Men's Basketball Hosts Wagner and LIU for NEC Play This Week
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team will host a pair of Northeast Conference contests this weekend. CCSU will face Wagner on Friday night before facing LIU on Sunday afternoon. Both games will be streamed on NECFrontRow.
CCSU GAME NOTES | HOME GAME PROGRAM LINKS | WAGNER NOTES | LIU NOTES
WAGNER - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
LIU - LIVE STATS | WATCH | AUDIO | TICKETS
The Blue Devils and Seahawks will be meeting for the 60th time. Wagner leads the all-time series, 35-24. The Blue Devils and Sharks will be meeting for the 56th time. LIU is 30-25 in the series.
OPENING NOTES
• Central Connecticut hosts Northeast Conference defending-champion Wagner on Jan. 10 for its league home-opener.
• 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 will welcome LIU to Detrick Gym on Sunday afternoon.
WITH A WIN FRIDAY ...
• Central would start 3-0 in NEC play for the second straight season and just the third time ever (1999-2000, 12-0; 2023-24, 3-0).
• Patrick Sellers would collect his 50th career game at CCSU.
• Central would have a 6-game win streak for the first time since Jan. 20-Feb. 9, 2011 (7).
• CCSU would win its 12th straight regular season home game overall.
• The Blue Devils would remain unbeaten at home on the season (6-0).
• CCSU improve to 12-4, its best overall start since opening the 2001-02 season, 27-4.
LOOSE ENDS...
• CCSU is committing 11.7 fouls per game, which ranks 2nd nationally.
• In 11 wins, Central has led for 349:03 while trailing for just 55:27.
• 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 56.9% (310-of-545) from inside the three-point arc.
• When scoring 70+ points under Patrick Sellers, CCSU is 42-13 (.764).
• 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 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).
• 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).
