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Game 31
Opponent: Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (18-13)
Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Site:  Scope Arena, Norfolk, Va.
Game Time: 8 p.m. 
Series Record: Morgan State leads the series 33-26
Live Stats/Video Stream: meachoops.com
Radio: WEAA, 88.9FM | Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.org)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (185-196, 12th yr) •  BCU - Ryan Ridder (18-13 1st yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.bcuathetics.com

SETTING THE STAGE
No. 7 Morgan State will face No. 2 Bethune-Cookman in the quarterfinals of the MEAC Tournament on Wednesday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk. The MEAC foes meet for the second time this season, with the Wildcats coming away with a 96-95 overtime win at Hill Field House on Feb. 19. Game time is slated for 8 p.m. ET. The contest will be streamed live on meachoops.com. MSU is coming off an 83-80 first round win against No. 10 S.C. State. Phillip Carr led the Bears with 21 points. B-CU's last game was an 89-77 win against Florida A&M on March 1.  Soufiyane Diakite led the way with a career-high 27 points with 14 rebounds.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Bethune-Cookman begins its first season under head coach Ryan Ridder ... Ridder  joined BCU after a four-year stint at Daytona State College where he led the Falcons to 95 victories and four Mid-Florida Confernece championships ... he's also the son of legendary Embry-Riddle men's head coach Steve Ridder.
• BCU finished the 2016-17 season with a 10-22 overall mark and finished with a 6-10 mark in the MEAC ... The Wildcats fell to North Carolina Central, 95-60, in the MEAC Tournament quarterfinals at The Scope Arena.
• BCU finished as the MEAC regular season co-champions by posintg an 11-4 confernece mark and are 18-13 overall averaging 82 points per game (No. 2 in MEAC) and are shooting 44.5 percent from the field (No. 4 in MEAC) and 32.5 percent from 3-point territory.
•  The Wildcats are led by 2017-18 MEAC Player of the Year Brandon Tabb. Tabb is averaging 19 points (No. 4 in MEAC). The Hampton native is  ranks as one of the top free throw shooters in the nation with a 92.7 clip (114-of-123) from the line while also a major threat from beyond the arc as he ranks second in the MEAC with 94 three-pointers made.
• Soufiyane Diakite was named the 2017-18 Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the MEAC with 9.6 rebounds per contest and also ranks on top with 17 contests of 10-plus rebounds along with a total of 28 blocked shots.
• BCU is holding its opponents to shooting 32.9 percent from beyond the arc (No. 2 in MEAC).
•  B-CU's last game was an 89-77 win against Florida A&M on March 1.  Soufiyane Diakite led the way with a career-high 27 points with 14 rebounds. Forward Shawntrez Davis also scored in double-figures with 17 points.

THE SERIES
• Wednesday's contest will mark the 60th matchup between the schools ... The Bears lead the series 33-26.
• Phillip Carr scored a game-high 25 points to lead Morgan State to a 69-63 victory on Jan. 7, 2017 at the L. Gale Lemerand Fitness Center on the campus of Daytona State College. Kyle Thomas matched his season-high with 16 points off the bench as the Bears. Martez Cameron added 11 points and seven assists. 
• The Wildcats last win against Morgan State was on Feb. 19, 2016 ... Isaiah Bailey recorded the final four of his career-best 28 points at the free-throw line and sealed a 96-95 overtime victory for Bethune-Cookman against Morgan State at Hill Field House. Tiwian Kendley scored 29 of his career-high 41 points (13-19 FG) after halftime for Morgan State (10-16, 6-7). Kendley also grabbed six rebounds and had five assists and two blocked shots before fouling out in overtime.

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 185 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 are shooting 72.2 percent (499-691; No. 3 in MEAC) from the stripe this season. Phillip Carr  is shooting 84.9 percent (107-126; No. 3), followed by Tiwian Kendley at 74.1 percent (143-193) and Stanley Davis at 74.1 percent (43-58).
• Tiwian Kendley will enter Wednesday's contest versus #2 Bethune-Cookman after scoring 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting vs. #10 S.C. State (March 6)... he's shooting 74 percent (143-193) from the line and leads the team in the number of made and taken free throws thru his first 19 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 75.2 points (No. 5 in MEAC) thru 29 games.
• The Bears rank No. 6 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 44.4 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 9 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 35.7 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 25 of 29 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.
• Two starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Tiwian Kendley (.463) and Phillip Carr (.432) .

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 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.

CARR EARNS FIRST TEAM ALL-MEAC  HONORS, AGAIN
Senior forward Phillip Carr was the Morgan State men's basketball team's lone representative on the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference teams.  The league announced its awards Friday in advance of the 2018 MEAC Tournament, which begins Monday (March 5) at the Scope Area in Norfolk, Va.
•  Carr has been a consistent and proven force for the Bears throughout the 2017-18 season.  The Brooklynite  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 completed the regular season ranked No. 2 in the MEAC on the glass by averaging 9.4 rebounds per game in 28 games of the season.
•  He was selected three times as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week (Dec. 26, Jan 3 & Jan. 9).
•  Carr has posted 14 double-doubles so far this season.
•  He averaged 13.7 points and 10 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 eight rebounds versus #10 S.C. State (March 6) and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranked No. 7 with 726 boards.
•  Carr is nine 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 19 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 25.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.1 steals and is shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 74 percent from the charity stripe.

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 65 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 (148-of-440) … ranks No. 5 in the MEAC.
•  Tiwian Kendley leads the Bears with 30 threes...the entire roster has made a combined 148 threes. 

WOW...THAT WAS FAST
Senior guard Tiwian Kendley is the fastest to score 900 points in Morgan State's Division 1 history; Also since 1992-93, he has the third most points (487) for a D-1 player who has played in only 19 games...
Bubba Wells, Austin Peay (1996-97): 19 gms, 603 points
Greg Guy, Texas-Rio Grande Valley (1992-93): 19 gms, 556 points
Tiwian Kendley, Morgan State (2017-18), 19 gms, 487 points

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.