Men’s Basketball Heads “Home” for Abilene Christian (Dec. 3; 8 p.m.)

DURHAM, N.H. –The University of New Hampshire men's basketball team plays its first of two games in the state of Texas against Abilene Christian University on Thursday, Dec. 3 (8 p.m.) at Moody Coliseum.

Cat Facts

A year ago the Wildcats began the season 4-2 through six games and won the seventh against Wheelock College.
New Hampshire ranks first in the nation in personal fouls per game (13.7 fouls). The next team is Holy Cross and Penn with a 14.3 foul average.
This is the first time the program has traveled to Texas to take on Lone Star State opponents.
Scoring wise, 7 of 11 athletes are contributing 7+ points a game through six matchups.
Through six games, the Wildcats have eclipsed 70+ points four times. In 2014-15 through the first six games, UNH tallied three such instances.

The State of New Hampshire
New Hampshire most recently defeated Bryant University in a come-from-behind win, 75-67. Junior tri-captain Jaleen Smith (Freeport, Texas) scored a career-high 23 points (7 of 13) including three 3-pointers. He shot 6 of 7 from the free-throw line, with his first miss from the charity stripe this season after hitting 25 straight. Classmate Jacoby Armstrong (Sachse, Texas) scored 14 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Lastly, senior Ronnel Jordan (San Antonio, Texas) tallied 13 points and six rebounds.

It was with 8:56 remaining in the game and the Wildcats down 54-47 where the defense made stops and scored baskets on the other end. Smith nailed a jumper in the lane followed by a 3-pointer to narrow the deficit to two, 54-52, with 7:29 to go. With 5:26 on the clock and UNH down 57-56, Smith drilled his third trey to pull ahead, for good, 59-57.

Sophomore Tanner Leissner (Converse, Texas), who has sat out three consecutive games with an injury, still leads the team in scoring with 18.0 per game. Armstrong ranks second with 15.2 points while grabbing 4.8 rebounds a game. Smith leads the team in assists per game (5.2) and scores 13.0 per contest. Sophomore Iba Camara (Dakar, Senegal) nearly records a double-double per game with 9.8 points and 12.0 rebounds per matchup.

Scouting ACU
Abilene Christian is coming off an 85-57 road decision to Oakland University on Nov. 28. ACU shot 31.3 percent from the field (20 of 64), including just 14.3 percent from 3-point range (3 of 21). The Wildcats trailed 37-24 at halftime after a quick closing burst by the Grizzlies and saw that deficit expand to 22 points in the first few minutes of the second half as Oakland opened the lead on a 16-7 run to grab a 53-31 advantage early.

Jaylen Franklin scores 12.3 points per game this season to lead all ACU scorers. He is shooting 49.1 percent from the field and has totaled 10 steals through six games. Parker Wentz is the second double-digit scorer with 10.5 per game while relying on the 3-pointer, shooting 17 of 32 (53.1 percent) from beyond the arc.

Abilene Christian is in a transitional period from Division II to Division I NCAA status. Currently, the team is in year three of a four-year span where they are unable to participate in the Southland Conference's postseason play or the NCAA tournament. In 2017-18 they will officially become a Division I member and will be allowed to participate in conference and NCAA tournaments.

All-Time Series
This is the first matchup for New Hampshire and Abilene Christian. The last time the program played an opponent from Texas was back on Dec. 29, 1995 when they played Texas Christian University in a 93-74 loss at the Meadowlands Tournament in East Rutherford, N.J. This will be a program-first for the Wildcats, as the team has never played in Texas.

Casual Camara
Forward Camara scored career-highs in points and rebounds to open the 2015-16 season against Lyndon St. His 15-point and 20-rebound stat line earned him America East Player of the Week honors on Nov. 16. At UConn, the sophomore scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists and totaled two steals. The Senegal native tallied a second double-double this season at Holy Cross with 14 points and 18 rebounds and followed that up with a 10 point, 10 rebound effort at Brown.

Camara leads the team with four 10+ rebound games through six contests and ranks seventh in the country in rebounds per game (12.0). He is averaging 9.8 points and 12.0 rebounds through six games.

Score, Score Score
UNH is 3-0 when 4+ scorers finish with 10+ points in a game. In the season opener, Leissner, Camara, Smith and freshman Pat McNamara (Arlington Heights, Ill.) eclipsed the 10-point threshold. At Holy Cross, the foursome completed the feat again followed by five 10+ scorers at Brown.

Locked In Leissner
Leissner added a fifth career double-double and matched his career-high scoring output with 21 points during the season opener. At No. 19 UConn, Leissner finished with his second consecutive 20-point effort on 20 points and four rebounds. The 2015 America East Rookie of the Year averages 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and shoots 51.3 percent from the field per game. He sat out because of injury against Brown, American and Bryant.

