LOOKING AHEAD
No. 19 Southern Connecticut will play one game this week, their home opener against American International on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

SCOUTING AIC
The Yellow Jackets come into their matchup with the Owls with an 0-2 record having lost to Adelphi on Saturday. Cameron Dobbs is their leading scorer with 15.5 ppg, Trahmier Burrell and Juwan Moody are right behind him with 13.5 and 12.5, respectively. Oscar Assie and Bruce Spruell lead the team in rebounding with 9.0 and 8.0, respectively. AIC has 21 assists and 25 turnovers and is shooting 36-percent from the field in two games.

ALL-TIME vs. AIC
The Owls are 25-47 all-time against AIC, including two losses against them last year in the regular season and a victory in the NCAA Regional Semifinals.

LAST WEEK
The Owls secured their third win of the year by hitting 11-of-15 free throws in the final 6:29 against Adelphi to hold off the Panthers 90-80. Michael Mallory led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 3-of-6 from three point range. Desmond Williams added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Eric Ross nearly had a double-double as well with eight points and 12 boards. Mallory sparked a series of runs that allowed the Owls to extend their lead, the first coming in the beginning of the second half. He hit his first six shots in the second frame to begin a 12-0 to give Southern a 52-43 lead. He also hit a circus shot in the paint with under three minutes remaining to give SCSU an 80-75 lead and the momentum to finish the game off strong.

SCOTT BURRELL'S FIRST WIN
The Owls dominated Dominican in the first game of the season, 99-69. The game was even through the first six minutes, but Isaiah McLeod led a 14-0 run in the middle of the first half to start a series of runs that would lead to the eventual win. Southern closed out the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 54-34 lead at the half. In the second half, Burrell's squad never led the deficit get closer than 14 points as Michael Mallory led the Owls to maintain a double digit lead three-quarters of the way through the game. SCSU outscored the Chargers 25-16 in the final 10 minutes of the game, with Desmond Williams scoring 10 of those 25 points. Williams led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
• McLeod finished as the second leading scorer with 19 points in 18 minutes off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-6 from three.
• Mallory was cold from the field, shooting 6-of-24 and 2-of-10 from deep, but balanced out his performance with a game-high six assists.
• Fifty of Southern Connecticut's 99 points were scored in the paint. Twenty-seven came from beyond the arc (9-of-25).
• SCSU won the turnover battle, 21-8. The Owls scored 26 points off those 21 turnovers.
• Southern Connecticut attempted 80 field goals, Dominican attempted 56.

SCOTT BURRELL'S SECOND WIN
Freshman Joey Wallace led the Owls to a 104-96 win over Bridgeport in a much closer game than the win over Dominican. Southern kept the Purple Knights in the game in the first half by committing 15 fouls, eight in the first five minutes. Bridgeport did its job by making 25 of their 27 free throws in the first half – it went just 9-of-19 from the field. The score was tied at 43 with 2:40 remaining in the first frame when Michael Mallory sparked a 13-4 run, capped off with two three-pointers to close out the half, to give Southern a 56-47 lead at the break. Bridgeport cut the lead to eight points with 4:38 remaining and had two chances to make it a five point game but it missed two three-pointers in one possession, including a wide open shot from the corner by Muhammed Ahmed. The Owls made them pay, as Mallory and Wallace hit threes on back-to-back possessions to give SCSU a 14 point lead. Wallace scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, including six points in a 40 second span late in the game. He would finish with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 2-of-3 from long range. He also added four rebounds and three assists.
• Mallory finished as the Owls' leading scorer with 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting and 4-of-9 from three. He also led the team in rebounds with seven and tied for the team lead in assists with four.
• Desmond Williams had 18 points, five boards and three assists in 23 minutes.
• SCSU doubled up Bridgeport in points in the paint, 48 to 24.
• The Owls made 30 of 44 free throws (68.2%) in the game. They went 1-of-7 from the line from 8:01 to 4:38 in the second half, but finished 7-of-9 in the final 3:29 to seal the victory.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Isaiah McLeod and Joey Wallace both averaged over 20 minutes per game in Southern's first two games this season. McLeod is averaging 15 points and three assists in two games, while Wallace has an average of nine points, two and a half rebounds and two assists.
• McLeod had a big game against Dominican on Saturday, scoring 19 points in 18 minutes of 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-6 from deep.
• Wallace scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting against Bridgeport on Sunday, including 10 points in the close second half.

NATIONAL RANKING
Southern Connecticut was ranked No. 19 in the country by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) last week. The new rankings come out every Tuesday.

