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Game 26
Opponent: North Carolina Central Eagles (11-12, 7-2 MEAC)
Date: Monday, February 10, 2020
Site: Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.com)
Live Stream: FloHoops.com
Live Stats: here
MSU Coaches: MSU -
Kevin Broadus (13-12, 1st yr) • NCCU - Levelle Moten (184-147, 11th year)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.nccueaglepride.com
SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (13-12, 7-3) will look to extend to a 5-game winning streak when they host the North Carolina Central Eagles inside Hill Field House on Monrday, February 10. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The contest will be streamed live on FloHoops.com and broadcast live by the Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN). The Bears posted a 61-53 win against in-state opponent Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday. NCCU extended to a 4-game winning streak after dropping Coppin State 68-63 in Baltimore.
THE SERIES
• Monday's contest will mark the 94th matchup between the schools ... The Eagles lead the series 53-40 and have won the last nine meetings since Jan. 28, 2013.
• On January 21, 2019, The Morgan State men's basketball team suffered a 92-64 loss against North Carolina Central at McDougald-McLendon Arena. Senior guard
Martez Cameron and freshman
Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. each scored 12 points for Morgan State.Randy Miller Jr. made seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points, two other North Carolina Central players had double-doubles.
• The Bears last win against N.C. Central was on Jan. 23, 2012 ...
Larry Bastfield scored a career-high 20 points in leading the Morgan State Bears to a 71-64 win over the Eagles of North Carolina Central at Hill Field House.
Kevin Thompson scored 13 and had five rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bears
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
• North Carolina Central head coach Levelle Moton (North Carolina Central, '96) enters his 11th season as the Eagles head coach ... he was the 2014-15 NABC District Coach of the Year.
• N.C. Central finished the 2018-19 season with a 18-16 overall mark and finished with a 10-6 conference mark ... The Eagles defeated Hampton 50-47 and won the 2019 MEAC Tournament Championship for the fourth time in the Division I era ... The Eagles fell to North Dakota State (78-74) in the the NCAA Tournament.
• The Eagles are led by redshirt senior 6-7 forward Jibri Blount who is averaging 19.3 points (No. 2 in MEAC), 9.1 rebounds (No. 3) and leads the league shooting 53 percent from the field. Randy Miller Jr., a 6-2 senior guard, is averaging 14.3 points and is shooting 87.2 percent from the free throw line (No. 9). Redshirt junior CJ Keyser, a 6-3 transfer from Wichita State, is chipping in 9.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
• Three Eagles named Preseason All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Senior guard Randy Miller Jr. (Odenton, Md.) earned second team honors, while senior forward Jibri Blount (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and junior guard Jordan Perkins (Greensboro, N.C.) both were selected for the third team.
• N.C. Central leads the MEAC by holding its opponents to 64.6 points, and ranks No. 8 in the league by averaging 67.7 points per game.
• The Eagles also lead the league by shooting 45.5 percent from the field and are shooting 30.5 percent from 3-point territory (No. 5 in MEAC).
• NCCU has dominated its opponents on the defensive boards -- the Eagles No. 3 in the MEAC in defensive rebounds (34.9 avg) and No. 5 in rebounding margin (-1.6).
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE EAGLES
• North Carolina Central University knocked down 10 three-pointers and led Coppin State for over 32 minutes on its way to a 68-63 win at the Physical Education Complex on Saturday.
• NCCU started the second half on a 9-0 run started by a three-pointer from Blount, but CSU put together a 7-0 run of its own to trim the lead back to four.
• Deven Palmer finished with a game-high and career-high 21 points, and Blount finished one board shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. Justin Whatley stepped up with nine points and eight rebounds, and
Jordan Perkins (Greensboro, N.C.) contributed 11 points for NCCU.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BEARS
• Three Bears scored in double-figures, and Morgan State defeated the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks 61-53 Saturday night at Hill Field House.
• Senior forward David Syfax Jr scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, sophomore
Malik Miller added 13 points and six rebounds, and junior
Troy Baxter Jr chipped in 12 points.
