NCCU at Marquette
NCCU and Marquette meet for the first time in program history on Saturday afternoon

Men's Basketball Chris Hooks, Assistant Sports Information Director/Broadcast Media Coordinator

NCCU MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES AT MARQUETTE (DEC. 29, 2012)

NCCU to play its first NCAA Division I contest in the state of Wisconsin


NCCU at Marquette Game Notes (PDF

NCCU at Marquette Broadcast Link (airtime 1:45 p.m.)

THE GAME
North Carolina Central University returns to action following the holiday break as the Eagles are 1-1 halfway through their season-long four-game road swing looking for more as they take on the Golden Eagles of Marquette University from the Big East Conference. NCCU is currently 6-6 on the year and is coming off a 73-67 win over Utah Valley on Dec. 22 and will play its first NCAA Division I contest in the state of Wisconsin.

THE SERIES
NCCU and Marquette have never met on the hardwood, but the Eagles have taken on two of the current 15 members of the Big East Conference compiling an 0-4 record as the maroon and gray lost to Rutgers (73-48) on Nov. 12, 2007, while NCCU also battled Georgetown three times from 1976 to 1979 losing all three contests.

NCCU SPORTS NETWORK
The Champps Pregame Show will begin at 1:45 p.m. (EST) as play-by-play voice of the NCCU Sports Network Chris Hooks will countdown to tipoff as Marquette and NCCU meet for the first time in program history.  Fans can send Hooks an e-mail at NCCUSN@nccu.edu or interact with Hooks during the broadcast by sending a tweet to @NCCUAthletics and by using the hashtag #NCCUMBB.

TV COVERAGE
Saturday's contest will be televised by Time Warner Cable Sports32 in Milwaukee and is available for those who subscribe to the ESPN Full Court Package.  If you have DirecTV the game will be broadcast on channel 721, Dish Network will carry the game on channels 455-467 (check your guide, or contact your Dish Network provider).  Tipoff time is set for 2:00 p.m. (EST).  Dennis Krause (play-by-play) and Jim McIlvaine (color analyst) will be on the call.

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY "GOLDEN EAGLES"
The Golden Eagles of Marquette University enter Saturday afternoon’s first-ever meeting with a 8-3 mark while holding a 6-0 record inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center in the 2012-13 campaign. The Golden Eagles are led by fifth year head coach Buzz Williams who has amassed a 104-48 record during his tenure. His home record is an astonishing 64-11 while holding a 46-26 record in the Big East Conference, one of the toughest college basketball leagues in the nation. Williams has guided Marquette to two consecutive appearances in the Sweet Sixteen along with four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. MU’s 27 victories in the 2011-12 campaign were the second-most in program history and included a 14-4 mark, good enough for second place in the Big East. The Golden Eagles are led by in-state product Vander Blue who hails from Madison, Wis. as he is 21st in the Big East in scoring averaging 13.1 points per game. Second on the squad is Davante Gardner, a 6-8 290-pound forward from the same high school as NCCU’s Jay Copeland (Suffolk, Va.- King’s Fork H.S.) who is 22nd in the league in scoring dropping in 12.7 points a game while coming off the bench. MU enters this weekend’s battle 3-2 in its last five games including an 84-80 win over LSU just a week ago, but the sting of a road loss at in-state foe Wisconsin Green Bay (49-47 on Dec. 19) still lingers. The Golden Eagles boast wins over Colgate (84-63), SE Louisiana (64-53), Mississippi State (89-62), USC (72-64), Wisconsin (60-50), and fellow MEAC foe Savannah State (71-51). Other top performers for Marquette include point guard Junior Cadougan who is seventh in the Big East averaging 4.8 assists a contest with 53 total helpers on the year. As a team the Golden Eagles are 12th in the Big East in scoring (70.0 points per game), third in the league in free-throw percentage (71.4 percent), while sitting 14th in the conference in three-point percentage (31.0 percent).

UP NEXT
The Eagles will celebrate the beginning of 2013 before the last two nonconference contests of the season when the maroon and gray make the short trip to Rock Hill, S.C. to battle the Eagles of Winthrop University on Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. from the Winthrop Coliseum. Six days after that affair, NCCU returns to McDougald-McLendon Gym to battle Virginia University of Lynchburg on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 7:00 p.m.
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