One game at a time, NJIT has transformed from outside looking in to America East frontrunner

Grant Billmeier and NJIT are in midst of one of greatest turnarounds in program history, sitting just outside America East lead as March approaches. (Photo by NJIT Athletics)

NEWARK, N.J. — At 6-foot-10, Grant Billmeier is almost impossible not to recognize as he patrols the sideline at the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.

One of the tallest head coaches in the country has had an order nearly as large as his stature the past two seasons at NJIT, attempting to recreate the upward mobility the Highlanders enjoyed in the MacGyvered Great West Conference and as an independent. Now in the America East, NJIT has seen tough sledding since Billmeier replaced Brian Kennedy in 2023, twice finishing last of nine in the conference standings and thus the odd man out of the eight-team league tournament.

This year has gone far different to date, as NJIT stands 15-13 overall, but more importantly, 10-3 in conference play and just a half-game back of league leader UMBC with three games remaining in the regular season. An influx of new talent and cornerstone veterans is perhaps the biggest reason why the improvement on the corner of Warren and Lock has been so noticeable.

“It’s a really connected group,” Billmeier said even after NJIT’s six-game win streak was halted Thursday by Albany. “I think we have a lot of balance. Teams had to game plan in the past (for) maybe one or two players, and I think this year, you really have to game plan for everyone in our starting lineup. Everyone’s an offensive threat, and we’ve been really good defensively and rebounding.”

Three months ago, one could hardly have deduced such a possibility considering NJIT opened its campaign at Fordham without the services of arguably two of its more important players in senior forward Melvyn Ebonkoli and junior guard Sebastian Robinson. The absences mattered little for the Highlanders, who methodically carved up the host Rams and spoiled head coach Mike Magpayo’s Rose Hill debut with a 72-61 upset win.

“You go on the road, opening night of the season, and you’re starting Malachi Arrington, who’s a sophomore,” Billmeier recalled. “Jordan Rogers is a sophomore, Ari Fulton’s a sophomore. Jeremy Clayville, sophomore, Dave Bolden’s a freshman. And they go in an Atlantic 10 (venue) with a new coach, and go in there and win easily without two of your horses. That obviously gives a coach a lot of confidence.”

“Melvyn was dealing with a foot thing, Sebastian was dealing with the shoulder thing early in the season, but to win that game with such youth on the court, it really just showed you when you get your horses back along with what those guys did, you’re gonna have a chance to have a really competitive season.”

Ebonkoli and Robinson soon made their returns to the lineup, each providing a piece to the puzzle that was not constant in either of the past two seasons. The former shoots 54 percent from the floor and his 5.6 rebounds per game are second only to Ari Fulton for the team lead, while Robinson, the former Roselle Catholic standout, is the Highlanders’ leading scorer at 14.4 points per clip.

“Melvyn just gives us something we haven’t had here,” Billmeier said of Ebonkoli. “He’s a physical low-post presence, terrific defender, great rebounder, excellent passer. Guys have to game plan for him. Do they double him? Do they play him single coverage? And then Sebastian’s a physical downhill guard that’s had an unbelievable season for us.”

Then, there is David Bolden. The freshman from Milwaukee flew somewhat under the radar when recruited last summer, and has blossomed into Billmeier’s point guard of the present and future. His 80 assists and 52 steals pace the Highlanders in both categories, and to the casual fan, his game may rekindle memories of Tariq Francis, who led NJIT’s attack the past two seasons before transferring to Rutgers. However, the two are different even if the expectations for each were moderately similar.

David Bolden has evolved into steady point guard for NJIT, leading team in assists and steals while being Highlanders’ second-leading scorer. (Photo by NJIT Athletics)

“When we recruited Dave, he was a really confident kid and he played at his pace,” Billmeier said. “He didn’t get rattled up. I thought Dave was gonna be a big-time player. I think him and Tariq are very different. Dave’s more a natural point guard where Tariq’s a really high-level scorer, he scored a lot of points here (and) he’s scoring a lot of points in the Big Ten. I kind of saw them being two different players, but we expected big things when we recruited Dave.”

At a mid-major like NJIT, the transfer portal is almost a fact of life for better or worse, a specter made more imposing by the rigorous academic requirements of the school, which precludes Billmeier from luring most upperclassmen who transfer. However, the Highlanders have been fortuitous in retaining a large part of their core in each of the past two seasons, something Billmeier hopes will again be the case even if he still has to play the remainder of this season out with much more at stake this time around.

“Every year is a challenge,” he admitted. “You hope to retain them, and we’re fortunate to be able to retain the majority of our roster from last season. When things shake out in the spring, you hope to not be like Will Smith when he comes in the living room and there’s no furniture there, and you’re just coming home to an empty home. I hope that’s not me come the spring, but we’ll deal with that one come April.”

NJIT can clinch a home quarterfinal matchup in the America East tournament with a win Saturday against a Vermont team it already beat on the road earlier this season, or with an Albany loss. But a seasoned veteran like Billmeier knows far too well the peril of looking too far out onto the horizon so late in the season, and has emphasized the right-here, right-now approach as the Highlanders look to carve out a slice of history.

“We just try to talk about the next opponent,” he reiterated. “We don’t look far. I don’t talk to them about standings. I know they do, I know they know what’s going on throughout the league. That doesn’t get brought up by our staff because we’re so young, and if you start looking to the future, you can kind of get caught up in what’s in front of you.”

“I think it’s about telling our guys, reminding them why we’ve had success. Our ability to be a connected group and to play extremely hard, that’s a constant reinforcement for us. We show it to our guys on film. When we play at the level we play at, we show them why they’re winning.”