• Morgan State shot 44 percent (11-25) in the first half. The Hawks shot 31 percent (9-29) but were able to end the half down only 26-23.
CLOSE CALLS
• The Bears have started the 2019-20 season with a 5-5 record in games decided by 10 points or fewer, with a 71-65 loss to Saint Francis, followed by a 68-64 win at George Washington, and two close losses in The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase vs Milwaukee (62-57) and Evansville (115-112 3OT). The Bears posted a 74-71 win at Loyola Marymount, fell to Bethune-Cookman 85-78 and N.C. A&T 76-70, and rallied to beat Coppin State 50-48 and Maryland Eastern Shore 56-50...and most recently beat Maryland Eastern Shore 61-53.
• After falling 81-71 on March 12 versus #7 seed Coppin State in the MEAC Tournament, Morgan State played 21 games during the 2019-20 season that was decided by 10 points or fewer. Of those games 17 were decided by seven points or fewer, including six by three points or fewer.
BEAR NOTES:
Morgan State is shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc; the Bears shot a season-high 52 percent (25-48) from the field vs. Longwood (Dec. 7) ... Stanley Davis currently leads the Bears averaging 13.6 points (No. 8 in MEAC), 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists, including a 21-point effort in a triple overtime game versus Evansville (Nov. 24) … Troy Baxter is averaging 5.5 rebounds and has 50 blocked shots (ranks No. 1 in MEAC), including a 5 blocks in his season debut vs. N.C. A&T (Jan. 20) … Sherwyn Devonish-Prince has scored in double figures in 17 of 25 games and is averaging 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 32.3 minutes per game ... David Syfax is shooting 45.5 percent from the field and is averaging 7.7 points with 4.3 boards ... The last time the Bears recorded a 5-game conference winning streak was during the 2012-13.
AT THE CHARITY LINE
Morgan State is currently shooting 70.5 percent (389-552; ranks No. 2 in MEAC) from the stripe, led by Stanley Davis is shooting 81.0 percent (85-105; ranks No. 4 in MEAC), Lagio Grantsaan 78.6 percent (11-14) and Troy Baxter who is shooting 70.9 percent (61-86; No.11).
• The Bears completed the 2018-19 season ranked No. 4 in the conference in free throw percentage by shooting 71.3 percent (477-669) from the line.
• Sherwyn Devonish-Prince led the MEAC by shooting 86.6 percent (97-112 FT), followed by Kyson Rawls who shot 82.1 percent from the line
(64-78; No. 5) and Stanley Davis is shooting 79.8 percent from the line (79-99; No. 9).
DAVIS CHASIN' 1,000
Senior guard Stanley Davis needs 56 points to reach 1,000 points for his Morgan State career.
• Following his 8-point effort against Maryland Eastern Shore (Jan. 27), he currently has 944 points in 105 game played.
A ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Morgan State is 5-6 on the road this season, after going 2-13 on the road during the 2018-19 season. The last time MSU finished over .500 on the road (12-7) was during the 2010 season.
NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
Morgan State went 6-9 in non-conference play, the most non-conference wins since a 2017-18 season in which the Bears held a 6-10 non-conference mark. Prior to that, MSU had not won at least six non-conference games since the 2012-13 season (7-9).
• MSU played seven teams that are .500 or better and five of its opponents have won eight or more games.
• MSU went 4-2 at home, 2-4 in road games and 0-3 in neutral site games.
AT THE HELM
Kevin Broadus enters his first year at the helm as Morgan State's 16th head coach of the men's basketball program effective May 1, 2019. Broadus brings more than 20 years of coaching and elite-level recruiting experience to Morgan State. Broadus comes to Morgan from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he has been one of the nation's best recruiters as the top assistant on Mark Turgeon's coaching staff. This past season Broadus was influential in the successful NCAA tournament run for the Terps. Consistently ranked in the top 20 nationally for recruiting, Broadus was instrumental in signing a number of local Baltimore talents such as DeJuan Summers, Brandon Herbert, LaFonta Johnson, and Henry Sims.
