Box Score Gothic Knight Insights: Interview with Chinwe Wosu

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | In the marquee matchup of the night between the only unbeatens left in the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings, New Jersey City University continued an incredible start to the season. NJCU senior power forward Chinwe Wosu (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter) had a dominant double-double with career highs of 24 points and 18 rebounds, junior point guard Ata Robinson (Newark, NJ/East Side) registered a near quadruple-double, highlighted by 11 assists and the Gothic Knights claimed sole possession of first place in the conference with an 87-73 victory over Ramapo College on December 9 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
 
NJCU (6-2, 4-0 NJAC) led by 13 at halftime and hit 11 three-pointers while forcing Ramapo (6-3, 3-1 NJAC), which suffered its first NJAC loss, into 20 turnovers—the eighth consecutive game the Knights have coerced 20 or more giveaways.
 
NJCU, which received a 22-6 spark from its bench, had four players score in double figures, led by Wosu, who continues to enjoy a remarkable comeback season. He produced a double-double before halftime and notched career highs with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, 18 rebounds (10 defensive), four assists and two steals in 33 minutes; it was his second straight game with a career scoring high. Wosu recorded his second double-double in a row and fourth of his career and this season while scoring in double figures for a seventh time. Wosu scored 15 on 7-of-10 shooting with 10 rebounds in the first half.
 

Robinson delivered the most assists by a Gothic Knight since the 2008-09 season, finishing the game with 11 assists, eight points (3-8 FG, 2-4 3FG), eight steals and seven rebounds (six defensive). His eight steals were the most by an NJCU player in two years.
 
Meanwhile, reigning NJAC Player of the Week Jalen Harris (Brandywine, MD/Gwynn Park (Md.)) just missed his third 20-point scoring effort in four games, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including a lights-out 5-of-7 from three-point distance. He added nine rebounds (eight defensive) and two blocks.
 
NJCU, which matched its season high with 87 for the second straight game, also received 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting (two assists, two blocks) from reigning NJAC Rookie of the Week, freshman power forward Yuri Brutus (Roselle Park, NJ/Roselle Park), who scored in double figures for the third game in a rowan university Freshman small forward James Julius (Linden, NJ/Linden) made his first career start, scoring 12 points (4-8), including 3-of-7 from three-point land, with four assists.
 
Ramapo, which entered the game leading the NJAC in scoring offense (83.1 per game) while shooting a league-high 47.5 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from three-point range, was limited to 39.1 percent from the field (25-64) and 4-of-13 three-point accuracy (.308).
 
Sophomore forward Christopher Moseley (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) finished with a double-double for the Roadrunners with 18 points (5-11 FG, 8-12 FT), 12 rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists. Senior guard Frank Nick (Bridgeton, NJ/Bridgeton), who needed 25 points for 1,000, got a team-high 19 (7-17 FG, 3-8 3FG) and five rebounds while sophomore forward Thomas Bonacum (Fanwood, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) collected 18 points (6-16 FG) and seven rebounds.
 
Key Moments:
Trailing 4-2 in the opening 90 seconds, the Knights employed a 12-2 run to seize control of the game and the tempo early on. Wosu scored NJCU's first six points and Harris and Julius buried threes before a fast-break basket from Harris made it 14-6. A three-point play by Wosu pushed it to 17-9 and a triple by Robinson made it 22-12 midway through the half.
 
Everyone could tell it was going to be a special three-point shooting effort for Harris when, with 5:20 left and the shot clock at one, he drilled a 30-foot try to elevate the lead to 33-21. NJCU, which shot 5-of-10 from three-point range in the opening half, got another from freshman guard Tyler Caldwell (Jersey City, NJ/Henry Snyder) for a 36-22 score and a jumper by Wosu—the second straight bucket assisted by Robinson—gave NJCU its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 38-22, with 3:02 to go before halftime. NJCU led 40-27 at the break.  
 
