Complete Game Notes
THE GAME
The Eagles of North Carolina Central University return to the friendly-confines of McDougald-McLendon Gym to take on South Carolina State University on “Senior Night”. NCCU will honor four seniors (Dwayne Sims, P.J. Taylor, Michael Glasker, and C.J. Wilkerson) who will all don the maroon uniforms for the final time at home.
THE SERIES
NCCU and South Carolina State are meeting for the 39th time in the school history. Back on Jan. 4, the Eagles ended a 43-game road losing streak at the hands of the Bulldogs in Orangeburg, S.C., but it took overtime to decide the contest with the maroon and grey sneaking out a 74-71 win. In its final transition season, NCCU is 9-5 against the MEAC, and 257-253 against teams from its new conference.
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY “BULLDOGS”
South Carolina State University was voted to finish second in the preseason MEAC poll voted on by coaches and sports information directors throughout the league, and that shows many experts around the league how close each and every team is from being league champion to finishing at the bottom half of the league. The Bulldogs have lost four games during the conference slate by four points or less. SCSU is headed by 4th year head coach Tim Carter who despite the struggles of this season has a 57-68 record in Orangeburg, and a 247-220 record in his 15 seasons as a head coach. Since Thursday’s matchup will not count in the MEAC standings, the Bulldogs will more than likely be the ninth seed if the conference tournament started today sitting at 5-11 in the conference and 9-20 overall. The Bulldogs have started to turn things around as of late with three wins in their last four contests including victories over North Carolina A&T and Norfolk State at home. SCSU is led in scoring by shooting guard Darnell Porter who is 17th in the league averaging 12.4 points a game, while his teammate Brandon Riley sneaks into the league’s top 30 at 27th contributing 9.8 points a game as well. The top rebounder on the team is junior transfer Omar Sanders who is ripping down 5.3 boards per contest. Bulldog guard Tyvon Williams is seventh in the MEAC dishing out 3.4 helpers per contest. Along with being the top scorer on the squad, Porter is second in the league in free throw percentage at 81.3 percent missing just 17 free throws in 91 attempts.
UP NEXT
Nine days after “Senior Night”, 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. That will conclude the 2010-11 season for the NCCU Men’s basketball program.
