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Game 17
Opponent: North Carolina A&T Aggies (1-15, 0-3 MEAC)
Date: Monday, Jan. 16, 2017
Site:  Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. 
Series Record: N.C. A&T leads 52-35
Live Video Stream: MorganStateBears.com
Radio: WEAA, 88.9 FM (weaa.org)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (165-172, 11th yr) • NCAT Jay Joyner (6-20 2nd yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.ncataggies.com

SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears (6-10, 3-0) return off a successful Florida swing after picking up conference wins at Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M. The Bears will look to remain unbeaten in MEAC play when they tip-off against North Carolina A&T on Monday at 7:30 p.m. inside Hill House House. The Aggies (1-15) are coming off a 99-88 loss to Maryland Eastern Shore and fell to 0-3 in the conference. There will be a a Live video stream and LiveStats at www.morganstatebears.com, and live updates throughout the games available on Twitter@MorganStBears.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
• N.C. A&T finished the 2015-16 season with a 10-22 overall record, going 7-9 and finished 6th in MEAC play. The Aggies

lost 7 of their top-10 scorers from last season, but they did return their top scorer Sam Hunt. 

• N.C. A&T was picked to finish 7th in the MEAC Preseason Poll and redshirt senior guard Sam Hunt earned a spot on the Preseason All-MEAC First Team. 

• N.C. A&T has struggled to a 1-15 start and are 0-3 in the MEAC. The Aggies are averaging 59 points per game (last in the MEAC) and are shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 28.8 percent from 3-point territory.

• The Aggies posted a 67-50 season-opener victory (Nov. 11) at home against Greensboro College, and have lost 15 consecutive games. 

• Jay Joyner (S.C. State, '96) enters his first season as the Aggies full time head coach. Joyner was the interim head coach after the resignation of Cy Alexander.

•  The Aggies are led by Sam Hunt who ranks No. 14 in the MEAC by averaging 13.6 points. The 6-foot-2 transfer from Jacksonville University is shooting 36.4 percent from the field and leads the league in free throw percentage (.930). Eliel Gonzalez is the only other Aggie averaging double-figures (10.6 ppg) and is shooting 40.3 percent from the field.
Davaris McGowens is ranked No. 2 in the league in rebounding by averaging 7.6 per game. 

THE SERIES
• Saturday marks the 88th meeting in the series. The Aggies hold a 52-35 record against Morgan State.

•  The Aggies have won four of the last 6 meetings, including three of the last four.  

•  Last time vs. N.C. A&T was Feb. 22, 2016 -- Senior forward Cedric Blossom scored 20 points, eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in his career, and Morgan State beat N.C. A&T 72-51 at Hill Field House. Rasean Simpson scored 17 points with 10 rebounds.

•  The last time N.C. A&T posted a win in Baltimore was on Jan. 21, 2012. Adrian Powell made a layup with 15 seconds left and North Carolina A&T held on to beat Morgan State 62-61. The Aggies forced 19 turnovers by the Bears.

FAST BREAK 
•  The Bears are tops in the MEAC in free throw percentage (71.4), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.285) and rebounding offense (38.7). Morgan State is second in blocked shots (4.0) and offensive rebounds (13.6), and third in scoring margin (-8.8).

•  Phillip Carr ranks fourth in the league in scoring by averaging 19.2 points per game.

•  Phillip Carr is fifth in the conference in field goal percentage (.507).

•  Martez Cameron is currently fourth in the MEAC in assists per game (4.4).

•  Three Bears (Phillip Carr, Tiwian Kendley, and Kyle Thomas) are averaging double figure points.

•  MSU is averaging 34.8 points per game in the second half of games this season, which is just over five points greater than its average in the first half of games (29.8)

•  Five of the Bears games have been decided by six points or less this season, with four of the six being home contests.

CARR MAXING
Phillip Carr's productivity has spiked following the loss of Tiwian Kendley (22.9 ppg) to a foot injury on Dec. 10 versus Wagner. 

• The junior has lifted his average from 17 points per game to 22 points over the course of the last seven games, including a career-high 29-point performance in a conference opener victory against Norfolk State. 

• He currently ranks No. 4 in the MEAC in scoring (19.2 ppg).

• Carr has also posted four of his league-high nine double-doubles.

• The second-year starter from Brooklyn, N.Y. has one of the purest strokes in the conference. Standing at a lengthy 6-foot-7, he's a matchup nightmare to guard. He can blow by most post players, and can simply raise up and shoot over smaller players. His shooting ability, especially from around 15-feet is virtually automatic, creates space on the floor. 

• He's currently shooting just over 50 percent (115-227) from the field and is just as efficient in shooting from 3-point territory (.500). 

• When Kendley returns to the floor, it may be a serious headache for opposing squads.

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 81-39 (.675) 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
Morgan State will play a three straight road games when they face Savannah State (Sat., Jan. 21) and South Carolina State (Mon., Jan. 23), and then travel to across town to take on Coppin State (Sat., Jan. 28).