Game Notes (Florida Gulf Coast) Game Notes (UAB)
BALTIMORE, Md. – The Lady Eagles will play two more contests before the holiday as it participates in the FGCU Classic on Wednesday and Thursday. Coppin will play the host Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, before wrapping up the trip with UAB on Thursday at 5 p.m.
What You Need to Know (Florida Gulf Coast)
What You Need to Know (UAB)
- Time and Date: Thursday, December 20 (5 pm)
- Live Stats: http://statb.us/b/242055
- Records: Coppin State 0-9 (0-0 MEAC) / UAB 9-1 (0-0 CUSA)
- Location: Fort Myers, FL – Alico Arena
- Series History: First Meeting
Coppin Contributors
- Coppin State is coming off its best performance of the season on Saturday, losing a thrilling back-and-forth contest to Niagara on a jumper with five seconds left.
- D1 Women's Basketball Hero of the Week Nominee Chance Graham has flexed her muscles throughout the year, ranking inside the top-25 for defensive rebounds per game (9), double-doubles (6), free throw attempts (78), free throws made (52), minutes played per game (36.89), rebounds (105), and rebounds per game (11.7).
- Graham finds herself among the MEAC leaders as well in points per game (16.8) and steals per game (2.44), while pacing the team in blocks (13) and three-pointers made (15).
- Brooke Fields has been moving up the conference ranks over the past couple of weeks, as she appears on the leader board for points per game (12.1), assists per game (2.7), free throw percentage (71%), and three-pointers made per game (1.4).
- Sophomore Maraiyah Smith is showing up with the MEAC leaders for the first time here in 2018-19, breaking through at 13th with 2.2 assists per game after her season-high four assist performance on Saturday.
- When Jalynda Salley shoots, she picks her moments carefully, as the freshman center leads the Eagles with a .406 field goal percentage. Salley is currently second on the team in rebounds per contest with 4.4.
Scouting the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles
- FGCU is off to a hot start winning six straight and eight of ten to begin the year. Its only losses have come to South Dakota State and #7 Stanford.
- The Eagles have not been afraid to launch shots from downtown, as it ranks second nationally in three-pointers attempted (358) and made (125) while averaging 12.5 triples per game.
- Florida Gulf Coast has been the class of the Atlantic Sun in 2018-19, leading the conference in 16 of 30 categories including assists per game (16.6), field goal percentage (46.1%), scoring margin (13.2), scoring offense (83.8), steals per game (9.9) and turnover margin (4.60).
- The long ball is where the Eagles thrive, as Chandler Ryan (32), Nasrin Ulel (23), and Keri Jewett-Giles (22) are second thru fourth respectively in made three-pointers in the conference.
- Ryan has converted on 45.7% of her attempts from deep, which places her inside the top-40 in the NCAA.
- Florida Gulf Coast had two players make the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun with Ulel and Tytionia Adderly, with Adderly currently fifth in the conference with 7.3 rebounds per contest and Ulel dropping 15 points per game, second-best on the team.
- Jewitt-Giles has been efficient from the floor, placing in the top-three for field goals made (57) and points per game (15.3) to go along with being the best shooter percentagewise in the ASUN at 50.4%.
- The title of primary shot blocker goes to Destiny Washington, who is third in the ASUN in blocks (13) and blocks per game (1.3).
- Four different FGCU players have earned Atlantic Sun weekly honors, as Keri Jewitt-Giles (two-time player of the week and two-time newcomer of the week) and Chandler Ryan (player of the week) have won in past weeks, while Davion Wingate and Tanner Bryant won the latest Newcomer and Freshman of the Week awards, respectively.
Scouting the UAB Blazers
- University of Alabama-Birmingham can stake a claim to being one of the best mid-majors in college basketball, as it has won nine of ten with its lone defeat coming in overtime to #11 Tennessee on a neutral court in the Bahamas.
- The Blazers excel in almost every major category. UAB is a top-ten program in the NCAA this season in regard to assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59), scoring margin (24.1), three-point field goal defense (20.1%), and turnovers per game (11.6).
- C-USA All-Conference selection Rachael Childress has been lethal from behind the three-point line, as the junior is second the conference in three-pointers per game (3.30), and fifth in percentage (37.9%).
- Fellow All-Conference teammate, Deanna Kuzmanic tops the Blazers in points per contest (13.7), but UAB has been attacking from all angles this year with Childress (13.5), Katelynn Thomas (13.4), and Miyah Barnes (10.0) all averaging double-figure scoring.
- Barnes has been an assist machine for Alabama-Birmingham, as she's top-15 in assists per game in the country (6.2), as well as taking care of the rock with the fifth best turnover-to-assist ratio in the NCAA (3.88).
News and Notes:
Take A Chance On Me
In just two seasons and nine games, junior forward
Chance Graham already ranks 9th on Coppin State's career rebounding list with 662. Graham is well on pace to shatter Rene' Doctor's ('95) career record of 908 rebounds. In just 67 games, Graham has averaged 9.9 rebounds per game.
Coppin State All-Time Rebounds Leaderboard
1. Rene' Doctor (908)
5. Bridgid Mitchell (728)
6. Leisel Harry (723)
7. Whitney Cunningham (702)
8. Lisa Briggs (695)
9. Chance Graham (662)
Having A Fields Day
New to the squad this season is senior
Brooke Fields, a former standout at Division II Roberts Wesleyan College. In three seasons with the Redhawks, Fields scored 1,226 points with a career-high 33 points in a victory over Bridgeport. Two seasons ago, Fields earned All-ECC honors with 15.6 points per game along with an 83% free throw percentage.
Staying In The DMV
Senior transfer
Kaiya Coleman was a near double-digit scorer two years ago at Division II University of the District of Columbia. She also has connections with head men's basketball coach
Juan Dixon, as she played under his tutelage in both individuals' lone season with the Firebirds, going 3-25.
Welcome Back
Coppin welcomes back sophomore
Maraiyah Smith after she had a standout freshman season a year ago. Smith averaged nearly nine points per game and ten points in conference play.
What's In A Name?
Along with Graham and Smith,
Oluwadamilola Oloyede returns to the fold for the Navy and Gold. While all the vowels in her name might make one lose their breath after one roll call, she prefers to go by "Dami" to make it easier on her peers. Oloyede had her bright spots in 2017-18, putting up 17 points while making all seven of her shots at Charlotte to go with three double-doubles.
Hawaii 2-5
Charlottesville native
Adrienne Darden has made her way back to the east coast after seeing limited playing time at University of Hawaii two seasons ago. The junior boasts a career-high of seven points versus Boise State and brings a vertical element to the club that was lacking in depth.
Freshman Takeover
To coincide with the Eagles' three transfers Darden, Fields, and Coleman, CSU welcomes a plethora of first year players into the mix with redshirt freshman
Tsahai Corbie (Brooklyn, N.Y.) as well as true freshmen
Diamond Adams (South Bend, Ind.),
E'Mya Price (Charlotte, N.C.),
Jalynda Salley (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) and
Elan Wali (Wyncote, Pa) all expected to get significant minutes on the hardwood.
Every Tuesday on WNST 1570 AM
Every Tuesday morning during the season, head coach
DeWayne Burroughs and selected coaches and players will be interviewed by Nestor Aparicio on WNST 1570 AM. WNST will air all Coppin home women's basketball games this season as well as selected road games. Games will also be aired on Fox Sports Williamsport.
Preseason Predictions
Coppin State was picked to finish 9th of 12 teams in the 2018-19 MEAC Preseason Poll.
Chance Graham, who received 2nd Team All-MEAC honors last season, headlined the Preseason First Team. Defending Tournament Champions, North Carolina A&T was picked to win the MEAC, followed by the co-Regular Season Champion Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, with Norfolk State, Howard and Maryland Eastern Shore (1 first-place vote) rounded out the top-five.
Angel Golden of Bethune-Cookman was named the Preseason MEAC Player of the Year.
First Recruit Signed For 2019-2020 Recruiting Class
Coppin State University's women's basketball head coach
DeWayne Burroughs has announced that
Marley Grenway, a 5-foot-10 guard from Jessup, Maryland, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Eagles in the 2019-2020 season. This is the first signee for CSU's recruiting class for next season.
Starring at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Maryland, Grenway led the Scorpions to a 2A Regional Championship and State Semifinal as a junior. Grenway averaged 15.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and nearly two steals per game as she was named Third Team All-State for 1A and 2A schools as well as Honorable Mention All-Met by the Washington Post.
Known for her shooting prowess, Grenway made 64 3-pointers last season at Oakland Mills and played her AAU ball for Team Takeover as well as Team Intensity.
Defending Her Turf
Chance Graham has won two MEAC Defensive Player of the Week Awards in 2018-19 and four in her career. Graham had earned the honor on November 20 and December 4 of this year, while winning Defensive POTW for the weeks of January 9 and February 6 last season.
Eagle Excellence
Graham's presence is littered all over the national leader boards, as she places inside the top-25 in seven different categories and appears on 14 different rankings in total. She currently sits 9th on the Coppin State career rebounding list with 662 and is projected to obliterate the current record of 908 held by Rene' Doctor. The junior paces the Eagles in points (151), rebounds (78), steals (22), and blocks (13), while sitting atop the MEAC in defensive rebounds per game (9), double-doubles (6), free throw attempts (78), minutes played per game (36.89) and rebounds per game (11.7).
Double-Double Vision
Chance Graham continues to produce double-doubles game-in and game-out. She accumulated her first four during her freshman campaign, before exploding for 12 such performances last season. So far in 2018-19, she has provided the Lady Eagles with six double-doubles in the team's first nine contests, averaging 16.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Over her career, Graham has totaled 22 double-doubles in 67 games, good for 33% of her appearances.
Soaring Up The Scoring Charts
Graham has continued to creep up the Coppin State all-time scoring list, as she currently sits at 734 points scored in her career. She's averaged 11 points per game including and 16.8 so far in 2018-19.
Coppin State All-Time Rebounds Leaderboard
1. Rashida Suber (1,865)
15. LaShawn Scott (968)
16. Natasha Parks (928)
17. Janelle Lane (927)
18. Karen Russell (912)
19. Rene' Doctor (895)
20. Leisel Harry (890)
NR. Chance Graham (734)
