Game 12 Wagner College Seahawks (7-4; 0-0 NEC) @ Saint Francis U Red Flash (4-7; 0-0 NEC)
Game Details	Saturday, January 2, 2016 | Loretto, PA 4:00 p.m. | DeGol Arena (3,500)
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Saint Francis U Links	Game Notes | Roster | Schedule

Heading Into NEC Opener, Mason Says Wagner College Goal To Win Conference Regular Season Title (Cormac Gordon, Staten Island Advance)

Loretto, PA - After its concluding the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 7-4 record, the Wagner men's basketball team turns its focus to its "second" season. Northeast Conference (NEC) play commences on Saturday afternoon, January 2, in Loretto, PA with the Seahawks taking on the Saint Francis U Red Flash in a 4:00 p.m. tip.

This contest follows the Wagner women's basketball team, who also open up league play against Saint Francis U. at 1:00 p.m.

Last season, these teams split their head-to-head matchups with each winning on their respective home courts. The Red Flash defeated the Seahawks, 85-68 to kick off the on January 3. Wagner avenged this earlier setback, picking up a 63-58 victory at the Spiro Sports Center on January 22. 
 
THIS AFTERNOON'S CONTEST: SAINT FRANCIS U RED FLASH:

• In two games against the Red Flash, sophomore guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) is averaging 16.5 ppg in 31.0 minutes while shooting 72.2 percent from the field, 78.0 percent from three-point range.
• This year's NEC opener features the No. 1 team in Scoring Defense (Wagner, 64.5 ppg) against the No. 3 team in Scoring Defense (Saint Francis U, 72.3 ppg).
• The teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in Field Goal Percentage Defense, with the Seahawks allowing 42.1% and the Red Flash 44.1%.
• Both teams have a player ranked among the top 10 in Scoring as Corey Henson is 8th, averaging 14.7 ppg, while SFU's Greg Brown is 10th at 13.9 ppg.

COMMON FOES:

• Wagner and Saint Francis U had one common for from the non-conference season, American University.
• The Seahawks defeated American, 55-48, back on December 6 at the Spiro Sports Center. Corey Henson led the way with 14 points, Michael Carey posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while Dwaun Anderson also finished with 11 points in 34 minutes of action.
• Saint Francis U defeated the Eagles, 68-48, on November 21. Ben Millaud-Meunier led the Red Flash with 19 points in 31 minutes of action while Josh Nebo added 10 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes. 

 
SERIES VS. SAINT FRANCIS U:

• This afternoon's contest marks the 66th all-time meeting between the schools with the Red Flash holding a slim 33-32 edge in the head-to-head series
• Both teams split last season's matchup with each winning on its home court.
• In the NEC opener last season, Wagner was defeated, 85-68, at DeGol Arena in which Henson led the way with 15 points
• In the rematch at the Spiro Sports Center on January 22, the Seahawks avenged the loss, picking up a 63-58 victory, in which Henson finished with 18 points.

 
WAGNER ALL-TIME VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE:

• Wagner is 279-308 all-time against teams in the Northeast Conference.
• The 279 wins are the fourth-highest total among the 10-team conference, trailing Robert Morris (336), Fairleigh Dickinson (310), and LIU Brooklyn (283).
• Fourth-year head coach Bashir Mason is 32-20 all-time in conference games, ranking 11th all-time in league history.

 
WAGNER ALL-TIME VS. PENNSYLVANIA DIVISION I SCHOOLS:

• Wagner holds an all-time mark of 92-116 (.442) against Division I programs from the Keystone State.
• Of the 13 Division I programs, Wagner has faced 12 programs, the lone exception is Duquesne.
• The Seahawks hold a winning record against two of these schools: Bucknell (8-4) and Lehigh (12-7).

LAST TIME OUT FOR WAGNER:

• Behind a balanced scoring effort, in which four players finished in double-figures, the Wagner men's basketball team remained perfect at home, running past UMass Lowell 76-62 on Wednesday evening at the Spiro Sports Center.  
• With the victory, the Green & White concluded its non-conference schedule with a 7-4 mark while running their home record to a perfect 5-0.  The River Hawks fell to 4-9 on the season.
• Wagner, which is now 34-11 at home under fourth-year head coach Bashir Mason, was paced by sophomore guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic), who finished with a game-high 16 points while shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range.  Henson also dished out five assists in the process.
• Redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) and junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) each added 13 points with Carey posting his third double-double of the year, grabbing 13 caroms, which tied his career-best.
• Graduate forward Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove [University of Pennsylvania]) tallied a season-high 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting while grabbing six rebounds, which also marks a season-best for the 6-8 forward.  

