Men's Basketball | 12/9/2014 2:46:00 PM
BALTIMORE – The Coppin State men's basketball team continues its arduous early-season schedule with a brief pit-stop on campus to host Hofstra University in the Physical Education Complex Arena Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
This will be the Eagles' second home game of the season. Wednesday's contest also marks the first meeting ever between Hofstra and Coppin State. Fans can follow live stats by
CLICKING HERE Overall, Coppin State (1-7 overall) is playing 13 of its first 16 contests on the road. Coppin State dropped all three games on its recent road trip to Towson, Hampton and Norfolk State. Meanwhile, Hofstra (6-2) has won three straight games, including its last two contests on the road.
In its 88-69 loss to Norfolk State on Monday night, senior guard
Taariq Cephas led the Eagles with a season-high 16 points. It was 33rd career contest scoring in double figures. Cephas was the Eagles' leading scorer during their recent three-game road trip, averaging 13 points per contest and shooting 42.1 percent overall. In four December games, Cephas is averaging 13.2 points per contest to lead Coppin State.
Arnold Fripp and
Sterling Smith each tallied 15 points against Norfolk State. Smith, CSU's leading returning scorer, started to find his scoring and rebounding touch during the Eagles' road trip. Smith averaged 11.3 points and a team best 5.7 rebounds. He scored a season-high 16 points against Towson. He pulled down a team-high six rebounds each against Towson and Hampton. Smith also made a team-best six three-pointers.
Fripp is CSU's leading scorer (12.4 ppg) and rebounder (4.6) for the season. He grabbed nine rebounds to go along with his 15 points against Norfolk State. Meanwhile,
Van Rolle on the strength of 6-of-11 shooting leads the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in three-point field goal percentage (54.5).
As a team, Coppin State is third in the nation in 3-point attempts (237) and 21st overall in 3-pointers made per game (9.0). The only schools that have attempted more 3-pointers than Coppin State have been VMI (327) and USC-Upstate (251).
Hofstra, on the other hand, is off to its best start since the 2008-09 squad began the year with a 7-1 mark. Included in the Pride's early season wins is an 88-74 triumph over Norfolk State last Tuesday.
In its 68-51 victory over Appalachian State, the Pride had five players reach double figures led by Juan'ya Green's 17 points. Malik Nichols also had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in Sunday's win.
Hofstra's three-point shooting has keyed the Pride early season success in 2014-15 as they are shooting a stellar 43% from beyond the arc this season, to rank 11th nationally. Sophomore guard Brian Bernardi and junior forward Ameen Tanksley are leading the way in that department with 26 and 25 three-pointers, respectively.
Tanksley is fourth nationally in three-point field goal percentage (59.5) and Bernardi is 20th (49.1). In terms of three-point field goals made per game, Bernardi is 29th nationally with 3.25 per contest and Tanksley ranks 42nd nationally with 3.13 per outing.
Scoring-wise, Green paces the Pride with 18.1 points per game and 6.3 assists per contest. He ranks 54th nationally in scoring and 16th nationally in assists. Tanksley is second on the squad with 17.8 points and also pulls down 5.9 caroms per outing. Bernardi ranks third on the team with 13.8 points per game.
Following this game, Coppin State begins another four-game road trip starting with a visit to the University of Connecticut to face the reigning NCAA champions Sunday at 4:00 p.m. That game will be played at Harford's XL Center.
Coppin State's next home game is against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 1:00 p.m.
