Complete Game Notes
THE GAME
North Carolina Central University has won three straight contests and is looking to register its first four-game winning streak since the 2004-05 season when the Eagles ran off four in-a-row from Nov. 23 to Dec. 20. For the first first time in the Division I era, NCCU has recorded 10 or more wins in a season and look to add to that with 11 games remaining on the slate.
THE SERIES
NCCU and Bethune-Cookman have met just one previous time in program history which occured on Dec. 31, 1954. The Wildcats topped the Eagles on New Year’s Eve 74-65 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The Eagles went on to finish the 1954-55 season 20-7 under Floyd Brown. NCCU is 253-250 all-time against MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) teams and are currently 5-2 this season against conference foes.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN UNIVERSITY “WILDCATS”
Eight games into the 2010-11 conference season, the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University are atop the league with a 7-1 mark which is not a total surprise because B-CU was chosen to finish fourth in the league in the preseason. The Wildcats are led by ninth year head coach Clifford Reed who has compiled a 116-162 record at B-CU, and over the weekend the Wildcats got rid of of seven-game, three year losing skid to South Carolina State with its 61-60. A contest that the host Bulldogs led for the most part because of a season-high 21 turnovers and 32 percent shooting that dug the visiting Wildcats into a seven-point halftime hole. The win for B-CU keeps them in the catbird seat in the conference at the midway point and gave coach Reed his most wins (7) in a month during his tenure. Bethune-Cookman is undefeated (6-0) away from Daytona Beach, Fla. in league play. The Wildcats success can be credited to the league’s number two scorer point guard C.J. Reed who is averaging 17.6 points a game. The junior is also eighth in free-throw percentage (79.9%), second in steals at 1.9 thefts per contest, seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.5); and is first in the conference in minutes played at 37.9 minutes a game. Reed is helped by a duo of players that sit in the top-30 in scoring with Garrius Holloman 20th in the conference averaging 11.5 points a game, while center Alexander Starling is 22nd in the league dropping in 11.3 points per contest. Starling is in the top ten in rebounding with 7.0 boards a game. Holloman sits in the 13th in the league in boards with 6.1 a game. Both forwards are in the top five in field-goal percentage with Holloman sitting third (51.5%) and Starling is fifth (51.0%).
UP NEXT
The Eagles head back out on the road for two games beginning Saturday, Feb. 5 against Howard University with tipoff from Burr Gymnasium at approximately 4:00 p.m. Following that conference matchup, NCCU steps out of conference play to take on the Panthers of High Point University on Monday night at 7:00 from the Millis Center on Feb. 7. After that contest the Eagles will have a week before its next contest at home against Coppin State on Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
