Saint Francis (7-23, 5-12 NEC) at CCSU (17-11, 11-6 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, February 28, 2026 | 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 | NEC
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Chris Moncrief	6-6	190	Sr.	9.2	2.8	50.0	Last time at Detrick registered steal and free throw to seal NEC title
G	2	Zion Russell	6-2	185	R-Sr.	12.6	4.0	42.8	Averaging 16.0 ppg in last three games
G	F	Skylar Wicks	6-6	190	R-Sr.	18.0	6.5	38.5	Needs 15 points for 500 points this season
G	15	Victor Payne	6-4	190	So.	8.1	3.6	49.4	Scored 12 points in first meeting with CCSU
F	21	Gestin Liberis	6-9	225	R-Jr.	7.2	5.0	55.6	Averaging 16.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg in last four on road
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	1	KJ Swain, Jr.	6-1	165	R-Sr.	2.0	0.7	31.3	Started and had three points on Senior Day
G	3	Brandon Russell	6-5	185	Fr.	2.1	1.1	23.2	Had three assists at Chicago State
G/F	4	Ralph Martino, Jr.	6-6	180	So.	6.7	2.4	55.4	Has not played in last 11 tilts
G	7	Paris Papadatos	6-4	185	Fr.	4.8	1.0	38.5	Went 6-for-6 at foul line at Stonehill
F	20	Cam Tweedy	6-6	240	R-Sr.	3.7	2.5	55.7	11 points, 11 rebounds at Chicago State
G	55	Ahmad Harrison	6-1	190	Sr.	8.4	2.2	37.7	10+ points in four of last eight

SELECT GAME NOTES VS. CCSU  (FULL GAME NOTES PDF) 

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Legendary head coach Jim Valvano coined the term "survive and advance" during the 1983 NCAA Tournament run by North Carolina State. For senior Gestin Liberis, all four years of his collegiate career has been spent trying to "survive and advance" CCSU.
• For the fourth-straight year, the Red Flash must defeat the Blue Devils to survive and advance. These are the only four years that have occurred, and it will be the third time the game has taken place in New Britain.
• The two teams met for the first time in Liberis' freshman year in Loretto in the NEC Quarterfinals, a Frankies' 83-69 win on March 1, 2023. Liberis had four points and four rebounds off the bench. The squad lost in the NEC Semifinals at FDU."
• The following year, the two teams tangled in the NEC Quarterfinals again, but this time at Detrick Gymnasium, and the Blue Devils defeated Saint Francis 71-62 on March 6, 2024. Liberis had 10 points  in the game.
• Last year, the two teams did not meet until the NEC Championship Game on March 11, 2025. Saint Francis downed CCSU 46-43. Liberis did not play in the game because he was injured, but he was with the team to celebrate cutting down the nets.
• In the last four seasons, the Red Flash might go through all four stages of the postseason: win an NEC Championship (2025), season ends in the NEC Semifinals (2023), season ends in NEC Quarterfinals (2024), and could, but hopefully does not, miss the postseason (2026). Thinking positively, the Red Flash wins on Saturday, but could still face a "survive and advance" again in New Britain if Saint Francis downs LIU and CCSU also advance, so the two teams would meet again in the NEC Semifinals.
• In 2021-22, the two teams met in the regular season finale in New Britain, the year before Liberis arrived at Saint Francis, but CCSU head coach Pat Sellers and Saint Francis head coach Luke McConnell were both a part of the game. If the NEC had not decided to have all 10 teams in the postseason because it the risk of COVID, then the game in New Britain on February 24, 2022, would have been for a postseason berth despite both teams having one game remaining. The Red Flash defeated the Blue Devils 79-63 to earn the No. 8 seed. That loss pushed CCSU to the 10th seed, but it defeated FDU in the play-in game, 67-66, to give Sellers his first postseason win.
• Prior to the 2022-23 season, the two teams never met in the postseason, but three times if both teams had survived and advanced, they would have tangled. In 2010 and 2022, both teams were on the same side of the bracket, but both lost in the NEC Quarterfinals, so they did not have a chance to meet until 2023. In 2011, the Blue Devils won their NEC Quarterfinal matchup, but the Red Flash lost its quarterfinals match.
• Saturday's battle between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 60th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1994-95 season.
• With the Blue Devils 98-90 win in Loretto on January 17, the Nutmeg program has taken a 30-29 edge in the all-time series. CCSU holds an 18-10 advantage at Detrick Gymnasium.
• The Blue Devils have won the last six in the regular season against the Red Flash. The last two Frankies' wins were in the postseason, with their win in the NEC Quarterfinals in 2023 and last year's NEC Tournament Championship.
• The Red Flash ends the season in Connecticut for the sixth time (2001-02, 2005-06, 2011-12, 2018-19, and 2021-22), and finished in the northeast for the seventh time after traveling to Bryant in 2012-13. In 2018-19 and 2021-22, Saint Francis advanced to the NEC Tournament, but did not in the other four years, as it ended the regular season in the New England area. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD...
• "Survive and advance" to the NEC Tournament for the fifth-straight season and the 31st time the Red Flash would participate in the NEC postseason in the 45th year in the league
• Be the first regular season win against CCSU since downing the Blue Devils 80-72 on December 29, 2022
• Be the first regular season at Detrick Gymnasium since defeating CCSU 79-63 on February 24, 2022
• Be the second-straight victory in New Britain, marking the first time the Red Flash won back-to-back games since 2020 and 2022

