CCSU (10-21, 7-9 NEC) at Saint Francis University (12-17, 9-7 NEC)
Date | Time	Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 7 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena
Television	NEC Front Row (Pat Farabaugh, play-by-play; Bernie Jubeck, color analyst); POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | CCSU
Stats	Saint Francis | CCSU | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | #RideTogether | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

OPENING TIP
• Wednesday's NEC Quarterfinals matchup between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 51st meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1994-95 season.
• The Red Flash leads the series 27-23 including 18-8 at DeGol Arena going into the first postseason meeting between the two programs.
• Saint Francis has won three of the last four games in the series, but the two teams split the season series in 2022-23 with each team winning on its home floor.

THE WORD ON CCSU
• The Blue Devils come into the game 10-21 overall and 7-9 in NEC play after falling 69-67 to Sacred Heart on Saturday.
• Nigel Scantlebury powered CCSU with 20 points. Andre Snoddy (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Kellan Amos (10 points) also had double figures in the regular season finale.

LAST TIME WE MET
• CCSU defeated Saint Francis 88-74 in New Britain on January 28.
• Josh Cohen paced the Red Flash with 22 points, while Maxwell Land registered 18 points.
• Devonte Sweatman led the Blue Devils with 20 points, while Kellan Amos (17 points), Nigel Scantlebury (17 points), Andre Snoddy (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Jay Rogers (11 points) all registered double figures in the game.

LAST TIME OUT
• Wagner defeated Saint Francis 68-58 in the regular season finale on Saturday.
• Redshirt junior Josh Cohen tallied 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Red Flash. It was his fifth double-double of the season and the rebound total matched his NEC career high for the third time.
• Redshirt junior Luke Ruggery registered an NEC career-high 17 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the floor and 5-for-5 from behind the 3-point land.
• The game was senior day and the Red Flash honored Ruggery, team manager Matt Kenner, and redshirt seniors Marlon Hargis and Myles Thompson in a pregame ceremony.

A SFU WIN WOULD
• Send the Red Flash to the NEC Semifinals for the fifth time under head coach Rob Krimmel (2014-15, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20) and the seventh time in program history (1982-83, 1990-91)
• Give the team's first tournament win for the Frankies since 2019-20 when the team the team advanced to its third NEC Championship Game
• Be the first win against CCSU in the NEC Tournament
• Be the 10th win at home for the Red Flash

TRENDING UP
• Redshirt junior Josh Cohen is averaging 26.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in his last five home games after averaging 14.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in the six previous contests at DeGol Arena. In his last five games at home, he has reached 20 points in each game with three games with 25 points or more and a 31-point contest against FDU on February 23 that only takes a back seat to his 40-point game against Lehigh at home on November 21.
• Prior to this last stretch of games at home, Cohen was more productive on the road than in Loretto. He had six 20-point games on the road and only two at home before January 20, but has five of his last eight 20-point performances at DeGol Arena.
• In addition, Cohen is averaging 8.9 rebounds per game in the 16 games he has reached 20 points and 7.2 rebounds per game when he does not reach 20 points in a game. The redshirt junior has hauled in at least seven boards in every game he has scored at least 20 points with the exception of the FDU last week. He is even better on the boards in games when he reaches 25 points, averaging 9.1 points per game in the nine games with six games with at least nine caroms and three of his five double-doubles.
• Junior Maxwell Land had his string of six-straight games in double figures stopped in the regular season finale. The junior was averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in the six-game span. In addition, the junior has scored double figures in seven of the eight NEC home games and is averaging 13.8 points and 5.5 rebounds at DeGol Arena in NEC home games.
• Redshirt junior Luke Ruggery must save his best performances for big days in his career. Ruggery notched an NEC career-high 17 points against Wagner on Saturday and had his best scoring output in a Red Flash uniform on his birthday with 18 points against St. Vincent on December 8. Ruggery, who was 6-for-6 from the floor and 5 of 5 from behind the arc against the Seahawks in the regular season finale, also had a perfect day in the first meeting with CCSU after going 5-for-5 from both the floor and downtown for 15 points on December 29, which was the redshirt junior's second-best mark until his performance on Senior Day.
• Ruggery, who has five 10+ games this season and six in his career, has five 10+ games at DeGol Arena in his career. The redshirt junior has 101 of his 135 points in Loretto and is shooting 55.9 percent (33-for-59) from the floor and 58.3 percent (28-for-48) from behind the arc at home. He also holds the fourth highest scoring average with 7.2 points per game at DeGol Arena.
• Freshman Cam Gregory leads the team with 74 assists and ranks second on the team in blocks (7) and fourth in steals (14). The freshman has scored double figures in three of his last four games including an NEC career-high 13 points at LIU on February 18. The Red Flash was 3-0 in the three games Gregory scored double figures in NEC play. He has four 10+ games in his career with a 15-point performance against No. 25 Ohio State on December 3 setting his standard.
• Saint Francis is 9-2 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 team is 8-0 at home when this happens. The squad had nine against LIU in its last game to earn its first road win when hitting eight 3's in a game.
• 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 9-7 when it has more points or even number of points inside the paint. The team has won twice when it did not win the paint battle (CCSU on December 29 and FDU on February 23).
• After using 12 different starting lineups last season, the Red Flash has only changed the starting 5 seven times in 2022-23.
• When redshirt junior Brad McCabe is in the starting lineup the Red Flash posts a mark of 9-10. Ruggery is the only player that has started and posted a winning record at 5-4.
• Saint Francis is also 5-3 when McCabe scores 10 points in a game and 3-2 when Ruggery reaches double figures. The squad won its first three games of the season when Ruggery had 10 points or more.

