Men's Basketball at No. 23 WPI
Wednesday, January 12 | 7:00 p.m.
Harrington Auditorium | Worcester, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 50-34 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 season.
• Wednesday's game will be the first meeting between the two schools since second-seeded WPI defeated third-seeded and 25th-ranked Babson, 73-58, in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal inside Harrington Auditorium on February 28, 2020.
• The Beavers and Engineers split their regular season series in 2019-20 as Babson won 93-81 in Worcester on January 11, while WPI returned the favor with a 75-56 victory in Babson Park on February 12.
• Seven of the last 13 games between the teams have been decided by seven points or less.

LAST MEETING
• Garrett Stephenson '21 led five players in double figures with 16 points as WPI advanced to the NEWMAC title game for the third year in a row with the semifinal victory.
• Junior John Lowther scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, graduate student Colin McNamara finished with 13 points and four steals, and Lou Doherty '20 came off the bench with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Engineers. Grad student Kahleb Downing also chipped in with 10 points.
• Andrew Jaworski '21 scored a team-high 16 points and became the 28th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for the Beavers. Jack Coolahan '21 contributed 15 points and seven rebounds, while junior Andrew Kirkpatrick added 11 points and three assists in the loss.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (9-4, 2-0 NEWMAC) is riding a three-game winning streak after defeating Emerson and Springfield at home last week in the first two conference games of the season.
• Junior Andrew Kirkpatrick scored a career-high 21 points and sophomore Kieran Dorney posted his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday in an 80-73 victory over Emerson.
• Senior James Welch knocked down five three-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points to help Babson defeat Springfield on Saturday, 83-74. First-year Nate Amado finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists in the win.
• The Beavers shot a season-high 52 percent from the field and converted 18 Springfield turnovers into 24 points. The 12 three-point field goals in Saturday's win were also a season high.
• Babson has won 26 of its last 28 games when outrebounding its opponent dating back to the 2019-20 campaign.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• No. 23 WPI (10-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) brings a six-game winning streak into Wednesday's contest after posting victories over Springfield and MIT in its first two conference clashes.
• Lowther led WPI with 19 points and eight rebounds while Downing and sophomore John Adams both totaled 15 points.  Downing accounted for all of his points by draining 5-of-8 3-point attempts and Adams corralled 13 rebounds to post his sixth double-double of the season.
• Lowther led the way for the Engineers against MIT with 18 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks while Adams added a monster 14-point, 13-rebound effort.
• WPI converted 22 points off of 20 MIT turnovers and scored 26 points in the paint in the conference victory.
• Lowther leads the squad in scoring with 16.9 points per game while Adams is good for 14.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per outing and McNamara adds 10.1 points and 4.2 assists per game.

NEWMAC NOTES
• WPI swept this week's NEWMAC honors, with Lowther earning Offensive Athlete of the Week recognition after averaging 18.5 points per game and Adams taking the top defensive honor, averaging 8.0 defensive rebounds while adding two steals and a block as the Engineers limited their two opponents to an average of 50.5 points.
• Wednesday's clash features the top two teams in the NEWMAC preseason poll. WPI received five first-place votes and was ranked No. 1 in the poll, while Babson earned two top votes and was picked runner-up.

NCAA LEADERS
• WPI averages 18.5 assists per game and just 10.2 turnovers an outing, ranking 20th in NCAA Division III in assists, ninth in fewest turnovers and first in assist-turnover ratio (1.8).
• The Engineers are outscoring their opponents by 17.9 points per game, 12th–best in Division III.
• McNamara has recorded 46 assists and just nine turnovers, leading the nation in assist ratio (5.1)

BY THE NUMBERS
• The Beavers are 6-1 this season when leading at halftime, and 13-3 since the start of last season.
• Babson has won 12 of its last 13 since the start of the 2020-21 season when winning the rebounding battle, and is 26-2 with the advantage on the glass since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

A LOOK AHEAD
• Babson returns home on Saturday to host Wheaton in a NEWMAC encounter at 1 p.m. inside Staake Gymnasium. WPI hits the road Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup at Emerson.