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SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears will attempt to extend to a 3-game winning streak when they travel to take on the Brown Bears of the Ivy League on Wednesday, November 23. The Bears posted an 82-66 home win against Campbell last Saturday, while Brown is coming off an 80-76 loss to Albany (N.Y.) at the Naithsmith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Tip-off at Pizzitola Sports Center is scheduled for 4 p.m. There will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @MorganStBears and LIVE stats on brownbears.com.

SCOUTING THE BEARS
• Brown finished the 2015-16 season 8-20 overall, going 3-11 in Ivy League play and finished in 8th place. The Bears return four of five starters, including three double figure scorers and 10 letterwinners from a year ago, and are scheduled to play a school record 16 home games. 

• The Bears are off to a 1-4 start and are averaging 74.0 points per game and are shooting 42.8 percent from the floor.

• Mike Martin (Brown '04) enters his fourth season as the Bears' head men's basketball coach. He currently holds a 50-71 record at Brown.

• Brown was picked to finish eighth in the Ivy League standings. Senior Steven Spieth leads the Bears and was named as the Ivy League Player of the Week for his three game performance in the Naithsmith Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. The 6-6 forward posted three straight 20-plus contests and is currently averaging 20.6 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and is shooting 57 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Obi Okolie enters Wednesday's contest averaging 10.2 ppg, while senior guard Tavon Blackmon and freshman forward Joshua Howard are averaging just  over 9 ppg.

THE SERIES
Saturday marks the first meeting in the series.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 11th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 10 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments.

BEWARE THE BEAR

Under the direction of Todd Bozeman, Morgan State has collected a couple of memorable wins against big-time opponents. The Bears have recorded historic wins against: Long Island (2009); Manhattan (2009); Arkansas (2009); DePaul (2008); and Maryland (2009).

HOME GROWN 
Morgan State has three players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Returning senior forward Kyle Thomas is from Owings Mills, Md. and graduated from Milford Mill Academy. Newcomer Tyjhai Byers is from Bethesda and was a prep standout at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, while Tiwian Kendley played at Eleanor Roosevelt HS and is a product of Greenbelt, Md.

COMFORTABLE AT HILL FIELD HOUSE 
Todd Bozeman has won at least 10 home games in three of his 10 seasons in Baltimore. The 2007-08 (12-1) and 2009-10 (11-1) squads finished with just a single loss, while the 2010-11 squad went 10-2. Bozeman has led the Bears to a 79-37 (.681) overall home record at Hill Field House. MSU is 2-1 at home so far this season.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE TO TEST YOUNG BEARS
The year will open with a matchup at Houston Nov. 11, followed by three home contests against Towson Nov. 15, Wilmington Nov. 17 and Campbell Nov. 19. The Bears then hit the road for games at Brown Nov. 23 and Bowling Green Nov. 26, before returning to Hill Field House to host High Point Nov. 28. The Bears open the month of December with a date at Rutgers Dec. 3, before hosting a pair of contests against Manhattan Dec. 6 and Wagner Dec. 10.  The remaining three non-conference games on the schedule will take place at Penn State Nov. 21, at Loyola Marymount Dec. 27 and at California State, Northridge Dec. 29.

BEARS' SUMMER TOUR IN CANADA
The 2016-17 men's basketball season began a bit earlier than usual, as Morgan State planned a trip to Canada in August. The 7-day trip was scheduled from August 13 and ran through August 20. In that span, the Bears will played five games against outside competition. While in Canada, the Bears played games in Montreal and Ottawa. The trip marked Morgan State's sixth foreign tour since 1974. Previously, the Bears have traveled internationally to Brazil (1974), Colombia (1975), Canada, Cancun, Windsor, Canada (2010), Mexico (2011) and Nassau, Bahamas (2012).
"The tour provides returning players that might not have played a lot, to gain some valuable experience against international competition," said Todd Bozeman, who is entering his 11th season as Morgan State's head coach. "The tour allows you 10 days to practice, which is invaluable! It's a tremendous opportunity to get started early and exposes the young people to another country and culture."

BOZEMAN'S RETURNING STAFF
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their second season. The Bears coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Brian Ellerbe, Larry Stewart, and Hans Desir.

• Ellerbe spent four years at Virginia, starting in 1990. He worked under Jeff Jones, now coach at Old Dominion. He was also the rst African-American Head Coach at Loyola University, Maryland and The University of Michigan.

