Men's Basketball | 11/30/2014 11:11:00 AM
LIVE STATSGAME NOTES (PDF)BALTIMORE – After spending plenty of quality time in-and-out of airports, hotels and foreign facilities, the Coppin State University men's basketball team is excited for the opportunity to play in familiar surroundings for the first time this season.
The Eagles (0-4 overall) play their home opener Monday night against Division II Goldey-Beacom College at 7:30 p.m. All fans are encouraged to wear blue as its "Blue Out Night", the first of many home-themed nights this season. It is also the home debut of new head coach
Michael Grant and his up-tempo system. Fans will get an opportunity to finally witness the frenzied madness up close.
While the Eagles are happy to be home, this brief visit is merely a tease as Coppin State hits the road Wednesday for a three-game road trip that will take it to Towson, Hampton and Norfolk State. Overall, Coppin State will begin the season by playing 13 of its first 16 games on the road. The Eagles won't play consecutive home games until Jan. 17 and 19 when they host Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M.
During their visits across the country to Oregon, Illinois, Notre Dame and Denver, the Eagles logged over 10,000 miles.
That trip was featured on NCAA.com. While the results weren't what the Eagles had hoped for, they continue to remain optimistic that they're on course to do some good things this season. Senior
Arnold Fripp has emerged as a consistent scorer for the Eagles, averaging a team-best 14.0 points per game.
Fripp has scored in double figures in three of Coppin State's four games this season. He is coming off of a career best 19-point performance against the University of Denver last Sunday. He was 7-of-10 from the field against the Pioneers and made all three of his 3-point shot attempts. Fripp has 13 career double-figure scoring games in his Coppin State career.
Senior guard
Taariq Cephas leads Coppin State with nine 3-pointers and is second on the team with an 8.8 point per game scoring average. Supplying much of the bench power early in the season for the Eagles have been sophomore
Christian Kessee (7.5 ppg) and senior
Jahvari Josiah (7.0 ppg.). Both players are shooting over 40 percent on the season.
After beginning the season with two straight wins, Goldey-Beacom has lost three consecutive contests, including a 75-63 decision to Millersville Saturday afternoon. Chris Gebhart paced the Lightning with a double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds). Also reaching double digits in the scoring column for the Lightning were Domineek Owens (14 points) and Daniel Cooper (12).
For the season, the Lightning has been led by Joey Getz's 14.2 point per game average. He has scored in double figures in four of GBC's five games this season. Getz scored a season-high 20 points against Bloomsburg earlier this season.
Coppin State returns to action Wednesday night when it makes the short trek across Interstates 83 and 695 to meet Towson at the SECU Arena at 7:00 p.m.
