Men's Basketball | 4/9/2015 12:23:00 PM
BALTIMORE – Under the leadership of first-year head coach
Michael Grant, the 2014-15 Coppin State men's basketball team led the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in scoring offense, set a school record for most three-pointers made in a season, won a MEAC Tournament game for the second consecutive year and had two student-athletes named to the all-conference team.
Coppin State produced plenty of excitement and memorable moments during the season in averaging 71.3 points per game, a conference best. Additional highlights during the season included sweeping rival Morgan State for the first time since 2003-04 season, playing a nationally-televised game on ESPNU and ranking in the top 10 nationally in three-point field goals made per game at 9.5, which also led the MEAC.
The high-flying Eagles made 294 three-pointers, besting the previous program standard of 289 established during the 2010-11 season. Coppin State led the MEAC in three-pointers made per game (9.5).
Sterling Smith,
Taariq Cephas,
Arnold Fripp and Christian Keesse made at least 50 three-pointers each during the season.
As a team, Coppin State ranked in the upper half of the conference in turnover margin (second, +0.87), three-point field goal percentage (third, 35.7 percent), assists (fourth, 12.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (fourth, 0.9), free-throw percentage (fourth, 69.2) and steals (fifth, 6.7).
Competing against the 11th most challenging non-conference in schedule in the nation, the Eagles improved throughout the season. Coppin State finished with eight victories, but the total could have been higher as it lost six games by five points or less. Coppin State edged Bethune-Cookman in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament for the second straight year.
In averaging a team-best 13.9 points per game, Smith also led the team with 76 3-pointers. Smith was also third in the MEAC in 3-point field goal percentage (41.8 percent), third in 3-pointers made per game (2.5). In addition to Smith, Kessee (fifth, 41.8 percent), Cephas (ninth, 38.4) and Fripp (14th, 36.6) all finished among the top 15 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage.
The Eagles made a season-high 15 3-pointers against Goldey-Beacom and Connecticut.
Smith and Cephas were named to the All-MEAC second and third teams, respectively. They also finished among the top ten in the conference in steals per game. Cephas was fifth (1.5 per game) and Smith was seventh (1.7).
During the season, they each received MEAC weekly award honors. Smith was named Defensive Player of the Week on Dec. 29. Cephas earned MEAC Player of the Week recognition on Jan. 4 following a near triple-double against Akron. Later in the season, Fripp was named MEAC and College Sports Madness Player of the Week on Feb. 9.
Cephas was second on the Eagles in scoring (12.0 points per game). He was second in the MEAC and 49th nationally in assists per game (4.9). Cephas became the 22nd CSU men's basketball player to score 1,000 career points on Feb. 14 against Howard.
Cephas ended his magnificent career with 1,084 career points, which is 18th all-time in CSU history. His final career assist tally was 451. Cephas will be remembered for a long time for his accomplishments, which include being the second player in CSU history to finish his career with 1,000 career points and 400 career assists.
"For us to get two players on the All-MEAC team is pretty good," Grant said. "I look forward to getting many, many more players on the team in the future. Felt good about us having an opportunity to getting two guys on the team. Those guys really deserved it."
Fripp led Coppin State in rebounding (5.9 per game) and was third on the team in scoring (11.8). He scored a career-high 25 points and made six 3-pointers against UConn. Fripp (22 points and 10 rebounds) and Smith (27 & 10) each posted double-doubles to fuel Coppin State's first road victory of the season against Delaware State. Meanwhile, Kessee's 23 points helped the Eagles defeat Florida A&M in January. Kessee scored in double figures 14 times and hit for 20 or more points three times.
While those players were the core for Coppin State this season, senior
Dallas Gary,
Jahvari Josiah and
Daquan Brickhouse each enjoyed bright moments this season.
Gary averaged 7.9 points and 3.0 rebounds while scoring in double figures nine times. He scored a career-high 18 points twice to lead victories over North Carolina A&T and Morgan State. Gary also had the signature moment of the season with a dunk against Morgan State in the nationally-televised ESPNU game.
Josiah opened the season with consecutive 11-point outings against Oregon and Illinois. Despite missing 13 games, Brickhouse sparked the Eagles by averaging 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Coppin State's six seniors were the leaders of the team this season.
"Everything we asked the seniors to do, they did this year for us," Grant said. "I just wish it was a better opportunity for these guys to have a much better year than we did. We lost a lot of close games this season. I am very thankful for the group that I have to help me put our system in place. This group of seniors was able to set the foundation for our basketball program in the future. Our future is looking very bright for next year."
In addition to Kessee, underclassmen
Van Rolle,
Michael Oyefusi, Jerimiyah Batts,
Blake Simpson,
Lawrence Fejokwu and
Shomari Triggs made key contributions during the season.
"Overall I was pleased with how we finished the season especially over our last 10 games," Grant said. "It showed a little taste of what we'll look like next year. We have a very good recruiting class coming in next year and I think fans will be excited."
