Back at Home for School Day on Wednesday Morning

DARTMOUTH (6-5)
vs. CCSU (0-10)
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 | 11 AM | NESN/ESPN+
Leede Arena (2,100) | Hanover, N.H.

• Dartmouth plays host for the first time in 29 days with Central Connecticut State in town for an 11 a.m. tipoff as part of School Day with hundreds of middle school students on hand.
• The Big Green were 1-4 on the long trek, picking up a 77-44 victory at Maine before coming up just short at Boston University on Saturday in a 78-76 defeat.
• Taurus Samuels teamed up with James Foye to nearly bring Dartmouth back from an 11-point deficit against the Terriers as the duo scored 18 points in the final 90 seconds.
• Samuels had 10 of his career 22 points in that span, becoming the fourth Big Green player to top 20 points in a game this year.
• Foye, who had 17 points at BU, has had a sizzling shot of late, draining 19-of-32 3-pointers (.594) during the five-game swing to boost his season accuracy to 53.7 percent, third among Division I players.
• Chris Knight remains Dartmouth's leading scorer at 12.2 ppg, plus tops the squad with 23 assists (tied with Foye), 16 blocks and nine steals.
• As a team, the Big Green allow fewer points per game (63.0) than any other team in the Ivy League. And the analytics site KenPom.com has the Dartmouth defense as the third-most efficient in the league behind Yale and Harvard.
• Since turning the ball over a season-high 21 times at South Florida, Dartmouth has been much better at taking care of the ball with just 14 miscues in the past two contests combined.

Series vs. CCSU
• This is the first time Dartmouth has met CCSU on the hardwood in 20 years, but is 4-2 all-time in the series.
• Five of the six games have been decided by no more than six points with two that went into overtime (both Big Green wins).
• The last game came in the Mohegan Sun Classic in 1999, which the Blue Devils won, 63-61.
• Dartmouth has won all three contests played at Leede Arena, including the first game of the series in January of 1988, 87-85.
• The Big Green are 16-14 against current Northeast Conference schools, including a 55-46 win over Merrimack last month.

Scouting the Blue Devils
• The Blue Devils are off to a rough start with 10 consecutive losses to open the year, including two-point setbacks against UMass Lowell and Maine earlier this month.
• As a team, CCSU is shooting just 36.3 percent from the floor and has been outscored by an average of over 20 points a game.
• Greg Outlaw is the lone player scoring in double figures at 11.0 per game, though Jamir Coleman (9.9) and Myles Baker (9.0) aren't far off the pace.
• Baker is the top 3-point threat both in quantity (16 triples in 43 attempts) and accuracy (.372).
• While the Blue Devils are getting beat on the boards by over nine per game, Stephane Ayangma leads the team in rebounding (5.2 rpg)
• Only one player has started all 10 games, that being point guard Zach Newkirk who averages 26.5 minutes, 3.4 points and 1.8 assists per game.
• CCSU is coached by Donyell Marshall, who was the Big East Player of the Year back in 1993-94 at UConn before spending 15 years as a player in the NBA. He is 31-71 in his fourth season guiding the Blue Devils.

Game Televised on NESN, Streamed on ESPN+
In addition to the usual live stream on ESPN+ (available with a monthly ($4.99) or annual ($49.99) subscription), fans in the New England area can also catch the game live on NESN, the second of three games the network is broadcasting this season. Saturday's contest against Bryant will also be shown on NESN with the broadcast beginning at noon with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action.

Back from 5-Game Road Trip
With the game against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 18, the Big Green will be playing their first home game in 29 days having defeated Thomas College back on Nov. 19, 108-59. Dartmouth lost four of its five road games since then, including a three-point defeat in overtime at Georgia State (83-80) and a two-point setback at Boston University (78-76) this past Saturday after nearly rallying from an 11-point deficit in the final 90 seconds. But thanks to the 77-44 win at Maine, Dartmouth outscored its opponents on the trip by two points, 346-344.

Taurus Tops Twenty
Trailing by 11 points at Boston University with 1:30 to play, Dartmouth turned to its backcourt to try and pull off a thrilling comeback. Sophomore Taurus Samuels proceeded to rattle off 10 points in those 90 seconds to finish the afternoon with a career-high 22, just the fourth 20-point game by a Big Green player this year (all by different players). James Foye added eight more points in the waning moments of the game as Dartmouth outscored the Terriers, 18-9, but came up two short in the 78-76 defeat.

Four in Double Digits Back-to-Back
In each of the last two contests, Dartmouth has had four players score in double figures. First, James Foye led the way at Maine with 18 points while Wes Slajchert (13), Chris Knight (12) and Aaryn Rai (10) joined in with at least 10. Three days later, Taurus Samuels had a team-high 22 points with Foye (17), Knight (11) and Rai (10) joining the party at Boston University. It is the second time this season the Green have accomplished the feat in consecutive games, doing so in the overtime win over UMass Lowell as well as the blowout win over Thomas College (school-record eight in double figures).

Foye Toys with Defenses
One player that enjoyed the five-game road trip was senior James Foye. The guard averaged 15.8 points a game during the trek, raining down 19 3-pointers in 32 attempts, nearly a 60 percent clip. And in the last four games, he has hit better than 60 percent from distance. Foye also dished out a team-best 14 assists and collected a team-high six steals while turning the ball over only once, and currently ranks third in Division I in 3-point percentage (.537) for the season. In the overtime loss at Georgia State, Foye matched personal bests with seven 3-pointers and 25 points. And for his career, Foye is shooting 42.1 percent (93-221) from the perimeter, which ranks 30th among active Division I players.

Schedules