| GAME 9: STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES vs RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS |
| LOCATION |
Island Federal Credit Union Arena | Stony Brook, N.Y. |
| DATE | TIME |
Saturday, Dec. 10 | 7 p.m. |
| COVERAGE |
Live Stats | Watch Live |
| GAME NOTES |
Stony Brook | Rutgers |
| TICKETS |
Purchase Here |
| PROMOTIONS |
Red Out | Rally Towel | Stuff-A-Bus -- Details |
STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Seawolves will wrap up a four-game homestand as they host Rutgers Saturday night. Stony Brook has gone 3-1 in its last four games and is coming off of a 62-57 win over Lehigh Tuesday night.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Seawolves have had the same or fewer turnovers than their opponent in seven of the eight games this season, limiting themselves to eight mishaps in each of the last two games.
- Redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah set a new season best with 16 points in the win over Lehigh, scoring in double figures for the sixth time this season.
- Senior Lucas Woodhouse matched his Stony Brook career best for the second time in three games when he scored 17 points in the win over Northeastern. He set a new career best, going 12-for-12 from the free throw line in the win over Lehigh.
- Tyrell Sturdivant got out to a hot start to the season and has been one of the most consistent scorers for the Seawolves this season. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding, scoring in double figures six times so far this year after doing so just twice prior to his junior season.
- Junior Roland Nyama made his first start of the year against Hampton and has scored in double figures twice through four starts.
- Junior Bryan Sekunda gave Stony Brook a big lift off the bench against Northeastern as he went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc en-route to a 12-point night.
- The Seawolves shot 54-percent from beyond the arc against Northeastern, making a season-best 13 threes in the victory.
THE OPPONENT
The Scarlet Knights enter the weekend at 8-1 on the year, with their only loss coming at Miami during the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge. Rutgers dropped the game against the Hurricanes, 73-61, after opening the season with six straight wins. Most recently, the Scarlet Knights knocked off Central Connecticut State at home Tuesday night, 79-37, as Nigel Johnson came off the bench to lead four players in double figures with 16 points.
Rutgers is outscoring its opponent by 14.3 points per game, and out-rebounding its opponent by 12.1 boards per outing. This game against the Seawolves marks just the third road game of the year for the Scarlet Knights, who are the second Big Ten opponent Stony Brook has faced this season (Maryland).
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell spent 11 season as the head coach of the Seawolves, helping them to 192 wins and six post season appearances.
THE SERIES
The Seawolves have never defeated Rutgers through three meetings. This is the first meeting between the two schools at Stony Brook. The last clash took place at Madison Square Garden, while the other two were played in New Jersey. Stony Brook fell in the most recent match-up, 67-58, on Dec. 17, 2011.
LAST TIME OUT
The Seawolves made it back-to-back wins at home as it knocked off Lehigh, 62-57, Tuesday night. Redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah led the way with a season-best 16 points, while Tim Kempton led Lehigh with 27 points.
It was a slow start to the night for both teams as only two field goals were made in the first four minutes of play, but back-to-back threes from junior Bryan Sekunda got Stony Brook in it and began a seven-minute span of lead changes.
The Mountain Hawks were without Kempton for much of the first half due to foul trouble, but he was still able to put up 11 points in the first half, 7 of which came from the free throw line.
Stony Brook strung together seven quick points in the beginning of the second half, five of which came from Yeboah, but Kempton halted the run with Lehigh's second three of the half. The Seawolves never lost their lead again after the opening minutes of the new half, and used a 10-2 run around the midway point in the period to earn their largest lead of the night. Lehigh never went away and was able to get back within one with 37 seconds remaining in the game after making back-to-back threes, but four straight makes by Woodhouse from the free throw line decided the game.
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Senior Lucas Woodhouse leads the team and the America East from the free throw line, shooting 97-percent from the line on the year. Woodhouse has gone 28-for-28 from the charity stripe over the last four games. He went 8-for-8 in the final 1:38 of the win over Northeastern, before setting a new career best the next game with 12 makes on 12 attempts against Lehigh.
CLEAN PLAY & STRONG DEFENSE
The Seawolves have limited their turnovers all season, keeping the number in single digits in each of the last two games and on three total occasions this season. They have committed more turnovers than their opponent just once this year. Stony Brook forces 14 turnovers per game and most recently drove Lehigh into committing a season-high 19 Tuesday night.
SUCCESS IN A NEW ROLE
Upperclassmen Lucas Woodhouse and Tyrell Sturdivant have taken on new roles this season as full-time starters and leaders for the Seawolves. Woodhouse, who started just half of the games in his first season at Stony Brook, has doubled his production in his final year from 6.7 to 12.6 ppg. Sturdivant saw just 11.8 minutes per game last season, averaging just over three points and rebounds per game. This season Sturdivant leads the Seawolves in both categories.
