Game Notes

Listen Live (Commercial Broadcast        Student Broadcast)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team resumes play when it heads up Interstate 91 for a Thursday night match up with the University of Connecticut (#8 AP; #9 ESPN/USA Today). The game will be broadcasted live on Sportsnet New York (SNY) and will tip at 7 pm from the XL Center in Hartford.

The Stags bring a four-game winning streak into the game, all coming in the month of December. The string began with a sweep of Canisius and Niagara in the opening weekend of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play, followed by non-conference wins against Old Dominion and New Hampshire. Fairfield (7-4 overall) has not allowed a team to hit 60 points in the last three games and in six contests overall.

Ryan Olander comes off a season-high 19-point performance against New Hampshire in the team's last outing, which raised his scoring average to 11.9 points per game. The senior will face his younger brother Tyler in this game, the first time that the two siblings will meet as opponents. Tyler, a sophomore, is the team's top rebounder with 6.4 caroms per contest.

Derek Needham has been the team's hottest shooter over the last five games, netting 50 percent of his field goal attempts (25 of 50). He's been equally effective from behind the three-point line, making 17 of his last 36 tries for 47 percent. On the season, the guard is averaging 11.3 points per game and leads the team with 1.6 steals per contest. Rakim Sanders is the team's top scorer at 16.3 points every forty minutes, which is good enough for fifth in the MAAC statistics. The senior is tied for the team lead with Desmond Wade, each dishing off 26 assists in 11 contests.

The Huskies own a 9-1 record  and have won all seven home games this year, including their last three contests against Arkansas, Harvard, and Holy Cross. Jeremy Lamb paces the team's offense with a 19.0 scoring average, followed by Shabazz Napier (14.6 ppg), and Ryan Boatright (14.0 ppg). Andre Drummond has been the team's enforcer in the lane with 30 blocks in 10 games.

After taking on the Huskies, Fairfield will play its next game in Philadelphia when it takes on Drexel University on December 28.