America East Basketball: NJIT Adds to the Program

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The NJIT Highlanders finished the 2021-22 season at 11-18, 6-12 in America East. Their playoff run came to a quick end at the hands of conference powerhouse, the Vermont Catamounts in the quarterfinals. Since then, head coach Brian Kennedy has been busy getting this program ready for the 2022-23 season. Their non-conference schedule offers some interesting challenges in the likes of road games at California on November 11, and Cincinnati on November 30. All are a part of a 13-game slate that has the Highlanders on the road eight times and home for five.

Coach Kennedy has also finalized his roster for the year signing point guard Paul McMillian IV from Woodward High School in Ohio. Kennedy is the highest-rated recruit in the history of the NJIT program. The standout guard was rated #123 by Rivals Top 150 and was named Gatorade State Player of the Year in Ohio. In three seasons at Woodward, McMillian averaged 27 points a game and totaled 2,658 points while helping his school to a pair of CMAC Red Division titles. He was also named Ohio Division II Co-Player of the Year. Kennedy says “He has a commitment to excellence on and off the court.” In the classroom, McMillian was named Valedictorian of his high school class.

Raheim Sullivan is a 6-1 guard from Toronto, ON. who will play a graduate year with the Highlanders after spending two years at Marist College. He appeared in all 23 games and made 12 starts a season ago averaging 7.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. He would lead the team in steals. He finished second in the MACC in three-point shooting percentage by going 23-for-54. He pulled down a season-high five rebounds on three separate occasions.

Karsten Graham is a 6-6 swingman from the Covenant School in Charlottesville VA. who has a two-star rating as a shooting guard out of high school. He averaged 20 points a game. At the moment, Graham is expected to walk on to the Highlander team with the hopes of working toward getting some playing time as the season moves along.

Tre Munson is a 6-4 guard from Cincinnati College Prep Academy. He became the first player to sign with a division one program after playing for CCPA. In his senior season. Munson averaged 21.4 points, and 4.8 rebounds helping his school win the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference Blue-Division title. He spent the summer playing postgraduate ball at Pro Holmes Sports Academy in Florida. He averaged 17.5 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 36% from three-point land. His play there was noticed by other division one programs noticeably North Carolina A&T, Florida Gulf Coast, and Jacksonville University before he settled on NJIT.

Coach Kennedy has loaded up in the backcourt in hopes of getting more outside production from his guards. Time will tell if it works out.

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