Feb. 28, 2007

FAIRFIELD, CT - The Sacred Heart men's basketball hosts its first-ever Northeast Conference Tournament game when it welcomes Wagner College to the Pitt Center Thursday night at 7:05. The Pioneers finished the season in second place, while Wagner is the #7 seed.

Series: Wagner leads the all-time series between these two schools, 10-7, but the Pioneers have won three of the last four meetings. The two teams split a pair of games this year. Sacred Heart defeated the Seahawks twice last season, 61-50 in Fairfield and then 70-62 a week later in New York. This is the first time the two teams have met in post-season play.

Scouting the Opponent: The Seahawks have qualified for the playoffs for the third time in the four years under head coach Mike Dean. Wagner has lost three of the last four games, including the regular season finale to Central Connecticut, 79-54.

Junior guard Mark Porter leads the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game. He also leads the Seahawks with 5.3 assists per game, grabs 5.1 rebounds per contest, and 22 blocked shots. Sophomore Joey Mundweiler is the top three-point threat for Wagner, burying 87 of them this season at a 38 percent clip.

Junior guard James Ulrich is the top rebounder for Wagner with 6.7 per game. He is also averaging 13.3 points per game. He had a big game against the Pioneers in the first meeting this season with 24 points and ten rebounds.

Batting over .500: With the win over Quinnipiac, the Pioneers are assured their first season over .500 in Division I play. The last team to finish at or above that mark was the 1997-98 team that was 15-12. Louis Frye, older brother of current Pioneer Jarrid Frye, was that team's captain.

Roaring Brooks: Over his last eight outings, Sacred Heart junior forward Brice Brooks has averaged 14.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg and shot at a 58 percent clip from the floor. Prior to this hot streak, he had averaged 7.8 ppg and 4.9 rpg.

There's No Place Like Home: The Pioneers are 9-2 at home in the Pitt Center this season. The Pioneers won the first five, before falling to FDU 91-88 on Jan. 30. It was the first home loss in nearly a year (2/16/06). It was the first time SHU opened 5-0 at home in the Division I era, and the first time since the 1985-86 season when the team opened 11-0 on the way to a 30-4 campaign and the Division II National Championship.

Smokin': The Pioneers have scored 90 points or more in a game six time already this season and lead the Northeast Conference in offense at 77.4 points per game. The last time SHU scored at least 90 in a game more times was during the 94-95 season when they did it nine times enroute to a 17-12 record.

Frye Named NEC First Team: Senior Jarrid Frye was selected first team All-Northeast Conference by the league coaches Wednesday. He is the lone repeatall-star on the first team - he was name second team a year ago.

Hail Hardy: Freshman Chauncey Hardy was named to the NEC All-Rookie team on Wednesday. All five players named to the All-Rookie team are guards. Monmouth's Jhmar Youngblood was named the league's Rookie of the Year.

In the NCAA Rankings: The Sacred Heart offense is 27th in the nation (out of 325) at 77.6 points per game. The Pioneers are 15th in steals at 9.4 per game, and 44th in field goal percentage at 47.6. Drew Shubik is 46th in the nation in steals. SHU's team three-point percentage is 49th best.

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