Utica, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team is set to take on Russell Sage College twice over the next few days. UC will travel to Albany on March 25 for the 6 p.m. game before turning around to face the Gators again at Miga Court on March 26 at 5:30 p.m. 
 
Playoff Feel: With only a handful of games left each one will have Empire 8 conference tournament seeding implications. The Pioneers are currently 4-2 in E8 play, knotting them up with Alfred for third place. Sage sits fifth in the conference hunting down UC and Alfred with its 3-3 record in conference play. Regardless of the result for either side, these two games will shake up the layout of the E8 standings and seeding. 
 
Bullseye Shooter: There may be sophomore slumps in sports, but not for Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro). The Whitesboro native is the conference leader in field goal percentage as he has hit on 63 percent of his shots (29/46) while also leading the team averaging 13.2 points per game. He's coming off of an E8 Rookie of the Year season in which he averaged 12.2 points per game on 51 percent shooting and has shown no signs of slowing down. 
 
Here to Assist You: While Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley) is fourth on the team averaging 10.3 points per game, he's been one of the key facilitators on offense overall finding his open teammates. He finds himself fifth in the E8 with 3.5 assists per game, only .5 assists behind the conference leader. While he missed all of the 2019-20 season due to injury, his presence has provided a boost to the offense this season. 
 
The Grass is Greener on This Side: Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) has caused havoc on opposing offenses since his first game here at UC. While his in-you-face defensive presence has created numerous turnovers for the team, his offense has taken off this year compared to last season. Green is one of the best three point shooters on the team as he has converted on 52.9 percent of his shots from beyond the arc while shooting 55.8 percent from the field as a whole. With that in mind, in 2019-20 he shot 30.8 percent from the field while making just one of the eight three pointers he attempted. He may play defensive minded, but Green has blossomed into a reliable option on offense. 
 
Scouting Sage: The Gators don't necessarily have an overpowering offense as they rank fifth in the E8 averaging 70.7 points per game. The offensive attack is led by Jalon Borders who leads the team averaging 16.3 points per game, also making him the fifth highest scorer in the E8. Amani Cummings is the seventh highest scorer in the conference netting 15.2 on 52.2 percent shooting from the field. Sage will look to attack from inside the arc as they are the worst three point shooting team in the conference shooting 23.7 percent from deep. Defensively the team allows 74 points per game while ranking second in the conference grabbing around 29 defensive rebounds per game. They also haven't made it easy for teams to attack the hoop as they are the best team in the conference rejecting shots, averaging five blocks per game. 

Up Next: The Pioneers will square off against Elmira College twice to wrap up its regular season. The first game will be on March 29 at Elmira with tipoff at 6 p.m. and the second game will be April 1 at home with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.