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Game 15
Opponent: Florida A&M (2-15, 1-0 MEAC)
Date: Saturday, January 6, 2017
Site:  Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 4 p.m. 
Series Record: FAMU leads the series 34-24
Live Stats/Video Stream: morganstatebears.com
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.org)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (178-187, 12th yr) • Florida A&M - Robert McCullum (2-15 1st yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.famuathletics.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (5-9, 1-0) will host Florida A&M in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action on Saturday, Jan. 6.  It will mark the middle contest of a 3-game homestand for the Bears. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. ET at Hill Field House in Baltimore, Md. The contest will be streamed live on morganstatebears.com. The Bears rallied from 18 points down in the second half to defeat Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday night in the conference opener for both schools. Florida A&M (2-15, 1-0) held off Howard at home, 84-76 to win. Desmond Williams and Elijah Mayes combined to score 47 points for the Rattlers.

SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
• Florida A&M begins his first season under head coach Robert McCullum ... McCullum is a seasoned veteran with a résumé spanning more than 30 years, he joined FAMU after spending the last three seasons at Oregon, which made its first trip to the Final Four in 78 years this past April.
• Florida A&M finished the 2016-17 season with a 7-23 overall mark and finished with a 5-11 mark in the MEAC ... The Rattlers fell to South Carolina State, 82-78 OT, in the MEAC Tournament opening round at The Scope Arena.
• The Rattlers have a pair of players averaging in double figures, led by senior 6-5 guard Marcus Barham who is averaging 16.5 points (ranks No. 6 in MEAC) and 3.4 rebounds per game and is shooting 88 percent from the free throw line. Desmond Williams, a 6-6 senior, forward  is averaging 15.6 points (ranks No. 7) and is shooting 41 percent from the field. Junior 7-foot center Isaiah Martin is averaging 8.1 ppg and leads the Rattlers on the boards with 6.5 rebounds per game (ranks No. 9 in MEAC).  
• Martin, a transfer from Lamar CC, leads the Rattlers with 36 blocked shots (2.1 bpg) and ranks No. 2 in the MEAC in field goal percentage (.596).
• Florida A&M is averaging 62.4 points per game, while holding its opponents to 78.9 points.
• The Rattlers are shooting 39.9 percent from the field and 33.2 percent from 3-point territory.
• Florida A&M held off Howard, 84-76 to win the MEAC opener for both schools Wednesday night. A winter storm forced the closure of the Tallahassee campus and icy conditions and light snow hampered travel in the area, but the scheduled doubleheader with men's and women's games went off as scheduled.

THE SERIES
• Saturday's contest will mark the 59th matchup between the schools ... The Rattlers lead the series 34-24.
•  Jan. 31, 2017 -- Morgan State honored head coach Todd Bozeman for winning the most games ever as a head coach for the Bears, then they pounced on the Florida A&M Rattlers in their 77-60 victory at Hill Field House. Tiwian Kendley led the Bears with 21 points followed by Antonio Gillespie, who had season-high 17 points. Martez Cameron continued to shine with 10 assists on the night.
•  The Rattlers last win against Morgan State was on Jan. 16, 2016 ... Travann Warren and Isaiah Omoregie scored 15 points apiece to help Florida A&M rally to beat Morgan State 72-65 at the Al Lawson Center. Cedric Blossom led the Bears with 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting, and Rasean Simpson added 14 points with a game-high eight rebounds and four steals. Phillip Carr chipped in nine points.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 12th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 11 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments. Bozeman is also the school's all-time winningest coach with 178 victories...and counting!

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 sophomore forward Azariah Sykes is from Richmond, Va. and graduated from Milwood HS. Returning sophomore center Tyjhai Byers is from Bethesda and was a prep standout at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, while Harlem native Tiwian Kendley is not from the DMV... he did play at Eleanor Roosevelt HS.

CARR NAMED MEAC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR, KENDLEY SELECTED TO FIRST TEAM
The MEAC announced that Morgan State forward Phillip Carr is the 2017-18 MEAC Preseason Player of the Year.
• Carr, a Brooklyn, New York, native, led the Bears in rebounding, and was second on the team in scoring last season.
• He was selected to the All-MEAC's first team while being the third Bear to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor (Boubacar Coly – 2008, Kevin Thompson - 2010).
• Carr becomes the first Bear to be named the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year since Kevin Thompson before his senior season in 2010. Reggie Holmes is the last Bear to win the regular-season award, when he received the award in 2009.
• Todd Bozeman's Bears received 13 of 26 first-place votes, outdistancing Norfolk State, and reigning champion North Carolina Central atop the standings.
• Carr led the five-man preseason All-MEAC First-Team and was joined by teammate Tiwian Kendley, who was the MEAC's leading scorer after averaging 21.0 points per game last season. The rest of that group was Norfolk State's Zaynah Robinson, Bethune-Cookman's Brandon Tabb and Howard's Charles Williams.

BOZEMAN'S BRAIN TRUST
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their third 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 first 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.