ABOUT THE BLUE DEVILS
• CCSU comes into the contest 17-11 overall and 11-6 in NEC play after defeating Mercyhurst 80-78 on Thursday. 
• Darin Smith, Jr. paced CCSU with 24 points. Max Frazier added 17 points and 13 rebounds, Jay Rogers had 16 points, and Melo Sanchez chipped in 13 points against the Lakers. 
• Smith leads the NEC with 20.4 points per game. Frazier powers the team in rebounding (7.4 rpg) and is second with 12.1 points per game, while Rogers is third with 11.5 points per game.  Rogers is one of the top assisters in the nation with 196 assists.

LAST TIME WE MET
• CCSU defeats Saint Francis 98-90 on January 17.
• Ahmad Harrison paced five Red Flash players in double figures with 17 points and a career-high seven assists. The senior shot 7-for-14 from the floor.
• Gestin Liberis (14 points), Skylar Wicks (14 points), Zion Russell (14 points), and Victor Payne (12 points) also had double figures for the Loretto program.
• Darin Smith, Jr. powered the Blue Devils with 34 points and nine rebounds. Melo Sanchez (18 points), Max Frazier (14 points), and Jay Rogers (13 points, 13 rebounds) also posted double figures. Smith has three of the top six scoring marks this season.

LAST TIME OUT
• Stonehill defeated Saint Francis 103-77 on Thursday.
• Skylar Wicks paced the Red Flash with 22 points, while Gestin Liberis (15 points) and Zion Russell (13 points) also found double figures.

TRENDING UP
• Sophomore Victor Payne has played 906 minutes and 54 games with 26 starts, but has played only 11 minutes and registered two rebounds in the same gymnasium where his father, also named Victor, played from 1996-00. The younger Payne did not come off the bench in the NEC Championship Game last season on March 11, 2025, but he did accomplish something his father could not: win an NEC Tournament title at Detrick Gymnasium. Both have an NEC Tournament title, but the elder Payne won his title at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton in 2000. During the two years the Blue Devils played in the NEC Tournament in 1999 and 2000, the games were played at a neutral site, with the 1999 edition at Wagner. CCSU hosted the 1998 NEC Quarterfinals and Semifinals, but the Blue Devils did not make the tournament, so the first time CCSU hosted and played in a game was the 2002 NEC Championship Game after he graduated. The elder Payne was 5-1 in the NEC Tournament after also advancing to the title bout in his junior season. With a win on Saturday, Payne hopes to build on the 3-0 record in the NEC Tournament, which also included a win at DeGol Arena in the NEC Quarterfinals last year. 
• The Red Flash Payne has scored eight points in his last three games. The last time he went through three games in single digits, he scored a career-high 23 points to help Saint Francis nearly pull off the upset of the regular season champion, LIU, on February 19. Since the start of NEC play, the sophomore has not gone more than three games without reaching double figures. He has scored double figures three times on the road, including 15 points twice. 
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks needs 15 points to be the 28th time in program history a player scores 500 points in a single season. He would be the 15th different player to reach the total, and the first since Josh Cohen posted 676 points in 2022-23, the fourth-most in program history. The redshirt senior had 454 points in his first three years playing NCAA Division I basketball and has scored over 400 points for the third time in his career after tallying 463 points at the State College of Florida (JUCO) in 2022-23 and 412 at Incarnate Word the following season.
• In the game against Stonehill on Thursday, Wicks notched his 12th 20-point game of the season with 22 points. He has registered 20 points four times in the month of February, the most in any month, with three in November being his second-best month of 20-point games in a Red Flash uniform. He has posted back-to-back 20-point games twice this season (once at home and once on the road), including scoring 22 points against Temple on December 14 and at No. 23 Florida three days later. He is averaging 14.7 points per game after scoring 20 points in a game.
• Redshirt senior Zion Russell has scored double figures in three straight games and 16 of his last 20 tilts. He is averaging 16.0 points per game in his current three-game streak. Russell has scored 20 points twice in February, including a career-high 23 points at Chicago State on February 9. The redshirt has scored 340 points in a Red Flash uniform after registering 397 points in three years at Northern Illinois and one at Niagara. 
• Similar to Payne, redshirt junior Gestin Liberis did not play in the NEC Championship Game last season, but Liberis missed the whole season due to an arm injury. He has played twice at Detrick Gymnasium and has registered 16 points, including 10 in his last game in the building, the NEC Quarterfinals on March 6, 2024. Coming into Saturday's game, Liberis is on the best two-game stretch of his career with 34 points and 15 points to start the road trip, including a career-high 19 points at New Haven on Tuesday when he finished a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor, 1 of 1 from behind the arc, and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. It was the second time this season he finished perfect after he had a then-career-high 17 points against Chicago State on February 9, going 6-for-6 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the free throw line. Both the New Haven and Chicago State games were makeups of contests postponed in late January. Liberis also has the distinction of being the only four-year member of the team and the only one who will graduate with a Saint Francis degree, earning all his credits from the university. 
• The last time senior Chris Moncrief touched a ball at Detrick Gymnasium was when he sealed the championship win with a steal and a made free throw in the closing seconds of the NEC Championship Game. He had 10 points in last year's regular-season meeting in New Britain. The Red Flash is 11-5 when Moncrief scores double figures in a game in the last two years. The win against New Haven on Tuesday ended a three-game losing streak when he turned the trick. He finished with nine points against Stonehill. It was the second time this season that he finished with nine points and the sixth time in his career. The first three times he scored nine points were a career-high in his first 51 games before he had 16 double-figure point games in his last 48 games.

