Game #28: Le Moyne (14-13, 9-5 NEC) vs. Central Connecticut State (15-10, 9-5 NEC)
Info: Thursday, Feb. 19 | 7:00 p.m. | New Britain, Conn. | Detrick Gymnasium
Watch: NEC Front Row
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://www.ccsubluedevils.com/sports/mbkb/2025-26/boxscores/20260219_pozh.xml
Central Connecticut State links:  Schedule | Roster | Stats | News
 
New Britain, Conn. — The Le Moyne College men's basketball team begins a two-game road trip with a meeting with the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils. The teams enter the matchup tied for second place in the NEC standings.

LAST TIME OUT
Redshirt sophomore guard Deng Garang scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Dolphins past the Chicago State Cougars at home for their third straight win, 81-63. Garang added seven rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. Graduate student forward Shilo Jackson contributed 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Redshirt junior guard Trent Mosquera scored 13 points, including 4-9 shooting from three-point range, while adding six rebounds, four assists and a team-high three steals. Junior guard/forward Tennessee Rainwater contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists in 29 minutes off of the bench, while junior guard Samuel Hincapie added 10 points of his own off of the bench, while adding four assists and two rebounds. 

YEAR #3
The Dolphins are in their third year transitioning to the Division I level (as members of the NEC) and Le Moyne is the only school in the third year of the transition process. The Dolphins went 15-17 in their first season at the Division I level, including 9-7 in NEC action to earn the fourth seed in the conference tournament. The Dolphins won their first game of the NEC Championship over FDU, 82-61, before falling in the semifinals at Merrimack. The program went 9-23 a year ago, including 4-12 in NEC play, and was the eighth seed in the conference tournament.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Dolphins and Blue Devils are notched up at 7-7 in their all-time series history, which dates back to the 1949-50 season. Central Connecticut State has won the last four matchups with Le Moyne. The Blue Devils swept the season series last year, while also downing the Dolphins in the first round of the NEC Tournament. CCSU earned the victory in their most recent matchup earlier this year at Ted Grant Court, 69-59. 

COMMON OPPONENTS
The Dolphins and Blue Devils played four common opponents during non-conference action, Boston College, UMass, Binghamton and Fairfield. The Dolphins defeated Binghamton, 78-63, on December 6 and fell to UMass, 94-80, on November 13, Fairfield, 97-83, on November 22 and Boston College on December 28, 72-64, while Central Connecticut State defeated Boston College, 60-59, on November 11 and Binghamton, 84-67, on December 13 and fell at UMass, 84-77, on November 16 and Fairfield, 84-70, on December 18.
 
In conference play, both teams have defeated NEC foes Saint Francis, New Haven, Chicago State, Wagner and FDU, while Le Moyne has defeated LIU and Mercyhurst and lost to Stonehill, and Central Connecticut State has defeated Stonehill and lost to LIU and Mercyhurst.

JESUIT CONNECTION
The Dolphins faced three fellow Jesuit institutions this season. They fell at Xavier University on November 6, 74-69, fell at home to Fairfield University on November 22, 97-83, and lost to Boston College, 72-64, on December 28.

WELCOME BACK
The Dolphins feature six returning letterwinners and two redshirts. Sam Donnelly is a second-year graduate student, Nate Fouts, Trent Mosquera and Kaelin Thomas are redshirt juniors, Deng Garang and Trevor Roe are redshirt sophomores and Jakob Blakley and Isaac Nyakundi are sophomores.

NEW FACES
The Dolphins welcomed seven new players to the program for 2025-26. Ametri Moss, who spent two years apiece at State College of Florida and North Florida, and Shilo Jackson, who joined the team following two years each at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Vincennes, are graduate students; Tennessee Rainwater, who enrolled at Le Moyne following two seasons at Utah Tech, and Samuel Hincapie, who came to Le Moyne after two years at Lake Land College, are juniors and Jakai Sanders is a sophomore after one year at Saint Peter's, while Eli Greenberg and Josiah Lee are freshmen.

NEC PRESEASON POLL
In the NEC preseason coaches' poll, the Dolphins were picked to finish ninth in the regular season standings, the same position they finished last year. LIU, which advanced to the semifinals last year, was the unanimous selection to win the league, while back-to-back regular season champion Central Connecticut State landed second in the preseason coaches poll. Stonehill College finished third and Mercyhurst University, which is eligible for the conference tournament this year, placed fourth. FDU, which fell to CCSU in the semifinals, landed fifth and Chicago State, last year's seventh seed, moved up a spot from a year ago. Defending tournament champion Saint Francis University placed seventh in the poll and Wagner College, the 2024 champion, finished eighth. Conference newcomer University of New Haven rounded out the poll in 10th.

PRIME PERFORMERS
The Dolphins have had four players earn Northeast Conference weekly Prime Performer honors.
Trent Mosquera – 11/10, 12/1, 12/8, 1/21, 1/27                                 Jakai Sanders – 11/17, 12/22, 2/9
Shilo Jackson – 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/30, 1/6, 1/12, 1/21, 2/16         Tennessee Rainwater – 1/27

NET RANKINGS
Through games on February 17, Le Moyne is 279th in the latest NCAA NET rankings, third among NEC members, while Central Connecticut State is ranked 270th, which is ranked second among NEC members.