• Stewart was the Associate Head Coach for the Bowie State men's basketball team where he spent six seasons. He played with the NBA's Bullets, Vancouver Grizzlies and Seattle Super Sonics until 1997. His brother, Stephen, is an assistant coach at Coppin State.

• Desir, a Miami native, joins the Bears staff with over 10 years of coaching experience. he was previously lead assistant coach for J.T. Burton at Motlow College. 

WELCOME TO EAST COLD SPRING LANE
MSU's incoming class features four freshmen and three transfers. The incoming freshmen include 6-foot-4 guard Stanley Davis (Chester, Pa./STEM Academy), 6-foot-8 forward Azariah Sykes (Midlothian, Va./Millwood HS),  6-foot-7 David Syfax (Detroit, Mich./Pershing HS) and 6-foot-10 center Tyjahi Byers(Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS). In addition, MSU welcomes 6-foot-2 guard Isiah Graves(Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City HS), who joins the Bears as a transfer from Southern C.C., Lamar C.C. transfer Tiwian Kendley (Harlem, N.Y./Roosevelt HS)  and Alex Ennis (Ocean, N.J.), a 6-foot-10 transfer from Independence C.C.

LARGEST MARGIN IN WIN
Morgan State posted an 83-43 victory over Coppin State (Feb. 1) for its largest margin of victory of the 2015-16 season, and its largest margin of victory against the Eagles. Prior to the win against Howard, the Bears' previous largest margin of victories had been by five (5) points. On Nov. 21, 2015 the Bears posted their first win of the season with a 59-54 win at Campbell University, and on Jan. 9, 2016 they recorded a 63-58 victory against Delaware State.

NOTABLE DEPARTURE
The Bears will look to replace standout forward Cedric Blossom who statistically ranked among the top players for Morgan State last season.
• He was selected All-MEAC Third Team and completed the 2015-16 regular season ranked No. 10 in the MEAC in scoring (14.9 ppg), ranked No. 7 in field goal shooting percentage (.497), and he also averaged 6.6 rebounds per game.
 
• Blossom's selection to the All-MEAC Third-Team marks the eighth time out of 10 seasons under head coach Todd Bozeman that a Morgan State player has been named to the All-MEAC first, second or third team.

• He is currently a member of the Petrolero Argentino basketball team in Argentina.

RETURNING POINTS, REBOUNDS, ASSISTS
• Morgan State returns 43.1 percent of its scoring from a year ago -- 29.0 ppg  out of an average during the 2015-16 season of 67.4 points ... MSU returns 14.4 boards a game from a year ago and that's about 41.0 percent of last year's team average of 35.1 a game.

• When it comes to assists, MSU returns just 144 assists from the total of 349 assists from last season or 41.2 percent returning.

ROLLING WITH "TK" 
MSU's Tiwian Kendley averaged 24.0 points per game, 8.6 rebounds, and shot .384 from the field, including 22-of-30 (73 percent) from the free throw line, in three games for the Bears. led the Bears with 18 points in his Bear debut. MSU fell to Towson (78-72) on Tuesday, before topping Wilmington (88-73) on Thursday. The Bears then claimed an 82-66 victory against Campbell on Saturday afternoon. The junior guard scored in double figures all three games last week, including his first double-double when he posted a season-high 28 points and 11 rebounds versus Campbell. He currently leads the Bears by averaging 22.8 points per game. He will definitely be one to watch as the season continues.

SYFAX EARNS ROLE AS A STARTER 
Freshman David Syfax (Detroit, Mich.) has started in the last three games and helped the Bears to a 2-1 record last week. The 6-foot-7 forward recorded double-figures in 2-of-3 three starts, and led the Bears with 21 points (8-13 FG), five boards, three assists and three blocked shots against Wilmington on Thursday night. "Sci-Fi" averaged 12 points per game, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots thru the three games. 

BEAR DUO NAMED MEAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Morgan State's Tiwian Kendley was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Co-Player of the Week and Phillip Carr was named the Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday. 

• Tiwian Kendley, a junior transfer from Lamar C.C., averaged 24.0 points per game, 8.6 rebounds, and shot .384 from the field, including 22-of- 30 (73 percent) from the free throw line, in three games last week. 

• Phillip Carr, a Preseason All-MEAC Second Team selection, had a very steady and productive week for the Bears. The junior forward scored a combined 53 points (17.7 ppg) over that span but it was his defense that stood out most.