Men's Basketball | 1/25/2015 7:42:00 PM
BALTIMORE – Coppin State finishes its Tar Heel state trip by visiting North Carolina A&T in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contest Monday night at the Corbett Sports Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The Eagles will look to rebound from a tough two-point loss to North Carolina Central and enjoy a happy bus ride home for the second straight season.
A SERIES GLANCE: Coppin State leads North Carolina A&T 36-20 all-time. The Eagles won last season's meeting in Greensboro, 70-54, on the strength of a season-high 13 3-pointers. Coppin State rolled to advantages of 24-4 and 30-7 in that contest.
Sterling Smith (14 points) and
Arnold Fripp (11 points) combined for 25 points in the wire-to-wire victory.
ROAD HEARTBREAKS: Coppin State has lost its last two MEAC road games by two points to Howard (71-69) and NCCU (79-77). Each game was decided in the final 15 seconds.
THREE-RIFFIC: Coppin State leads the MEAC in 3-pointers made per game (9.2). The Eagles have made 22 3-pointers in their last two games. For the season, they have made nine or more 3-pointers 13 times this season. Coppin State made 10-of-21 3-pointers against North Carolina Central Saturday afternoon. NCCU entered the game with the third best opponents field goal percentage defense in the country.
TERRIFIC TAARIQ: Taariq Cephas is currently second in the MEAC in assists per game (4.6) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0). He posted his third career and second double-double this season against North Carolina Central (10 points, career-high 12 assists). All three of his double-doubles (Delaware State – Dec.7, 2013; Akron – Jan. 3, 2015 & NCCU – Jan. 24, 2015) have come on the road. Cephas has 387 career assists, 13 shy of becoming the third player in CSU history to hand out at least 400 assists in a career. He is also 20 away from passing Tywain McKee and moving into second place all-time. Cephas has scored in double figures 41 times in his magnificent career and 13 times this season.
KESSEE FINDS THE RANGE: In two games last week against FAMU and NCCU,
Christian Kessee led Coppin State in scoring with 23 and 19 points, respectively. He is averaging 21 points over CSU's last two games on 15-of-26 shooting (57.7 percent). Kessee has also made seven of his last 14 3-point field goal attempts. In the first half of his last two games, Kessee has scored 28 points.
SOMETHING TO WATCH: In each of its last two games against FAMU and NCCU, Coppin State's first two field goals were made 3-pointers. In each game, Kessee opened the game with the Eagles' first points of the contest on a 3-pointer.
PROTECTING THE ROCK: Coppin State committed a season-low six turnovers in its game at NCCU on Saturday.
A GLANCE AT NORTH CAROLINA A&T: North Carolina A&T dropped a 67-52 decision to Delaware State on Saturday. The Aggies (5-16, 2-5 MEAC) shot just 28 percent from the floor, while the Hornets shot 50 percent in the second half and outscored the Aggies 41-29. Junior Ahmad Abdullah led the Aggies with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Khary Doby and junior Bruce Beckford also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 respectively.
UP NEXT: Coppin State finishes this three-game road trip by traveling across the Bay Bridge to meet Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
