No. 22 Men's Basketball at Emerson
Wednesday, February 19 | 7 p.m.
Brown-Plofker Gymnasium | Boston, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 26-3 all-time against Emerson in a series that dates back to the 1951-52 campaign.
• The Beavers have won two in a row and 14 of their last 15 games against the Lions since 2011.
• Three of the last six contests inside Brown-Plofker Gymnasium have been decided by seven points or less, a stretch that includes an 86-83 Emerson victory last season and an 89-82 win by Babson in 2018.
LAST MEETING
• Sophomore Colin Bradanese scored on a put back with 0.4 seconds to go lifting the Beavers to an 86-84 win over Emerson on January 29.
• Junior Andrew Jaworski scored 26 points and first-year Andrew Kirkpatrick finished with 18 points, four assists and three steals for the Beavers, who trailed by as many as 12 early in the second half.
• Sophomore Zach Waterhouse poured in 21 of his game-high 26 points in the first half and classmate Jarred Houston added 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting for the Lions, who shot 56.7 percent in the loss.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
• Emerson (13-8, 8-4 NEWMAC) is coming off an 85-64 loss at WPI on Saturday.
• Senior Jack O'Connor scored 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting for the Lions, who shot 29.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes and trailed 40-20 at the break.
• O'Connor (17.5 pts, 7.6 reb, 3.5 ast) ranks eight in the league in scoring, Houston (14.7 pts, 8.3 reb) leads the NEWMAC shooting 69 percent from the floor, and Waterhouse (13.6 pts, 3.8 reb) is just 4-of-13 from beyond the arc in five games since making four triples against the Beavers.
• Emerson is averaging 80.9 points on 48.9 percent shooting over its first 12 league outings.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 22 Babson (19-4, 9-3 NEWMAC) has won seven of its last eight games and is coming off an 82-57 drubbing of Wheaton on Saturday.
• Jaworski finished with 22 points, eight rebound and five assists, while senior Jack Coolahan added 14 points, six boards and five steals as the Beavers forced the Lyons into 22 turnovers.
• Coolahan (18.2 pts, 4.0 reb) and Jaworski (18.2 pts, 6.2 reb) are both shooting better than 50 percent from the floor, junior Crew Ainge (11.8 pts, 4.7 ast, 4.3 reb) ranks third in the league in assists, and Bradanese (9.7 pts, 4.4 reb) is averaging 12.2 points in 11 starts this winter.
• The Green and White ranks 20th in field goal percentage (48.8) and 30th nationally in scoring offense putting up 86.1 points per game.
SHARK ATTACK
• In three games over the last two seasons against Emerson, Jaworski is averaging 22.3 points on 50 percent shooting.
• In addition to his 22-point outing in the first meeting between the teams last month, he scored 16 last January in a three-point road loss to the Lions and 25 on 7-of-12 shooting in a 21-point home victory last February.
PREPARE FOR FIREWORKS
• Over the last three matchups between the teams, both Babson (1.12) and Emerson (1.07) are averaging better than a point per possession while shooting better than 48 percent from the floor.
• The Beavers are averaging 1.16 points per possession on the year and rank 10th in adjusted offense according to Matt Snyder's Division III Efficiency Rankings, while Emerson ranks 51st in adjusted offense and is scoring 1.08 points per possession.
JOCKEYING FOR POSITION
• The Green and White enters the final week of the regular season in third place in the NEWMAC standings, a game behind second-place WPI (10-2) and two games in back for first-place Springfield (11-1).
• The Beavers, who can still be seeded anywhere from first to fourth in next week's NEWMAC Tournament, can still grab a share of the league's regular season title with wins over Emerson and Springfield.
NUMBER TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 13-0 this season when at least four players score in double figures.
