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Game 29
Opponent: Delaware State Hornets (3-27, 1-14 MEAC)
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2018
Site:  Memorial Hall, Dover, Del.
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. 
Series Record: Coppin State leads the series 57-31
Live Stats/Video Stream: morganstatebears.com
Radio: WEAA, 88.9FM | Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.org)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (184-195, 12th yr) •  DSU - Keith Walker (43-92 5th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.dsuhornets.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State will culminate its regular season schedule with a road matchup the Delaware State Hornets on Thursday night. The MEAC foes meet for the second time this season, with the Bears beating the Hornets 61-47 in Hill Field House on Jan. 22. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET. The contest will be streamed live on dsuhornets.com. MSU is coming off a 69-56 win against Coppin State. Tiwian Kendley led all scorers with 27 points. Delaware State is coming off a 59-47 loss to Maryland Eastern Shore. Simon Okule scored 12 points with eight boards for the Hornets.

SENIOR NIGHT
Morgan State will honor senior student-athletes Phillip Carr (Brooklyn, N.Y./Transit Tech HS) and Tiwian Kendley (Harlem, N.Y./Roosevelt HS) who will be playing in their final home game at Hill Field House.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS
• Delaware State head coach Keith Walker (North Carolina Central, '96) enters his fifth season as the Hornets head coach ... Walker was officially appointed to the position on Apr. 15, 2014. He served as DSU's interim head coach for 11 games during the 2013-14 season ... Walker served as head coach at Division II Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000.  
• Delaware State finished the 2016-17 season with a 10-22 overall mark and finished T-6th in MEAC regular season play by posting a 7-9 record... The Hornets were defeated by Bethune-Cookman 69-62 in the first round of the 2017 MEAC Tournament.
• The Hornets have a three players averaging in double figures, led by sophomore 6-3 guard Kobe Gantz who is averaging 13.5 points and is shooting 42 percent from the field. Simon Okolue, a 6-10 transfer from NW Florida College, is averaging 10.7 ppg and leads the Hornets on the glass with 7.1 rebounds per game.  Artem Tavakalyn, a 6-6 senior transfer from Moscow, Russia, is averaging 10.6 points and is shooting 40 percent from the three.
• Artem Tavakalyn competed for Armenia in Summer 2017 FIBA Basketball World Cup ... he also compered for Armenia in the U20 European 2015 Men's Championship
• Delaware State is allowing its opponents to score 77.2 points, and ranks No. 11 in the league averaging 62.9 points per game.
• The Hornets rank No. 8 in the league by shooting 69.6 percent from the free throw line.
•  Delaware State is currently ranked No. 7 in rebounding margin (-2.5).

THE SERIES
• Saturday's contest will mark the 98th matchup between the schools ... The Bears lead the series 56-41 ... Morgan State has won four of the last five meetings. 
•  Jan. 22, 2018 --  The Bears set the pace and rode it all the way to a 61-47 victory over the Delaware State. Phillip Carr led the Bears with his 10th double-double of the season, recording 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tiwian Kendley also led with 13 points.
Johquin Wiley scored 11 points for Delaware State.
•  Delaware State's last win against the Bears was on Feb. 11, 2017 -- Devin Morgan scored 18 points and Delaware State continued its season-long win streak, now at four games, with a 56-45 win over Morgan State. Delaware State had its best defensive effort of the season by limiting Morgan State to just 23.6 percent shooting and 15 total field goals.

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 183 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 72.4 percent (462-638; No. 3 in MEAC) from the stripe. Phillip Carr  is shooting 85.6 percent (95-111; No. 3), followed by Kyson Rawls at 73.7 percent (14-19) and Stanley Davis at 72.9 percent (35-48).
• Tiwian Kendley will enter Thurday's contest versus Delaware State after shooting 8-for-10 vs. Coppin State (Feb. 26)... he's shooting 76 percent (138-181) from the line and leads the team in the number of made and taken free throws thru his first 17 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 74.7 points (No. 3 in MEAC) thru 27 games.
• The Bears rank No. 6 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 43.7 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 8 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 35.4 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 41 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first 23 of 27 games.
• Morgan State has shot 50 percent or better in four of its last 23 contests ... they shot 50 percent against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21), a season-high 52 percent at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27), 50 percent in a win against FAMU (Jan. 6) and 51 percent in the rematch versus FAMU on Feb. 12.
• Three starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Tiwian Kendley (.463), Phillip Carr (.419) and Kyson Rawls is shooting 42 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 94-43 (.686) overall home record at Hill Field House.
• Morgan State finished with an 8-2 at home record 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 27th career double-double with 12 points and 14 boards vs. Coppin State (Feb. 26).
•  Carr currently ranks No. 1 in the MEAC on the glass by averaging 9.6 rebounds per game in 27 games of the season.
•  He has been selected twice as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week (Dec. 26 & Jan. 9).
•  Carr has posted 14 double-doubles so far this season.
•  He is averaging 13.6 points and 10.3 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 14 rebounds on 'Senior Night' versus Coppin State (Feb. 26) and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranked No. 7 with 714 boards.
•  Carr is 21 rebounds shy passing Anthony Young for No. 6 (734) on the school's all-time rebounds list.

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 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.
• Kendley has scored 20 or more points in 15 of 17 games.
• He had a career-high 41 point explosion against Bethune-Cookman (Feb. 19) where he shot 13-for-19 from the floor and added six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
• He's currently averaging 26.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 steals and is shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 76.2 percent from the charity stripe.

RAWLS EMERGING
MSU coach Todd Bozeman made the decision to start Kyson Rawls at point guard at Norfolk State where he scored 11 points (4-10 FG) in 22 minutes… he's been in the starting lineup ever since. 
• Rawls, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound guard, has averaged 28 minutes, 10 points, 2 assists and 1.8 rebounds over the course of a five-game span as a starter, before leaving the Coppin State game (Feb. 26) with an injury in the opening minutes. 
• He has scored in double-figures five times this season, including a season-high 14 points (4-5 3FG) in 30 minutes at a starter versus B-CU on Feb. 19, 2018. 
• The New Castle (Del.) product is the deadeye-shooter from deep where he's currently shooting 46 percent from 3-point territory. 
• Rawls, who's currently averaging 5.3 points and 1.0 assists in 27 games played

SIGNIFICANT VICTORY AGAINST FLORIDA A&M
• With its 74-48 win against Florida A&M (Feb. 12), MSU recorded its first road victory against a conference opponent since a 65-54 win at Delaware State on Feb. 20, 2017.
• Morgan State registered their first road win against an opponent since a 69-63 victory against Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27, 2017. 

FROM DISTANCE... 
•  Morgan State has made a 3-pointer in 63 consecutive games...the last time the Bears were shut out from beyond the arc was on Feb. 20, 2016 in a 73-59 loss vs. North Carolina Central at Hill Field House.
•  MSU has connected on 33.6 percent from 3-point territory (138-of-411) … ranks No. 6 in the MEAC.
•  Tiwian Kendley leads the Bears with 29 threes...the entire roster has made a combined 138 threes. 

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.