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Game 15
Opponent: Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (3-11, 0-1 MEAC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017
Site:  L. Gale Lemerand Fitness Center (Daytona State)
Game Time: 9 p.m. 
Series Record: Morgan State leads 32-25
Live Video Stream: n/a
Radio: n/a
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (163-172, 11th yr) • BCU Gravelle Craig (67-112 6th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.bcuathletics.com

SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears (4-10, 1-0) hit the road after picking up a 58-56 conference-opening victory over Norfolk State. The Bears will square off with Bethune-Cookman on Saturday at 9 p.m. inside the L. Gale Lemerand Fitness Center on the campus of Daytona State, followed by a matchup at Florida A&M on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Wildcats (3-11, 0-1) recently fell at Savannah State (L, 104-91) and will look to snap a 4-game losing streak. There will be live updates throughout the games available on Twitter@MorganStBears and Live Stats at www.bcuathletics.com.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• BCU finished the 2015-16 season with a 14-18 overall record, going 10-6 and finished 4th in MEAC play. The Wildcats return five letterwinners and one starter from last year's team that lost to Savannah State in the First Round of the MEAC Tournament.

• BCU was picked to finish sixth in the MEAC Preseason Poll and junior forward Jordan Potts earned a spot on the Preseason All-MEAC First Team.

• BCU is off to a 3-11 start and are averaging 71.0 points per game and are shooting 40 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from 3-point territory.

• Gravelle Craig (Cleveland State, '99) enters his sixth season as the Wildcats' head coach. He played a key part in the Wildcats' rise to MEAC regular season champions and the program's first-ever appearance in the conference tournament championship game in 2012.

•  The Wildcats are led by the MEAC's current leading scorer Brandon Tabb who is averaging 20.4 points. The transfer from Central Florida State is shooting 41 percent from the field and is 54-of-141 (.383) from beyond the arc. BCU's has three other players averaging double-figures. Reggie Baker is averaging 13.5 ppg, along with Quinton Forrest (10.9 ppg) and Diamante Lewis (10.0 ppg). Jeffrey Altidort ranks No. 3 in the among the league leaders in assists by averaging 4.5 per game.

THE SERIES
• Saturday marks the 58th meeting in the series. The Bears hold a 32-25 record against Bethune-Cookman.

•  The Bears have won four of the last six meetings, but the Wildcats have won the last two. 

•  The last time Morgan State posted a win in Daytona against the Wildcats was on February 7, 2011 at the Ocean Center. Ameer Ali scored a career-high 14 points, Morgan State shot 58 percent against one of the MEAC's top defensive teams and the Bears beat Bethune-Cookman 66-57.  Aric Brooks added 13 points and DeWayne Jackson finished with 11.

•  Jan. 18, 2016 -- Ricky Johnson scored 19 points and Bethune-Cookman beat Morgan State 62-50 in Daytona. Jordan Potts added 14 points, while Quinton Forrest grabbed 13 rebounds, the freshman's career high. The team had program-record 12 blocked shots. MSU was led by Rasean Simpson with 17 points and nine rebounds. Phillip Carr had 14 points with nine boards and Cedric Blossom added 11.

FAST BREAK
•  The Bears are tops in the MEAC in free throw percentage (71.5) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.289), second in blocked shots (4.1) and offensive rebounds (13.4), third in rebounding offense (37.4), fourth in scoring margin (-10.6).

•  Only one member of the team is in the MEAC Top 10 in scoring as Phillip Carr fourth (19.0)

•  Phillip Carr is sixth in the conference in field goal percentage (.503)

•  Martez Cameron is currently fifth in the MEAC in assists per game (4.1)

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

•  MSU is averaging 34.9 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 (29.6)

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

CARR MAXING
Phillip Carr's productivity has spiked following the loss of junior guard 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 23.7 points over the course of the last four games, including a career-high 29-point performance in a conference opener victory against Norfolk State. 

• Carr has also posted three of his league-high seven double-doubles during the four-game stretch. 

• 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 (99-197) 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.

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 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
The Bears continue Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play when they travel to play Florida A&M on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Tip-off at the Al Lawson Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.