Men's Basketball | 12/26/2014 3:08:00 PM
BALTIMORE – The Coppin State men's basketball team should change its nickname from the Eagles to the nomads especially considering it is playing 13 of its first 16 games on the road to begin the 2014-15 season, including Sunday's contest against Evansville.
The game begins at 1:05 p.m. from the Ford Center.
Sunday's game concludes a four-game road trip, Coppin State's third journey this season of at least three games in length. Another way to look at Coppin State's road-heavy slate is that it will play two home games each in December and January.
The road hasn't been kind to Coppin State (1-11 overall) this season especially considering that 10 of the 11 teams it has lost to all entered Christmas with winning records. Two of those teams, Notre Dame (12-1) and Eastern Michigan (10-2) are among a handful of Division I teams with double-digit win totals.
The Eagles have stops this week to Evansville (9-2) and Akron (7-4) sandwiched around a rare Tuesday afternoon home date against an Eastern Kentucky squad that blew out 18th-ranked Miami on its home floor a little over a week ago. So the arduous slate doesn't get any easier as the ball prepares to drop in Times Square in a few days.
Though it's hard for a casual observer to see progress, the Eagles have displayed occasional moments of solid basketball during this current three-game road trip through Connecticut, Michigan and Eastern Michigan. Coppin State has shown signs of improvement as it becomes more accustomed to first-year head coach
Michael Grant's style and system.
Coppin State has four players averaging double figures during this trip led by
Arnold Fripp's 15.7 point per game average.
Sterling Smith has caught fire lately and is scoring at a 12.3 point per game clip in the Eagles' last three games. He recorded his third career double-double in his last outing against Eastern Michigan with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Fripp and Smith have averaged six rebounds per game on this trip.
Also averaging double figures on this latest journey away from Baltimore are
Christian Kessee (11.7 ppg) and
Daquan Brickhouse (11.3).
Taariq Cephas has also become an assist machine, averaging 5.3 dimes per game. He handed out a season best six against Eastern Michigan.
In addition to the balanced scoring, Coppin State has continued to make 3-pointers. The Eagles tied a season-high by making 15 3-pointers against UConn. They have made nine each against Michigan and Eastern Michigan. Coppin State leads the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and is 10th nationally in 3-pointers made per game (9.4). The Eagles have also attempted the second-most 3-pointers in the nation (326).
Coppin State will be challenged by a tough Evansville team coming off of an 81-63 win over Alabama State last Sunday.
In the win over Alabama State, Egidijus Mockevicius posted a career-high 25 points to go along with 12 rebounds in the contest. Mockevicius, who recorded his seventh double-double of the season, was honored as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week while also garnering College Sports Madness High Major Player of the Week honors.
D.J. Balentine scored 20 points and has pushed his streak of 20+ games to seven in a row. Balentine is one of just 10 players in the nation with 7+ 20-point games this year Evansville finished the day shooting an even 50% (29/58); it marked the seventh time this season that the team has shot 50% or better; UE is undefeated in those contests. Evansville has nine wins before Christmas for the first time in program history.
Coppin State returns home to host Eastern Kentucky Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.
