Saint Francis University (8-12, 5-2 NEC) at CCSU (5-17, 3-5 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 28, 2023 | 1 p.m.
Location	New Britain, Conn. | Detrick Gymnasium
Television	NEC Front Row (Bruce Biel - play-by-play | Marc Robbins - color analyst)
Live Stats	PrestoSports
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | CCSU
Stats	Saint Francis | CCSU | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | #RideTogether | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

OPENING TIP
• Saturday's game between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 50th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1994-95 season.
• The Red Flash hold a 27-22 lead in the series and have won the last four tilts in the series.
• The Blue Devils hold a 14-9 edge in New Britain, but Saint Francis has won the last three games in the Nutmeg State.

THE WORD ON CCSU
• The Blue Devils comes into the contest 5-17 overall and 3-5 in NEC play after falling 64-61 to Merrimack on Thursday.
• Jayden Brown powered CCSU with 17 points, and Andre Snoody tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds vs. the Warriors.
• Kellen Amos leads the Blue Devils with 14.7 points per game. Snoody fuels the team with 7.9 rebounds per game, while Nigel Scantlebury has a team-best 85 assists.

LAST TIME WE MET
• Landon Moore scored 20 points to lead Saint Francis past CCSU 80-72 on December 29, 2022 in the NEC opener for both teams.
• Luke Ruggery (15 points), Josh Cohen (13 points), Maxwell Land (10 points) and Ronell Giles, Jr. (10 points) also posted double figures on the afternoon.
• Kellen Amos fueled the Blue Devils with 20 points, while Tre Breland (13 points) and Jay Rogers (10 points) also registered double-digits in points.

LAST TIME OUT
• FDU defeated Saint Francis 87-82 on Thursday.
• Redshirt junior Josh Cohen paced the Red Flash with 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a career-high tying three blocks.
• Junior Maxwell Land added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. The junior crossed over the 700 point and 300 rebounds totals for his career in the game.
• Redshirt senior Marlon Hargis narrowly missed his first career double-double, finishing with 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
• Redshirt junior Luke Ruggery notched double figures for the first time on the road in his career with 11 points.

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Record its second-best start in team history in the NEC with a 6-2 record
• End a two-game losing streak on the road
• Improve to 4-2 in the month of January
• Be the fourth-straight win against CCSU

TRENDING UP
•Redshirt junior Josh Cohen is averaging 30.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game in his last six road games thanks to 40 points and nine rebounds against Hawai'i on December 11, 30 points and nine rebounds at Miami on December 17, 28 points and a career-high 14 rebounds at Robert Morris on December 21 before his 27 points and seven rebounds in Staten Island on January 7, 23 points and nine rebounds at Sacred Heart on January 16 and 26 points and seven rebounds at FDU on January 26.
• Cohen is also moving up on the program's all-time career points list, needing nine points for 900 career points. He would be come the first player to reach 900 points since redshirt senior Myles Thompson and Mark Flagg both surpassed the total last season. He would become the 29th player to reach the mark since the Red Flash joined the NEC (1981-82) and the 10th player under head coach Rob Krimmel. Needing 109 points to 1,000 points, Cohen can reach the mark by averaging 12.1 points per game in the final nine NEC regular season games. The team is also guaranteed at least one playoff game so could also reach the mark by averaging 10.9 points per game in 10 games counting postseason.
• While Cohen is approaching a milestone, junior Maxwell Land registered his 700th career point and 300th career rebound against FDU on Thursday.  He is the 44th player in Red Flash NEC history to reach 700 points in his career and 16th player under Krimmel. It is the second milestone game in four games after becoming the 26th player in team history to hit 100 treys in a career after reaching the feat against LIU on January 16.
• In addition to his milestones, Land has posted double figures in five of his last seven games, averaging 13.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
• Another note on Land is that he has posted double figures in five of his six games in the Nutmeg state, including posting exactly 20 points against CCSU and Sacred Heart last season in the final regular season games of the year. The junior is averaging 15.0 points per game in the state, but will be playing just his second game at Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday. In his three seasons, the Red Flash have played four games at Sacred Heart and one game apiece at Hartford and at CCSU. The Cincinnati kid is also averaging 14.0 points per game against the the Nutmeg State at home with two 20-point games, including a career-high 26 points against Hartford on November 12.
• Redshirt senior Marlon Hargis has posted double figures in each of his last two games after posting 12 points against St. Francis Brooklyn on Jan. 20 and 10 points against FDU on Thursday. It is the second time this season he has posted back-to-back 10+-point games and seventh time in his career. Hargis is still looking for a streak of three-straight games in double figures. The redshirt senior also registered a career-high nine rebounds on Thursday after grabbing eight boards four times in his career.
• Redshirt junior Luke Ruggery has posted double figures in points four times this season and five times in his career. The 11 points at FDU was the first time he reached 10 points on the road in his career. In fact, Ruggery is a much better shooter at home than on the road, registering 68 of his 85 points this season at DeGol Arena. He is shooting 55.0 percent from the floor and 59.4 percent from behind the arc at home, but just 23.8 percent from the floor and 22.2 from 3-point land on the road.
• Saint Francis is 7-1 this season when it makes at least eight baskets from behind the arc, which is also the total needed to give away free a free Big Mac at home games.
• The only time the squad hit double digit treys on the road was at Bucknell on November 30.
• While the Petula Clark will tell you that you can forget all your troubles and forget all of your cares and go downtown, there is another area that has been key to the Red Flash success this season. The team is 7-4 when it has more points or even number of points inside the paint. In the last six games, the Red Flash has won the battle in the paint and are 4-2 in that stretch.