WHO'S OUT
Tyler Streeter (Chicago, Ill./St. Francis de Sales HS), Antonio Gillespie (Memphis, Tenn./Memphis Central HS) and Martez Cameron (Chicago, Ill./Montverde Academy) wrapped up their collegiate careers and graduated last spring.
WHO'S BACK
The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guards Stanley Davis and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince, Jr and forward David Syfax. MSU also returns guards Isaiah Burke, Kyson Rawls, and Malik Miller, along with forwards LaPri McCray-Pace, Victor Curry and Malik Miller.
WHO'S IN
The Bears have added several newcomers to the 2019-20 roster: F Troy Baxter; F Victor Okafor; G Thai're Vance; F Lagio Grantsaan; F Peter Sorber; G Cameron Shaw; F Jamar Brown.
RETURNING PRODUCTION NUMBERS
Morgan State returns 75.6 percent of its scoring, 67.8 percent of its rebounding and 69.0 percent of its minutes played totals from last year's team. The team leaders in field goal percentage (Stanley Davis - .454 ), three-point percentage (Isaiah Burke, .370), free throw percentage (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., .866), rebounding (David Syfax - 4.6 rpg), assists (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., 2.2), steals (Stanley Davis, 1.1), blocked shots (David Syfax, 0.6). and minutes played (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., 28.0). Five (5) players who started in at least five (5) games a year ago also return - Devonish (30), Davis (25), Syfax (17 ), Curry (9), and McCray-Pace (8).
HOME GROWN
Morgan State has seven players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Sophomore point guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. is from Bladensburg, Md. and graduated from Wise HS. Sophomore guard Isaiah Burke is from Annapolis and was a prep standout at Bowie HS, while senior forward Taron Oliver, Jr. played for Montrose Christian and is from District Heights, Md. Sophomore guard Malik Miller hails from Washington, D.C. and played at Friendship Tech Prep. Junior forward Victor Okafor is from Greenbelt, Md. and played at Eleanor Roosevelt HS. Freshman guard Thai're Vance is a product of Silver Spring, Md. and played at DeMatha Catholic HS. Cameron Shaw is a freshman guard from Baltimore who played at Loyola Blakefield HS.
BROADUS' STAFF
Morgan State head basketball coach Kevin Broadus' coaching staff enters their first season. The Bears coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Brian Merritt, Chretien Lukusa and Kevin Jones.
• Merritt joins the Bears after serving the last two seasons as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at LSU. Merritt, a native of St. Mary's County, Maryland, joined LSU prior to the 2017-18 season after serving as Director of Scouting/Recruiting for John Lucas Enterprises.
• Lukusa was previously spent five years on Binghamton's staff, including a pair of seasons on the coaching side. A 2011 Binghamton graduate who also earned his master's degree at the University, Lukusa returned to the program in 2014. After serving two seasons as the coordinator of player development, Lukusa earned a promotion to assistant coach in Summer 2016.
• Jones was previously the assistant director of basketball operations and video coordinator at Radford University (2018-19) where he oversaw all things video and technology. Prior to Radford, Jones was an assistant coach at Norfolk State (2015-18) where he helped guide the Spartans to back-to-back second-place finishes in the MEAC and coached three All-MEAC guards.
THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Bears will play three nonconference games against teams that made the NCAA tournament last season, including Temple (Nov. 9 in the road opener), Liberty (Nov. 22 in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase) and Ohio State (Nov. 29). There's a Nov. 16 trip to George Washington to get the Bears a nonconference game in Washington, and the annual showdown with crosstown foe Towson is Dec. 4 at Hill Field House.
40-AND-OVER CLUB
Five of Morgan State's primary shooting threats are at 40 percent or better from the field, led by Stanley Davis who is 109-for-234 (46.6% - ranks 11th in MEAC) from the floor; David Syfax (70-for-154) is at 45.5 percent; Lagio Grantsaan (48-for-119) is at 40.3 percent; Jamar Brown (28-65) is at .431; and Isaiah Burke (71-for-177) is at 40.1 percent.