Let's Go Home
The men's basketball team scheduled a trip to Texas this season to tackle Abilene Christian (Dec. 3; 8 p.m.) and Southern Methodist University (Dec. 5; 1:30 p.m.) to give the six Texas natives on the team a chance to play in front of family and friends. The five-day trip gives the 'Cats a look at some new competition with two new teams UNH has never played against.

Zeroed In
Smith nearly notched a triple-double (two rebounds shy) in the season opener (Nov. 13) against Lyndon St. The stat line was his second-career double-double and the first where he used the assists column. In the program's first victory over Bryant, Smith scored a career-high 23 points (7 of 13) in 40 minutes of action. He continues to do a little bit of everything, averaging 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists through six games.

The 2015 All-Championship Team member started in all 32 games for UNH last year and ranked second in both scoring (10.7 ppg) and rebounding (5.2 rpg). He paced the team in assists with 2.8 per game. At the guard position, he ranked third in blocks with 11 and was the only guard with more than two.

Strong Play
Armstrong poured in a personal-best 26 points in an 88-77 win at Brown followed by a 22-point outburst against American to lead all scorers. He made his season debut at UConn where he totaled seven points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist off the bench. At Holy Cross, he notched seven points, and four rebounds on 3 of 5 shooting from the field. This season, the 2015 All-Conference Third Team member is scoring 15.2 points and corralling 4.8 rebounds per game.

Flu Game
While battling the flu, Armstrong tallied 14 points and corralled four rebounds to defeat the Bryant Bulldogs (Nov. 30). He shot 6 of 10 from the floor and nailed his single 3-pointer attempt. The tri-captain also played 35 minutes in a starting role, the largest workload for the forward this season.

Double-Double Dose
UNH student-athletes have tallied five double-doubles through six games, led by Camara who has three in six games. Just a year ago, the Wildcats had five double-double stat lines in 32 games played. Leissner led UNH with four during 2014-15. Camara ranks 25^th in the nation with three double-doubles.

3-Point D
Against Bryant, UNH held the Bulldogs to 17.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc, tying the season low set in the home opener against Division III Lyndon St. (Nov. 13). This was the lowest percentage an opponent was held to since Jan. 22, 2015 when the University of Vermont was held to 16.7 percent (3 of 18) from beyond the arc. Bryant shot 2 of 11 in the first half and 1 of 6 in the final frame.

Mac Truck
Freshman McNamara is shooting 50.0 percent from beyond the arc this season, and went a season-high 6-for-9 on 3-pointers at Holy Cross with five in the second half. The Illinois native scored 11 points on 4 of 10 shooting, including three treys, in the season opener against Lyndon State College. Last season, the Wildcats topped the league in 3-point field-goal percentage with a 37.4 percent mark. UNH looks to continue that trend, shooting 36.0 percent so far through six games.

Wildcat Captains
Smith, Armstrong and junior Joe Bramanti (Andover, Mass.) bring leadership to the Wildcats this season. Bramanti returns to captaincy after last year's role produced a balanced team. Smith and Armstrong join Bramanti in their junior seasons, all with UNH, with a combined 3,000+ minutes of game time.

Scoring Jump
Leissner and Smith averaged 10 + points a game a year ago, improving the Wildcat offense from last place in the conference in 2013-14 (57.8 ppg) to first in the conference in 2014-15 (67.1 ppg). The +9.3 scoring increase is first among the most improved Division I teams from a season ago, where the 'Cats finished tied for sixth for most improved team with +13 wins.

Herrion Wins Again
Head coach Bill Herrion has won 121 games while a head coach at UNH and now ranks second all-time on the coaching wins' list. He overtook William Cowell (1916-28), who won 119 games throughout his 12-year coaching career, in a 73-69 win over Holy Cross (Nov. 19). Next on the list is Gerry Friel (1969-89), who tallied 185 wins in 20 years of leadership.

Look Ma, I'm On TV
The Wildcats are set to play five ESPN3 games, two at home, and three television games in 2015-16. Additionally, New Hampshire played on SportsNet New York (SNY) when they took on the University of Connecticut (Nov. 17; 7 p.m.), will be broadcasted on WBIN Classics and Fox College Sports on Dec. 19 (1 p.m.) against Dartmouth College in Lundholm and lastly Fox College Sports on Jan. 16 (1 p.m.) against Stony Brook University in Durham. The ESPN3 contests will be at Southern Methodist University (Dec. 5; 1:30 p.m.), at Boston College (Dec. 30; 2 p.m.), at UMass Lowell (Jan. 21; 7 p.m.), against the University of Vermont (Jan. 27; 7 p.m.) and against the University of Albany (Feb. 11; 7 p.m.).

