• Through 17 games, CCSU is committing 12.6 fouls per game, which ranks 2nd nationally. Last season, CCSU committed 11.3 fouls per game, setting an NEC mark and ranking 2nd nationally.
• CCSU has won 8 straight home games in NEC play since falling to LIU on Jan. 12, 2025.
• Central has posted 20+ wins in consecutive seasons for the first time in its Division I history. The Blue Devils last accomplished the feat in 1982-83 (21-9) and 1983-84 (26-6).
• When scoring 70+ points under Patrick Sellers, CCSU is 50-15 (.769) overall. Central is 29-3 in such games dating back to Jan. 19, 2024.
• Since 2021-22, CCSU has won 8 straight 1-point games (Jan. 21, 2022, 67-68 loss at SFU).
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Darin Smith, Jr. is continuing to click offensively. The sophomore forward is the
ONLY PLAYER in the NEC to score in double-figures in EVERY GAME this season.
• Smith became the first player in the NEC and the 22nd nationally to score 20+ points in a game 10 times this season with his 24-point outing against Le Moyne.
• Smith did so in just 15 games, the second-fastest player to reach 10 20-point games since Junior Robinson (Mount St. Mary's) did it in 13 games in 2017-18.
• He scored a career-high 38 points against Sacred Heart - the most points by a Blue Devil since Feb. 14, 2013 (Kyle Vinales, 42).
• He also had the game-winning layup at Boston College with 3.2 seconds to play, clincing CCSU's first win over a Power 5 foe.
• He was named to the Lou Henson Award (Mid-Major Player of the Year) Watch List on Dec. 18 and is the only 3x NEC Player of the Week. He was a USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Week (Nov. 30)
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Jay Rodgers LEADS the NEC in assists per game (7.6) AND assist-turnover ratio (3.3). No one in the NEC has averaged more than 7.0 assists since LIU's Jason Brickman in 2013-14 led the NCAA with 10.0.
• He gave out a personal-best 14 dimes at LIU which is the 10th-most in a NCAA game this year and the most by an NEC playmaker since Jan. 15, 2021 (Alex Morales, Wagner, 14 vs. LIU).
• Rodgers is the ONLY player in the nation to have multiple double-doubles of at least 13 points and 13 assists this season.
• With 4 games of 10+ assists, Rodgers is the first NEC player since 2019-20 to have multi double-digit dime outings (Juvaris Hayes, Merrimack, 3x; Cameron Parker, Sacred Heart, 4x).
• With 130 assists, Rodgers is on pace to surpass the program's current D1 single-season assist mark (191, David Corbitt, 1991-92) and could threaten the all-time single-season record (227, Jere Quinn, 1975-76).
• Rodgers missed 52 games from Dec. 16, 2023 until his return in the season-opener after recovering from injuries the past 2 seasons.
• CCSU downed Saint Francis, 98-90, on Jan. 17. The 188 points marked the highest-scoring NEC game since Sacred Heart downed FDU, 99-91, on Feb. 22, 2022.
• The 98 points are a season-best mark by an NEC squad against a Division I foe in 2025-26, and are the most points netted by one NEC member against another since the aforementioned contest.
• The 98 points for CCSU was its 7th-highest output in NEC play since 1997-98 and it was the most in a non-OT game since March 2, 2008, a 100-87 win over Sacred Heart.
2025-26 NEC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
