On Thursday night, Sacred Heart lost to UMass-Lowell 57-54. Ohio State beat UMass-Lowell in its season-opener, 92-55. ... This is Sacred Heart's 12th game against a ranked opponent in program history, and it has lost all of the first 11. The last time the Pioneers played a ranked opponent came in 2006 vs. then-No. 20 Connecticut, and they lost 89-46. ... The three-point loss to UMass-Lowell was the 12 of the last 16 Pioneers losses that have come by single digits. In Sacred Heart's last 22 games decided by single digits, it is 2-20. ... Sacred Heart shot 58.8 percent from the field in its season opening 71-53 win over Hartford. It followed that up with a 35.3 percent shooting performance in the loss to UMass-Lowell. ... This is the Pioneers' fourth game vs. a Big Ten opponent, and they are 0-3 against teams from that conference all time. The last Big Ten opponent Sacred Heart faced was Penn State in 2009, and it lost 87-75. ... Sacred Heart's leading scorer is De'Von Barnett, who averages 13.0 points per game.