RECAPPING LAST YEAR
The Owls are coming off a year in which they went 24-8, finished first in the NE-10 Conference Southwest Division and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. It was the second straight year and the third time in program history Southern Connecticut made it that far in the national tournament. The Owls were ranked as high as No. 2 in the national rankings last season.

PRESEASON RANKINGS
The Owls are ranked No. 19 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Preseason Poll. The team is also ranked first in the Southwest Division in the NE-10 Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll and 13th in the Division II Bulletin Preseason Poll.

SAYING GOODBYE
The Owls are forced with the task of replacing Tylon Smith, Luke Houston and Jose Cruz this season. The three-member senior class of 2015 tied the program record for the most wins by one class in SCSU history with 85 victories over the past four seasons, tying the Class of 2000.
• Smith finished his career at SCSU as the program's all-time leader in career assists with 528, and ranks seventh in both scoring (1,778) and rebounds (705). Last season, he led the team with 18.7 points per game and 5.6 assists per game. He was also one of only two active players in all of college basketball (all divisions) last season with at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists for his career.
• Houston earned a spot on the All-Conference Second-Team last season after ranking ninth in the conference scoring 18.4 points per game and shooting 44.9 percent from the three-point line.

OWLS WELCOME STATE STAR
To replace Mike Donnelly who left to become the head coach at Florida Southern College, Southern Connecticut hired Scott Burrell, who spent the last eight seasons as an assistant coach at Quinnipiac University. Burrell was a first-round draft pick (20th overall) of the Charlotte Hornets in the 1993 NBA Draft and played for a total of four teams in the NBA over a fourteen year professional career. He also spent five years playing professionally in Japan, Spain, the Philippines and China before becoming an assistant coach with the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Developmental League. In his eight years at Division I QU, the Bobcats won 143 games and made it to the postseason four times. Quinnipiac also moved conferences from the Northeast Conference to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference during Burrell's tenure.

RETURNING STARTERS
Southern Connecticut will be led by junior Michael Mallory, who was second on the team with 18.3 points per game and tied for first in 3-pt shooting at 41-percent per game, senior Desmond Williams, who averaged 12.8 points on 47-percent shooting and 7.4 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game last year, and senior Stefon Williams, who shot 52-percent from the field last season. Junior Austin Carter should see a spike in his minutes this season after averaging 18 minutes a game last year. Transfer Eric Ross should also see a good amount of playing time after averaging 7.2 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game for Triton College last season.

MALLORY PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Michael Mallory has been named a preseason All-American by The Sporting News and The Basketball Times. Mallory earned Third-Team All-Conference honors last season and set a single-season program record of 90 three-pointers made.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
Southern Connecticut went 10-4 at Moore Field House last season, including going 9-1 in the conference at home.

LAST SEASON'S CONFERENCE STATS
Southern Connecticut played at a fast pace last year, as it led the Northeast-10 in scoring (89.0 points per game), field goals made (1024), field goals attempted (2181), three-pointers made (312) and three-pointers attempted (848). The Owls had 153 more field goals and 291 more attempts from the field than the second place finisher in the conference. The team also finished first in steals per game (8.1) and blocks per game (6.1) and second in rebounds per game (40.1). Defensively, SCSU held its opponents to 41-percent shooting from the field, good for second in the conference.

STARTING OFF STRONG
The Owls have not lost a season opener in five seasons. Since then, Southern has beaten Chestnut Hill, Post, Goldey-Beacom, Molly and Dowling by an average score of 91 to 72.

FACING OTHER NATIONAL TEAMS
The Owls will face six teams that reached the NCAA Division II Tournament a year ago - American International, Bridgeport, Southern New Hampshire, Stonehill, Saint Anselm and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

NEWCOMERS
The Owls will welcome five new players to the team this year, including transfers Eric Ross and Brett Buser and freshmen Isaiah McLeod, Joey Wallace and Toby Christensen.

WELCOME BACK
Southern Connecticut returns nine players from last year's squad - seniors Desmond Williams, Stefon Williams and Jack McCarthy, and juniors Michael Bozzuto, Austin Carter, Michael Mallory, Dominic Migliaro, Jonathan Paul and Lucas Van Nes.

THRIVING IN THE CLASSROOM
All nine returning members of last year's team were named to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll during the course of the 2014-15 academic year. Student-athletes must maintain a semester average of at least 3.0 in order to be eligible for this honor.?

UP NEXT
The Owls will play three games next week. They will host LIU Post on Monday at home at 7 p.m., then travel to the University of New Haven on Wednesday for a game at 7:30 p.m. and return home to host Saint Rose on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.