PREDICTED TO FINISH EIGHTH IN THE MEAC
The Morgan State men's basketball team has been tabbed to finish eigth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason Men's Basketball Poll the league announced.
• The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guards Stanley Davis and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince, Jr and forward David Syfax. MSU also returns guards Isaiah Burke, Kyson Rawls, and Malik Miller, along with forwards LaPri McCray-Pace, Victor Curry and Malik Miller.
•MSU was selected to finish eighth in 2019-20, earning 101 points in the poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors who could not vote for their own team or team members. North Carolina Central (203 points), who captured its third straight MEAC Tournament championship last season, edged out Bethune-Cookman (198 points) for first place honors, followed by defending regular-season champion Norfolk State.
• Eight (8) Bears are back from a team that placed 10th in the MEAC. Morgan State finished the year 6-7 in the conference and 9-21 overall. MSU's season ended with an 81-71 loss to Coppin State in the MEAC Tournament first round.
• The 2020 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off March 10-14 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. For more information about the MEAC and its sponsored sports, log on to www.MEACSports.com.
PRESEASON ALL-MEAC SELECTIONS
The Morgan State men's basketball team had a pair of Bears selected to the 2019-20 Preseason All-MEAC Team. Senior guard Stanley Davis was selected to the Second Team, while sophomore guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. was named to the Third Team.
• The most proven player on the roster is senior Stanley Davis, who led Morgan State in both scoring (12.5 per game) and rebounding (7.1). The latter number ranked seventh in the MEAC last season.
• Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. earned a place on the MEAC All-Rookie team by averaging 10.7 points as a true freshman.
BEARS TO HONOR ELIJAH CUMMINGS THROUGHOUT 2019-20 SEASON
Throughout the 2019-20 season, the Morgan State Bears student-athletes will celebrate the life of longtime Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings, who passed away on October 17, 2019, at the age of 68. In honor of Congressman Cummings and all of his many positive contributions to the University and his district, all Morgan State athletic teams will wear a special commemorative "EC" patch on their jerseys throughout the season. The Bears football team helmets will also be adorned with an EC decal.
• "Our department wanted to do something to recognize the many important contributions of the Honorable Elijah Cummings to the country, the City of Baltimore and Morgan State University," said Director of Athletics Edward Scott, Ph.D. "In speaking with our student-athletes, coaches and staff, we felt that the patches and decals would be the most appropriate way of demonstrating our appreciation to Regent Cummings and his family."
• The patch is a black circle with the initials "EC" in the center in orange letters and outlined in white.
• Congressman Cummings has a long history with Morgan State University and over the years has been one of its most staunch supporters. In addition to hosting many of his youth workshops and annual career fairs at Morgan, he also served on the University's Board of Regents for 19 years after having been appointed in July 1999 (he missed one year due to other commitments at the time).
MORGAN STATE 'GRIT'
The Morgan State athletic department has adopted the slogan GRIT for the 2019-20 athletic campaign. GRIT, which stands for Growth, Resiliency, Integrity and Teamwork, was introduced by Morgan State Director of Athletics Dr. Edward Scott at the start of the Fall semester. GRIT will define all 15 of Morgan State's athletic teams on and off the field of play this season.
2020 MEAC TOURNAMENT
The 2020 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 9-14 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. Ticket books can be purchased at all 12 MEAC university ticket offices, the Norfolk Scope Arena, Ticketmaster outlets, the MEAC Administrative Office and online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available by calling the MEAC at 757-951-2055 or Ticketmaster at (800)-745-3000. The annual MEAC Basketball Tournament moved to Norfolk in 2013 after spending the previous four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.
FOLLOW US IN CYBERSPACE
There are many ways to keep up with MSU athletics online and on the go:
• Visit www.morganstatebears.com, the official web site of Bears athletics, for news, schedules, stats, bios and more.
• Follow us on social media:
Facebook: /MorganStateBears
Twitter: @MorganStBears
Instagram: /MorganStateBears
ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering 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.