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saint Francis men's basketball coaching staff are wearing Suits and Sneakers as part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers week (January 23-30).
• The Red Flash coaches are one of the few in the country that wear suits for every home and away games. They will wear sneakers and a lapel pin to raise awareness about the fight against cancer and as a visible reminder of support of American Cancer Society.
• Saint Francis is 5-2 for the fourth time in program history, joining the 1989-90, 1997-98 and 2019-20 teams.
• With a win, the team would be 6-2 in NEC play for first time in team history and the second-best start for the Red Flash.
• All three of the previous teams that started league play 5-2 lost its eighth conference game.
• The best start in program history is still the 1990-91 team, who started 6-1 through seven games after falling for the first time to Robert Morris in a nailbiter 87-85 on January 19, 1991.  That team won its eighth game to improve to 7-1 through eight games.
• Saint Francis enjoyed its best success under head coach Rob Krimmel from 2016-20, posting a 77-55 overall record and 48-24 in NEC play in those four seasons.
• The one thing that might be forgotten about those teams that correlates to 2022-23 is that those teams struggled on the road at the beginning before ending the regular season on a high note away from Loretto.
• In those four years through nine road games, the Red Flash combined to post a record of 11-25, including going 1-8 in 2018-19 and 2-7 in 2016-17.
• In the remaining road games those seasons, Saint Francis went 18-8 including registering five victories in both 2016-17 and 2018-19.
• This season, Saint Francis has also started 1-9 on the road with five games remaining away from DeGol Arena, including three-straight on the road as part of a four-game road trip
• The other key to success of those four years that led to three appearances in the NEC Championship Game and three postseason tournament appearances was having success at home with a combined mark of 44-15.
• The Red Flash is currently 6-3 at home and has won five-straight games in Loretto for the eighth time under Krimmel, but the squad will not return home until February 9 against Sacred Heart on ESPNU.
•  Redshirt junior Josh Cohen was named to the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List on Thursday.
• The trophy is given out annually to an outstanding men's college basketball player annually and is considered to be the oldest of its kind. It has been handed out since 1959.
• The award was called the Player of the Year Trophy until 1998 when they changed the award in honor of Robertson, who was the first two recipients of the award in 1958-59 and 1959-60.
• Cohen is the first NEC player to ever be named to the Watch List, although the list has grown from 15 to almost 50 players over the years.
• This four-game road trip in league play marks the eighth time the Loretto program will play four straight conference games on the road, joining the 1988-89, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2004-05, 2006-07 and 2021-22 teams.
• Saint Francis will continue its four-game road trip in New England at Stonehill on February 2 and at Merrimack on February 4.
• The game at Stonehill will be the team's first trip to Easton, Massachusetts and will be shown on ESPN3.