SCOUTING THE SAINT FRANCIS U RED FLASH:

• The Red Flash open conference play with an overall record of 4-7.
• Despite their 1-5 mark away from DeGol Arena, the Red Flash are 3-2 at home, with wins over Westminster (103-72), American (68-48) and Lehigh (84-73).
• Saint Francis U will look to snap a two-game losing streak, after falling to NJIT, 77-65, on Wednesday evening.  Greg Brown led the way for the Red Flash with 18 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field while dishing out a team-high four assists in 33 minutes of play.  Malik Harmon was the second player for SFU to finish in double-figures, ending the game with 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting while hitting on 4-of-10 from long range and also dishing out four assists while swiping three steals in 33 minutes of play. 
• As a whole, the Red Flash are averaging 67.1 ppg per game (4th in the NEC) while allowing 72.3 ppg (3rd in the league). 

 
SAINT FRANCIS U HEAD COACH ROB KRIMMEL:

• Coach Krimmel is in his fourth year as head coach of the Red Flash and is the 21st coach in the school's history.
• Krimmel led the Red Flash to its most successful season in a decade in 2014-15 as the Red Flash had its first winning regular season since 2004-05. 
• The Red Flash finished 16-16 overall as it appeared in its second consecutive NEC Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history.
• The Flash also hosted its first postseason game since 1991 when SFU hosted Bowling Green in the CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) in March.  

 
WAGNER AT THE CORE OF BIG APPLE BUCKETS:

• In the second version of Big Apple Buckets NEC Power Rankings, the staff has moved the Seahawks to the top spots after its strong first half start.
• The website named Bashir Mason its Non-Conference Best Coach:
• "Coming off a 10-win season, we speculated that Mason would be in some trouble if Wagner didn't show significant improvement in his fourth season. One-third of the way into the 2015-16 season, Mason has his Seahawks as one of only two NEC teams with a winning record heading into the new year. The schedule hasn't been terribly difficult – KenPom calculates Wagner's strength of schedule at 311 – yet Mason deserves plenty of credit for getting the Seahawks back to the Wagner brand of basketball: hard-nosed man-to-man defense, dominance on the glass and timely scoring."
• The website named Corey Henson its Non-Conference Most Improved:
• "After a very respectable freshman season, Henson has upped his game by helping Wagner in two facets: three-point shooting and assist rate. The Seahawks were in the bottom 50 nationally in those categories last season, so Henson's 26.5% assist rate and 45.5% three-point percentage are very welcoming to a roster desperate for a scoring boost. Unlike JoJo Cooper, who was supposed to be the true point guard of the offense, Henson has been a productive facilitator without turning the ball over, as evident from his 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio."
• And finally, the consensus NEC Power Rankings from John Templon, Nelson Castillo of Blackbirds Hoops Journal and yours truly:
  • Wagner (5-4)                     BAB Preseason Ranking: 7
  • KenPom Ranking (Current/Initial): 218/255
  • Notable Wins: at Rider, 65-64, at Fairfield, 76-64
  • Disappointing Losses: none
    • "After struggling defensively last season, Wagner is back on top as the only NEC team giving up less than 100 points per 100 possessions. The Seahawks have done a nice job protecting the defensive glass (72.4% defensive rebounding rate, 85th nationally) while holding opponents to just 44.2% shooting from inside the arc."

 

• For the third time this season, junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) posted a double-double, finishing with 13 points and tying a career-high, 13 rebounds, in Wednesday night 76-62 victory over UMass Lowell.
• Carey is tied with Saint Francis U's Ronnie Drinnon, LIU Brooklyn's Jerome Frink and Robert Morris' Rodney Pryor with three double-doubles. Central Connecticut's Brandon Peel has four on the season.  
• In Carey's three double-double performances, he is averaging 13.7 ppg and 12.3 rpg in those contests.

HOME SWEET HOME:

• Wagner is 5-0 at the Spiro Sports Center this season, the best home start since the 2012-13 season in which the Green & White started 5-0 (11/28 to 1/3).
• Under head coach Bashir Mason, the Seahawks are 34-11 at the Spiro Sports Center.
• All-time, Wagner is 145-76 since the Spiro Sports Center opened on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks played Fairleigh Dickinson to a 78-56 victory. 
• This season, Wagner is outscoring their opponents by 12.0 points (72.6-to-60.6) while holding a +9.8 on the glass (40.4-to-30.6).Three Seahawks are averaging double-figures, led by Corey Henson's 16.0 ppg.  
• Dwaun Anderson has tallied 13.8 ppg in five home contests while Michael Carey is nearly averaging a double-double, scoring 11.4 ppg and grabbing 9.8 rebounds a game this season at the Spiro Sports Center. 

• The Seahawks are 3-2 in its last five games.
• The trio of Anderson-Henson-Carey are each averaging double-figures during the last five games while Carey is pulling down 9.4 rebounds a contest while shooting 89.5 percent from the free-throw line. 
• Over the last five games, Wagner has converted 73.0 percent from the free-throw line as a team (54-of-74). 

• 44-19 when outrebounding their opponents.
• 38-4 when leading at halftime.
• 33-9 when dishing out more assists.
• 21-7 when allowing opponents to score 60-69 points in a game.
• 17-3 when shooting 45.0%-to-49.0% from field. 
• 14-5 at home in non-conference contests under head coach Bashir Mason.
• 6-3 on games played on Wednesday.
• 6-2 when Corey Henson scores in double-figures.
• 4-0 when Michael Carey rebounds in double-figures.
• 2-0 in close games (3 or fewer points)
• 1-1 in blowouts (15 or more points)

• The men's basketball team have connected on at least one made three-pointer in 315 straight contests. 
• The last time the Seahawks didn't convert a three-pointer was back on February 28, 2004, at home against NEC-foe, Mount St. Mary's in which the Green & White was held to 0-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc. 

• Graduate forward Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove [University of Pennsylvania]) scored a season-high 11 points against the UMass Lowell River Hawks on 12/30/15.
• For Brooks, it is the most points he has scored as a member of the Seahawks and fell just three points he set back Pennsylvania. 

RPI RISING: 

• As of 12/30/15, Wagner stood at 6-4. 
• Two of the four setbacks coming against teams in the top 60 RPI rankings (#15 Monmouth and #45 Seton Hall). 
• Wagner has losses against teams among the  top-200 RPI, namely #183 George Mason and #209 St. John's.
• Among Northeast Conference (NEC) schools, the Seahawks are the highest ranked team at #177, followed by #203 Fairleigh Dickinson, #237 Saint Francis U and #287 LIU Brooklyn. 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:

• After finishing the 2014-15 non-conference with a 2-10 record, the 2015-16 edition of the Seahawks did a 360 flip, finishing non-league play with a 7-4 record, the most wins since the 2013-14 season. 
• Last season, the Seahawks allowed 75.7 ppg in 12 non-conference games. This year, the conference's No. 1 team in Scoring Defense, has yielded just 64.5 ppg. In 2014-15, opponents shot 51.0 percent from the field while this year's team has allowed its opponents to convert just 42.1 percent. 
• On the glass, the 2015-16 Seahawks have averaged close to 40.0 rebounds a contest (38.8) while last year, the team managed to grab 34.0 caroms.

THIS AND THAT:

• The 2015-16 Seahawks guards have accounted for 71.11% percent of the team's total points this season, led by sophomore guard Corey Henson, who paces the program at 22.07% 
• The Seahawks have scored 42.5 percent of its points (734) from the paint this season. 
• The Wagner bench has outscored its opponent's reserves, 250-to-188. 
• Michael Carey has averaged 12.0 ppg and 9.8 rpg in five games off the bench while shooting 78.3 percent from the free-throw line while averaging 24.2 minutes off the bench. 
• According to the latest KenPom statistics, Carey ranks 14th in the entire NCAA in Defensive Rebounding Percentage at 29.1 percentage. 
  • This statistic measures the percentage of possible defensive rebounds a player gets and computed PlayerDR [%Min * (Team DR + Opp. OR)].
• Wagner finished its season-high four game road trip with a 2-2 record, posting victories over Rider (65-64) and Fairfield (76-64).
• At George Mason (12/22/15), Dwaun Anderson scored a career-high 21 points, the first 20-point performance of Anderson's career and only the second 20-point game from a Seahawk this season (Corey Henson tallied 24 points vs. Maine on November 21.)
• At Fairfield, Anderson's double-digit scoring was halted at eight games as he finished with nine points in the Green & White's, 76-64, victory over the Stags.
• Anderson's putback, one-hand slam in Wagner's thrilling 65-64 win over Rider back on December 8, reached No. 5 on ESPN's Sportscenter #SCTop10. For Anderson, it was his fifth appearance on the countdown.

NEXT UP:

• Wagner concludes the first weekend of Northeast Conference play in Moon Township, PA as they tangle with the defending Northeast Conference champions, the Robert Morris University Colonials on Monday evening, January 4.
• Tipoff from the Sewall Center is set for 7:30 pm. 

Follow Wagner Athletics on Facebook (facebook.com/WagnerAthletics), Twitter (@wagnerathletics), Instagram (@wagnerathletics) and YouTube (@WagnerSeahawks) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department. Follow Wagner MBasketball on Twitter (@Wagner_MBB) for the latest news and updates on the 2015-16 Wagner Men's Basketball team and head coach Bashir Mason (@BashirMason) for news on the fourth-year head coach.