Jan. 2, 2008

>Game Notes in PDF Format

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook University men's basketball opens up the New Year and the conference season on Thursday, hosting the UMBC Retrievers at Stony Brook Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WLIR 107.1 FM and WUSB 90.1 FM.

Series History: The series is deadlocked at five. The Seawolves have two of the last three regular season contests including a 56-39 victory on the road in last season which was Stony Brook's conference victory on the road since February 12, 2005. The 39 points against UMBC as they were able to hold the visitors to just 16 field goals in the game. It was the lowest output by a Stony Brook opponent since February 3, 2001 when Maritime tallied 38 points in the game

Last Time Out: Junior Michael Tyree scored a team-high 17 points but Cornell shot 59.1 percent in the second half including seven of 12 from three-point range on its way to a 66-50 victory over the Stony Brook University men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at Stony Brook Arena.

Scouting the Retrievers UMBC (8-5) brings the top-ranked offense in the America East, averaging 76.8 points per game. The Retrievers lost a shootout on Saturday, falling 92-83 to last season's NCAA runner-up Ohio State. UMBC features four of the top 11 scorers in the America East including Ray Barbosa and Brian Hodges who rank fourth (17.8 ppg) and fifth (16.8 ppg), respectively. The Retrievers also are first in the conference in assists (201) and fewest turnovers (139) in addition to leading the league in free throw (.762) and three-point (.408) percentage.

Opening America East Play: -The Seawolves will open up the the America East season at home for the second time since joining the America East in 2001-02 - Stony Brook will be opening up conference play against a team other than Vermont for just the second time since joining the league -Head coach Steve Pikiell is 1-1 in America East openers, defeating Vermont 61-58 in the 05-06 and falling to the Catamounts 80-69 last season.

Hanging Its Hat On Defense: Despite falling to Cornell 66-50 on Saturday the Stony Brook defense has continued to be solid, holding the Ivy league's top-ranked offense to 12 below their season average.

Lucas Struggles: Senior Ricky Lucas struggled on Saturday against Cornell, scoring just three points on one for seven shooting. It marks the fourth time this season that Lucas has scored in single digits and the Seawolves are 0-4 in those contests and averaging in just 50.0 points per game. SBU is 3-5 in games which Lucas scores in double-figures, scoring 64 points per contest.

Tyree's Streak Comes To An End: Junior Michael Tyree scored a game-high 17 points on Saturday against Cornell but missed his first free throw after connecting on the first 24 of his Seawolves career. Tyree went five of five to start the game but misfired after getting fouled in the second half while hitting a three-pointer. Tyree's .960 free-throw percentage is still tied for first in the league with Jon Iati of Albany.