The Basics: |
The Matchup: | New Jersey City University Gothic Knights (18-7, 15-3 NJAC, WON 5) |
vs. | The College of New Jersey Lions (15-11, 9-9 NJAC, WON 2) |
Date: | Wednesday, February 24, 2016 |
Time: | 7 p.m. |
Place: | John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court) |
Series: | 138th meeting during the NJAC era (since 1955-56). NJCU leads the all-time series, 74-43. |
Last Meeting: | February 6, 2016 in Ewing, NJ. |
Last Result: | NJCU won, 81-56. |
Last TCNJ Win: | January 9, 2016 in Jersey City, NJ. TCNJ won, 76-74. |
Rankings: | NJCU is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region for the second consecutive week. NJCU also received 18 points in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, equivalent to a No. 28 national listing. |
NJCU Twitter: | @NJCU_Athletics |
NJCU Instagram: | @NJCUGothicKnights |
TCNJ Twitter: | @TCNJAthletics |
Preferred Hashtags: | #NJCUMBB | #GothicGameDay | #NJCUvsTCNJ | #CastleOnCulver |
Live Stats Coverage: | http://sidearmstats.com/njcu/mbball/or http://sidearmstats.com/njcu/mbball/media |
Live Video Coverage: | https://www.youtube.com/user/NJCUGothicKnights/live |
Tickets: | Adults: $5 | Children, Seniors and Students: $2 | NJCU Students with ID: Free |
For the second consecutive year, NJCU and TCNJ meet in the NJAC Tournament. This year it's in the NJAC Semifinals as No. 1 seeded NJCU hosts the fifth-seeded Lions. The Gothic Knights have won nine of their last 10 games and seek to advance to the NJAC Championship game on Saturday for the first time since 2010-11 against the winners of No. 2 Stockton and No. 3 Rutgers-Newark. NJCU swept both those teams this year.
What Can Brown Do For NJCU?A win tonight will be the milestone 134th for NJAC Coach of the Year
Marc Brown and he will move into second place on NJCU's all-time list behind his father, Charlie Brown (483 wins), who today celebrates his birthday! The Browns are one of the winningest father-son coaching combinations in the history of NCAA college basketball.
Awards Pour InIn addition to
Marc Brown being the NJAC Coach of the Year for 2015-16, three other Gothic Knights reaped awards today, highlighted by the incredible comeback story of
Chinwe Wosu reaching a culmination. After he was cut as a freshman, averaged 1.8 points and 2.1 rebounds as a sophomore and chose not to play last year as a junior because he's on an academic scholarship and wanted to study,
Wosu has been named the NJAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Wosu was also named Second-Team All-NJAC.
Meanwhile, junior
Jalen Harris, who played just 70 minutes last season at Albright, showed that hard work and second chances pay off. NJCU's leading scorer was also voted Second-Team All-NJAC. Senior
Khalid Muhammad, who ranks 17th in school history with 1,213 points, earned All-NJAC honors for the second time in his career, picking up Honorable Mention distinction.
NJCU All-Time in the NJACsThe Gothic Knights are making their second straight NJAC Semifinal appearance. NJCU is 20-21 all-time in the NJAC Tournament and 16-9 in NJAC home games. NJCU is appearing in the NJAC Tournament for the fourth straight season and 29th time since 1977-78. Since the league began crowning men's basketball champions in the 1957-58 season, NJCU currently owns an unprecedented 12 NJAC titles (1960-61, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1978-79, 1985-86, 1989-90, 1991-92, 1994-95, 2003-04, 2010-11). TCNJ has won three NJAC titles, the last in 1998 (1967, 1989, 1998).
NJCU vs. TCNJ in the NJACsNJCU is 5-2 all-time against the Lions in the conference tournament and 3-1 in Jersey City. Last year in the NJAC Quarterfinals, then No. 6 seeded NJCU upended No. 3 seeded TCNJ, 74-60. The programs last squared off in the NJAC Tournament in Jersey City exactly 26 years ago today; on February 24, 1990 then-Jersey City State defeated then-Trenton State College, 79-69, in the NJAC championship game.
TCNJ in the Quarterfinalsn the quarterfinals on February 20, TCNJ won a wild 105-95 game at No. 4 seeded Ramapo, led by First-Team All-NJAC selection
Eric Murdock, Jr., who recorded his first career triple double.
Murdock had a single-season record 168 assists, breaking TCNJ's single-season record of 142 set in 1987-88.
