Tribe Embarks on Three-Game Road Trip

W&M will open the trip against Northeastern on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 1 p.m.

02/07/08 5:45PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s basketball team will hit the road to open a three-game road trip when it travels to Boston to face Northeastern on Saturday, Feb. 9. It will mark the second meeting between the two teams with the Tribe claiming a 55-53 win in Williamsburg on Jan. 16. Tip-off for the affair in Boston is slated for 1 p.m.

W&M won its ninth game in its last 10 tries, downing Hofstra, 74-62 The Tribe shot 52.9 percent from the field and limited the Pride to only 33.3 percent shooting. Senior Nathan Mann paced the College with a season-high 22 points, including a 5-of-7 effort from 3-point range. Fellow classmate Laimis Kisielius turned in an impressive stat line as well finishing with 13 points, seven assists and five steals. Northeastern has won three straight following a 67-60 home victory over Old Dominion on Feb. 6. Sophomore Matt Janning led the Huskies with 20 points in the victory.

Fans can catch the action on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley on the call. The broadcast as well as live stats will be available by visiting TribeAthletics.com.

For complete W&M men's basketball notes, click HERE.

Story lines
- W&M has connected on double-digit 3-pointers in each of the last five games. The Tribe is shooting 43.9 percent (58-of-132) from deep over the stretch.

- The Tribe has won nine of its last 10 games, including each of its last four road contests.

The College will look to equal the best single-season road winning streak in school history against NU. The record is five set by the 1941-42.

Scouting Northeastern
The Huskies enter the contest with the Tribe on three-game winning streak. Following road wins at Delaware (53-49) and at Drexel (63-40), NU downed Old Dominion, 67-60, in it most recent contest at home. Northeastern currently sits at 10-12 overall and 6-6 in the CAA under the direction of second-year head coach Bill Coen.

In the victory over Old Dominion, the Huskies held a 40-31 advantage on the boards, while shooting an impressive 88.9 percent (24-of-27) from the free throw line. NU limited ODU to only 37.5 percent shooting from the floor in the victory. Matt Janning led the Huskies with 20 points, while Manny Adako and Caisson Allen each finished with double digits at 16 and 10, respectively.

Janning leads NU in scoring at 16.4 points per game, which ranks fourth in the CAA. The Reigning CAA Rookie of the Year is shooting 79.7 percent from the free throw line and 35.2 percent from 3-point range. Nkem Ojougboh and Adako also average in double figures for the Huskies at 11.3 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.

Ojougboh ranks seventh in the CAA and tops NU in rebounding at 7.2 per contest. Adako has the fourth highest field goal percentage in the league at 58.6 percent. Allen has started every game at the point guard position. He is averaging 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest. He also ranks second in the CAA in steals per game at 2.2 per contest.

Northeastern Series History
The Tribe and Huskies will meet for only the fourth time since Northeastern joined the Colonial Athletic Association prior to the 2005-06 season. W&M leads the all-time series with NU at 2-1, following its 55-53 win in Williamsburg earlier this season. The 2007-08 conference ledger marks the first time the teams will meet twice during the regular season. In the earlier match-up this season, the Tribe rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit with suffocating defense and hot shooting. W&M shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half on Jan. 16, while limiting the Huskies to just 19 second-half points on the way to the victory. Junior Chris Darnell led the way for W&M with 12 points, including the game-winning conventional 3-point play with less than two minutes remaining. Junior Peter Stein and sophomore David Schneider both finished with 10 points in the win. The last time, W&M traveled to Boston it dropped an 84-69 decision to the Huskies in 2005.

Road Warriors
After a difficult early season schedule that included six of its first seven games on the road, W&M is starting to find success away from the friendly confines of Kaplan Arena. The Tribe is currently 4-1 in CAA play in road games, leading it to a second-place standing in the league. The College has won each of its last four road contests, the second-longest single season road winning streak in school history. It marks the 11th time W&M has won four straight road games, and the first since the 1994-95 season. The single-season school mark is five set during the 1941-42 season. The four-game road winning streak is not only the longest current streak in the CAA, it is the longest in the league this season.

The four straight road conference win streak ties for the longest since the school joined the CAA. W&M also won four straight league road games in 1982-83 when the conference was known as the ECAC South. The Bruce Parkhill-led squad was a perfect 9-0 in league play and won all four its road games on the way to the school’s only postseason appearance in the NIT.

It marks only the fourth time in the College’s 71 years of being affiliated with a conference that it has won four or more straight league games on the road. Over the last two seasons, the Tribe has been road warriors in league play, winning a combined eight games away from Williamsburg. Last season, W&M won four CAA road games and have won four of its first five this season.

