HACKENSACK, N.J. - The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team faces a pair of road games over the next four days in Northeast Conference play. The first game is a date with first-place Central Connecticut State on Saturday at 1 p.m. up in New Britain, Connecticut.
QUICK HITTERS
•The Knights' last four games (1-4) have been decided by a total of 22 points.
• FDU hit 6 threes vs Bryant, which was the 9th time this season that FDU has hit 6. But it took 31 attempts to hit those 6.
• The Knights' defense has allowed less than 67 points in three straight games; first time this season. FDU did that two different times last season.
• FDU has not won at CCSU since the 2007-08 season (74-45). FDU has lost its last seven at Detrick Gym.
SERIES SCORE
Central Connecticut is 8-2 in the last 10 games against Fairleigh Dickinson, including winning the last six meetings. FDU last won vs CCSU at home back in 2012-13, 55-53 in overtime. Half of the six losses by FDU have come by single digits and the other half by 15 points.
LAST TIME OUT
FDU got to within one, 49-48, with 2:39 to play against Bryant after Madelynn Comly hit a three-pointer. From then until the final buzzer FDU would not score and Bryant would hit six free throws in the final minute to get the 56-49 win on Monday night. No Knight scored in double figures; Kiana Brown, Jenna Clark and Brianna Thomas all had nine points on the night. FDU won the turnover battle (20-13) but was minus-5 on the glass, shot 19-percent from three and sent Bryant to the line 27 times. Alex Klein and Masey Zegarowski led the Bulldogs with 14 points each.
ABOUT CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
The Blue Devils have won four straight games to open NEC play and are the lone unbeaten team in NEC play with a 4-0 record. CCSU's four conference wins have against Wagner, St. Francis Brooklyn, Sacred Heart and Mount St. Mary's. Three of those four games were at home. Overall this season, Central Connecticut is 5-10. Aleah Epps averages 11.9 points per game to lead the offense for CCSU. Kiana Patterson is second on the team at 10.4. Giocelis Reynoso grabs 8.3 rebounds per game, which is T2 in the NEC currently. Andi Lydon is fourth in the NEC in rebounding at 7.2 per contest.
WHERE POINTS COME FROM
FDU has scored 905 points this season. 51.5% (466) of those have come from inside the arc. 31.1% (282) have come from three-pointers and the remaining 17.3% (157) have been scored via the free throw line. Compared to Central Connecticut, the Blue Devils get 22.3% from the free throw line, 29.5% from three and 51.9% from two-point range.
WILL TAKE THAT OFF YOU HANDS
The Knights are first in the NEC in turning over the opposition at 20.5 forced turnovers per game. That mark is 34th in DI.
NEC RANKS
Scoring offense – 5th (60.3)
Scoring defense – 6th (68.1)
FT percentage - 7th (67.1%)
Field goal percentage – 7th (35.0%)
3FG percentage – 7th (27.7%)
FG% defense – 7th (41.4%)
3FG% defense – 10th (35.9%)
Rebounding offense – 4th (38.5)
Rebounding margin – 2nd (0.5)
Total Rebounds – 4th (577)
Assists per game – 6th (11.5)
Blocks – 8th (2.0 per game)
Steals per game – 2nd (9.8)
Turnover Margin – 2nd ( 1.0)
Turnovers per game – 5th (19.5)
Turnovers forced per game - 1st (20.5)
Assist/Turnover Ratio – 8th (0.59)
MY BALL!
The 15 steals by the Knights against Howard are the most since have 16 against NJIT back on 11/19/14. The total is also the second-highest by an NEC team this season.
LETTIN' THEM FLY
The Knights are averaging 6.3 three-pointers made per game so far this season. That is three more than they made per game all of last season. FDU has already taken 339 threes this season, compared to 375 in 32 games in 2015-16.
ALL 3 OF THESE
FDU has made 94 three already this season. FDU has 14 games remaining and average 6 makes per game would lead to 88 more this season. That total would be 182 for the season and a new program record for a single season by more than 20.
