Men's Basketball vs. MIT
Saturday, February 18 | 1 p.m.
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 59-25 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to the 1978-79 campaign.
• The Beavers have won four straight games against the Engineers going back to 2020, including an overtime victory in Cambridge last month.
• Five of the last nine games between the teams have gone to overtime and seven of the last 12 in the series have been decided by seven points or less.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Andrew Kirkpatrick scored 16 points and visiting Babson rallied from a 17-point deficit late in the first half to defeat MIT in overtime, 62-52, back on January 18 inside Rockwell Cage.
• Graduate student Ryan Cibull scored 11 points, sophomore David Cross added 10 and first-year Tyler Lauder finished with nine points, six rebounds and three blocks to lead the Beavers. Senior Aaron Gao added eight points and first-year Timmy O'Toole contributed with six points and career highs of 15 rebounds and six steals in the win.
• First-year Rome Delgado-Gonzalez poured in a game-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with six rebounds to lead the Engineers.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (16-8, 9-4 NEWMAC) has won three straight and eight of its last nine games, including an 87-58 victory over Coast Guard on Wednesday inside Staake Gymnasium.
• First-year Mark Woolhouse and sophomore Aidan Horan combined for 29 points off the bench for the Beavers, leading five players in double figures. Woolhouse hit 7-of-9 shots and finished with a team-high 15 points and Horan converted 5-of-8 attempts for 14 points and added five boards. Cibull contributed 13 points, six rebounds and a season-high nine assists, Gao chipped in with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and Kirkpatrick was good for 11 points in the win.
• Amado (17.9 pts, 7.1 reb) ranks fifth in the NEWMAC in scoring and rebounding, Kirkpatrick (14.7 pts, 2.8 ast) is shooting 52.0 percent over the last four games and Cibull (10.6 pts, 2.9 ast) is third in the league connecting on 43 percent of his three-point attempts.
• The Green and White ranks second in conference play allowing just 64.7 points per game.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• MIT (4-18, 2-11 NEWMAC) has lost its last three games and nine of its last 10 following Wednesday's 86-56 setback in its home finale at Rockwell Cage.
• First-year Tim Minicozzi scored a team-high 19 points in 40 minutes for the Engineers while classmate Rome Delgado-Gonzalez added 11 points and nine rebounds and classmate Parker Spann tallied an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double in the loss. That trio contributed 41 of the team's 56 points.
• Delgado-Gonzalez (17.8 pts, 6.8 reb, 2.9 ast) is fifth in the NEWMAC in scoring and seventh in scoring while sophomore Kade Killeen (14.2 pts, 6.6 reb, 3.2 ast) is also in the top 12 in the conference in both categories. Minicozzi (13.5 pts) has made 61 three-pointers, second-most in the league this season and connecting at a 39.6 rate and sophomore Spencer Lin (10.1 pts, 4.3 ast) is third in the NEWMAC in assists.
• MIT leads the NEWMAC in free throw percentage (76.1) and ranks second in three-pointers attempted (26.0/gm) and made (8.5/gm).

A LOOK AT THE NEWMAC
• After shaking off a 1-3 start to league play, the Beavers (9-4) have moved up to third place in the standings, a game behind second-place Emerson (10-3) and a game up on fourth-place Wheaton (8-5).
• WPI (12-1) has locked up the regular season crown and top seed in next week's tournament and Clark (6-7) is locked into fifth place.
• Five of the eight men's programs qualify to the NEWMAC playoffs, with the top three seeds moving into next Thursday's semifinals and the fourth seed hosting the fifth seed in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday.

TRIPLE THREAT
• Over the last nine contests, the trio of Kirkpatrick (14-of-26), Cibull (22-of-48) and Gao (11-of-24) have combined to shoot 48.0 percent from three-point range.
• The Beavers have made at least seven treys in seven of their last eight outings and have made 40.2 percent from beyond the arc during this stretch.

STINGY DEFENSE
• The Beavers rank second in the NEWMAC and 38th in Division III in scoring defense, allowing 64.7 points per game.
• The Green and White have given up just 59.4 points per game in the last nine outings, holding opponents to 40.0 percent shooting and 28.9 percent from three-point range.

ROOKIES MAKING THEIR MARK
• O'Toole has started 23 of 24 games for the Beavers, averaging 6.1 points and 6.7 rebounds (ninth in the NEWMAC) and is also fourth in the league with 1.7 steals per game.
• Woolhouse has appeared in 22 games with four starts, averaging 5.5 points and 3.7 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in three of the last four games, shooting 66.7 percent (18-of-27) in that span.
• Lauder has started nine straight contests and 12 of his 16 games. He has averaged 4.1 points and 7.0 rebounds since moving into the starting line-up, helping the team win eight of nine games.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White is 11-3 this winter when shooting better than 40 percent.
• Babson is 10-1 this season and 23-2 over the past two campaigns when outrebounding the opponents.
• The Beavers are 10-3 this winter and 30-7 since the start of the 2020-21 season when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• Babson will be seeking its sixth conference championship and first since 2016 in next week's NEWMAC Tournament.