Saint Francis travels to Sacred Heart for two-game set
Miles McQuiggan
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team travels to the Nutmeg State for a two-game series Thursday and Friday at Sacred Heart.
The Red Flash meets a Pioneer squad that currently stands in the top half of the NEC standings despite being picked last in the preseason coaches' poll.
The Series: Saint Francis (2-7, 1-4) at Sacred Heart (4-4, 4-3)
Location: Pitt Center (Fairfield, Conn.)
Game 1: Thursday, Jan. 21 – 7 p.m.
Watch: NEC Front Row (Randy Brochu, Joe DeSantis, Jack Sullivan)
Live Stats: Presto Sports
Game 2: Friday, Jan. 22 – 4 p.m.
Watch: NEC Front Row (Randy Brochu, Freddie Coleman, Natalie Discenza)
Live Stats: Presto Sports
Game Notes: Saint Francis
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SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Sacred Heart played its season opener at Rutgers before having the rest of its non-conference slate wiped out by a pause in team activities.
The Pioneers have returned to the court by going 4-3 in their first seven NEC games, splitting series with LIU, Wagner, and Merrimack before last week's home win over Central Connecticut in which the Pioneers held the Blue Devils to 48 points. SHU is seventh in offensive efficiency in and fourth in defensive efficiency in NEC contests.
Tyler Thomas - who averaged 5.6 points per game as a freshman - leads the NEC in scoring at 19.1 a night in his sophomore campaign. Cantavio Dutreil, a junior transfer by way of North Alabama and Harcum, ranks atop the conference with 10.1 rebounds per game.
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash and Pioneers have met 36 times since Sacred Heart made the move to Division I and the NEC in 1999-00, with Saint Francis holding a 21-15 advantage. SFU is 12-4 during
Rob Krimmel's tenure as head coach.
The first meeting between the teams took place on Feb. 10, 2000 - an 87-66 Red Flash victory. The leading scorers for Saint Francis, with 18 points each, were
Rob Krimmel and current NEC Front Row analyst
Tom Fox.
Saint Francis won all three meetings a season ago, claiming single-digit victories in both ends of a regular-season sweep and a 12-point NEC Semifinal win. The Red Flash have swept the season series in four of the last seven years.
LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 72, SAINT FRANCIS 63
Senior
Ramiir Dixon-Conover racked up 18 points, five rebounds, and five steals, but Bryant held the Red Flash to a 3-for-22 mark from three in Friday's series finale.
MARLON, MAN
Junior
Marlon Hargis made an immediate impact in his first two games in a Red Flash uniform. The Holy Cross transfer scored 14 points and added seven rebounds in last Thursday's win over Bryant and followed with 12 and eight the next day. Hargis shot 45% from the field and was 8-of-9 from the line.
LAND OF TWOS AND THREES
Freshman
Maxwell Land ranks second in the NEC in effective field goal percentage at 60.7%. eFG% weights the value of three-pointers, which Land has knocked down at a rate of 53.8% in addition to his overall mark of 48.2%.
BOARD MESSAGE
Redshirt freshman
Josh Cohen had a career-best performance of nine points and eight rebounds in last Friday's contest against Bryant.
Cohen has secured 17.2% of available offensive rebounds while on the court - a rate that would rank 11th nationally if Cohen met KenPom's minutes played requirements.
FOUR SCORES
Freshman
Ronell Giles, Jr. has had a pair of impressive offensive showings in the month of January.
Giles scored 19 points in SFU's return to action on Jan. 7 and topped that with 21 points in 29 minutes to help the Red Flash defeat Bryant last Thursday. Giles' 21 points against the Bulldogs were the most by a Red Flash freshman since
Keith Braxton scored 22 in the 2017 NEC Quarterfinal win over Bryant.
INTRO TO COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Red Flash freshmen have played 43.9% of the team's minutes this year against a strength of schedule that includes the No. 30 non-conference slate.
The backcourt trio of
Maxwell Land,
Zahree Harrison, and
Ronell Giles, Jr. have contributed the majority of that time with Land starting all nine games and Harrison making three starts.
Land, Harrison, and Giles are joined by
Josh Cohen,
Jeriah Coleman,
Brad McCabe, and
Luke Ruggery as freshmen to appear in a game this season. All seven have scored in at least one game.
SECURING THE PERIMETER
Saint Francis enters the week 10th nationally in three-point defense at 27.1%. The Red Flash will face a Pioneers team that has made the second-most threes per game (8.2) in the NEC.
BALANCING ACT
A year removed from graduating the program's two leading scorers, eight different Saint Francis players have produced a 10-point effort this season.
Senior
Mark Flagg leads the way with six double-figure scoring efforts this season.
THE AMAZING RACE
The 18-game Northeast Conference schedule is traditionally a battle for one of the eight conference tournament berths in March, but this season's four-team tournament further heats up the competition for the nine eligible teams.
Saint Francis, despite being 1-4 to start NEC play, is projected as the KenPom favorite in 11 of its final 13 conference games. However, in true NEC fashion, 11 of the 13 games have a win probability of between 44% and 63% for the projected victor.
The Red Flash's first five contests were against the three highest-rated teams in the league. SFU's overall strength of schedule is 101 places higher (No. 153) than the next NEC team (FDU, No. 254.)
NEXT UP: FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON
The Red Flash will begin a stretch of four home games in six days when SFU makes up a December series against Fairleigh Dickinson Tuesday and Wednesday in Loretto. Both games can be seen on NEC Front Row.
Follow Saint Francis Men's Basketball on
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Instagram to get up-to-date information and a behind-the-scenes look at the Red Flash.
To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit
francis.edu.
