New Haven visits Cent. Conn. St. after Smith’s 23-point game

By Canadian Press on January 3, 2026.

New Haven Chargers (6-8, 1-0 NEC) at Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (6-6, 0-1 NEC)

New Britain, Connecticut; Sunday, 1 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Cent. Conn. St. plays New Haven after Darin Smith Jr. scored 23 points in Cent. Conn. St.’s 84-78 loss to the Long Island Sharks.

The Blue Devils have gone 3-1 at home. Cent. Conn. St. averages 16.4 assists per game to lead the NEC, paced by Jay Rodgers with 7.7.

The Chargers are 1-0 in NEC play. New Haven ranks ninth in the NEC shooting 29.9% from 3-point range.

Cent. Conn. St. makes 48.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.0 percentage points higher than New Haven has allowed to its opponents (44.2%). New Haven averages 6.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.6 fewer made shots on average than the 9.1 per game Cent. Conn. St. allows.

The matchup Sunday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is shooting 40.6% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Blue Devils, while averaging 20.3 points. Max Frazier is shooting 62.2% and averaging 12.4 points over the past 10 games.

Jabri Fitzpatrick is averaging 12.6 points and 1.9 steals for the Chargers. Stefano Faloppa is averaging 9.9 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Devils: 5-5, averaging 78.3 points, 31.6 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 6.6 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.5 points per game.

Chargers: 5-5, averaging 69.9 points, 32.2 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press