NABC Division II Basketball Poll | Video (KUTV) | Live Stats | KU Game Notes
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The No. 6 Kutztown University men's basketball team will head into their showdown with the Warriors of East Stroudsburg on Wednesday night, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. inside of Keystone Arena with its second-highest ranking in program history.
Kutztown, currently in the midst of a 12-game win streak, was ranked sixth when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) released its Division II Men's Basketball Poll on Tuesday. The only time the Maroon and Gold have been ranked higher is when they peaked at No. 2 after opening the 2009-10 season 14-0, which also happens to be the last time KU won 12 games in a row.
Up from No. 9 a week ago, Kutztown is one spot outside the top-five that features Northwest Missouri State, Fairmont State, Indiana (Pa.), Bellarmine and California Baptist.
Notably, KU is the third-ranked team from the Atlantic Region in the poll on the eve of the NCAA's first Regional Rankings, which determine the eight teams that will be selected from the region to compete in the NCAA Tournament.
Wednesday's game will be featuring plenty of playoff implications for both squads, as Kutztown (20-2, 16-2 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)), currently sits in second place in the PSAC East with East Stroudsburg (16-7, 14-4 PSAC) right behind in third. With a win, the Golden Bears can clinch a First Round bye in the PSAC Tournament.
Fresh off of a convincing 113-75 victory over Cheyney on Saturday, Feb. 11, the Golden Bears are riding high into Wednesday's matchup with the Warriors, who have won four of their last six games.
The last time these two squads played one another, Kutztown came away victorious, 92-87, on Jan. 11 to snap the Warriors' eight-game win streak at the time.
The Golden Bears will be looking to guard
Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) to lead the offense in the contest. Notably, the junior broke the school record against Cheyney with 14 assists.
As has been the case for much of the season, the Maroon and Gold are led in scoring by
Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington), who is averaging 15.8 points per game while shooting an outstanding 54.3 percent from downtown. He is also second on the team in rebounding at 5.2 boards per game.
Right behind Lee is senior forward
Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) at 15.2 points per game and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game.
Lee and Johnson are ranked 14th and 15th in the PSAC in scoring, respectively.
Dan Cuevas (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg), who has been as consistent as they come for the Golden Bears over the past three weeks, is averaging 14.4 points along with 5.0 rebounds per contest.
Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) rounds out the top-scorers for the Golden Bears at 12.4 points per game. The redshirt-senior has been deadly accurate from the free throw line this year, shooting 90.7 percent. He also leads the team with 57 made 3-pointers.
Similar to Kutztown, East Stroudsburg relies heavily on its starters for its offensive production.
The Warriors are led by Rasheed Moore, who is seventh in the PSAC in scoring at 17.5 points per game. He is also solid off the glass at 6.5 rebounds per game, good for 14th in the league.
Behind Moore is Steve Harris and Quindell Brice, who are averaging 12.4 and 10.7 points per game, respectively.
Kutztown will look to take control of the pace early on and keep that same intensity for the whole contest. In the first matchup of the season, the Golden Bears had an 18-point lead heading into the second half, but ESU stormed back to cut the deficit to one point before KU closed out the game with last-minute free throws.
Following Wednesday, Kutztown returns home on Saturday, Feb. 18 to host Millersville for Senior Day at 3:30 p.m.