RCNJ never got closer than eight the rest of the way and after the Roadrunners pulled with 45-36, NJCU scored the next seven points—including a three by Harris, a Wosu bucket and fast-break uncontested dunk by Brutus off a Robinson steal; he had two assists on the run.  The lead swelled to 17 when Robinson drilled a three after Brutus swung a pass cross court after backing into the lane (55-38). The margin would increase to as many as 19 with 9:07 left when Julius scored off a fast break feed from Wosu. The Roadrunners never seriously challenged NJCU in the second period. Julius buried the 11th made three from right in front of the NJCU bench with 1:54 to go on what was Robinson's 11th assist.
 
Quotable Knights:
 

Head Coach Marc Brown, 9th season, on the conversation with his team prior to the game:
 
"Just to play hard. That's the theme of this year's team. Our guys just keep playing hard. Ramapo is a team that could match our offensive output. They were averaging 83 points per game coming into the contest; they don't quit, they play hard. But they're still young and had not had a real test on the road yet. So it was key for us to come out and play hard; that's really the key for this team."
 
Brown on if he could imagine an NJCU team this young and this inexperienced would be this far above .500 now and be the only unbeaten team in the NJAC:
 
"Not really but we'll take it. It's a special year so far but it's very early. We can't relax; we have a big game Saturday against Kean. But if you would have told me that we could possibly be 7-2 with the schedule we had going into the break, I wouldn't have believed you to be honest with you. But this is how the game goes. We've worked hard as soon as preseason started and the guys continue to work for me. That's all I ask."
 
Brown on Chinwe Wosu's incredible night:
 
"With a bad back. He and Ata both had some back issues; these guys are logging a lot of minutes. We're looking forward to getting past this game Saturday and being able to rest a little bit, because we don't have a game after Saturday until the 29th. But Chinwe's a special kid. He's a guy that we loved his development after the one year he played with us [2013-14]. Obviously he wanted to concentrate on academics last year; that's why he didn't play. But it was a great day when he came into my office last spring and told me he wanted to return. We're happy to have him."
 
Brown on Robinson's near quadruple-double and his pretty significant stat line:
 
"He's never been coached the way I coach him. He's never played against competition like this and he's taking it all in stride. He's a little older and he played two years of JUCO, so he's a little more mature. He's coming along. He's one of those guys who 's getting better as the season is progressing."
 
#KnightNotes:

• 87th meeting in an all-time series NJCU leads, 65-22.
• The 11 made three pointers were the most for NJCU since hitting 12 at Kean on January 24, 2015.
• Jalen Harris (18.6 points per game) scored in double figures for the seventh time in eight games as a Gothic Knight and the fourth game in a row. He has scored 18 or more points five times.
• Chinwe Wosu had his third 20-point performance of the season and his seventh double-digit scoring effort. He has four efforts of double figure rebounds.

• Chinwe Wosu's previous career scoring high was 22 on December 5 against Ramapo. His previous rebounding high was 14 against York (November 30). Prior to the game, the most field goals he converted were nine (at Brooklyn, November 18) and attempted was 13 vs. York.
• Ata Robinson's 11 assists were the most since Josh Lopez also had 11 at John Jay on January 26, 2009.
• Robinson's eight steals are the most since current graduate assistant coach Jourdan Roberson had eight vs. Stevens on November 16, 2013.
• For the eighth consecutive game, NJCU, which ranks fourth nationally in forced turnovers, coerced an opponent into 20 or more giveaways.
• Senior small forward Khalid Muhammad (Orange, NJ/Orange) sat out with an injury for the third time in four games. He has 1,063 points in his career.

 
What's Next?:
On Saturday, December 12 at 1 p.m. NJCU will visit Harwood Arena in Union, NJ for an NJAC matchup with Kean University. It will be the 133rd known meeting between the schools in a series NJCU leads, 95-37. NJCU swept the 2014-15 season series, winning 64-45 in Jersey City (November 22, 2014) and 100-70 in Union on January 24, 2015. It was the first 100-point effort for NJCU in four seasons. Follow live stats (http://www.keanathletics.com/links/kt30sb) or video (http://www.keanathletics.com/links/5qhp9i).