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The Game
Stonehill College hosts the Black Knights from Army West Point in its season opener Thursday night at Merkert Gymnasium. Both teams are coming off of opening night losses from Monday night as the Skyhawks fell at George Washington, 89-44, while the Black Knights dropped a game at home against Marist, 71-55. Thursday night's matchup is a rematch from a season ago when Stonehill notched its first win at the Division I level, defeating Army 82-77 on their home court in West Point, N.Y. With a new head coach in place, Kevin Kuwik, Army's 25-man roster travels to Easton, Mass. with their sights set on their first win of the season. The Skyhawks return two starters and nine total letterwinners from last season's squad that took down the Black Knights.

Media Information
Thursday night's game will be broadcast live on NEC Front Row with Charlie Bergeron (play-by-play) and Brian Buckley (analyst) calling the action for Stonehill. The broadcast can be accessed via stonehillskyhawks.com through its NEC Front Row portal (necfrontrow.com/schools/SC) or through Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku via the NEC On the Run App.

LAST TIME OUT
WASHINGTON, D.C. - George Washington University hosted the Stonehill College men's basketball team Monday night at the Charles E. Smith Center as both teams began their 2023-24 season. The Revolutionaries of the Atlantic-10 conference came out on top, 89-44. Freshman Louie Semona (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the Skyhawks' leading scorer, tallying nine points on 3-12 shooting. Graduate student Max Zegarowski (South Hamilton, Mass.) was the team's leading rebounder, snatching nine boards for Stonehill. This was the first meeting between George Washington and Stonehill as the Skyhawks began their second season at the Division I level.

Preseason Prognostications
Stonehill was picked to finish ninth in its first Northeast Conference season by the league's head coaches before they finished in a tie for second place as they went 10-6. This season, they were voted to finish in sixth place, three spots higher after their strong debut to the NEC in 2022-23. 

Tough Slate
Stonehill has picked up where it left off last season when it comes to assembling a  tough non-conference slate, featuring three pre-season ranked opponents and two of the NCAA Final Four teams from this past March. They'll take on teams from the Big East  (1 - #6 UConn), ACC (1 - #13 Miami), SEC (1 - #16 Kentucky), Big Ten (1 - Rutgers), A-10 (2- Saint Joseph's (Pa.), George Washington), Patriot League (1 - Army), America East (3 - UMass Lowell, Binghamton, New Hampshire), and the MAAC (2 - Quinnipiac, Rider) leading up to their second season of NEC play. 11 of the Skyhawks 15 non-conference games will be played on the road.

In Transition
Stonehill announced it had accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference and commence a four-year transition to full NCAA Division I membership on April 5, 2022. The Skyhawks started their four-year transition on July 1, 2022, and will earn full NCAA Division I membership in 2026-27. At the June NEC meetings, the Conference presidents announced a shift in the waiting period for automatic qualifier sports from competing for NEC postseason championships from four to two years, making Stonehill eligible to compete in the NEC postseason starting this year, in 2023-24.

Proud History
Stonehill won the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup six times, finishing in the top three in the final standings 15 of the last 17 years. Stonehill was one of just ten institutions nationwide to receive the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement, recognizing athletic departments with an Academic Success rating of 90-percent or better, in each of the first ten years of the program's existence. The College ranks No. 98 in the category of National Liberal Arts Schools by U.S. News & World Report and No. 94 in the Best Value category.

Hoop History
Stonehill men's basketball earned 15 NCAA Division II Tournament bids over its history, the last was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Stonehill was a charter member of the Northeast-10 Conference, winning the first two tournament championships in 1981 and '82, finishing its time in the Conference with four postseason titles and six regular season championships.

Getting Social
Fans and media members of Stonehill Athletics have multiple social media outlets to get updates on all 23 varsity programs. The department's Facebook page is www.facebook.com/stonehillskyhawks, and you can also follow @GoStonehill on Twitter and @stonehillskyhawks via Instagram! You can also search for Stonehill men's basketball on Facebook, follow the team's Twitter account via @StonehillBball as well as head coach Chris Kraus @CoachChrisKraus, and its new Instagram feed @stonehillbball. 

Up Next
The Skyhawks travel to the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut for a rematch with last year's national champions, the #6 University of Connecticut on Saturday at 12 p.m. The Huskies hosted the Skyhawks in Stonehill's first Division I men's basketball game a year ago as UConn won 85-54.