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Game 14
Opponent: Norfolk State Spartans (3-11, 0-0 MEAC)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2017
Site: Hill Field House
Game Time: 7 p.m. 
Series Record: Norfolk State leads 33-16
Live Video Stream: n/a
Radio: WEAA, 88.9 FM (weaa.org)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (162-172, 11th yr) • NSU Robert Jones (59-57 4th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.nsuspartans.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Coach Todd Bozeman and his Morgan State (3-10) squad open the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference season at home against the Norfolk State Spartans. The Bears recently fell at Cal State Northridge and will look to snap a 4-game losing streak, while the Spartans fell to 3-11 following their 86-77 loss at Bowling Green and are riding a 2-game losing skid. Tip-off at Hill Field House is scheduled for 7 p.m.  There will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @MorganStBears and LIVE stats on morganstatebears.com.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
• NSU finished the 2015-16 season with a 17-17 overall record, going 12-4 and finished T-2nd in MEAC play. The Spartans return five letterwinners and two starters from last year's team that lost to Columbia in the First Round of te CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

• NSU was piced to finish fifth in the MEAC Preseason Poll and junior forward Jordan Butler earned a spot on the Preseason All-MEAC Third Team.

• NSU is off to a 3-11 start and are averaging 66.1 points per game and are shooting 41 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from 3-point territory.

• Robert Jones (New Paltz, '2002) enters his fourth season as the Spartans' head coach. In his three seasons at NSU, he has made three straight MEAC tournament semifinal and overall postseason appearances.

•  The Spartans are led by Jonathan Wade who ranks among the league's scoring leaders by averaging 19.7 points, including 5.6 rebounds per game. Wade is shooting 48 percent from the field and has knocked down 23-of-56 (.411) 3-pointers. Zaynah Robinson is the only other Spartan averaging double figures (10.8 ppg) and leads the team with 3.2 assists per game.

THE SERIES
• Wednesday marks the 50th meeting in the series. The Spartans hold a 33-16 record against Morgan State.

•  The teams have split in their last six meetings, with each team winning three games since 2014.

•  Feb. 24, 2016 -- Rasean Simpson had 18 points and nine rebounds and Andre Horne Jr. hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 more to help MSU upset Norfolk State 89-72 at Hill Field House. Kyle Thomas had 16 points.

CLEANING THE GLASS
Morgan State's Phillip Carr has been doing just about everything for the Bears this season. One area that he continues to excel is in rebounding the basketball. 

• The 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward has used his long reach to haul in an average of 9.2 rebounds per game -- which ranks first in the MEAC. 

• He also ranks first the offensive glass (3.4) and second on the defensive board (5.8). 

• Carr has posted a season high 13 boards twice (vs. Wilmington and Rutgers) and had a career-high 17 last season against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 23, 2015).

• He has 335 rebounds in his MSU career.

CARR EARNS MEAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Morgan State forward Phillip Carr was selected as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) co-men's basketball player of the week, announced by the conference office on Tuesday. It marks the third time that Carr has been named player of the week. Carr, a Preseason All-MEAC Second Team selection, scored a combined 47 points (23.5 ppg), 21 rebounds (10.5 rpg) and averaged 38.5 minutes for the week.  

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 80-39 (.672) overall home record at Hill Field House. 

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.

NEXT UP 
The Bears continue Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play when they travel to take on Savannah State (Jan. 21), followed by a matchup at South Carolina State (Jan. 23).