DOLPHINS IN THE NEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Shilo Jackson leads the NEC in field goal percentage (.661) (7th nationally, but Le Moyne student-athletes don't qualify for national rankings during the institution's transition period), offensive rebounding (2.8) (87th nationally), and double-doubles (8) (tied for 45th nationally). He is second in rebounding (8.2) (67th nationally), third in blocks (1.6) (68th nationally), fourth in defensive rebounding (5.5) (tied for 84th nationally), fifth in made free throws (85) and scoring (15.5), tenth in free throw percentage (.708) and 23rd in assists (2.2). Trent Mosquera is third in three-pointers per game (2.5), sixth in defensive rebounding (5.1) and steals (1.6), eighth in scoring (13.9), rebounding (5.8), and minutes (32.1), ninth in blocks (0.7) and 21st in assists (2.2). Deng Garang is 10th in blocks (0.6), 17th in steals (1.0), 20th in three pointers (1.3) and 22nd in minutes (29.5). Jakai Sanders is second in assists per game (4.4), third in assist/turnover ratio (1.9), and made free throws (94), seventh in free throw percentage (.740) and 17th in minutes (30.6).

COACH CHAMP
Le Moyne head coach Nate Champion '14 is the sixth-youngest head coach in Division I this season following back-to-back years as the second-youngest, celebrating his 34th birthday in early December. Tevon Saddler (30) at Nicholls is the youngest, while Saah Nimley (Charleston Southern), John Andrzejek (Campbell) and Zach Chu (Radford) are all 32 and Ronnie Thomas (Longwood) is 33. In his first five seasons of games leading the Dolphins, Champion has posted a 81-91 record and led the Dolphins to the conference tournament each season and the 2020 NCAA Tournament (canceled prior to first game due to COVID pandemic). Champion served as an assistant coach at fellow NEC member Stonehill during the 2016-17 season.

FIRST WINS
The Dolphins earned their first win as a Division I program on November 13, 2023 over Division III SUNY Canton, 105-46. They claimed their first victory as a Division I program over a Division I program on November 21, 2023 at CSUN, 80-70, during the first game of the Golden State Hoops Jam. They collected their first home victory as a Division I program over a Division I program on December 16, 2023 over Dartmouth College, 80-54. The 'Phins earned their first NEC victory on January 6, 2024 at FDU, 74-63.

SCOUTING CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE
The Blue Devils are led by fifth-year head coach Patrick Sellers, who has posted a 78-74 record during his time as the head of the program. He has guided Central Connecticut State to the last two NEC regular season titles and was named the NEC Coach of the Year each season.
 
The Blue Devils returned six players, only one of whom averaged over four points per game (Darin Smith Jr.), from its 2024-25 team that went 25-7 overall, including 14-2 in NEC play, while adding four freshmen and six transfers.

The Blue Devils went 6-5 during non-conference play, which included wins at Power 4 opponents, Boston College and Rutgers, and have a 9-5 record so far in NEC action. They enter their meeting with the Dolphins on a four-game win streak. 
 
Sophomore forward Darin Smith Jr. scored a team-high 22 points in a 76-69 win over Stonehill, while adding four rebounds, one steal and one block. Smith leads the NEC in scoring at 20.3 points per game and is shooting 90.6% from the free throw line, which also leads the conference. 
 
Smith led the Blue Devils with 24 points and 12 rebounds in their win over the Dolphins earlier this season. Junior forward Max Frazier contributed 14 points, nine rebounds and led the team with three steals and three blocks in the victory. He leads the team this season with 7.2 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game. 
 
Rogers had 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds for his third double-double of the season in the Blue Devils win over FDU on Saturday, 63-57. Smith led the team with 17 points and shot a perfect 13-13 from the free throw line. Senior guard Jay Rodgers scored 15 points, a team-high three assists, and two steals in the victory. Rodgers leads the NEC this season with 7.1 assists per game.

DEDICATED DUO
Le Moyne's Chris Granozio and Don Familo are in their 34th season calling men's basketball games. They are currently the third-longest tenured Division I radio broadcast duo. They trail only Wichita State's Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl (46th) and Providence's John Rooke and Joe Hassett (37th). Baylor's John Morris and Pat Nunley (31st) and BYU's Greg Wrubell and Mark Durrant (29th) round out the top five.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Dolphins remain on the road to take on Stonehill College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

COLLEGE FACTS
Le Moyne College was founded in 1946

President is Linda LeMura, who in 2014 became the first female layperson to be named the president of a Jesuit institution of higher education in the United States. In December, she will become the longest-tenured president in Le Moyne's history.

Athletic Director is Phil Brown, who was hired on October 29, 2024 and started on January 1, 2025 after serving as the Executive Associate Athletic Director and Chief Business Officer at Vanderbilt University.

Notable alumni are Josiah Gray (current Washington Nationals pitcher), Tim DeKay (actor), Jim Deshaies (retired MLB pitcher and current Chicago Cubs TV broadcast color commentator), Jeanette Epps (retired NASA astronaut, spent March 4, 2024 to October 25, 2024 on the International Space Station), Siobhan Fallon Hogan (actress), Rob Manfred (current MLB Commissioner), Neil Olshey (consultant for Philadelphia 76ers basketball operations staff and former GM of Portland Trail Blazers and LA Clippers), John Zogby (creator of the Zogby Poll).