Game 8
Opponent: Longwood Lancers (5-5)
Date: Saturday, December 6, 2025
Site: Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 4 p.m.
Series Record: Longwood leads 4-2
Live Stream: ESPN+ | Phil Schoener (Play-by-Play), Kurt Smallwood (Analyst)
Radio: HSRN.com 
Live Stats: www.morganstatebears.com
Coaches: MSU -Kevin Broadus (83-100, 7th yr) • Longwood - Ronnie Thomas (5-5, 1st yr)
Websites: www.morganstatebears.com | www.longwoodlancers.com

SETTING THE STAGE
• The Morgan State Bears (1–6) return to Hill Field House for non-conference action against the Longwood Lancers on Saturday, Dec. 6. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. (EST). The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

• Morgan State and Longwood last met on Nov. 9, 2024.  The Lancers posted an 84-66 victory in Farmville, Va.

• Rob Lawson has emerged as a major spark off the bench to open the 2025–26 season. The senior guard led the Bears with a game-high 20 points, adding five rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes at Georgetown on Nov. 11. He followed that effort with another 20-point outing against Central Penn at Hill Field House. He's currently averaging 12.4 points on 38 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent from beyond the arc.

• Senior guard Alfred Worrell Jr. played in 32 games and averaged 6.5 points and 1.6 rebounds as a junior at

Southern Mississippi last season. He shot 38 percent from the floor, 33 percent from distance, and 87 percent from the free throw line. He enters Saturday's matchup leading the Bears by averaging 14.6 points on 34 percent shooting from the field.

• Graduate guard Elijah Davis transferred from Bowie State, where he started in every game (30) and averaged 10 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.9 steals, and 31.8 minutes. He also played for Mississippi Valley State (2021-22), Walter State C.C. (2022-23), and Incarnate Word (2023-24). He's averaging 13.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 3.4 rebounds and is shooting 52 percent from the floor. 

• Graduate guard Walter Peggs Jr. was a BOXTOROW DII HBCU All-America First Team selection as a standout at Spring Hill College. He became the program's leading scorer in the Division-II era, with 1,137 career points. He also broke the team's two-year career points per game record, averaging 21.3 points per game over two seasons.

• Graduate center Dallas James spent four seasons at South Carolina State before joining the Indiana Hoosiers in 2024-25.

SCOUTING LONGWOOD
• Ronnie Thomas was named the head coach of the Lancers in March of 2025 following five seasons on staff under Griff Aldrich. He joined the Longwood men's basketball staff in the summer of 2020 as the Director of Recruiting & Program Development and shifted to an assistant coach role in July of 2021. In his four seasons as an assistant, Longwood has won the Big South Championship twice, played in two NCAA Tournaments, and added a top-two finish in the Big South standings as well. Plus, the team's 67 wins are the most in three years in team history.

• Longwood's depth features five returners, with four coming back for their third season at Longwood: forwards Johan Nziemi and Elijah Tucker, and guards Emanuel Richards, KJ McClurg, and Jaylen Benard. Tucker was a Preseason All-Big South First Team selection a season after ranking 16th in the Big South in rebounding while averaging 9.7 points and five rebounds per game. Nziemi is one of the strongest people in the Big South and is currently averaging 12.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and is shooting 53 percent from the field. 

• Among the transfers, Jacoi Hutchinson brings two years of playing experience following his time at George Washington. Redd Thompson, Jr. transferred from James Madison after limited time a season ago on a JMU side that won 20 games. Alphonzo Billups III, who goes by Fats, transferred from VCU. Elijah Jones, from the College of Charleston.

THE SERIES
• Longwood leads the series 4-2 since 2007.

• The Lancers have won the last three matchups, and the Bears have posted a 2-1 record inside Hill Field House.

• Morgan State's last win against Longwood was on Dec. 7, 2019 -- Senior guard Stanley Davis led four Bears in double-figures with a game-high 18 points, and Morgan State ended their five-game losing streak as they defeated the Longwood Lancers 73-65.

UP NEXT
The Bears head to Chicago, Ill., for a Tuesday night matchup at DePaul on Dec. 9. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST.

