502:13 while trailing for just 56:59.
• Dating back to 2021-22, CCSU has won 7 straight 1-point games (1/21/22, 67-68 loss at SFU).
• CCSU is shooting 55.3% (403-of-729) from inside the 3-point arc in all contests. In NEC games, Central is 136-of-258 (.527).
• When scoring 70+ points under Patrick Sellers, CCSU is 45-13 (.776).
• With 9 non-conference wins, Central set a program-mark for non-league victories and is just the 6th NEC school to win 9 true non-conference games in a season
• CCSU and Fairfield combined for just 3 free throws (CCSU 1-1, FFD 2-2). It was the fewest combined foul shots in a CCSU game since Feb. 14, 2015 at Robert Morris (RMU 2-2).
• With 20 wins last season, CCSU surpassed its win total from the previous 2 seasons combined. In the 10 seasons since its last previous winning season (2010-11, 19-12) until Patrick Sellers was head coach, CCSU was just 86-207 (.294).
NOTABLES
• Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll (1st place votes):
1T. CCSU (5)
1T. Wagner (4)
3. FDU
4. Le Moyne
5. LIU
6. Chicago St.
7. Mercyhurst
8T. Saint Francis U.
8T. Stonehill
• The Preseason All-NEC Team: Malachi Davis (LIU), Jo'el Emanuel (FDU), Darrick Jones Jr. (Le Moyne), JORDAN JONES (CCSU), Jeff Planutis (Mercyhurst).
