Game 10	UMass-Lowell (5-6) at NJIT (2-7)
Date | Time	Wednesday, December 11, 2019 | 7pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center
Live Video	ESPN+ ($$)
Live Stats	In-game statistics
All-time series	Tied 4-4
Game Notes	NJIT Notes (PDF) | UM-L Notes

NEWARK, NJ-- The NJIT men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Wellness and Events Center on Wednesday following a season-long, four-game road trip. The Highlanders and UMass-Lowell are scheduled to tip-off at 7pm in NJIT's first home game since November 20.

LAST TIME OUT
The NJIT men's basketball team dropped the final game of its season-long, four-game road trip on Saturday, falling to host UCF 78-65 at the Addition Financial Arena. 

Zach Cooks scored 26 points for his seventh 20+-point effort in eight games. The 5'9 guard also finished with a game-high 11 rebounds to complete his second-career double-double and never came off the floor to record his second 40-minute game of the season.

SportsCenter Top 10 for Number 11
Senior captain Shyquan Gibbs' heroic, last-second basket to beat Cornell was featured as the #5 play on Wednesday evening's SportsCenter Top 10. Reilly Walsh inbounded the ball to Gibbs with 3.6 seconds to play and Gibbs took it towards the basket and finished an incredible shot between two Cornell defenders to put the Highlanders ahead with just :0.5 seconds to play. 

The Flying Dutchman
Sophomore Kjell de Graaf started for the first time this season, and third time in his career last Tuesday at Rutgers. The Netherlands native made the most of it, setting new career-highs in points (13), rebounds (five) and minutes (38). De Graaf followed it up with an 11-point performance off the bench Wednesday at Army West Point. 

Brushing Up on the Hawks
UMass-Lowell has won three of four after a three-game losing streak and boasts a 5-6 overall record. The Hawks have scored at least 86 points on four occasions and are 3-1 in those games including a 94-63 win their last time out against St. Francis (NY).

Six players are averaging at least seven points per game for UM-L, including leading scorer Christian Lutete, who is averaging 20.3 ppg. Lutete scored 51 points earlier this season in a win at LIU.

All-Time Series
Wednesday's meeting is the ninth all-time between the Highlanders and Hawks, with each team winning four of the previous eight.

Last three meetings:
12/1/18: UM-L 94, NJIT 71 -- Lowell, MA
12/3/17: NJIT 78, UM-L 65 -- Newark, NJ
12/3/16: NJIT 75, UM-L 74 -- Lowell, MA

Familiar Foes
The two squads are meeting for the eighth-consecutive season.

Last Year vs. UM-L
Junior Christian Lutete scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as UMass Lowell defeated NJIT, 94-71, at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. With the victory, the River Hawks (5-5) snapped a three-game losing streak in the all-time series with the Highlanders (7-2) as well as the America East's five-game combined skid to NJIT.

The loss was NJIT's first on the road and in 287 days since Feb. 17 at North Florida (86-75) during the 2017-18 campaign. It also snapped the team's largest road winning streak (4) since a six-gamer in 2001-02.
 
Still, the Highlanders remain off their best start since opening 8-2 in 2000-01, when they competed at the Division-II level.
 
Sophomore Zach Cooks led the Highlanders with a career-high-tying 25 points on 10-for-19 shooting, while also contributing a team-best three steals and a team-high-tying six rebounds. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native had previously dropped 25 points against Cornell on Nov. 17.

NJIT vs. the AE
NJIT is 15-22 all-time against the America East Conference. Earlier this season, the Highlanders fell to AE-foe Binghamton at home.

Up Next
NJIT will travel to Brooklyn on Saturday to take on St. Francis at 2pm.