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THIS WEEK
The Owls finish the regular season with a game at Pace on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m.

SCOUTING PACE
The Setters will enter Tuesday's game with an overall record of 9-18 and a conference record of 6-13. They have lost their last four games. 
• Pace is led by Shelton Mickell who averages 15.1 points and 2.4 assists per game. Ryan Peterson, Kyle Pearson and Bryan Rivers all also average double figures for the Setters. Pearson is the team leader in rebounds at 7.7 per game, while Rivers is first on the team in assists per game with 3.4.
• The team averages 68.9 points per game and shoots 42-percent from the field. 
• Pace is 2-8 on the road against conference opponents.

ALL-TIME vs. PACE
The Owls are 13-21 all-time against the Setters including an 84-74 win earlier this year. Michael Mallory led the squad with 29 points and nine assists and Desmond Williams put up 14 points and 11 rebounds as five Owls scored in double figures.

#1 SEED IN NE-10 TOURNAMENT
Southern Connecticut has clinched the top overall seed in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament with the win over Le Moyne on Saturday. The Owls will host a game in the quarterfinal round on Sunday, February 28.

EARNING THE TOP SEED ON SENIOR DAY
Southern Connecticut came away with an 83-70 win over Le Moyne on Senior Day this past Saturday. Desmond Williams posted his fifteenth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Mallory had a game high 27 points. Austin Carter also had a double-double, the second of his career, with 13 points and 10 boards, making all six of his shots. 
• The Owls were up 36-34 at the half but would take control in the second half. They shot 62-percent from both the field  and beyond the arc in the second frame, while holding Le Moyne to 43-percent shooting.

DEFEATING RIVAL NEW HAVEN
Southern Connecticut earned the 86-71 win over the Chargers behind Michael Mallory's 29 points. He went 11-of-18 from the field and 5-of-10 from deep.
• Desmond Williams posted his 14th double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
• The Owls committed four turnovers - tied for the lowest amount all season. 
• SCSU held UNH to 39-percent shooting from the floor - the fifth time the team has held an opponent to under 40-percent this season.
• Southern went on a 12-0 run to take a 51-34 lead at halftime. It extended its lead to as much as 20 in the second half en route to the win.

WILLIAMS' BIG ENDING SEND OWLS PAST AIC
Desmond Williams scored the final 13 points for the Owls as they held on to seal an 89-77 win over AIC. It is the second time SCSU has beaten the Yellow Jackets this season. Williams finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, his 13th double-double of the year.
• Austin Carter added 18 points and 18 rebounds - that tied his rebounding high and was two points shy of his career high.
• AIC cut Southern's lead to five with 3:51 left. Then, WIlliams scored seven straight points as the Owls regained momentum. After the Yellow Jackets hit a field goal and some foul shots, Williams nailed a three-pointer and some free throws to close out the game.
• Joey Wallace added nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists (a career high) for arguably his best game as an Owl.
• The Owls were down 42-40 midway through the first half until Scott Burrell's bench sent them on a 10-2 run. Isaiah McLeod, Brett Buser and Eric Ross all hit shots to give SCSU a 50-44 lead at the half. 

FALLING AT SAINT ROSE
The Golden Knights went on a 21-1 run midway through the first half to take a commanding 36-15 lead. But Southern Connecticut responded with an 18-5 run later in the half to close Saint Rose's gap to eight at the break.
• The Owls took a 64-62 lead with 7:38 remaining. Then the Golden Knights came back with a 12-4 run to take the lead for good.
• Desmond Williams just missed his 14th double-double of the year with 30 points and nine rebounds. It is the fifth time in Williams' last 11 games he has put up 30 or more points.
• Brett Buser scored a season/career high 11 points on 4-of-6 from the field.

DESMOND WILLIAMS TO NE-10 WEEKLY HONOR ROLL ONCE MORE
Desmond Williams has been named to the Northeast-10 Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts in the Owls' games last week. He averaged 27.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 44-percent shooting, 40-percent from three and 90-percent from the free throw line. He scored the Owls' final 13 points to seal an 89-77 win at AIC. He finished that game with 25 points and 12 rebounds, then nearly missed his 14th double-double of the year in a loss at Saint Rose when he scored 30 and pulled down nine boards. Williams has scored 30 or more points in five of his last 11 games.

OWLS OUTLAST DEEP-SHOOTING ADELPHI
Southern Connecticut earned a tough 92-81 win over the Panthers last Saturday. Desmond Williams finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds, tying a career high. Michael Mallory flirted with a triple-double with 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
• SCSU had a 21 point lead at the half. Adelphi would pull to within nine but Mallory wouldn't let it get any closer - he hit a three on the next Owl possession. Southern would maintain a double digit lead until the closing minute. 
• Adelphi shot 14-of-41 (34-percent) from three-point range - both the makes and attempts were the most by any Owl opponent this season. The Panthers got back into the game in the second half by shooting 10-of-22 from deep. Conversely, the Owls held Adelphi to just 8-of-33 from the field in the first half.
• Southern Connecticut forced 17 turnovers from Adelphi while turning it over just seven times themselves.

OWLS AMONG NORTHEAST-10 LEADERS
Michael Mallory and Desmond Williams are tied for first and third, respectively, in the Northeast-10 in scoring. Mallory is scoring 22.7 points per game and Williams is putting up 22.0 points per game. Williams is also averaging 9.8 rebounds per game, tied for third in the conference.

FROM 1/26 TO 2/6...
Desmond Willliams is averaging 29 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, three steals and 44-percent shooting from three-point range. Austin Carter is averaging 12 points, 6.3 rebounds, four blocks, 54-percent shooting from the floor and 44-percent from deep.

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, January 30. 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 DII's 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. 

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
The Northeast-10 Conference Tournament begins on Friday, February 26. Southern Connecticut has earned a first round bye and will play its first game on Sunday at Moore Field House.