Complete Game Notes
On Monday night, Feb. 28 the NCCU Sports Network will carry both contests on two platforms. The Lady Eagles contest against Bethune-Cookman will broadcast only on the NCCUEaglePride.com beginning at 5:15 p.m. Immediately following the conclusion of that contest, WRJD 1410 AM will pick up the postgame coverage of the first game of the doubleheader and get listeners ready for the second contest approximately 30 minutes after the first game of the evening. Chris Hooks, Play-by-play voice of the NCCU Sports Network will carry all the action live from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.
THE GAME
With the 58-55 win on Saturday over Florida A&M, North Carolina Central University has doubled its win total from head coach LeVelle Moton’s first season where NCCU won seven games. If the Eagles can beat league-leading Bethune-Cookman, NCCU will have equaled the win total of the entire transition to the Division I level.
THE SERIES
NCCU and Bethune-Cookman have met twice in program history with the last meeting taking place on Jan. 31 back in Durham. B-CU beat NCCU 67-64 at McDougald-McLendon Gym. Prior to last month’s showdown, the first and only meeting occured on Dec. 31, 1954 as the Wildcats topped the Eagles on New Year’s Eve 74-65 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. B-CU leads the series 2-0. NCCU is 257-252 against MEAC foes.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN UNIVERSITY “WILDCATS”
15 games into the conference schedule, the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University have emerged as the top team in the league during the regular season to this point with a 12-3 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 122-164 record at B-CU, and over the weekend the Wildcats finished off the season sweep over South Carolina State with its 76-72 win at home. With that win, B-CU has clinched at least a share of the regular season title and recorded its most wins as a Division I institution. The Wildcats success can be credited to the league’s No. 1 scorer point guard C.J. Reed who is averaging 19.2 points a game. The junior is also third in free-throw percentage (81.1%), second in steals at 1.8 thefts per contest, eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5); and is first in the conference in minutes played at 38.4 minutes a game. Reed is helped by a duo of players that sit in the top-30 in scoring with Garrius Holloman 19th in the conference averaging 11.3 points a game, while center Alexander Starling is 24th in the league dropping in 10.8 points per contest. Starling is in the top ten in rebounding with 7.1 boards a game. Holloman sits 10th in the league in boards with 6.6 a game. Both forwards are in the top five in field-goal percentage with Starling sitting fourth (53.1%) and Holloman is fifth (52.1%). The Wildcats enter Monday night’s second meeting with a five-game winning streak and are just 2-2 at home in conference play, but sport a perfect 8-0 mark away from Daytona Beach, Fla.
UP NEXT
After the long venture back to the homestead, NCCU will host “Senior Day” on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. The Eagles beat South Carolina State in overtime on Dec. 4 74-71 ending a 43-game road losing streak. Nine days after that contest the Eagles will take on soon-to-be conference foe Savannah State University in the “MEAC Bonus Game” on Saturday, March 12 at 11:00 a.m. from the Lawrence Joel Colisuem in Winston-Salem, N.C.. NCCU is 2-0 in MEAC Bonus games having beat Winston-Salem State in the 2008 and 2009 contests.
