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GAME 24: HAMPTON PIRATES  (14-9, 9-2 MEAC)
Monday, February 15, 2016 • 7:05 p.m. • HU Convocation Center • Hampton, Va.
TV:   ESPNU – Dave Lamont (Play by Play); Stan Lewter (Color analyst)
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/hampton/mbball/
Radio: WHOV, 88.1 FM
Series Record: Hampton leads the series 27-14
Head Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (155-158, 10th yr) • HU– Edward "Buck" Joyner (113-105, 6th yr)
Website: MSU - www.morganstatebears.com; www.hamptonpirates.com

BEARS TAKE ON HAMPTON ON MONDAY NIGHT IN ESPNU SHOWDOWN
Morgan State will resume MEAC play when they travel to face the Hampton Pirates (14-9, 9-2 MEAC) on Monday, Feb. 15. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the HU Convocation Center and will be televised on ESPNU. Hampton will enter the contest fresh off a week-long break attempting to build upon an 68-65 road win against Howard, while the Bears will look to rebound from a 79-73 loss at Norfolk State.
 
PREVIEWING THE PIRATES
• Hampton returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from its 2014-15 squad that went 17-18, went 8-8 and placed sixth in MEAC play, and captured the MEAC Tournament championship. HU lost to No. 1 seed Kentucky in the NCAA Big Dance.
• Edward "Buck" Joyner, Jr. (Johnson C. Smith, '95) enters his 7th season as head coach of the Pirates, who have advanced to a pair of MEAC Tournament championships and NCAA Tournament appearances (2011 & 2015) under his leadership. He currently holds a 113-105 record.
• Hampton, coming off of last season's MEAC Tournament championship run, were picked 2nd in the 2015-16 MEAC Preseason Poll.
• The Pirates have three players averaging double-figures in scoring led by Reginald Johnson, Jr. who is currently leading the way averaging 18.7 points per game to go along with 3.5 assists. Quinton Chievous (16.9 ppg, 10.7 rpg) and Brian Darden (13.5 ppg) are also averaging double-figures.
• Hampton is shooting 40 percent from the floor as a team and has connected on 153-of-512 (.299) 3-pointers.
• Reginald Johnson Jr. had 22 points and nine rebounds, Lawrence Cooks hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 43 seconds left and Hampton beat Howard 68-65 Monday night at The Burr Gymnasium. Quinton Chievous added 15 points and 17 rebounds for Hampton, which rebounded after its second conference loss to move into a first-place tie with South Carolina State. Dionte Adams had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

THE SERIES
• MSU will square off against Hampton for the 42nd meeting in history between the two schools.
• The Bears have lost 4-straight contest against Hampton, including 5 of the last seven meetings.
• The last matchup was in Baltimore on Jan. 16. Quinton Chievous had 28 points with 18 rebounds, and scored Hampton's lone field goal in overtime as Hampton held on to beat Morgan State 83-80 at Hill Field House. Brian Darden scored 23 and made five 3-pointers for the Pirates. Senior guard Donte Pretlow finished with a career-high 20 points (7-15 FG) to lead the Bears, who shot 39 percent (27-69) from the field. Cedric Blossom scored 14, Rasean Simpson had 11 and Phillip Carr recorded a double-double by posting 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• MSU's last trip to Hampton, Va. was on December 8, 2014 when Deron Powers had 17 points, Quinton Chievous scored 13 and Hampton held on to beat the Bears 62-58. Blake Bozeman made 1 of 2 free throws with 2.4 seconds left to pull the Bears within two, but Jervon Pressley scored on a putback of his own missed free throw as time expired to cap the scoring for the Pirates. Pressley had 11 rebounds. Bozeman finished with 15 points and Cedric Blossom scored 14 for the Bears, who shot only 24.6 percent (16-65) from the field.

NEXT UP
The Bears will return to Baltimore for the first of three straight home games starting on Saturday, February 20 with a 4 p.m. matchup against North Carolina Central. MSU will host N.C. A&T on Monday, Feb. 22, followed by Norfolk State on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 10th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last nine 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 five (5) players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area, including two from Baltimore. Senior Donte Pretlow (Dunbar High) and redshirt junior Cliff Cornish (North County) are both from Baltimore. Senior Cedric Blossom (Montrose Christian) is from Columbia and senior Andrew Hampton is from Germantown (Seneca Valley), while freshman Anthony Tate (Takoma Academy) is from Fort Washington.

LARGEST MARGIN IN WIN
Morgan State posted an 83-43 victory over Coppin State (Feb. 1) for its largest margin of victory this season, and its largest margin of victory against the Eagles. The Bears also posted an 83-63 victory over Howard (Jan. 30)...so in its last two contests, Bozeman's Bears have outscored its last two opponents by a whopping 166-106 margin. 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.

EXTRA FRAMES
The Bears are 0-1 this season when playing in overtime. With the 83-80 loss to Hampton on Jan. 6, the Bears have lost its last two overtime contests, however they've won three of its last four matchups. Morgan State's last overtime victory was a 74-67 win against Marist on Nov. 25, 2013.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Phillip Carr and Cedric Blossom have both recorded double-doubles in points and rebounds for the Bears this season. With 14 points and 17 rebounds against Goldey Beacom on Nov. 23, Carr posted the first double-double of the season. He posted his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards at South Carolina State (Feb. 8). Cedric Blossom finished with a 17 points and 12 rebounds on Dec. 23 against Rider, and exploded for career-highs with 28 points and 15 rebounds at Norfolk State on Feb. 13.