LEAGUE LEADERS
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks ranks second in scoring (18.0 ppg), fifth in defensive rebounds (5.19 rpg), fourth in 3-point  percentage (39.6), fourth in 3-pointers made (2.26 pg),  fifth in rebounding (6.8 rpg),  seventh in minutes played (33.07 mpg), seventh in free throw percentage (71.8), and seventh in steals (1.41 spg). 
• Redshirt senior Zion Russell ranks fifth in steals (1.63 spg), seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4), ninth in assists (2.89 apg), and 16th in scoring (12.9 ppg). Russell leads in steals (2.00 spg) and 3-point field goal percentage (50.8) in league games.
• Redshirt junior Gestin Liberis is eighth in offensive rebounds (2.20 rpg), and third in the category in league games (2.59 rpg), while senior Ahmad Harrison ranks 10th in steals (1.27 spg).
• Saint Francis ranks second in NEC in 3-pointers made (7.87 pg), third in steals (7.66 spg), fourth in turnover margin (-0.13),  fourth in scoring offense (71.7 ppg), fifth in offensive rebounds (10.43 rpg), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (34.4), fifth in assists (13.75 apg),and . In NEC games, the Red Flash leads the league in scoring (74.2 ppg) but ranks last in scoring defense 79.5 ppg), 3-point field goal percentage (36.7), and 3-pointers made (8.18 pg), and is third in assists (13.59) and steals (7.18 spg).

ON THE ROAD
• Saint Francis is 2-15 on the road (2-13 on the road and 0-2 at a neutral site) and 2-5 in NEC play. The Red Flash picked up its second win with a 73-67 win at New Haven on February 24 after a 71-69 decision at Wagner on January 8, its first road league game of the season.
• The Red Flash is averaging 68.3 points per game, while allowing 86.5 points per game. In league games, the Red Flash is averaging 73.9 points per game and allowing 79.5 points per game. 
• Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks is averaging 18.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while redshirt senior Zion Russell is averaging 12.1 points per game away from DeGol Arena.
• Wicks has posted double figures in 15 of the 16 games he has played, with seven 20-point games and a double-double. He registered a road high of 27 points at Le Moyne on February 5. It was his career-high until he registered 33 points against Mercyhurst at home on February 14.
• Russell has 11 10+ point games, including seven in the last eight games he has played. He is averaging 14.4 points per game in that stretch, including tying his career-high with 23 points at Chicago State on February 9.
• Redshirt junior Gestin Liberis has reached doubles figures five times this season, including his last four tilts. He is the only player to reach double figures in his last four games, and is averaging 16.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in that span, thanks to his two best scoring outputs of his career.
• Senior Ahmad Harrison (six games), senior Chris Moncrief (four games), sophomore Victor Payne (four games), senior Cam Tweedy (two games), sophomore Ralph Martino (two games), and freshman Paris Papadatos (one game) also have 10+ point games this season on the road. Liberis registered a career-high 19 points in his last road game at New Haven on February 24.
• Along with Russell and Wicks, Moncrief has a 20-point performance with 22 points at Mercyhurst on February 5. Tweedy is the only other player besides Wicks to have a road double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds at Chicago State.

