GAME NOTES
DAYTON, Ohio – Opening the 2018-19 season on an eight-game road trip, the Coppin State University men's basketball team heads to the University Dayton for the second contest of the stretch on Saturday, November 10. Tipoff from UD Arena is set for 7 pm and fans can also watch the game on ESPN+.
What You Need to Know
Coppin Contributors
- Lamar Morgan, a Third Team All-MEAC selection a year ago, as well as a 2nd Team Preseason pick coming into this season, led the Eagles with 15 points along with four 3-pointers in the season opener Tuesday night at Wisconsin.
- Sophomore Taqwain Drummond also finishing in double figures against the Badgers, scoring a career-high 11 points with three 3-pointers. Drummond also matched senior Cedric Council for a team-high five rebounds.
- In their collegiate debuts, freshmen Nigel Marshall and Ibn Williams, who played four years of high school ball together, tallied nine and seven points, respectively. Both pulled down three rebounds while Williams dished out a team-high three assists.
- Playing his first game in nearly a calendar year, redshirt sophomore and Preseason All-MEAC honoree Dejuan Clayton recorded seven points to go with two rebounds and two assists.
- The Eagles played even with Wisconsin in the second half of the opener as both teams scored 36 points and shot 11-of-33 from the floor during the period.
Scouting the Flyers
- Dayton is coming off a 78-70 victory over North Florida on Wednesday night where Obi Toppin recorded a double-double 18 points and ten rebounds in his first collegiate game.
- Trey Landers also notched a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds while Jordan Davis (16) and Ryan Mikesell (12) also finished in double figures.
- The Flyers also got contributions from Jordan Crutcher (nine points, seven rebounds), Jhery Matos and Dwayne Cohill as Preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection Josh Cunningham did not play due to injury.
- UD returns four starters from last year's team that finished 14-17 and 8-10 in the A-10.
News & Notes
Lights Out Lamar
In his first season at Coppin State in 2017-18 after transferring from Mineral Area College in Missouri,
Lamar Morgan was named Third Team All-MEAC and proved to be one of the top 3-point shooters in the Nation. With range up to 30 feet, Morgan made an impressive 37.0% of his shots from behind-the-arc, and this clip rose to 42.6% in conference play. An astonishing 77.3% of hit shot attempts last season came from behind-the-arc and he made at least five triples in eight different games, including a season-high eight against Hampton. Morgan also sunk seven three's in games against Connecticut and Morgan State.
Morgan led the Eagles last season with 12.3 points per game last season to go with 5.1 rebounds but in conference action, Morgan put up 15.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. His eight 3-pointers against Hampton were the 3rd-most in school-history and his 88 trifectas were the 4th most in CSU single-season history.
Morgan highlights the Preseason All-MEAC Second team coming into this year.
Clayton on the Comeback Trail
Dejuan Clayton had a sensation freshman year during the 2016-17 season, averaging 12.4 points along with a team-high 3.1 assists en route to being named to the MEAC All-Rookie Team. Clayton started last season off strong, recording 20 points at Cleveland State before going down with a season-ending injury at Central Connecticut State.
Despite playing in just six games last season, Clayton still garnered the respect from the rest of the conference as he was named Preseason All-MEAC coming into this season.
Andrews-Fulton is the X-Factor
Head Coach
Juan Dixon calls
Chad Andrews-Fulton the heart and soul of the team. Last season, the senior forward also proved to be an X-Factor in regards to the team's success. For the season, Andrews-Fulton averaged 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, but in victories, put up 15.0 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting nearly 63% from the floor.
Council's Block Party
In his first season at Coppin after transferring from Gordon State College in Georgia,
Cedric Council proved to be one of the top shot blockers in the MEAC, averaging nearly one per game with a team-high 30. No other Eagles player had more than 13 blocks in the year. Council swatted away a season-high five blocks at Ohio University and had multiple blocks in five other games.
Sweet Lou
Of the team's five seniors/graduate students, only guard
Lucian Brownlee has been at Coppin more than two years. In fact only redshirt sophomore
Dejuan Clayton has been with the Eagles for two full seasons and he missed most of last year with an injury. Brownlee has played in 92 games the last three seasons, coming off the bench in each game to provide a scoring spark. Brownlee averaged a career-high 4.9 points last season with a huge game against Bethune-Cookman where he went off for 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting and seven 3-pointers in only 23 minutes of playing time. The coaching staff calls Brownlee 'The Microwave' due to his ability to score the ball rapidly in a short amount of time. With 32 games on the 2018-19 schedule including a MEAC Tournament game, should Brownlee play in each game, he will rank tied for fifth in games played at Coppin State with
Taariq Cephas ('15) with 124 games.
Big Man on Campus
Standing seven-feet tall, freshman and Baltimore native
Brendan Medley-Bacon will add a different dynamic to the Coppin lineup this season. Medley-Bacon is the first seven-footer at Coppin since the 2004-05 season (
Henry Colter) and just the third in CSU history.
Jason Iacona stood 7-1 and played at Coppin from 1997 to 2001.
Family Ties
Graduate student
Kent Auslander is playing in his second season at Coppin after transferring in from the University of Maryland where he was a walk-on for two seasons, playing in nine games. Auslander is the younger brother of
John Auslander who is in his second season at the Eagles' Associate Head Coach. The older Auslander was also a letterwinner at Maryland and saw action in 27 games in three seasons.
From the Land Down Under
Freshman
Giir Ring was born in Egypt but spent nearly all of his life in Sydney, Australia. Ring played his prep school ball in Scottsdale, Arizona at Bella Vista College Preparatory School. Ring is also the cousin on Minnesota Timberwolves forward
Luol Deng.
Playing Together Again
Freshmen
Nigel Marshall and
Ibn Williams are teammates once again, having played four years of high school ball together, in two different States. For three seasons, the duo played under Coach Bob Hurley at the famed St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, N.J. The school closed following the 2016-17 season, forcing Marshall and Williams to search for a new home, which they found at Bishop McNamara High School. Both guards earned All-Conference accolades in the WCAC, which is arguably the toughest high school basketball conferences in the country.
Dixon in his 2nd Year as Head Coach
Baltimore native and local legend
Juan Dixon is now in his second season as head coach of the Eagles men's basketball team. In his first season as a Division I head coach, Dixon led the Eagles to a 5-27 record with a 5-11 mark in the MEAC. Dixon was a two-time All-American at Maryland and led the Terrapins to its only National Championship in 2002. The leading scorer in school history, Dixon was a two-time All-American, three-time First Team All-ACC selection and the 2002 ACC Player of the Year. He was the 17
th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards and went on to play nine seasons in the NBA.
