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THIS WEEK
The Owls host two games this week against teams they have already played this season. On Tuesday, Bridgeport comes to Moore Field House for a game at 7 p.m. It will be the second time the Owls and Purple Knights face off this year. Then on Saturday, SCSU takes on Adelphi at 3:30 p.m.

SCOUTING BRIDGEPORT
As of Monday, the Purple Knights are 9-8 overall and 7-3 in the East Coast Conference. They will travel to Queens for a game on Monday night before coming to New Haven on Tuesday.
• The Purple Knights have lost two of their last three games. The two teams share six common opponents: Bridgeport is 1-5 in those games, SCSU is 6-0.
• Muhammed Ahmed and Jesse Jones are the co-scoring leaders for UB. They both average 14.8 points per game.Devon Elliot and Ernest Rouse are right behind them with 13.1 and 13.0 ppg, respectively. 

ALL-TIME vs. BRIDGEPORT
The Owls are 40-52 all-time against Bridgeport, including a 104-96 win over them earlier this year. Eleven players scored for the Owls, five of them in double figures. 

SCOUTING ADELPHI
The Panthers travel to Pace on Wednesday before coming to Moore Field House on Saturday. As of Monday, they are 17-5 overall and 9-5 in the conference. They are second in the Southwest Division of the NE-10 Conference behind SCSU. Adelphi has alternated wins and losses in their last seven games.
• The Owls and Panthers share 13 common opponents thus far. SCSU is 11-2 in those games, Adelphi is 9-4.
• Adelphi is led by Michael Coffee, who scores 15.4 points per game. Behind him is Anthony Libroia with 14.5 ppg and Manny Suarez with 12.8 ppg.

ALL-TIME vs. ADELPHI
The Owls are 17-6 all-time against the Panthers, including a 90-80 win against them earlier this year. Michael Mallory scored a game high 28 points and Desmond Williams posted a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

RUNNING PAST THE GREYHOUNDS
The Owls went on a 28-5 run to close out the first half en route to a 96-76 win over Assumption on Tuesday. Desmond Williams scored a career high 40 points on 18-of-25 shooting. Forty points is tied for seventh on the all-time single-game scoring list, and 18 field goals are tied for second in field goals made per game. It is also the third time this year he has set a new career high. He added 14 rebounds and six assists for his tenth double-double of the year.
• Michael Mallory posted his first double-double this season with 16 points and 11 boards.
• Williams hit a 30-foot buzzer beater to close out the first half. He and the Owls would maintain a 20 point lead in the second half.
• Southern Connecticut tallied 42 points in the paint in the game and outrebounded Assumption 49-27. The 49 rebounds were tied for the third most by the Owls all year and the 27 rebounds allowed were the second fewest by an Owl opponent this year

MALLORY SETS NEW PROGRAM RECORD IN WIN
Michael Mallory scored an SCSU high 47 points in the Owls' 113-111 double overtime win at Bentley on Saturday. Twenty-two of those points came in the overtime periods and 30 of them came from three-point range.
• Desmond Williams and Stefon Williams are the only other players with points in overtime - they each had two.
• D. Williams quietly posted his eleventh double-double with 36 points and 15 boards.
• The win forces a three-way tie for first place in the NE-10, as SCSU, Bentley and Saint Anselm are each 12-2 in the conference. The Owls have the head-to-head tiebreaker over both teams.
• There were 12 ties and 10 lead changes in the game. Mallory hit back-to-back treys to give the Owls a six point lead with 2:10 left. The Owls held on after Keegan Hyland missed a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.

MALLORY - ONE OF THE BEST
Michael Mallory's 47 points against Bentley is the second highest point total in Division II this season. He is also the only DII player with two 40+ point games this season.

PROGRAM RECORDS BROKEN AGAINST BENTLEY
• Michael Mallory's 47 points is a new program high.
• Mallory's 16 made field goals are third most all-time, and 41 field goals attempted are the most in program history.
• 113 points is the eighth most in program history.
• 43 field goals made is tied for the fourth most in program history, and 102 team field goal attempts is the second most in program history.
• 37 three-pointers attempted is the third most in program history.

MALLORY BECOMES SCSU ALL-TIME THREE-POINT KING
Michael Mallory is first in program history in both career three-pointers made and attempted. As of February 1, he has 238 threes made on 595 career attempts. He passed T.J. Trimboli for first on the list in three-pointers made on January 20 against Southern New Hampshire. 

WILLIAMS NAMED NE-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK, MALLORY TO HONOR ROLL
Desmond Williams was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Week for averaging 38 points, 14.5 boards, 5.5 assists, 3 steals and 2.5 blocks per game last week. Michael Mallory was named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll. He averaged 31.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.

STREAK STOPS AT SIX
The Owls had their six game win streak snapped at Franklin Pierce on Saturday, January 23 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 Southern New Hampshire on Wednesday, January 20. 
• SCSU posted 13 blocks, tied for second in a single game.
• 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 23.6 points per game and Williams is putting up 21.7 points per game. Williams is also averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, fourth in the conference.

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 is on the road for two games next week. First, they travel to American International on Wednesday, February 10 for a game at 7:30 p.m. Then, they head to Saint Rose on Saturday, February 13 for a game at 4 p.m. The Owls have beaten both teams already this year: AIC by a score of 107-94 in late November and Saint Rose 86-79 in early December.