CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Coppin State's season-opening four-game road trip continued with a 114-56 defeat to the University of Illinois at the State Farm Center Sunday night.
Coppin State (0-2 overall) had eight players reach the scoring column led by 11 points each from
Jahvari Josiah and
Christian Kessee.
Josiah missed all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL injury. He has quickly made up for lost time in Coppin State's first two games of the games of the season. Providing a spark off the bench, he has scored in double figures in each of Coppin State's first two games. Josiah is averaging 11 points per game, which is second on the team behind
Arnold Fripp's 11.5 point per game average.
Kessee, who scored in double figures for the first time in his Coppin State career, and Josiah combined to make 10 of 21 shots and help Coppin State finish with 36 bench points.
"My mindset is to come in and play with intensity while giving my team a spark," Kessee said. "Also, I want to try and put some points up when I can."
Arnold Fripp and
Daquan Brickhouse finished with seven points each for Coppin State.
With a team-best four assists,
Taariq Cephas moved past Will Crandle and into seventh place all-time in program history in that category. He finished with three assists to raise his career total to 306.
For the second consecutive game,
Daquan Brickhouse opened the scoring for Coppin State by draining a 3-pointer. He scored the Eagles' first five points of the 2014-15 season against Oregon. Other highlights included
Lawrence Fejokwu leading Coppin State with seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
"I thought Illinois played well and shot the heck out of the ball," Coppin State coach
Michael Grant said. "We dug ourselves a hole and we couldn't get out of it. We have a lot of work to do as a team."
Illinois placed six players in double figures highlighted by 18 points each from Ahmad Starks and Leron Black. The Fighting Illini made 15 3-pointers.
Coppin State returns to action Wednesday night when it visits Notre Dame. That game begins at 7 p.m. and can be watched online for free at ESPN3.com.
