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THIS WEEK
The Owls have two conference games this week. They host Assumption at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and travel to Bentley this Saturday for a game at 3:30 p.m.

SCOUTING ASSUMPTION
The Greyhounds enter Tuesday's matchup with an overall record of 6-11 and 2-10 in the NE-10. They have lost three straight and five of their last six.
• The Owls and Greyhounds have 12 common opponents thus far, with SCSU playing one of those opponents twice. Southern Connecticut is 10-3 in those games, and Assumption is 2-10.
• The Greyhounds have three players who score in double figures, starting with Declan Soukup who averages 15.2 points per game. He also leads the team in rebounds per game with 4.2 and assists per game with 3.4. Kamali Bay scores 13.5 and Tre Owens scores 10.5 points per game. Bay and Owens each average 3.7 boards per game.

ALL-TIME vs. ASSUMPTION
The Owls are 16-30 all-time against the Greyhounds but have wins in three of their last four contests against them.

SCOUTING BENTLEY
As of Monday, the Falcons are 14-3 overall and 11-1 in the NE-10. They will host Saint Rose on Wednesday before hosting Southen Connecticut on Saturday. They have won five straight and 10 of their last 11. Bentley leads the NE-10 with a record of 11-1.
• The Owls and Falcons have played 13 common opponents thus far and both teams are 10-3 against them. The two teams share a loss against Holy Family.
• The Falcons have two players in the top ten in scoring in the conference. Tyler McFarland leads the team with 22.5 points per game, second in the conference, and Keegan Hyland is second on the team and eighth in the conference with 18.2 points per game. The pair is also one and two in rebounds per game on the team. Hyland has 7.9 boards per game and McFarland has 7.5.

ALL-TIME vs. BENTLEY
The Owls are 8-24 all-time against the Falcons but have won their last three against them including an 89-77 win over them last year.

STREAK STOPS AT SIX
The Owls had their six game win streak snapped at Franklin Pierce on Saturday in a 81-79 loss.
• Southern Connecticut was down 43-35 at the half and were down by as much as 11 in the second half before storming back and taking a two point lead with 1:05 remaining.
• FPU's Matt Banton tied the game with a layup on the next possession. 
• Southern Connecticut turned the ball over on its next two times down the court leading to two free throws by the Ravens. 
• Desmond Williams missed the game winning three-pointer at the buzzer. He finished as the Owls' leading player with 19 points and eight rebounds. 

MALLORY SENDS OWLS PAST PENMEN
The Owls picked up a tight 95-92 win over the Penmen on Wednesday night. 
• Michael Mallory posted a game high 37 points for Southern Connecticut, the second highest point total he's recorded this season.
• Desmond Williams and Joey Wallace each tallied double-doubles - Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Wallace had 15 points and 10 boards. It was Williams' ninth double-double this year and Wallace's first. Williams also added nine blocks, the most since Austin Carter had six on January 31, 2015. 
• There were 15 ties and 19 lead changes in the game. The largest lead of the game was eight points by SNHU early in the second half.
• Mallory hit a clutch three-pointer with 14 seconds left to give the Owls a four point lead. Williams then blocked a three point attempt by SNHU at the buzzer. 

OWLS AMONG NORTHEAST-10 LEADERS
Michael Mallory and Desmond Williams are first and third, respectively, in the Northeast-10 in scoring. Mallory is scoring 22.8 points per game and Williams is putting up 20.0 points per game. Williams is also averaging 9.1 rebounds per game, fifth in the conference.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS
The Owls lead the Southwest Division of the NE-10 Conference with a record of 10-2. They are two games up on second place Adelphi, whom Southern Connecticut has beaten once and will play again on February 6. Overall, the Owls are tied with Saint Anselm, whom SCSU beat, and are one game behind Bentley, whom the Owls play on Saturday.

LAST WEEK'S GAMES
Southern Connecticut went 2-0 in the conference the week of the 11th with wins over Merrimack 80-77 on Tuesday afternoon and No. 12 Saint Anselm 99-94 on Saturday afternoon. 

EDGING THE WARRIORS
Southern Connecticut defeated Merrimack 80-77 on Tuesday, Jan. 12 in a close game throughout. 
• The Owls had a lead until halfway through the second half when a technical foul allowed Merrimack to shoot two free throws to tie the game at 56. Two more Warrior foul shots  shortly thereafter gave them a 58-56 lead. The lead would change five more times before the end of the game.
• The teams traded runs of 9-0, 8-0 and 9-2 until Southern took a 78-73 lead with 1:55 remaining.
• Merrimack cut it to 78-75 with 20 seconds left. With the Owls on offense and the shot clock winding down, the ball got deflected out to Joey Wallace. He fired a three and missed, but the rebound was grabbed by Stefon Williams, who passed to Michael Mallory. Mallory was fouled and missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
• Up by three and now on defense, Southern fouled Merrimack's Gelvis Solano, forcing him to take two free throws with 2.8 on the clock. He made them both to make it 78-77, Owls. 
• Mallory was fouled on the ensuing inbound pass with 2.2 left. He made both free throws to make it 80-77, Southern. Merrimack turned the ball over on the inbound pass.
• Mallory finished as the game's leading scorer with 26 points.
• Desmond Williams posted his eighth double-double of the year with 16 points and 13 boards.
• Austin Carter also chipped in with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

WILLIAMS' HUGE SECOND HALF SENDS OWLS PAST NO. 12 SAINT ANSELM
Southern Connecticut posted its second five game win streak of the year with a hard fought 99-94 win over No. 12 Saint Anselm on Saturday, Jan. 16.
• Desmond Williams scored a career high 31 points, 25 of them coming in the second half when the Owls needed him most. 
• The Owls held a 45-39 lead at the half but Saint Anselm came back to take the lead several times throughout the middle of the second half. With 11:27 remaining, Williams hit a three-pointer that would give Southern a lead it would hold for the rest of the game.
• Southern Connecticut forced 15 turnovers and scored 24 points off them while only turning it over four times, tying a season low.
• Isaiah McLeod scored 21 points on 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from deep. He hit a three pointer to extend Southern's lead to six with under five minutes left and iced the game with three free throws in the final minute.
• Austin Carter posted a career high 18 rebounds for the Owls, the most by a Southern player since Dec. 22, 2013.

WILLIAMS, MALLORY EARN NE-10 WEEKLY AWARDS
• Desmond Williams has been named the Northeast-10 Player of the Week for his performances last week. He averaged 24.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game in the Owls' two wins over Saint Michael's and Stonehill.
• In addition, Michael Mallory was named to the NE-10 Weekly Honor Roll. He averaged 23.0 points, 5.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game last week.

FALLING OUT OF THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Southern Connecticut is no longer ranked in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll after previously being ranked No. 20 and going 1-1 during its last week of action. The team is still receiving votes.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Isaiah McLeod and Joey Wallace both averaged over 20 minutes per game in Southern's first two games this season. McLeod averaged 15 points and three assists in two games, while Wallace had 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.

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 six seasons. In that time, Southern has beaten Chestnut Hill, Post, Goldey-Beacom, Molloy, Dowling and Dominican.

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
Southern Connecticut will play two home conference games next week against teams they have already beaten once this year. The Owls begin with Bridgeport on Tuesday at 7 p.m.- SCSU beat the Purple Knights 104-96 on November 15 in the second game of the season. Southern Connecticut then hosts Adelphi on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Owls beat the Panthers 90-80 in Adelphi on November 18.