Granite State Showdown at UNH Televised on FCS Atlantic

DARTMOUTH (3-6) at
NEW HAMPSHIRE (6-4)
LUNDHOLM GYMNASIUM, DURHAM, N.H.
SATURDAY, DEC. 19, 2015 • 1 P.M.
Television: Fox College Sports Atlantic
Video: AmericaEast.tv
All-Time Series: Wildcats lead 33-32
Last Meeting: Nov. 30, 2014 — New Hampshire 65, Dartmouth 63

Back in the Granite State
•    Dartmouth concludes a four-game road trip — the most recent two games in California — by taking on in-state rival New Hampshire.
•   The Big Green suffered losses in both games out West, falling to Stanford, 64-50, before dropping a 69-62 contest in their first-ever meeting with Cal State Bakersfield.
• Senior Connor Boehm was the lone Dartmouth player to score in double figures in both games, and he has tallied at least 10 points in all but one game to date. He is third on the team at 11.5 ppg.
•   The team's leading scorer and rebounder, freshman Evan Boudreaux, was held to six points against the Cardinal before leading the way with 14 at CSUB. The three-time Ivy Rookie of the Week is also fifth in the league with 8.5 rpg.
•   Dartmouth is hoping Miles Wright snaps out of his scoring funk on the road. The sophomore has averaged 23.3 points in three home games, but just 7.6 points in five road contests.
•   A player the coaching staff was high on entering the season, freshman Guilien Smith, looked more comfortable on the court against the Roadrunners, scoring 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He had three points in the first seven games combined.
•   Dartmouth has been pests on the defensive end, forcing 15.5 turnovers a game, including a season-high 21 at Cal State Bakersfield.

Series vs. New Hampshire
•   The only two Division I schools in the state of New Hampshire have met 65 times on the hardwood with the Wildcats holding a slight edge, 33-32.
• Dartmouth won the last game at Lundholm Gymnasium two years ago, 62-48, to even the series, but UNH reclaimed the lead with a thrilling 65-63 victory in Hanover last year.
•   Daniel Dion scored 23 points for the Wildcats last year, including the game-winning shot with 3.6 seconds to play.
•   This is the 46th consecutive year these two have squared off. Since the calendar changed to 2000, the Wildcats have won 11 of the 15 meetings.
•   The Big Green are 8-7 against UNH at Leede Arena but have lost six of the last seven. The last win in Hanover came on Dec. 11, 2004.
•   Cormier is 8-6 in his career against New Hampshire, and 1-4 since returning to Hanover.

Scouting the Wildcats
•   New Hampshire enters this game with a 6-4 record but has not lost back-to-back games. Bad news for the Big Green as the Wildcats suffered a 75-59 loss at Colgate in their most recent game.
•   Five different Wildcats average at least 10 points a game, though only one has played in every contest.
•   Tanner Leissner is the top scorer at 14.7 ppg in seven games, plus hauls in 6.9 rebounds a night.
•   Point guard Jaleen Smith, who has missed the last two games, has produced 13.1 points and 4.6 assists on average, and is dead-eye accurate at the line, making 31-of-32 (.969).
•   Daniel Dion, who hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds last year, is one of five players with at least 10 three-pointers and has scored 10.9 ppg.
•   Averaging a double-double is Iba Camara (10.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg) while shooting 56.5 percent.
•   As a team, UNH is a solid 45.1 percent from the floor and 35.2 percent from long range to go with 69.0 percent at the line, and as a team has a rebound advantage of more than four per game.
•   Bill Herrion is in his 11th season at UNH, sporting a 121-185 record with the Wildcats. He also coached Drexel to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances in eight seasons and helmed East Carolina for six years, giving him a mark of 358-353 in his career.

Granite State Game
The game pitting the two Division I teams in the state of New Hampshire rarely fails to compel. Since 2000 arrived, five of the 15 games played in the series have been decided by three points or less, and two more went to overtime. Only five of the games have ended with double-digit leads for either side, and last year's game was won on a shot with 3.6 seconds to play.

Another Smith Breaks Out
Back on Dec. 5, sophomore Cameron Smith had a break-out game in his first career start, scoring 11 points to go with four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Well, another Smith had a break-out game for the Big Green, Guilien Smith this time, with his 13-point effort off the bench at Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 14. The freshman, who had scored just three points in the first seven games combined, dropped in 5-of-8 field goals (2-of-5 on three-pointers) and grabbed four rebounds to boot.

Offensive Glass Work
Senior Connor Boehm may rank 13th in the Ivy League with 5.9 rebounds per game, but he does his best glass cleaning on the offensive end as more than half (3.3) of his caroms derive from his own backboard. That figure places him second in the conference, behind only Yale's Justin Sears (4.2), the defending Ivy League Player of the Year. In Boehm's most recent game at Cal State Bakersfield, four of his five rebounds came on offense. On a percentage basis as a team, Dartmouth has collected 33.1 percent of all possible offensive rebounds, second to Yale's 41.5 percent.

Making a Point
Make that 70 points. In the first eight games this season, Dartmouth has won all three games in which it has scored at least 70 points, and lost all five when it did not. In a related fact, the Big Green have shot at least 45 percent from the floor in their three victories, under that mark in the losses.

Man of Steal
Malik Gill has led Dartmouth in steals every year he has been in Hanover, despite ranking sixth to ninth on the team in minutes. He finished second in the Ivy League as a freshman with 50 steals, then had 32 the following season. He was nearly beaten out last year by Miles Wright, who had 42 thefts, but Gill one-upped him with 43. His 141 career swipes place him seventh on the Big Green all-time list.

Schedules