The Atlantic Sun’s top team will be on the road when the North Florida Ospreys (16-6) head to Fleisher Center to face off against the NJIT Highlanders (11-9). Action begins at 2:00 pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 24 and can be seen on ES3.
The Highlanders enter this game hoping for similar success after blowing out Jacksonville 83-63 on Thursday. Damon Lynn was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting. The Ospreys, meanwhile, are coming off a 78-62 win against USC Upstate on Thursday. Nick Malonga led the team in scoring by accounting for 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
Over the last five games, Lynn has taken his game to another level for the Highlanders, averaging 20.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and 4.8 three-pointers. The Ospreys also have their own player combo that has upped their production in that same time frame. Chris Davenport has averaged 13.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 0.6 steals, 3.2 blocks, and 1.2 three-pointers, while Beau Beech has put up 16.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.8 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 3.2 three-pointers.
Notes
In its last game, NJIT won by a margin of 20 points. North Florida is 6-2 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. NJIT has a 2-3 record in blowouts.
With 70.5 possessions and 1.078 points per possession, the NJIT Highlanders perform worse on both metrics than the North Florida Ospreys. North Florida averages 71.5 possessions and 1.194 points per possession.
The North Florida Ospreys have one of the best effective field goal percentages this season, ranking third in the country with an eFG% of 58.9%. The NJIT Highlanders have a winning 2-1 record in games where opponents have a similar or higher eFG%.
On average, NJIT attempts 25.0 three pointers and North Florida attempts 28.0. In games where they have 20 or more three point attempts, the NJIT Highlanders are 10-8 while the North Florida Ospreys have an outstanding 16-5 record.
The North Florida Ospreys rank 16th with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.53, while the NJIT Highlanders rank outside the top 100 at 115th with an A/TO of 1.17.
On average, NJIT makes 6.8 steals per game. North Florida has a solid 7-4 record when it gives up at least 6 steals.
