Game #24: Le Moyne (11-12, 6-4 NEC) vs. Wagner (7-13, 2-7 NEC)
Info: Thursday, Feb. 5 | 7:00 p.m. | Staten Island, N.Y. | Spiro Sports Center
Watch: NEC Front Row
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://wagnerathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Wagner links: Schedule | Roster | Stats | News
 
Staten Island, N.Y. — The Le Moyne College men's basketball team is back on the road to take on the Wagner Seahawks.

LAST TIME OUT
The Dolphins are coming off of a road loss to the Stonehill Skyhawks on Saturday, 65-54. Redshirt junior guard Trent Mosquera had his first career double-double with a team-high 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, while adding three assists, three blocks and two steals. Junior guard Samuel Hincapie scored 10 points on 3-4 shooting from the field, while adding four rebounds in 26 minutes off of the bench. Sophomore guard Jakai Sanders contributed a team-high six assists while adding nine points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Isaac Nyakundi recorded eight points, three blocks and a team-high three steals, while junior guard/forward Tennessee Rainwater had seven points and five rebounds in 23 minutes off of the bench.

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
Le Moyne and Wagner are knotted up at 3-3 in their all-time series history. The programs first met in the Le Moyne invitational during the 1968-69 season with Wagner taking the victory, 91-81. They did not meet again until Le Moyne joined the NEC in the 2023-24 season, with the teams splitting their two matchups each year since. The Dolphins took their last meeting earlier this season, a 69-67 comeback victory at Ted Grant Court on Jan 23.

COMMON OPPONENTS
The Dolphins and Seahawks did not play any common opponents during non-conference action, but both have defeated NEC foes, Chicago State and FDU, while Le Moyne has defeated Saint Francis, New Haven and lost to Mercyhurst, CCSU and Stonehill, and the Seahawks have lost to all five.

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
Shilo Jackson – 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/30, 1/6, 1/12, 1/21                  Tennessee Rainwater – 1/27

NET RANKINGS
Through games on February 2, Le Moyne is 275th in the latest NCAA NET rankings, second among NEC members, while Wagner is ranked 321st, which is ranked fifth among NEC members.

DOLPHINS IN THE NEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Shilo Jackson leads the NEC in field goal percentage (.656) (10th nationally, but Le Moyne student-athletes don't qualify for national rankings during the institution's transition period), offensive rebounding (2.8) (tied for 82nd nationally), and double-doubles (8) (tied for 29th nationally). He is second in blocks (1.7) (58th nationally) and rebounding (8.3) (59th nationally), fourth in defensive rebounding (5.5) (82nd nationally) and made free throws (74), seventh in scoring (14.8), ninth in free throw percentage (.725) and 20th in assists (2.2). Trent Mosquera is second in the NEC with a 37.9 three-point percentage (80th nationally), third in three-pointers per game (2.7), fifth in defensive rebounding (5.0), sixth in steals (1.5), eighth in scoring (14.3) and blocks (0.9), 9th in rebounding (5.8), 10th in minutes (32.0) and 22nd in assists (2.1). Deng Garang is 14th in blocks (0.7), 17th in three pointers (1.3), 21st in steals (1.0), 23rd in scoring (10.6) and 24th in minutes (29.2). Jakai Sanders is second in assists per game (4.2) and made free throws (81), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7), eighth in free throw percentage (.730) and 16th in minutes (30.3).

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 WAGNER
The Seahawks are currently led by interim head coach Dwan McMillan amid head coach Donald Copeland's time away from the program. Wagner has posted a 7-13 record overall, including 2-7 in NEC play, under his direction. McMillan joined the coaching staff in 2024 as an assistant coach following two years serving as recruiting coordinator for Fordham University.
 
The Seahawks returned only two players, including starting forward Zavier Fitch, from its 2024-25 team that went 14-16 overall and 6-10 in NEC play, while adding 10 transfers and one freshman.
 
Wagner went 5-6 in non-conference action, which included an overtime victory at Manhattan and a win over Maryland Eastern Shore, and has opened NEC play 2-7.
 
Junior guard Nick Jones scored a season-high and team-best 35 points in their overtime victory over Manhattan, 103-101, while adding six assists, six rebounds and two blocks. He is averaging 15.2 points per game to lead the team, and is the only Seahawk averaging double figures. Fitch had a double-double in the win, scoring 10 points and hauling in 10 rebounds, while blocking three shots in 36 minutes off of the bench. His 6.8 rebounds per game is best on the squad.
 
Jones led the team in scoring with 13 points in their loss to the Dolphins earlier this season, while adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Junior forward Bryan Akanmu hauled in a team-high and season-high 12 rebounds while adding 10 points to give him his first double-double of the season. Junior guard Eddie Place contributed 12 points on 4-4 shooting from three-point range, while adding three assists. 
 
Jones led the Seahawks with 26 points in their 75-72 overtime victory over FDU on Saturday, snapping a seven-game losing streak. Graduate student guard Travis Gray recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, and provided the game-winning shot at the buzzer. Gray is shooting 41.7% from three-point range on 3.6 attempts 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 return to Ted Grant Court to take on Saint Francis University on Saturday at 1:00 pm.