FOUR SENIORS
Head coach Todd Bozeman has four senior Bears who will be wrapping up their final games in a Blue and Orange uniform. The group of veterans includes: Cedric Blossom, Rasean Simpson, and Donte Pretlow. Andrew Hampton, who suffered a season-ending injury, will also be completing his collegiate career with the Bears.

BLOSSOM LEADING
Senior Cedric Blossom has scored double figures in 14 of the 18 games he's played this season and is currently the Bears' leading scorer by averaging 15.3 ppg. The starting forward is shooting 49 percent from the field, has converted 64-of-97 (.660) free throws and is averaging 7.2 rebounds per game. He enters Monday night's contest after posting a game-and career-high 28 points (11-17 FG) with 15 rebounds in 36 minutes at Norfolk State...his previous career high was 26 points vs. Savannah State (Feb. 7, 2015) and his previous career high in rebounds was 14 vs. Florida A&M (Jan. 17, 2015). He had a 25-point performance against Manhattan in which he shot 7-for-13 from the field, 79 percent (11-14 FT) from the stripe and had seven boards. The Preseason All-MEAC Second Team selection is averaging 13.0 thru the last three games for the Bears. He earned MEAC Player of the Week (Jan. 31).

BLOSSOM CLOSING IN ON 1,000
MSU senior forward Cedric Blossom is steadily approaching a career milestone. He's currently 37 points away from scoring 1,000 career points. Blossom enters Saturday's contest with 963 career points.

THE CARR IMPACT
The Bears frontcourt got an infusion of talent in the frontcourt with the addition of Phillip Carr. The 6-foot-8 forward Williston State transfer Phillip Carr is not only a force on the glass, but he's also bloomed into a scoring threat for the Bears. Carr is averaging 10.4 points and 7.1 rebounds (ranks No. 4 in MEAC) in 23 starts. He posted a season-best 17 rebounds and finished with 14 points in the Bears home-opener win against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 23). He has pulled down eight or more rebounds in 10 games so far this season.  Carr scored a season-high 20 points (6-17 FG) with five boards against CSUN (Jan. 2), and at S.C. State he posted 10 boards with 15 points and a pair of assists in 29 minutes. 

"TAY" DIMES
With five assists against Norfolk State on Feb. 13, Donte Pretlow has dished out a total of 84 assists in 22 starts for the Bears. The senior is currently averaging 3.8 assists per game (Ranked No. 5 in MEAC) and matched a career-high eight dimes versus UC Riverside on Dec. 28, 2015… he also had eight assists at Manhattan on Dec. 20, 2014. "Tay" will enter the Hampton game this Monday with 296 career assists in 111 games.

HORNE INSERTED AS STARTER
Junior Andre Horne made his first start since the Nov. 28 game at High Point, while former starting guard Martez Cameron was moved to a reserve role during the Bears blowout victory over Howard. Horne played an active game for the Bears, finishing with 18 points (9-12 FT), four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in 29 minutes of action. He scored 11 points with two steals in the Bears loss at Norfolk State. In the 18 games he's played, Horne is averaging 10.9 ppg as a starter in 11 games, while averaging 4.7 ppg off the bench. 

GLASS CONTROL
• The Bears rank No. 10 in the MEAC in rebounding margin  (-3.4).
• Rank No. 8 in the MEAC in rebounding defense (38.8) and No. 7 rebounding offense rpg (35.4).
• The Bears have gone 5-3 when outrebounding their opponents, and are 0-15  when outrebounded.
• The Bears recorded a season-high 52 rebounds in a win against Coppin State (Feb. 1).
• MSU posted a season-low 21 rebounds in their season-opener loss at Virginia.
• Sophomore Phillip Carr ranks No. 8 in the MEAC in rebounding by averaging 7.1 rebounds per game, including a season-high 17 against Goldey-Beacom.

HARD IN THE PAINT
Morgan State has scored 46 points inside the paint thru the last three games. The Bears were outscored at South Carolina State by a commanding 50-30 margin on Feb. 8, and enter Hamptons game fresh off of being outscored at Norfolk State by a 24-8 margin.

BEARS LOOKING FOR ADDED BENCH PRODUCTION
It's taken 23 games for the Bears bench production to go from fairly consistent numbers to dwindling in the last few games.
• MSU's starters (Cedric Blossom, Donte Pretlow, Rasean Simpson, Phillip Carr and Andre Horne) play at least 29 minutes and the bench plays just around 15. 
• In the past three games, the bench has contributed an average of 9.3 points. 
• Head coach Todd Bozeman's bench poured in a season-high 36 points off the bench during a win vs. Coppin State (Feb. 1).

STARTING LINEUPS
Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman has been mixing his lineups up during the early going of the season. The Bears have had a total of nine different starting lineups through the first 23 games.

HARD ROAD IN THE MEAC
With the loss to Norfolk State (79-73) on Feb. 13, the Bears have dropped to 0-6 in conference road games this season, including 14-straight conference road losses since last year. In fact, the last MEAC road victory was Jan. 10, 2015 when Cedric Blossom dropped a double-double with 24 points and 10 boards to rally and beat Delaware State 73-69. Morgan State has three road games remaining in the MEAC regular season schedule, picking up with a trip to Hampton on Feb. 15.