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THIS WEEK
No. 2 Southern Connecticut will play three games this week. They begin with a trip to Philadelphia on Monday to play Holy Family, then travel to New Hampshire to play Saint Michael's on Thursday before returning home to host Pace on Saturday.

SCOUTING HOLY FAMILY
The Tigers enter Monday night's matchup with a record of 6-2 and are on a three game winning streak. They are averaging 75.5 points per game and allowing 68.2. They are shooting 40-percent from the field but hold their opponents to 36.5-percent. They do not shoot the three well – they are just under 30-percent from the field through eight games. Isaiah Gans leads the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game. He is also the team's second leading rebounder at 8.9 rpg. Marvin Crawford comes in right behind Gans at 14.1 ppg and Reggie Charles follows him at 13.3 ppg. Derrick Stewart is averaging a double-double with 10.6 ppg and 11.1 rpg.

ALL-TIME vs. HOLY FAMILY
This will be the first matchup between Southern Connecticut and Holy Family.

SCOUTING SAINT MICHAEL'S
The Purple Knights will enter Thursday's matchup with the Owls at 1-6 overall having lost five straight and 0-5 in the conference. They are averaging 70.3 points per game but allow 86.0 ppg (last in the NE-10). They are also last in the conference in turnovers at 17.9 per game. The Purple Knights are led by Matt Bonds who is averaging 16.6 ppg and 11.6 rpg (1st in the NE-10). Levi Holmes III and Greg Grippo are also averaging double figures for Saint Michael's with 12.3 and 12.1 ppg, respectively.

ALL-TIME vs. SAINT MICHAEL'S
The Owls are 11-19 all-time against the Purple Knights and lost all three games they played against Saint Michael's last year, including in the first round of the NE-10 Tournament. Desmond Williams averaged 12.5 ppg, 4 rpg and 1 apg in two games against SMC last year while Mallory averaged 12.6 ppg and 2.6 rpg while shooting 1-of-12 from the field in their NE-10 game including going 0-of-8 from three-point range.

SCOUTING PACE
The Setters are 4-4 overall as of Monday and travel to Georgian Court on Thursday before coming to Moore Field House on Saturday. They are winners of two straight having beaten AIC and UNH last week. All players who have started at least six of their eight games average at least 9.8 points per game. Ryan Peterson and Kyle Pearson lead the way averaging 13.9 and 13.3 points per game, respectively – Pearson also leads the team in rebounding with 7.9 a game. Peterson has the second most made three pointers so far this season with 28 – two more than Michael Mallory. Peterson is shooting 47.5-percent from deep.

ALL-TIME vs. PACE
The Owls are 10-21 all-time against the Setters, but have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games against Pace.

DESMOND WILLIAMS NAMED TO NE-10 HONOR ROLL
Williams tallied two double-doubles in three games last week as he averaged 21.7 points per game, 11 rebounds a game and six assists per game. He posted stat lines of 28 points, 10 boards and nine assists in the win over LIU Post and 19 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and three steals in the win over Saint Rose.?

DESMOND WILLIAMS DOING IT ALL
Through seven games this year, Desmond Williams is fourth in the NE-10 in scoring per game (21.7), fourth in rebounds per game (10.4) and fourth in assists per game (5.6).

BACK TO THEIR WINNING WAYS
The Owls picked up their sixth win of the year in a hard-fought game against Saint Rose, 86-79. 
• Michael Mallory led all scorers with 27 points, 20 coming in the second half.
• Desmond Williams picked up his fifth fouble-double in seven games this year with 19 points and 14 boards. He added six assists, three blocks and three steals.
• The Owls were down for much of the second half (14 being the largest deficit) before roaring back with a 12-0 run to take the lead with 3:09 remaining.
• Southern shot 7-of-7 in the final seven minutes of the game and went 7-of-8 from the free throw line to ice the win.

CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL
The Owls dropped their first game of the year to crosstown rival New Haven on Wednesday night 79-66. It was the first time Southern Connecticut scored under 90 points all season.
• SCSU shot 32-percent from the field and 23-percent from three, the worst it has shot all year. It's previous lows were 45- and 30-percent, respectively.
• Southern got off to a 10-3 lead but an 18-0 run by the Chargers gave UNH the lead for good.
• The Owls went on a 15-3 run to pull to within one with 7:46 remaining but went one for their next seven from the field which allowed New Haven to pull away.
• Desmond Williams was the leading scorer for the Owls with 18 points and nine boards.
• Michael Mallory finished with 16 points.
• Eric Ross nearly posted a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds. It is the second time this season Ross has pulled down double-digit boards.

WIN STREAK HITS FIVE
Southern Connecticut improved to 5-0 with a 98-84 win over LIU Post Monday evening.
• Desmond Williams nearly triple-doubled with 28 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. It was his fourth double-double in five games this season.
• Freshman Toby Christensen scored a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three.
• Christensen gave the Owls a 20-17 lead 9:37 into the game and the team never looked back. LIU Post would close the gap to eight halfway through the second half, but Christensen and fellow freshman Isaiah McLeod knocked down threes to extend the Owl lead back to double digits, where it would remain.
• Michael Mallory posted 19 points and a season high eight rebounds.

MALLORY EARNS NE-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Michael Mallory is the Northeast-10 Player of the Week after posting career highs with 43 points and nine three pointers made in last week's win over AIC. The point total was the most any player in the program has scored in nearly 40 years and was just three points shy of the all-time single-game scoring record. He also added six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Mallory currently leads the conference in scoring with 26.3 points per game.

MOVING UP IN THE RANKINGS
Southern Connecticut is ranked No. 2 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll, released on Tuesday. The Owls were previously ranked No. 7 in the nation.

BUZZING PAST AIC
Behind Michael Mallory's career night, Southern Connecticut defeated AIC 107-94 last Tuesday. Desmond Williams quietly posted a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, seven of them offensive. Senior Jack McCarthy also had a career high with 12 points in 14 minutes.
• The halftime lead was just one for Southern but it came out in the second half on a 15-4 run led by Des Williams who had seven points in that span.
• Twenty-six of Mallory's 43 points came in the second half, including seven three pointers. He would score nine of 12 for Southern Connecticut as it went on a 12-2 run late in the second half to get the lead up to 15, 92-77.
• The Owls would maintain a double digit lead over the final five minutes to seal the victory.

DEFEATING ADELPHI
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.

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 two games next week. They will travel to Caldwell University on Thursday for a game at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to host the University of the Sciences Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.