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saint Francis will be making its 28th appearance in the NEC Tournament. The Loretto program is 14-26 all-time in the league postseason with an NEC Championship in 1990-91.
• Saint Francis will be the No. 3 seed for the second time in program history and the first time since the 2017-18 campaign.
• The Red Flash fell to FDU 84-74 in that contest for the squad's only home loss under head coach Rob Krimmel in the NEC Quarterfinals.
• Saint Francis is in the 3/6 game for the eighth time after also being the No. 6 seed six times and holds a 2-6 record as the No. 6 seed, including a 55-54 win at Bryant for Krimmel's first postseason victory in 2013-14. The win against the Bulldogs was the first NEC Tournament win since 1995-96.
• Saint Francis is 8-6 as a Top-4 seed in program history including 5-4 under Krimmel.
• Krimmel holds an 8-8 record in the league's postseason and the team is making its ninth trip to the NEC Tournament under the coach.
• The Frankies are 2-1 in the quaterfinals under Krimmel at home in the postseason and 4-2 in the NEC postseason at DeGol Arena.
• As a player, Krimmel was 0-3 in the tournament and 0-5 as an assistant coach.
• Junior Maxwell Land and redshirt senior Marlon Hargis are the only active players that have postseason experience for the Red Flash. Hargis had seven points and four rebounds, and Land registered two points and three boards at Wagner last season in the NEC Quarterfinals.
• Junior Zahree Harrison led the team with 11 points and redshirt senior Myles Thompson had six points off the bench against the Seahawks, but both players are out for the year with injuries. Thompson has the most league postseason experience on the roster with four 10+ point games and a 7.0 points per game average in seven contests.
• Saint Francis will meet CCSU for the first time in the NEC postseason. Besides Merrimack and Stonehill, the Blue Devils are the last NEC school the Red Flash has not faced in the NEC postseason.
• CCSU and Saint Francis splits regular season meetings. It marks the 18th time the Red Flash will play a team in the NEC Quarterfinals after the team's split the regular season meeting.
• The Loretto program is 6-0 when the quarterfinal game is at DeGol Arena after a series split in the regular season. In the 17 occasions only twice did the road team win the quarterfinal game and that was a Saint Francis road win at Monmouth in 1988-89 and at Mount St. Mary's in 2014-15.
• Krimmel is 4-0 in quarterfinal games played after the two teams split the regular season meetings, including home wins against Bryant in 2016-17, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• Saint Francis lost its final regular season tilt for the 22nd time going into the NEC postseason. The Red Flash are 7-14 in the NEC Tournament after the loss.
• It was only the fourth time the team lost at home in the final contest before the postseason. The squad lost in the quarterfinals in the previous three occurrences, but all three games were on the road (1986-87, 1992-93, 2010-11).
• The Frankies have lost its final regular season six times under Krimmel, but the first five times the squad was away.
• The Red Flash is 6-5 in the postseason when the team falls in the regular season finale under Krimmell and has won a postseason game in four of the previous five times.
• Winners of the NEC Quarterfinals advance to the semifinals on Saturday.