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Game 25
Opponent: Florida A&M Rattlers (5-22, 4-7 MEAC)
Date: Monday, February 12, 2018
Site:  Al Lawson Center, Tallahassee, Fla.
Game Time: 8 p.m. 
Series Record: Florida A&M leads the series 34-25
Live Stats/Video Stream: famuathletics.com
Radio: n/a
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (182-193, 12th yr) • Florida A&M - Robert McCullum (5-22 1st yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.famuathletics .com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (9-15, 5-6) sets out to start a new winning streak when they travel to face the Florida A&M Rattlers (5-22, 4-7) on Monday (Feb. 12) at Al Lawson Center. Game time is slated for 8 p.m. ET. The contest will be streamed live on famuathletics.com. MSU is coming off a 97-94 overtime loss against Savannah State. Tiwian Kendley scored 24 points and Phillip Carr posted 21 points and 15 rebounds. Desmond Williams scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and Florida A&M held off North Carolina Central 65-56 on Saturday night in Tallahassee.

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. Senior 6-foot-6 forward Desmond Williams is averaging 17.9 points (ranks No. 4) and is shooting 44 percent from the field. 6-5 guard Marcus Barham who is averaging 16.5 points (ranks No. 7 in MEAC) and 4.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 86 percent from the free throw line. 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. 12 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 67.9 points per game, while holding its opponents to 79.8 points.
• The Rattlers are shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from 3-point territory.
• Desmond Williams scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and Florida A&M held off North Carolina Central 65-56 on Saturday night. Williams also grabbed eight rebounds, Marcus Barham added 20 points and Elijah Mayes scored 13 for the Rattlers

THE SERIES
• Monday's contest will mark the 60th matchup between the schools ... Florida A&M leads the series 34-25.
• Tiwian Kendley and Phillip Carr combined to score 67 of Morgan State's 87 points as the Bears beat Florida A&M, 87-68 on Jan. 6 at Hill Field House. The victory is Morgan State's 35th in the 59-game history of the series.
• 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 182 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.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
The Bears have started the 2017-18 season by shooting 71.7 percent (415-579; No. 4 in MEAC) from the stripe. Phillip Carr  is shooting 85.3 percent (93-109; No. 5), followed by Stanley Davis at 72.3 percent (34-47) and LaPri McCray-Pace at 71.4 percent (45-63).
• Tiwian Kendley will enter Saturday's contest versus Savannah State after shooting 8-for-11 vs. Savannah State (Feb. 10)... he's shooting 73.9 percent (113-153) from the line and leads the team in the number of made and taken free throws thru his first 14 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 71.8 points (No. 5 in MEAC) thru 24 games.
• The Bears rank No. 6 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 45.0 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 8 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 37 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 40.4 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first 21 of 24 games.
• Morgan State has shot 50 percent or better in three of its last 20 contests ... they shot 50 percent against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21), a season-high 52 percent at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27), and shot 50 percent in a win against Florida A&M (Jan. 6).
• Four starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Tiwian Kendley (.441), Phillip Carr (.421), Kyson Rawls (.410) and Antonio Gillespie is shooting 40 percent.

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 93-42 (.689) overall home record at Hill Field House.
• Morgan State is 7-1 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. 11 highest in the nation) bested his previous record of 17, which he set Nov. 23, 2015 against Goldey-Beacom.
• Carr posted his 26th career double-double with 21 points and 15 boards vs. Savannah State (Feb. 10).
•  Carr currently leads the MEAC on the glass by averaging 9.7 rebounds per game in 24 games of the season.
•  He has been selected twice as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week (Dec. 26 & Jan. 9).
•  Carr has posted 13 double-doubles so far this season.
•  He is averaging 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in conference-only games.

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 a game-high 15 rebounds versus Savannah State (Feb. 10) and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranked No. 7 with 687 boards.
•  Carr is 48 rebounds shy passing Anthony Young for No. 6 (734) 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 8.6 points, with 4.1 assists per game (No. 9 in MEAC), and ranks No. 6  with 1.5 steals per game. 

KENDLEY RINGING IT UP
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 (Dec. 22) 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 had a string of 9-straight games of scoring 20 or more points snapped after he was limited to a season-low 13 points versus Delaware State (Jan. 22).
• Kendley has scored 20 or more points in 12 of 14 games.
• He's currently averaging 25.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 steals and is shooting 454percent from the field and 74 percent from the charity stripe.

ROAD TESTING
Morgan State has struggled in away games this season.
•  The Bears have lost its last 12 games away from the Hill Field House.
•  The Bears are currently 2-14 on the road with its only pair of wins at South Florida (Nov. 13) and Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27).
•  Morgan State's last conference road win was on Feb. 20, 2017 when the Bears defeated Delaware State 65-54 in Dover.
•  Morgan State finished the 2016-17 season with a 5-10 road record and was 2-15 during the 2015-16 season.

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.