Men's Basketball Begins Northeast Conference Play With a Pair of Road Games
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team opens Northeast Conference play with a pair of road games this weekend. CCSU will face Saint Francis U. on Friday night before facing Mercyhurst on Sunday afternoon. Both games will be streamed on NECFrontRow.
CCSU GAME NOTES | HOME GAME PROGRAM LINKS | SAINT FRANCIS U NOTES | MERCYHURST NOTES
SAINT FRANCIS U - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
MERCYHURST - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
The Blue Devils and Red Flash will be meeting for the 56th time. SFU holds a narrow, 28-27, edge. The Blue Devils and Lakers will be meeting for the first time.
OPENING NOTES
• Central Connecticut begins Northeast Conference play with back-to-back road games at Saint Francis U. (Jan. 3) and at Mercyhurst (Jan. 5).
• Head coach Patrick Sellers is in his 4th season in charge of his alma mater.
• The Blue Devils enter January as just the 6th school in NEC history to accumulate 9 wins in the non-conference slate.
• CCSU hosts defending-champion Wagner on Jan. 10 for its NEC home-opener. The Seahawks upset the Blue Devils in the NEC semifinals at Detrick Gym on March 9.
WITH A WIN FRIDAY ...
• Central would win its NEC opener in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-11 and 2011-12. CCSU won 4 straight openers from 2008-2012.
• CCSU would improve to 14-14 all-time in NEC openers
• Central would have its second four-game win streak of the season.
• CCSU would win its 4th straight game against Saint Francis U and its 2nd straight in Loretto.
• The Blue Devils would win their 3rd straight NEC road game dating back to Feb. 22, 2024.
• CCSU improve to 10-4, its best start since opening the 2001-02 season, 27-4.
LOOSE ENDS...
• With 9 wins, Central has set a program-mark for non-conference wins and is just the 6th NEC school to win 9 true non-conference games in a season
• CCSU and Fairfield combined to shoot just 3 free throws (CCSU 1-1, FFD 2-2). First game nationally with 1 or fewer made foul shots since Nov. 18, 2018 (Holy Cross, Siena 0-3) and the fewest combined foul shots in a CCSU game since Feb. 14, 2015 at Robert Morris (RMU 2-2).
• CCSU is committing 12.2 fouls per game, which ranks 4th nationally.
• In 9 wins, Central has led for 287:00 while trailing for just 43:42.
• Dating back to 2021-22, CCSU has won 7 straight 1-point games. Its last one-point loss came on Jan. 21, 2022 in a 67-68 loss at SFU.
• CCSU is shooting 56.7% (267-of-471) from inside the three-point arc.
• When scoring 70+ points under Patrick Sellers, CCSU is 41-13 (.759).
• 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).