Longest Conference Road Winning Streaks
1. 1941-42 (Southern Conference) - 5
2. 2007-08 (CAA) - 4 (Jan. 5-Present)
2. 1982-83 (ECAC South) - 4 (Jan. 8-Feb. 23)
2. 1964-65 (Southern Conference) - 4 (Jan. 16-Feb. 3)

Longest Road Winning Streaks
1. 1941-42 - 5
2. 2007-08 - 4 (Jan. 5-Present)
2. 1994-95 - 4 (Jan. 14-Jan. 26)
2. 1982-83 - 4 (Jan. 8-Jan. 22)
2. 1982-83 - 4 (Feb. 16-March 2)
2. 1964-65 - 4
2. 1934-35 - 4
2. 1932-33 - 4
2. 1931-32 - 4
2. 1929-30 - 4
2. 1920-21 - 4

Protecting the Leather
The Tribe has done a remarkable job of protecting the basketball over the last two contests, turning the ball over a minuscule 13 total times over the last 80 minutes. W&M turned the ball over five times in the victory over UNCW, before limiting itself to just eight turnovers against Hofstra. It marked the first time since the 2002-03 season that the Tribe turned the ball over fewer than eight times in back-to-back games.

The last time W&M pulled the trick was Feb. 8 and Feb. 12, 2003. The College turned the ball over eight times in a 79-69 victory at Hofstra, before registering only six miscues at Towson in a 59-52 win. The five-turnover performance against UNC Wilmington was the best for the College under head coach Tony Shaver and the lowest number since it had four at James Madison on Jan. 29, 2003.

Equally as important over the last two games has been W&M’s ability to force turnovers and turn them into points. The Tribe forced 16 UNCW turnovers and held a 24-6 advantage in points off turnovers. In its most recent win over Hofstra, the Green and Gold forced 18 Pride turnovers and turned it into a 19-6 advantage on points off turnovers. In fact, the Tribe is 8-2 this season when holding the advantage in the points off turnovers category.

W&M’s ability to limit its turnovers has been a telling stat to the Tribe’s success. In victories, the Tribe is only turning the ball over 13.4 times compared to 15.6 in losses. The Tribe has a positive turnovers margin of 2.0 in victories compared to a -1.9 turnover margin in losses.

Mann On a Mission
Senior guard Nathan Mann had been one of the driving forces behind the Tribe’s recent success. Over the last 10 games, Mann is the College’s second-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game. In fact, over the last three contests, Mann is averaging 17.3 points per game, lifting his season scoring average to a career-best 10.2 per game. In his most recent outing, the Overland Park, Kan., native went for a game and season-high 22 points in the College’s victory over Hofstra.

More impressive than his scoring has been Mann’s ability to shoot the ball from long range. Over the last 10 games, Mann is shooting 50.8 percent (32-of-63) from 3-point range, lifting his season average to 43.4 percent, which ranks second in the CAA. It also currently ranks as the fourth best 3-point percentage in school history and the highest for a Tribe senior. The best 3-point percent for a W&M senior in school history is the 39.6 percent from Thomas Roberts in 1992-93. Mann is also averaging 2.55 3-pointers per game, which ranks third in the CAA. The per game clip is currently the second best single-season total in W&M history.

In three of the last five games, Mann has connected on five or more 3-pointers. He drilled a career-high six against Drexel, before hitting five against both James Madison and Hofstra. In the Tribe’s overtime victory at Drexel, Mann became just the sixth player in W&M history to hit at least six 3-pointers in a game. It marked the 15th such occasion in school history and was also a career-high for the Overland Park, Kan., native. The last time a Tribe player connected on six triples was Nick D’Antoni at James Madison in 2004.

Finding the Open Man
The Tribe understands the importance of the extra pass, and the College’s offensive scheme relies heavily on reading teammates, while making intelligent passes. W&M has ranked among the CAA leaders in assists for most of the season and currently is fourth averaging 14 helpers per game. In each of the last two games, W&M has dished out 20-plus assists in victories over UNCW and Hofstra.

The back-to-back 20-plus assist effort marks the first time it has happened since head coach Tony Shaver’s first season at the helm. During the 2003-04 campaign, W&M had three straight 20-plus assist performances against Hofstra (20) on Jan. 24, 2004, Old Dominion (22) on Jan. 26, 2004 and James Madison (20) on Jan. 28, 2004. Against UNCW on Feb. 2, the Tribe dished out 20 assists, before handing out 21 dimes in the victory over Hofstra on Feb. 6. The 20-assist contests were the 12th and 13th times under Shaver that the Tribe accomplished the feat. The Tribe is 10-3 in those contests.

More impressive than the Tribe’s back-to-back assist efforts is that the 41 total assists came on 50 made field attempts. In the win over UNCW, sophomore David Schneider handed out six assists to lead the Tribe. Senior Laimis Kisielius led the Tribe with a career-high seven assists against Hofstra, while Schneider dropped six dimes for the second straight game. In his W&M career, Schneider now has 11 games of five or more assists.

Mann in the Record Books
Heading into his senior campaign, Nathan Mann had already established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in W&M history. With Mann’s performance during his final season in the Green and Gold, he is not far from pushing himself atop many of the College’s 3-point records. He is enjoying his best season to date, shooting 43.4 percent from 3-point range. His senior efficiency from long range furthered his already impressive career numbers.

Mann currently sits at 198 made 3-point field goals on 541 chances. Both those numbers are the second-most in school history and quickly closing in on the Tribe’s all-time records. The school record for 3-pointers made and attempted is held by Matt Verkey (1993-96), who was 218-of-583 for his Tribe career. Mann trails Verkey by 20 made 3-pointers and 42 attempted. The senior tri-captain also ranks fifth in career 3-point field goal percentage at 36.6 percent and sixth in 3-pointers made per game at 1.82.