FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- For the second straight game, the Fairfield University men's basketball team will play a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference as the Stags meet up with Boston College on Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The 6 pm game is the first match up of the Birthday of Basketball doubleheader with Auburn University and the University of Oklahoma following at 8:30 pm. The doubleheader will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
The Eagles posted a pair of wins in their last two outings, defeating Auburn (72-71) and Sacred Heart (82-75) on those dates. Boston College enjoyed a three-game win streak earlier in the year, defeating Maryland-Eastern Shore (73-57), Stony Brook (82-75), and Towson (80-70). The Eagles will play a Connecticut-based team for the third time in their last four games, falling to Hartford (65-63) and defeating Sacred Heart.
Jerome Robinson posted a career-high 32 points in the win against Sacred Heart, giving Boston College a 5-2 record when the sophomore scores 20 or more points in a game. He averages 24 points per game in wins and 16.2 points in losses this year. He leads the team in scoring with a 20.5 scoring average, the only Eagle in double digits for scoring average. A.J. Turner is the team's next leading scorer with 9.6 points per game, and also dishes off a squad-best 3.9 assists per contest. Mo Jeffers represents the team's top rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game.
The Stags dropped a 99-78 decision at NC State on Sunday. Fairfield endured a 15-0 run by NC State in each half. The Stags fought back to within four points early in the second half. after the first 15-0 stretch but the second run by the Wolfpack changed a 10-point deficit into a 25-point deficit late in the second half.
Tyler Nelson led all Fairfield scorers with 23 points, his fifth 20-point performance of the season, which brought his season scoring average to 20.2 points per contest. Amadou Sidibe saw his double-double streak come to an end after netting four points and five rebounds before fouling out against the Wolfpack. Sidibe fell from the number three slot to the number 12 slot in the NCAA Division I Rebounding Leaders List. He entered the NC State with an 11.9 rebounding average, but saw it drop to 11.2 after the game. Jerry Johnson Jr. enjoyed his best performance of the year with 17 points, raising his scoring average to 10.2, third among his teammates behind Nelson and Curtis Cobb (13.8 ppg).
Fairfield, Boston College, Auburn, and Oklahoma come together for this special day for the game of basketball. On December 21, 1891, a physical education instructor named James Naismith introduced a new game to a class of young men in an otherwise unremarkable gymnasium at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Mass. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the basketball community will celebrate 125 years of basketball – a game that has grown tremendously on the global stage and positively impacted an immeasurable number of players, coaches and fans - with Wednesday's doubleheader.
