Dec. 21, 2001

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook at Brown Game Notes

Media: Follow the game on the internet at www.goseawolves.org

Game Backdrop: * Stony Brook plays its 10th game in 11 outings away from home with this afternoon's game against Brown.

* Today's matchup is the final non-conference game of the season for Stony Brook. The Seawolves will open up conference play next Saturday against Binghamton.

* The Seawolves will be without starting shooting guard Larry Jennings due to a broken left foot. The former St. John's Prep star, who played two seasons with St. Joe's (Pa.), broke a small bone near the ankle of his left foot back on October 26. He will dress for the first time this season today against Brown but will not play.

Versus Brown and the Ivy League: Stony Brook holds a 2-0 series edge and 5-4 all-time versus Brown.

About Brown: The Bears come into today's game with a 5-2 record after having their four-game win streak stopped by Holy Cross on December 9. Earl Hunt is leading the team in scoring, averaging 23.6 points per game. He earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors on December 6 after scoring 60 points in wins over Providence and High Point.

Last Time Out: Stony Brook dropped a 71-60 decision to Army on December 13. The Seawolves shot only 29 percent in the first half and 37 percent for the game. The Seawolves fell behind by as many as 17 points in the second half before closing the gap to six on two occasions late in the game. SB would get no closer than that, however, and lost for the ninth time in 10 tries.

Seawolves In December: The Seawolves are 6-17 overall, 1-4 this year, in the month of December since 1999-00.

D.J. Among The League's Best: Stony Brook's to scorer, D.J. Munir, ranks among the best performers in the America East so far this season. The Providence, R.I. native and former Bishop Hendricken HS standout is one of the league's best players. Entering the week he is where Munir stood among America East Leaders: Scoring - 4th - 17.5 ppg FT% - 2nd - .895 Assists - 4th - 3.3 apg Steals - 8th - 1.40

Who's Hot: * J.B. Bennett- recorded his first career double-double in last outing

Who's Not: * SB shooters - shooting only 36.8 percent from the field this season

Last Year: Stony Brook handed Brown a 79-59 defeat at the SBU Sports Complex. Leon Brisport scored 17 points and D.J. Munir added 14 as the Seawolves defeated Brown for the second straight year. SB held Brown's top gun, Earl Hunt, to five points.

Center of Attention: Sophomore J.B. Bennett turned in his best performance as a Seawolf last week against Army. He came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points and haul down 10 rebounds to record his first career double-double. It was SB's first double-double of the season. J.B. leads the team in rebounds, averaging 6.3 per game which ranks ninth in the conference.

Scoring Trouble: Stony Brook has flat out had trouble scoring points this season. Through 10 games, SB is averaged only 58 points per game, down from the 70.2 average from a year ago. In 10 games, the Seawolves have scored less than 60 points on four occasions --- that occurred only four times all of last year.

It's Not Easy: In addition to most of Stony Brook's games being on the road, the level of competition has also been very high. So far this season, Stony Brook's 10 opponents have a combined record of 54-38 for a winning percentage of .586.

Charity Cases: Despite Stony Brook's struggles to score points, the Seawolves have cashed in at the free throw line. SB has connected on 72.5 percent (140-193) of it free throws so far this seasons. D.J. Munir leads the team at a .895 clip.

Coming Home: Today's game will be the 10th contest in 11 outings away from home so far this season. The Seawolves return home next weekend to face Binghamton.

Downtown Blues: Stony Brook's shooting trouble are extremely evident in its lack of three-point prowess this season. The Seawolves have connected on only 28.6 percent of its attempts from downtown and rank last in the league in three-point field goals made (4.0). SB went 0-12 from behind the arc last week against Army. It was the first time that SB has not made a three-pointer in a game since January 31, 1996 when SB went 0-7 from three-point land in a 65-52 loss to Adelphi.

Jairus Steps Up:Jairus McCollum seems to have discovered his scoring touch. Through the first five games of the year, he had scored just 27 points. In the last five McCollum has recorded total of 50 points, including a career-high 20 points versus Hofstra. His play is often an indicator of how well the Seawolves will fare -- SB is 12-3 in games where he scores in double figures.

Brook Bits: * SB has made 40 threes on the year - three Seawolves have accounted for 39 of them - Munir (16) , Konopka (11) and Orfini (12). * This is SB's third game against an Ivy League opponent this year

Holding Court: With the win at home last week, Stony Brook extended its home court winning streak to 13. Heading into the season, its 12-game home court winning streak ranked 16th in the nation. The Seawolves last loss at home came against Hofstra on November 25 of last year. SB went on to win its final 12 home games. The longest home court winning streak in school history is 25, bridging the 77-78 and 78-79 seasons.

JonPaul I: Classmate JonPaul Kobryn has also been solid for Stony Brook. The rookie out of St. Anthony's (N.J.) is averaging 5.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. He is shooting .537 from the field.

On The Road: The Seawolves have lost all nine games away from home this year and 11 in a row dating back to last season.

Ice Cold: After connecting on over 40 percent of its shots in the three games prior to Villanova, SB reverted to its shooting woes against the Wildcats. The Seawolves shot only 31 percent for the game, 21 percent in the first half. What makes the first half even more amazing is that the Seawolves shot only 1-20 from two-point range. Stony Brook struggles in the shooting dept.: Against Binghamton, SB shot 29.2 percent (16-47 ) from the field and then posted a season low 20.4 percent (10-49) against Rutgers, including an anemic 14.3 percent (4-28) in the second half.

What Happened To The "D": Stony Brook had held its opponents to under 40 percent from the field in the three games before last week, holding opponent to a .390 (73-187) shooting percentage. However, the Stony Brook allowed Villanova and Army to shoot better than 50 percent from the field in back-to-back losses.

Road Facts: The Seawolves have lost all nine games away from home this season for three main reasons - poor shooting, turnovers and rebounding. Through the first nine games SB is averaging 17.3 turnovers per game, are only shooting 36 percent from the field and are being outrebounded by exactly nine rebounds per game (41.2-33.2).