POSTSEASON CHASE
• The regular-season finale at CCSU does not have a postseason designation, but it has all the feels of a postseason game. Win and possible advance, while a loss would eliminate the Red Flash from postseason contention. 
• Saint Francis is currently tied with Chicago State after the Red Flash defeated the Cougars 81-60 on January 23 in Loretto. Chicago State was victorious 80-75 on February 9 in the Windy City after the originally scheduled game was postponed because the Cougars could not play, and then the Frankies played the makeup game without two of its best players because of suspensions after the Le Moyne game on February 7. The game was supposed to be played on January 29, one week after the Red Flash defeated the Cougars, and with the Loretto program riding a two-game winning streak and winners of four of its last six.  After the win against Chicago State on January 23 at DeGol Arena, the team did not play for eight days, and the tilt at New Haven was also postponed from January 25 due to a snowstorm. An eight-game losing streak ensued until Saint Francis won the makeup game 73-67 on Tuesday, but has lost nine of its last 10 since the schedule was altered.
• Saint Francis must defeat CCSU, and Chicago State must fall at Wagner in Staten Island to guarantee punching its ticket. Both games tipoff at 1 p.m.
• If the Red Flash and Chicago State both win, the only way for Saint Francis to possibly advance is if FDU defeats regular season champion, LIU in Brooklyn, and Stonehill downs Mercyhurst in North Easton. The Knights-Sharks game also starts at 1 p.m., while the Lakers-Skyhawks game tips at 2 p.m.  If those four outcomes occur, FDU and Mercyhurst will finish in a tie.  The one thing that hurts the Flash is that FDU swept the season series with Mercyhurst, but if two teams end tied, the NEC does not break a tie to break another tie, so the two teams remained tied if Chicago State and Saint Francis are square too, even though in this instance the Hackensack program would be the higher seed.
• Saint Francis split with the Knights thanks to freshman Paris Papadatos' buzzer beater for an 85-82 win on January 4, and were swept by the Lakers. The Cougars split with Mercyhurst and were swept by FDU. Since the head-to-head tiebreaker and who did you beat tiebreakers cannot break the tie, the final tiebreaker is NET rankings. Heading into play on February 26, Chicago State has a NET ranking of 339, and Saint Francis is at 352. A win against the Blue Devils would improve the Red Flash's NET rankings, but can it make up the 13 spots?
• Saint Francis is the defending NEC Tournament Champion and looks to avoid joining 2006-07 Monmouth and 2013-14 LIU in teams that won the tournament the previous season and did not make the postseason. NOTE: Marist (1987-88) and Robert Morris (1990-91) did not participate in the NEC Tournament the year after it won because both teams were deemed ineligible. Robert Morris also won the 2020 NEC Tournament title and did not appear in the next season's tournament because it joined the Horizon League. FUN FACT: The 2006 Monmouth team won the NEC Tournament by a score of 49-48, which was the lowest tournament score before last year's 46-43 win for the Red Flash against CCSU.

ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis is 15-9 overall, 7-8 on the road, and 10-7 in NEC play. 
• This will be the second time the Red Flash and the Blue Devils have played on this date, in New Britain, after CCSU defeated Saint Francis 84-81 in double overtime in 2013. Ollie Jackson tied the game with two seconds left to send the game to OT for Saint Francis, Malcolm McMillan tied the game in OT on two free throws with 12 seconds remaining for the Blue Devils, and Adonis Burbage hit a 3-pointer with 3:58 in the second OT to give CCSU the lead for good. Ben Millaud-Meunier (21 points) and Greg Brown (20 points) led the Frankies, while Matt Hunter (23 points) and Kyle Vinales (19 points) powered the Blue Devils.
• Behind 25 points from Mike Iuzzolino, Saint Francis defeated St. Francis Brooklyn 96-70 in the NEC Semifinals to book its ticket to the NEC Championship Game on this date, 35 years ago in 1991. Mike Fink (18 points, 11 rebounds), John Hilvert (14 points), and Joe Anderson (10 points) also had double figures in the win against the Terriers.
• Two years prior, Anderson had 32 points on this date in a 95-89 win at Monmouth in the NEC Tournament Quarterfinals. Harkeem Dixon (18 points), Tom Bennetch (14 points), and Hilvert (13 points) also found double figures against the Hawks. It was the first time the Frankies advanced to the NEC Semifinals in program history.
FUN FACTS...
• Saint Francis has played five NEC Tournament games on this date and is 4-1 in those contests. Saturday's game is not a true postseason game, but it could determine whether the Red Flash is part of the 2026 NEC Tournament field.