Senior center Rodney Stokes
Game 8
Morgan State (3-4, 1-0 MEAC) vs. UMBC (0-10, 0-0 America East)
Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010 – 4 p.m. (ET)
Hill Field House – Baltimore, Md.
Television – n/a
Radio - Sirius-153 / XM-91-WEAA 88.9 FM [Lamont Germany, Austin Ward & Mike Walker];
FOX 1370 AM [Paul Mittermeier]
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com; www.UMBCretrievers.com
Follow Morgan State men's basketball on twitter @morganstbears for in-game updates and the latest news on the squad.
The Opening Tip
Morgan State, the 2010 MEAC champions, hosts UMBC on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. at Hill Field House in Baltimore, Md. MSU 3-4 will look to build upon a 70-64 conference win against Coppin State on Dec. 4 at Hill Field House. UMBC fell to 0-10 following tough 66-53 loss against American. Saturday night's game will mark the 26th meeting between the teams.
The Last Time Out
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Morgan State opened their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Title defense with a hard fought 70-64 win over crosstown rival Coppin State at Hill Field House tonight before a crowd of 3,107. The improved the Bears record to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the MEAC. The win also marked the sixth consecutive victory for Morgan State against the Eagles.
UMBC's Last Game
BALTIMORE, Md. - UMBC guards Travis King and Chris De La Rosa combined for 38 points, but an anemic first-half offensive performance spelled defeat for the Retrievers, as visiting American defeated UMBC, 66-53, at the RAC Arena. The 66 points allowed by UMBC was a season low and 18 points below the team's defensive scoring average. King led all scorers with 20 points, scoring 17 in the second half.
Series History
♦ Saturday game will be the 26th meeting between the two teams.
♦ The
Retrievers lead the series 13-12 since 1971, and had a 7-game winning streak against the Bears from 1979 to 1982.
♦ The Bears have beaten UMBC four of the last six times, including wins in their last two meetings.
♦ In their last meeting on Nov. 15, 2009, what Morgan State head coach
Todd Bozeman said to his Bears at the half must've done the trick. Because down 42-24, the Bears scored 19 consecutive points in the second half to help turn the game around in a 72-57 victory over the UMBC Retrievers at the RAC this afternoon. MSU (2-0) was not shooting very well at some moments. In fact, it took just under five minutes for the Bears to score its first points. They managed to score just one field goal in the first eight minutes of the game. Bozeman ended up yanking the starting five off the floor and replaced them with a fresh five.
Kevin Thompson recorded a double-double for MSU this afternoon with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while junior center
Rodney Stokes added 6 points, 6 boards and a career-high 7 seven blocked shots.
Home Sweet Home
♦
Todd Bozeman has coached the Bears to a terrific home record since joining Morgan State. Bozeman has led the Bears to a
36-6 (.857) current home record inside the confines of Hill Field House, including the Dec. 4 win against Coppin State.
♦ S.C. State's 71-68 win at Hill Field House on Feb. 15th handed the Bears its first home loss since Feb. 23, 2009 in a 49-47 loss against Hampton.
♦ The average margin of loss at home in the past three seasons is 8.6 pts, including a 83-63 loss vs. Seton Hall on Nov. 26, 2006 at Hill Field House.
Thompson's Hospitality
♦ MSU junior
Kevin Thompson is set to lead the Bears this season...the 6-foot-9 forward was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was the league's most dominant post player during the 2009-10 season ... As a sophomore, Thompson averaged 12.7 points per game, 11.9 rebounds (4th best in the nation) and completed the season with 22 double-doubles (pts & rebs). He has started the 2010-11 season by notching five double-double performances in seven games, including a 25 points and 10 rebounds outing against LaSalle (Nov. 20).
Numbers Game
♦ Thru seven games this season,
DeWayne Jackson leads the Bears in scoring (15.4 ppg) followed by
Kevin Thompson (14 ppg).
♦ Morgan State completed the 2009-10 season as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champs, it marked the Bears second consecutive MEAC Title and they also captured their third consecutive regular season title.
♦
DeWayne Jackson, the 2010 MEAC Rookie of the Year, had a career-high 31 point explosion against Loyola Marymount in the Bears season-opener, but was held to 6 points (0-5 3FG) at Providence and 7 points at LaSalle. He led the Bears with 24 points and 7 rebounds against Coppin State.
♦ Morgan State was picked to finish as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champs again this year … the Bears received 20 first place votes and totaled 476 points to garner the league's top position for the second year in a row.
♦ The Bears are limiting opponents to shooting 27.3 percent from downtown, which ranks 2nd in the MEAC for 3-point field goal percentage defense.
♦
Aric Brooks has connected on 7-of-16 triples (.438) has been the most accurate from long-range thru the first seven ballgames ...
Justin Black is shooting 30 percent (7-23 3FG).
♦ A portion of the credit for Morgan's wins should go to the defense, which is holding opponents to 40 percent shooting from the floor this season. In each of the Bears' three wins, they have held opponents to shooting 39 percent or below.
♦ Morgan State will return to action on Monday (Dec. 20) against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
