Francis leads NJIT against Vermont after 21-point showing

Vermont Catamounts (18-5, 8-0 America East) at NJIT Highlanders (5-15, 1-7 America East)

Newark, New Jersey; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: NJIT hosts the Vermont Catamounts after Tariq Francis scored 21 points in NJIT’s 75-66 loss to the Binghamton Bearcats.

The Highlanders have gone 3-6 at home. NJIT is the America East leader with 10.7 offensive rebounds per game led by Kjell de Graaf averaging 2.6.

The Catamounts are 8-0 in America East play. Vermont scores 73.0 points and has outscored opponents by 9.9 points per game.

NJIT scores 68.9 points, 5.8 more per game than the 63.1 Vermont allows. Vermont averages 73.0 points per game, 1.7 fewer than the 74.7 NJIT gives up to opponents.

TOP PERFORMERS: Adam Hess is shooting 38.7% from beyond the arc with 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Highlanders, while averaging 10.8 points. Francis is averaging 14.5 points over the past 10 games for NJIT.

TJ Long is averaging 12.2 points for the Catamounts. Aaron Deloney is averaging 10.1 points over the last 10 games for Vermont.

LAST 10 GAMES: Highlanders: 3-7, averaging 70.8 points, 39.2 rebounds, 11.2 assists, 8.8 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 39.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.8 points per game.

Catamounts: 9-1, averaging 72.2 points, 34.5 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 46.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.7 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.