AT THE HELM
• Kevin Broadus enters his seventh season at the helm of the program, having been named the men's head basketball coach in 2019.
• The Broadus-led Bears team has compiled several significant victories over non-conference competition, elevating the caliber of wins for a program that aims to compete at a championship level within the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Broadus demonstrated exemplary leadership while successfully overcoming numerous challenges at the onset of his tenure at Morgan, including navigating the rebuilding of a program under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• During the 2024–25 season, the Bears finished with an overall record of 14–18, highlighted by a balanced 7–7 mark in MEAC play. The performance mirrored that of the previous season, when Morgan State went 11–20 overall, while also posting a .500 record in conference competition. In 2022–23, the Bears finished 15–15 overall and 7–7 in the MEAC, following a 13–15 campaign in 2021–22 that saw them place fourth in the league standings and reach the MEAC Tournament semifinals. The year prior, in 2021, Morgan advanced all the way to the MEAC Tournament championship game.
• Before Morgan, Broadus worked at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was one of the nation's best recruiters as the top assistant on Mark Turgeon's coaching staff. 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 several local Baltimore talents such as DeJuan Summers, Brandon Herbert, LaFonta Johnson, and Henry Sims.

WHO'S OUT
Kameron Hobbs (Stockbridge, Ga./Dutchtown HS), Wynston Tabbs (Suitland, Md./St. Mary's Ryken School HS), Amahrie Simpkins (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and Will Thomas (Baltimore, Md./Mervo HS) wrapped up their collegiate careers and graduated last spring. 
• Hobbs, a BOXTOROW HBCU First Team All-American, passed Jimmy Fields (139) to become No. 6 on Morgan State's all-time 3-point field goals leaderboard. He completed his career with 150 3-pointers.

WHO'S BACK
The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guard Rob Lawson and forward Trent Edwards. MSU also returns Christian Oliver, who was on the squad during the 2023-24 season.

WHO'S IN 
The Bears have added several newcomers to the 2025-26 roster: G Elijah Davis (Bowie State), G Alfred Worrell Jr. (Southern Mississippi), and G Christian Meeks (Waubonsee C.C.). Newcomers also include F  Eugene Alvin (Florida Southwestern) and F Manok Lual (Frostburg State), along with C Dallas James, a transfer from Indiana.

RETURNING PRODUCTION NUMBERS 
Morgan State returns 16.6 percent of its scoring, 18.7 percent of its rebounding, and 23.8 percent of its minutes played totals from last year's team. The team leaders in field goal percentage (Rob Lawson - .350), three-point percentage (Rob Lawson, .379), free throw percentage (Rob Lawson., .747), rebounding (Rob Lawson - 2.6 rpg), assists (Rob Lawson, 2.4), steals (Rob Lawson, 0.9), blocked shots (Trent Edwards, 1.0), and minutes played (Rob Lawson, 26.7).  Rob Lawson (23) is the only returner who has started in at least five (5) games a year ago.

HOME GROWN
Morgan State has five (5) players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Senior guard Rob Lawson is from Capitol Heights and played at National Christian Academy. Veteran guard Elijah Davis hails from Severn, Md., and played at Incarnate Word. Redshirt senior forward Jayden Socka is from Silver Spring, Md., and attended Springbrook HS. Graduate student guard Alfred Worrell Jr. and freshman David Bumpass are from Washington, D.C. Worrell went to Montgomery Blair HS, and Bumpass attended Friendship Tech Prep Academy.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTION
Graduate student Walter Peggs Jr., a transfer from Spring Hill College, was named to the preseason All-MEAC Third Team.
• Peggs was a BOXTOROW Division II HBCU All-America First Team selection and became the first player in program history to earn two BOXTOROW HBCU All-America honors. He was also a SIAC First Team All-Conference pick and was named to the NABC Honors Court.
• At Spring Hill, Peggs became the program's Division II era career scoring leader with 1,137 points and set the two-year career scoring average record at 21.3 points per game. He started all 26 games last season, averaging a career-best 26.0 points and 35.6 minutes per game. Peggs totaled 676 points to set the program's Division II single-season scoring record, while adding 92 rebounds. He also set Division II era records with 99 made three-pointers and 151 made free throws. Peggs shot career highs of 48.2% (213-442) from the field, 42.1% (99-235) from three-point range, and 87.8% (151-172) from the free-throw line.

TABBED TO FINISH FOURTH
The Morgan State men's basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's preseason poll, announced by the conference today.
• The 2025-26 Bears earned 73 total points in the voting. Norfolk State claimed 12 first-place votes and 118 points total as the defending MEAC champions. Howard (97 pts) was selected second, followed by South Carolina State in third place (90 pts). Delaware State (70 pts), North Carolina Central (70 pts), Maryland Eastern Shore (31 pts), and Coppin State (27 pts) rounded out the league's predicted order of finish.

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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 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.