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The year will open the 2017-18 season with a pair of road matchups, first  at Binghamton Nov. 10, followed by South Florida Nov. 13. The Bears' season-opener will be Nov. 16 versus Lincoln (Pa.), followed by a Nov. 18 date at West Virginia. The Bears will host Goldey Beacom Nov. 21 for its final home contest of the year. The Bears remaining seven non-conference  games will occur on the road. MSU will wrap the month of November at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27) and George Washington (Nov. 29). The Bears travel schedule will continue with matchups at Navy (Dec.3 ), Towson (Dec. 6), Manhattan (Dec. 9) and George Mason (Dec 22). MSU's west coast swing will begin with a trip to face Grand Canyon Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, followed by a game at CSUN Dec. 30.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
The Bears have started the 2017-18 season by shooting 70.4 percent (233-331; No. 5 in MEAC) from the stripe. Phillip Carr  is shooting 80.9 percent (55-68; No. 7), followed by Martez Cameron at 73.5 percent (36-49; No. 15) and LaPri McCray-Pace at 69.1 percent (38-55).
• Tiwian Kendley will enter Saturday's contest versus Florida A&M after shooting 11-for-13 from the stripe against Eastern Shore (Jan. 3) ... he's shooting 83 percent (39-47) from the line thru his first four contests.

BEAR D 
The Bears defense was ranked among the conference leaders a season ago and should once again be solid defensively for 2017-18 season.
• MSU's defense has limited opponents to an average of 77 points (No. 6 in MEAC) thru the first 14 games.
• The Bears rank No. 8 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 47 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 11 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 39.4 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 39.7 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first 11 of 14 games.
• Morgan State has shot 50 percent or better in two of its last 10 contests ... they shot 50 percent against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21) and a season-high 52 percent at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27).
• Two starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Tiwian Kendley (.467) and Stanley Davis, while Elijah Staley is shooting 52.4 percent off the bench.

COMFORTABLE AT HILL FIELD HOUSE
Todd Bozeman has won at least 10 home games in three of his 11 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 89-41 (.685) overall home record at Hill Field House.
• Morgan State is 3-0 at home so far this season.

RETURNING PTS, REBS, ASTS
Morgan State returns 80.8 percent of its scoring from a season in which the team averaged 67.5 ppg during the 2016-17 season of 67.5 points ... MSU returns 74.9 boards a game from a year ago and that's about 74.3 percent of last year's team average of 39.0 a game ... When it comes to assists, MSU returns 263 assists from the total of 322 assists from last season or 81.7 percent returning.

BOARD CHAIR
Phillip Carr, the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the Bears in a 72-60 win over Lincoln-Pa. in which he grabbed a career record 19 rebounds, completely controlling the glass against the Lions.
•  Carr's 19 boards (ranks T-No. 5 highest in the nation) bested his previous record of 17, which he set Nov. 23, 2015 against Goldey-Beacom.
•  Carr posted his 21st career double-double with 19 points and 11 boards vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (Jan. 3).
•  Carr currently leads the MEAC by averaging 9.1 rebounds per game in 14 games of the season.
•  He was selected as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week (Dec. 26) following an impressive performance during the Bears' tough loss at George Mason ... Carr has posted eight double-doubles so far this season.

CARR REACHES 500 REBOUNDS
•  Senior forward Phillip Carr recorded his 500th rebound at Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27 in his 61st career game.
•  Carr recorded 11 rebounds versus Maryland Eastern Shore (Jan. 3) and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranks No. 12 with 581 boards.
•  Carr is 13 rebounds shy passing Cedric Blossom for No. 11 on the school's all-time rebounds list.

DISHING OUT DIMES
MSU junior point guard Martez Cameron led the Bears in assists during the 2016-17 by averaging just under four per game (4.3) in 30 starts.
•  Cameron notched 9 points (5-6 FT) and dished out a game-high five assists in the season opener against the Binghamton.
•  He scored 11 points (4-4 FT) with five dimes and three steals in 35 minutes during the Bears win versus Lincoln-Pa.
•  He poured in a career-high 19 points (8-16 FG) and had four assists and two steals in 36 minutes at George Washington.
•  Cameron finished with seven dimes, seven points and three steals in 36 minutes versus Eastern Shore (Jan. 3).
• The Chicago product is currently the team's third leading scorer averaging 9.8 points, ranks fourth with 3.9 assists per game (8th MEAC), and ranks No. 7 in the MEAC with 1.6 steals per game. 

UH OH...GUESS WHO'S BACK
Guess who's back. Tiwian is back.
•  After missing the first 10 games of the 2017-18 season, senior guard Tiwian Kendley has returned to the hardwood for the Bears.
•  The Harlem product provided quite an offensive explosion for the Bears during his season debut at George Mason last Friday night at EagleBank Arena.
•  The 6-5 guard missed his first shot of the night, but completed the first half with 20 points (4-5 3FG).
• He finished with a game-high 31 points (10-22 FG) and shot an efficient 7-of-11 from 3-point territory and grabbed five boards in 35 minutes of action.
• Kendley followed the performance with another 31-point outing when the Bears played Grand Canyon at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas (Dec. 27) ... he shot 8-of-20 from the field and was perfect from the free throw line (12-12 FT)  and pitched in four steals in 37 minutes of action.
• He's currently averaging 29.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 steals and is shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 83 percent from the charity stripe.

DID YOU KNOW? 
Neither of the team's two best players, MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Phillip Carr and preseason first-team All-MEAC selection Tiwian Kendley, started their career at Morgan State. Carr, a senior forward, played for a year apiece at junior colleges Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) and Williston State (N.D.). Kendley, a senior guard, spent two years at Lamar Community College (Colo.) after a standout high school career at Eleanor Roosevelt in Prince George's County.

ABOUT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is celebrating its 150th year of excellence in higher education. A Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution, Morgan offers more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.