Men's Basketball Takes Three-Game Winning Streak To Princeton

PRINCETON, NJ - After getting off to a 2-0 in MAAC play, the Merrimack men's basketball team takes a three-game winnig streak to Princeton for a 5 p.m. tip-off Wednesday.

This is just the second all-time meeting between the two schools, after last November's 68-57 Princeton win in Lawler Arena.

THE LATEST
• Merrimack is on a three-game winning streak, including opening MAAC play 2-0 for the second time in as many seasons. In home wins over Rider and Fairfield, freshman Kevair Kennedy averaged 19.5 points per game, including a team-high 20 points in the win over Fairfield on Sunday. Sophmore Tye Dorset scored a career-high 19 points, Todd Brogna had a season-high 13.  

• Merrimack is known for its #MakeChaos zone defense and in the last three games, Merrimack has held its opponents to 66 points or less, giving up 63.0 points per game. In Merrimack's last four wins the Warriors are holding opponents to 62.8 ppg. 

• Andrés Marrero  scored a career-high 23 points against Rider, making 9-of-14 field goals and 4-of-9 3-pointers. Marrero has made a three-pointer in all but one game. 

• The Warriors are back on the road after traveling over 12,500 miles in the first month of the season. Merrimack does have a road win at Boston University, when the Warriors tied a MAAC record with 19 3-pointers, led by Ernest Shelton tying the school record with nine treys. 

• Merrimack is led by Philadelphia natives Ernest Shelton and Kevair Kennedy, who were teammates at Father Judge High School, 36 miles from Princeton's campus. Shelton and Kennedy are both averaging a team-high 14.8 points per game, which is tied fo ninth in the MAAC. Shelton, a Division II transfer from Gannon University in Erie, PA, has scored 20 or more points three times, and in double figures in eight of the 11 games. Kennedy has scored in double figures in 10 of his 11 collegiate games, including nine straight. He leads Merrimack and is 11th in the conference in assists (3.2 apg) and ranks 7th in the league in steals (1.9 spg). Kenndy has been huge in the Warriors five victories, averaging 18.8 ppg. He came two assists shy of a triple-double in the win at BU (16 pts, 11 rebs,  8 assists). Kennedy scored a career-high 23 points in the win over Maine and had 16 points, 6 assists and 5 steals in the win vs. La Salle. He scored a team-high 20 points in the win over Fairfield and had 19 in the victory over Rider.

• KC Ugwuakazi is leading the MAAC and tied for 40th in the country in blocks per game (2.0 bpg). He had five blocks in the win over Fairfield and has now had five blocks in three of the last four games. Ugwuakazi is averaging 4.0 blocks per game in the last four games.

• Sophomore Tye Dorset averaging 17.0 ppg in the two MAAC conference games, shooting 12-of-20 from the field (.600). He has 4 assists in 3 of the last 4 games.