Category: N.J.I.T.

Five thoughts on NJIT-LIU Brooklyn and Hartford-LIU Brooklyn in the last 72 hours

In the previous 72 hours, I embarked on a two games in three days journey following LIU Brooklyn men’s basketball as they returned back to the tri-state area after playing their previous four games in Jamaica (the Caribbean island, not Queens) and up in the New England area at UMass-Lowell and Brown where they went just 1-3 and entered the week with a bit of a disappointing 2-5 record. Continue reading “Five thoughts on NJIT-LIU Brooklyn and Hartford-LIU Brooklyn in the last 72 hours” →

NJIT Health And Wellness Center Open For Business

The looks on the NJIT students’ faces as they entered the brand new Health and Wellness Center told you all you needed to know Saturday night.

A mixture of “Wow”, “This is ours?”, “Unbelievable”, and good-old silent mouths agape were heard and seen as nearly 3,000 entered, approximately a third of those students. To understand the present (and future) of why the $110-million facility is so staggering and important for NJIT, you have to start in the past.

Disrespecting the deceased is never a good look, but now that it’s gone I think we can all say that NJIT’s Fleisher Center was, well, inadequate for a Division I team. Or possibly your local varsity high school squad. 

Continue reading “NJIT Health And Wellness Center Open For Business” →

NJIT 64, Stony Brook 61: Damon Lynn Just Keeps Scoring

Roland Nyama, perhaps Stony Brook’s best defender, walked through the bowels of Island Federal Credit Union Arena after Wednesday night’s game where he ran into NJIT’s Damon Lynn. Nyama had spent the better part of 40 minutes trying to chase Lynn all over the court earlier, but could do nothing but flash a big smile afterward while shaking Lynn’s hand.

“They told me to chase you off the three-point line, but man, you’re tough,” Nyama said.

Nyama actually did a good job keeping Lynn from hurting Stony Brook from outside the arc Wednesday, as he hit just a pair three-pointers (both in a 90-second span late in the first half) in 11 attempts. But by night’s end, the final stats showed Lynn with 26 hard-earned points, and NJIT with its seventh win of the season, 64-61.

Continue reading “NJIT 64, Stony Brook 61: Damon Lynn Just Keeps Scoring” →

Iona 94. NJIT 80: Keeping Jordan Washington On The Floor

Picture if you will, a basketball world where you can commit as many fouls as you would like, without fear of disqualification. Basketball is virtually the only sport where that’s the case, after all. Sure, other sports have penalties and violent conduct is sure to see you removed from participation in just about any athletic endeavor.

But a specified number of common fouls having a direct link to a player’s removal for the rest of the contest? Only our beloved hoops.

Now picture Iona senior Jordan Washington in that blissful no-foul out utopia. Washington has been borderline unstoppable for the last two seasons, a matchup quandary (especially for mid-major opponents) at 6’8”, especially when surrounded with the shooters that the Gaels seem to breed. He led the nation in usage last season (involved in 38.5% of Iona possessions), and is fifth this season. Washington also checks in second nationally in points per minute (behind the nation’s leading scorer, Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene at 30.8 ppg) and he is also sixth in number of minutes played … on his own team (20.7 minutes per game)?
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Columbia Rolls Into CIT Finals Carrying Ivy League Flag

After beating NJIT somewhat handily 80-65 Sunday night in the semifinals of the CIT, Columbia coach Kyle Smith talked about how great the Ivy League has been.

“The league’s good. I was really happy for Yale,” Smith said. “I feel like sometimes it’s like ‘if a tree falls in the forest’ thing because that’s how I feel about the Ivy League. I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs that there’s really good teams and that helps prove that. Princeton got a horrible seeding in the NIT, should not have been on the road, and they almost advanced as it was.”

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Brutal Atlantic Sun Loss For NJIT, But Perspective Needed

(photo courtesy: NJIT athletics)

NEWARK, N.J. – On perhaps the worst night in a couple of seasons – and make no mistake, it was a brutal 82-67 defeat his team suffered at the hands of 10-21 Stetson at the Fleischer Center in the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals – NJIT coach Jim Engles was able to make a reality check.

He was extremely disappointed, sure, but the “never forget where you came from” thing means something to Engles, and it was only a few seasons ago, they were storming the same court after beating Bryant in 2009. Why? Why not? It was their first win in two seasons. And it would be the only one Engles would get in his first season in Newark. The Highlanders that season were perhaps the worst offensive team in recent Division I history, with 0.749 points per possession and a 38.5 eFG% (24.8% from three-point range).

Continue reading “Brutal Atlantic Sun Loss For NJIT, But Perspective Needed” →