ABOUT THE GAME

• Winners of three in a row and six of the last seven, Millersville returns home where it is 7-1 with only one loss to the No. 13-ranked team in Division II. Millersville averages 81.3 points per game on 48.1% shooting from the field and 35.2% shooting from three, outscoring teams by 8.4 points per game. Bloomsburg is 0-7 on the road with nine losses in the last 10 games. 
• Casey Stitzel coached his 400th career game Wednesday, earning his 219th overall win and his 103rd as Millersville’s head coach. Stitzel has the Marauders trending toward a fifth-consecutive winning season, which hasn’t been accomplished at Millersville since 2000-05.  Stitzel is one of just six coaches in the program’s 124 years to win over 100 games. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Now averaging 5.5 assists per game, Jaden Faulkner ranks second in the PSAC and 26th in Division II. He is 11 assists away from becoming the sixth player in program history with 400. No Marauder has averaged more than 5.0 assists in a season since Mike Monroe’s 5.9 in 1987-88. On Wednesday, Faulkner scored 20 points for the fifth time this season and recorded his second double-double in three games, giving him seven in his career. Millersville has won the last six times Faulkner recorded a double-double. Faulkner has averaged 9.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists over his last three games. 
• With five blocks in the last two games, Drew Stover climbed into a tie for first in the PSAC with 1.5 blocks per game. He’s swatted a shot in six of the last seven games and averaged 2.0 per game in that stretch. Millersville is 6-1 in those games, allowing 72.4 points per game on 43.7% shooting, and that’s while playing against the Division II leader in scoring (Gannon). In the first six games of the season, Millersville allowed opponents to shoot 46.8%. 
   

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES

•  Bloomsburg has not won more than 11 games in any of the last four seasons and is in the midst of a rebuild under second-year coach Chris Bess. The Huskies struggle at the defensive end, allowing a PSAC-worst 91.6 points per game, and its -15.8 scoring margin is also last in the league. They’ve sent teams to the line 22.3 times per game (third-most in the PSAC), and their 17.4 turnovers per game are the third-most. The play of Jake Nelson is a bright spot as he ranks second in the PSAC in rebounding (9.6 per game) and has totaled six double-doubles. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Millersville has won eight consecutive games against Bloomsburg dating back to a 73-71 road win at Bloomsburg in 2019. That snapped a streak of six consecutive wins for the Huskies. Millersville scored at least 80 points in six of the last seven games against Bloomsburg. Since the start of the 1983-84 season, Millersville is 29-11 at home against Bloomsburg, winning 19 of the last 22 meetings played in Pucillo Gymnasium. Millersville’s 94-56 win at home on Feb. 4, 2023, was its largest margin of victory over Bloomsburg since a 106-66 win in 1957. Matt Dade averaged 20.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the two games against Bloomsburg last season, scoring 19 points and eight rebounds in the win at home and 21 points and five boards in the 70-60 road win.