UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team travels to Hartwick College for Empire 8 Conference action on Tuesday night.  The Pioneers and the Hawks will square off at 8 p.m. at Lambros Arena in Oneonta, NY. 

FOLLOW THE GAME LIVE: The Hartwick Athletics Communications office will offer live video (www.hartwickhawks.com/watch) and live stats (http://livestats.hartwick.edu/BasketBall/MBB1415/xlive.htm).

SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow live updates on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the game on and Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #UCMoose… You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers ... Fans can also follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers.

HISTORY UPDATE: Senior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) recently became the 14^th player in program history to score 1,000 or more points in a career … Nevins currently ranks ninth on the College's all-time list and needs 13 more points to jump two spots into seventh place where he would surpass Pioneer Hall of Famer David Ancrum '80 … Nevins also ranks third all-time at UC with 361 career assists and he needs 32 more assists to surpass Brian Collier '07 for second place all-time … Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) needs 64 more points to reach 1,000 for his career … Jeffers also has 756 career rebounds, which ranks second all-time at UC … Senior Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) has 134 career 3-pointers and recently surpassed Matt Baldwin for fourth place on the College's all-time list.

THROUGH 16 GAMES: Utica currently holds a 6-10 overall record to go along with a 2-5 mark in the Empire 8 … A win over Hartwick on Tuesday night would place the Pioneers in a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference.

ON THE NATIONAL SCENE: Maisch leads the conference in both 3-pointers made (50) and 3-point field goal percentage (51%) … His 50 3-pointers rank 13^th nationally and his 3-point shooting percentage ranks sixth in the nation … He currently leads the team and ranks third in the Empire 8 with an average of 18.0 points per game … Maisch averaged 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a 1-1 weekend for the Pioneers … He shot 12-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-9 from 3-point range over the course of the last two games … He totaled a team-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting (5-of-6 from 3-point) as the Pioneers defeated Houghton 82-62 Friday night … Friday night marked the fourth time this season Maisch has made five or more 3-pointers in a single game.

GUARD PLAY: Senior Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) and junior Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) are both averaging 10.8 points per game … Nevins has provided balance at the point guard position as he leads the team and ranks second in the Empire 8 with 74 assists … Tutein is more of an explosive outside threat as he ranks second on the team with 35 3-pointers this season.

MR. CONSISTENCY: Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) is averaging 8.9 points per game and a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game … His 118 rebounds this season ranks sixth in the Empire 8 … He is also shooting 46.2% from the floor (48-for-104). 

NEWCOMER: Freshman Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) averaged 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game as Utica went 1-1 in Empire 8 play over the weekend … He registered a career-high 10 points in the Pioneers win over Houghton on Friday night … He also tallied four rebounds and one assist in the victory … He posted three rebounds, two steals, two assists and one point in the Pioneers loss to Nazareth on Saturday. 

BIG IMPACT: 6-foot-4 215 pound freshman Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) has provided a big presence underneath for UC … Iton is averaging 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game off the bench.

HOMECOMING FOR COACH CONNOLLY: Following a successful playing career at Hartwick College, Utica Head Coach Chris Connolly joined the Hawks coaching staff in 1997 as an assistant coach for five seasons where he was involved in all aspects of the men's basketball program … Connolly graduated from Hartwick College in 1996 with a degree in biology … As a student-athlete he served as team captain of the men's basketball team in his senior campaign, capping a four-year career highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

SCOUTING HARTWICK: The Hawks (8-7 overall, 3-3 Empire 8) are certainly not afraid to shoot the 3-pointer and they currently lead the conference in both 3-point attempts (409) and 3-pointers made per game (9.2) … Hartwick can also hit the glass as they lead the conference with 570 rebounds this season … The Hawks have been streaky this season and recently won three straight conference games (Houghton, Alfred, Nazareth) before losing their last three (Fisher, Elmira, Ithaca) … Three different players average in double figures for the Hawks and they are led by Joey Lufkin (13.1 ppg), Trevor Norton (12.5 ppg) and Matt Wilson (10.3 ppg).

BACK HOME: The Pioneers return home this weekend to host E8 action against Elmira on Friday (8 p.m.) and Stevens (4 p.m.) on Saturday.