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Game 21
Opponent: Florida A&M Rattlers (5-15, 3-4 MEAC)
Date: Monday, Jan. 30, 2017
Site:  Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. 
Series Record: Florida A&M leads the series 34-23
Live Video Stream: morganstatebears.com
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network (hsrn.com)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (168-173, 11th yr) • FAMU Byron Samuels (15-63  3rd yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.famuathletics.com

SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears (9-11, 6-1) begin a 3-game homestand when the Florida A&M Rattlers enter Hill Field House on Monday night. Todd Bozeman's squad remains atop the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) standings after defeating cross-town rival Coppin State on Saturday. The Rattlers (5-15, 3-4) snapped a 4-game losing streak by posting an 81-68 victory at Delaware State. The game will be streamed online by Heritage Sports Radio Network (hsrn.com) and there will be live stats and video on morganstatebears.com and live updates throughout the games available on Twitter@MorganStBears.

SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
• FAMU finished the 2015-16 season with a 8-21 overall record, going 4-12 and finished 13th in MEAC play. The Rattlers return four letterwinners and two starters from last year's team.

• FAMU was picked to finish last (13) in the MEAC Preseason Poll.

• FAMU is off to a 5-15 start and are 3-4 in the MEAC. The Rattlers are averaging 72.4 points per game (No. 3 in the MEAC) and are shooting 42.4 percent from the field (No. 4) and 35.9 percent from 3-point territory (No. 2).

• Byron Samuels (UNC Asheville) enters his third season as the Rattlers' head coach. Samuels comes to FAMU from the University of Georgia, where he served as the basketball operations coordinator since June of 2013.

•  The Rattlers are led by Desmond Williams who ranks No. 6 in the MEAC by averaging 15.9 points. The 6-foot-6 transfer from Alabama Southern C.C. is shooting 48 percent from the field and is grabbing 5.9 rebounds per contest. Marcus Barham is averaging 12.6 ppg and is shooting 40 percent from the three, while  Justin Ravenel is posting 9.1 ppg.

THE SERIES
• Monday marks the 58th meeting in the series. The Ratters hold a 34-23 record against Morgan State.

•  The Bears have won eight of the last 11 meetings, including three of their last four.

•  The last time vs. FAMU was on Jan. 30, 2016 in Tallahassee. Kyle Thomas matched a career-high with 19 points and Morgan State defeated Florida A&M 62-59. The Bears ended the first half on a 22-12 run to lead by 11 and never trailed after that. Phillip Carr scored 16 points with 10 rebounds for the Bears.

FAST BREAK 
•  The Bears are tops in the MEAC in free throw percentage (71.0) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.275). Morgan State is second in blocked shots (3.6), offensive rebounds (13.2), rebounding offense (38.0), and third in scoring margin (-6.0).

•  Tiwian Kendley had a 30-point performance against Coppin State State (Jan. 28) it marked his eighth 20-point effort in 13 games.

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

•  Martez Cameron is fourth in the MEAC in assists per game (4.4) and dished out a career-high 12 dimes vs. N.C. A&T on Jan. 16, 2017.

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

•  Martez Cameron had a career-high 10 rebounds along with 7 points and 4 assists in 29 minutes at Coppin State on Jan. 28, 2017.

•  Morgan State buried a season-high 12 3-pointers vs. N.C. A&T on Jan. 16, 2017. 

•  The Bears have a 5-1 record in games that have been decided by four points or less this season.

•  Morgan State's win against South Carolina State (Jan. 23) vaulted head coach Todd Bozeman to the number one position among all MSU head men's basketball coaches with 167 career wins.

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 82-39 (.677) 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.

ON DECK 
The Bears continue MEAC play when they host the North Carolina Central Eagles on Saturday, Feb. 4.