New 'Cats in Town
New Hampshire welcomes four newcomers to the roster this season. Guard Andrew Dotson (Arlington, Texas) was the 2014-15 District Offensive MVP in his area during his senior year, averaging 20.3 points per game. McNamara averaged 18 points per game in his senior season and was a regional champion, and All-Conference and All-Area selection. Forward David Watkins (Dorchester, Mass.) who was a top-30 player in New England last year. He received the most valuable player award in both junior and senior season at Brimmer and May School. Sophomore guard Jordan Reed (Lucas, Texas) is a transfer from Rice University and played in 12 games but will have to sit out this season.

Graduation Success Rate
The Wildcats received a perfect GSR of 100 percent in the NCAA report released on Nov. 4. Men's basketball was one of four New Hampshire programs that had the unblemished rating. The team was tied for first in the America East conference against other basketball squads in the conference. All 20 athletic programs as a whole recorded a GSR of 90 percent.

The Lone Star State
UNH has seven individuals from the state of Texas. Armstrong, Dotson, junior Daniel Dion (Cedar Park, Texas), Jordan, Leissner, Reed and Smith all chose the chilly New England weather over the hot lone star state.

2014-15 America East Award Winners
Joining Leissner, Armstrong was an America East All-Conference Third Team member with Matt Miller who joined the coaching staff after graduation. Bramanti was an All-Defensive Team selection and Smith was named to the All-Championship Team for his play during the tournament.

2015-16 America East Weekly Award Winners
Iba Camara – Player of the Week (Nov. 16)

Miller Moves On
After Miller was denied a sixth season as a Wildcat, the team decided to add him to the coaching staff to help build the team for a title run. Miller was a key cog to the success last season, leading the America East in 3-point field goal percentage (48.1 percent) and ranking second in threes made (63). He finished his UNH career ranked 10th in threes made in a season and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage in a season. Additionally, Miller's shooting finishes second in the UNH record books for career 3-point field goal percentage.

Wildcats on the Air
The Wildcat Sports Radio Network will broadcast a total of 15 UNH men's basketball regular-season games during the 2015-16 season and will air the games for the America East Championships. Jim Jeannotte, 23-time New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year handles the play-by-play. Mike Murphy, a five-time winner of the New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year award, does the color commentating.

The Wildcat Sports Radio Network affiliates include (times/dates subject to change):

WPKX-AM - 930 - Rochester

WGIR-AM - 610 - Manchester

Live Stream - Stretch Internet - UNHWildcats.com

Here is the complete radio schedule:
Nov. 13 vs. Lyndon St. (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 19 at Holy Cross (7 p.m.)
Nov. 28 vs. American (12 p.m.)
Nov. 30 vs. Bryant (7 p.m.)
Dec. 19 vs. Dartmouth (1 p.m.)
Dec. 21 at Boston U. (7 p.m.)
Dec. 30 at Boston College (2 p.m.)
Jan. 9 vs. Binghamton (1 p.m.)
Jan. 16 vs. Stony Brook (1 p.m.)
Jan. 24 vs. Hartford (1 p.m.)
Jan. 27 vs. Vermont (7 p.m.)
Feb. 8 vs. Maine (7 p.m.)
Feb. vs. 11 UAlbany (7 p.m.)
Feb. 17 vs. UMass Lowell (7 p.m.)
Feb. 27 vs. UMBC (12 p.m.)

Preseason Predictions
New Hampshire was selected to finish fourth in the conference this season with 47 points. Leissner was named to the Preseason All-Conference Team as well, the only non-senior selected to the team.

Men's Hoops Media Center
To check out career numbers, year-by-year results, alumni roster and much more, head over to the men's basketball page at UNHWildcats.com and look under the additional links tab to find the media center link.

Looking Ahead
New Hampshire continues its Texas trip at Southern Methodist University (Dec. 5; 1:30 p.m.) on ESPN3. The 'Cats return home Tuesday, Dec. 8 to tackle Worcester State University at 7 p.m. Limited tickets are available so be sure to call the box office at 603-862-4000.

For the most up-to-date information on the men's basketball program, visit the new UNHWildcats.com. Text UNH to 90561 to sign up for Sports alerts. Message & Data Rates May Apply. 1 message/text. Consent to receive a text message is not a condition of purchasing goods or services. Text HELP to 90561 for info. STOP to cancel. T&Cs & Privacy Policy is available HERE.

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