College Basketball Preview – Independents

Among other things, what that means for the Highlanders is they will be playing non-conference games from November to March. Most of their games will be played on the east coast, meaning less travel, but NJIT did also play five games in Europe over the summer and developed some team chemistry in the process. The Highlanders will play four non-Division I games, and their D-I schedule features Seton Hall, Hofstra, Duquesne and Penn.

Despite the unsettled conference situation, the program has found some stability in recent seasons under coach Jim Engles. NJIT went 1-30 in Engles’ first season at the helm in 2008-09 but has won at least 15 games in each of the last three seasons. Reaching that total again may prove difficult given the current roster makeup. Engles will break in six freshmen, and the only senior on the roster is out for the year. Ky Howard (7.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg) is the top returning scorer, as Chris Flores (16.9 ppg), Ryan Woods (14.4 ppg) and P.J. Miller (10.1 ppg) have all moved on. Keep an eye on freshman Damon Lynn, who is a natural scorer.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball