GAME NOTES
RICHMOND – Coppin State's men's basketball team makes the short trip down 95 to take on the University of Richmond on Wednesday, December 5. Tipoff from the Robins Center is set for 7 pm and fans can watch the action on NBC Sports Washington or ESPN+
The Basics
Teams: Coppin State Eagles (0-9) vs. Richmond Spiders (3-5)
Date & Time: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 | 7:00 pm
Location: Richmond, Va. | Robins Center
Series History: Richmond Leads, 2-0
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=rich
Video: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/53d843a2-25dd-4146-9d07-6d840998ef23/coppin-state-vs-richmond
Audio: https://richmondspiders.com/watch/?Live=159&type=Live
Coppin Contributors
Lamar Morgan and
Dejuan Clayton lead the Eagles at 10.7 and 10.1 points, respectively and recently combined for 37 points in an overtime loss at James Madison with Morgan going for 20 points with five 3-points. Averaging nine points per game in the last five, freshman
Justin Steers is third on the squad with 6.8 points followed by classmate
Nigel Marshall at 5.8 points. Graduate student
Kent Auslander has been one of the most consistent players this season at 5.2 points and 2.9 rebounds.
Taqwain Drummond is back from an injury that slowed him early in the season and his backcourt mate
Ibn Williams has been very efficient, averaging 5.1 points in just 17.8 minutes per game.
Cedric Council leads CSU with 12 blocks and 4.7 rebounds per game and was named the MEAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon.
About The Spiders
Richmond most recently took down Wake Forest, 84-74, after losing four-straight games which included old MEAC rival Hampton, 86-66. The Spiders are a very good shooting team, ranking 17
th nationally with a 50.3% shooting percentage. Big man
Grant Golden has scored 20+ points in four-straight games and averages 20.8 points and 6.4.
Jacob Gilyard is second on the team with 16.2 points but has dished out 6.2 assists per game as well.
Nick Sherod (12.7) and
Nathan Cayo (11.3) also average well over double figures and
Jake Wojcik has put up eight points a game.
Last Time Out
Coppin led at the half, 32-30, in its home opener against UMBC in a battle of Baltimore City vs. Baltimore County but went ice cold shooting in the second half and fell, 71-60. CSU shot just 33.3% from the floor in the second half and 7-of-16 from the line in the period while UMBC shot a whopping 60.0% from the field.
Justin Steers led the Eagles with 10 points while
Chad Andrews-Fulton and
Lamar Morgan put up nine points each.
Dejuan Clayton and
Taqwain Drummond added eight points apiece while
Kent Auslander finished with six points and a game-high seven rebounds.
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.
CSU Career 3-Pt FG's Made
1. Keith Carmichael ('95) 118 games 285 (2.4 per game)
2. Tywain McKee ('09) 127 games 233 (1.8 per game)
10. Tariq Cephas ('14) 124 games 152 (1.2 per game)
NR. Lamar Morgan 40 games 108 (2.7 per game)
Clayton on the Comeback Trail
Dejuan Clayton had a sensational 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.
Steers Adds to Philly-Coppin Tradition
Freshman
Justin Steers has come on strong as of light, averaging 9.0 points per game in the last five games to lift his scoring avere to 6.8 points for the season to rank third on the team. This included a team-high 16 points and two blocks at Rider as well as a team-high ten points against UMBC. Steers is one of two players from Philadelphia on the roster (
Chad Andrews-Fulton) joining the likes of CSU legends
Larry Stewart &
Stephen Stewart as well as
Antoine Brockington,
Terquin Mott, Reggie Isaac and
Tywain McKee.
Council Honored by MEAC for Defensive Efforts
On December 4, 2018,
Cedric Council was named the MEAC Co-Player of the Week. In games at James Madison and against UMBC, Council averaged 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals while putting up 6.5 points per game. Council swatted away four shots and swiped a pair of steals while scoring nine points in a loss to the Dukes.
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.
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.
Sweet Lou, the Microwave
Of the team's five seniors/graduate students, only guard
Lucian Brownlee has been at Coppin more than two years. In fact, only him and redshirt sophomore
Dejuan Clayton have been with the Eagles for two full seasons, and Clayton missed most of last year with an injury. Brownlee has played in 99 games the last three-plus 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.
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.
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.
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 searching 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.
Tuesdays on WNST 1570 AM
Every Tuesday morning during the season, head coach
Juan Dixon and selected coaches and players will be interviewed by Nestor Aparicio on WNST 1570 AM. WNST will air all Coppin home men's and women's basketball games this season as well as selected road games. Games will also be aired on Fox Sports Williamsport
as well as CSU's UStream channel.
Preseason Prognostics
Coppin State was picked to finish 9th of 12 teams in the 2018-19 MEAC Preseason Poll.
Lamar Morgan, who received 3rd Team All-MEAC honors last season, headlined the Preseason Second Team.
Dejuan Clayton, who missed nearly all of last season with an injury, earned Third Team accolades. Bethune-Cookman was picked to win the MEAC, followed by defending Tournament Champions North Carolina Central, Norfolk State, Howard and North Carolina A&T. RJ Cole of Howard University was named the Preseason MEAC Player of the Year.
Juan Dixon in 2nd Season as Head Coach
Coppin State University Director of Athletics
Derek Carter announced on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 that
Juan Dixon had been named the seventh head coach in Coppin State University men's basketball history. Dixon comes to Baltimore from the University of the District of Columbia, where he posted a 3-25 record in his only season with the Firebirds women's basketball team in 2016-17. Prior to UDC, Dixon served as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach on the Men's Basketball coaching staff at his alma mater, University of Maryland. One of the most celebrated student-athletes in Maryland history, Dixon remains the all-time leading scorer in program history (2,269 points) after leading the Terrapins to their first national title in 2002 as a senior. He holds six different records in program history, ranging from points, games played, steals and 3-pointers. The Most Outstanding Player of the 2002 NCAA Final Four and ACC Player of the Year, Dixon earned two All-America selections, three First Team All-ACC awards and two All-ACC Tournament selections throughout his illustrious career. He averaged 16.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 steals in 141 games from 1998-2002. Dixon was drafted with the 17th pick of the 2002 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards, where he spent three seasons. He signed with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2005, and he averaged a career-high 12.3 points during his first season with the team. After stops in Toronto and Detroit, Dixon wrapped up his nine-year NBA career with the Wizards in 2008-09.
