NCCU at Hampton Game Notes (PDF)
THE GAME
North Carolina Central University has one game remaining in the 2011-12 season with the opportunity to sew up the fifth seed in the MEAC Basketball Tournament with a win and a Bethune-Cookman loss to Coppin State, which would place the Eagles at 10-6 in the MEAC. NCCU has won four out of its last five conference road games and can clinch its first winning season overall since the 2004-05 campaign when the maroon and gray finished 16-12.
THE SERIES
NCCU and Hampton have met 73 previous times in program history dating back to the 1928 campaign with the Pirates leading the series 42-31. The last time these two programs met on the hardwood came on Jan. 5, 1995 as Hampton won 82-65. From 1990-95, Hampton was 5-3 against NCCU as former CIAA foes before moving to Division I. The Eagles are 266-260 against MEAC opponents all-time.
NCCU SPORTS NETWORK
Eagle Gameday built by Dayeco Construction Co. begins at 6:45 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, March 1 and can be heard only online at www.NCCUEaglePride.com. Play-by-play voice of the NCCU Sports Network Chris Hooks will call the live action from the HU Convocation Center. Fans can stay up-to-date on the contest by following @NCCUAthletics and @NCCURadio on Twitter and by using the hashtag #NCCUHAM.
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY "PIRATES"
The Pirates of Hampton University enter Thursday night’s regular season finale with a 10-19 record overall, 6-9 in conference play. The defending MEAC Tournament champions finished last year 24-9 losing to Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time the Pirates had won 20 games in a season since the 2001-02 campaign. HU also went to the Big Dance for the first time since 2006 when the Pirates were the seven seed in the MEAC Basketball Tournament. Prior to the season, HU was hit hard as All-MEAC performer Kwame Morgan was lost for the season due to injury, then the Pirates schedule was as difficult as any school in the league with contests against Richmond, Rutgers, Sacred Heart, Fordham, Liberty, Robert Morris, and James Madison. In his third season at the helm, Edward "Buck" Joyner Jr. has racked up a 43-34 record during his time in the Tidewater area that includes a 20-14 mark in conference play. HU boasts arguably the top player in the conference with 6-6 senior guard Darrion Pellum pacing the Pirates and the MEAC averaging 18.3 points a game. After 29 games, Pellum has hit 68 three-pointers on the season, which is good enough for sixth in the league at 2.3 three-pointers made per game. Pellum also leads the league in minutes played as he averages 38.6 minutes a game for a grand total of 1,119 minutes this season. The second leading scorer on the roster is 6-10 sophomore forward David Bruce who is averaging close to a double-double with 9.9 points per game and fourth in the MEAC at 8.1 boards per contest. Bruce is also in the tenth in the league in field goal percentage at 49.3 percent. Teammate and 6-8 forward Danny Agbelese is 12th in the conference averaging 6.1 rebounds per contest. Agbelese is also third in the MEAC in blocked shots with 65 this season, averaging 2.2 swats per game. Point guard Mike Tuitt is fourth in the conference with 138 assists at an average of 4.8 helpers per contest. Tuitt is just behind NCCU’s Dominique Sutton (2.2 spg) at 1.8 steals per game. Teammate Christopher Tolson has 41 thefts on the year averaging 1.5 per game.
UP NEXT
Depending on the outcome of the contest against Hampton, NCCU will be either the fifth or the sixth seed in next week’s 2012 MEAC Basketball Tournament at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Eagles have not competed in a conference tournament since the 2007 season when the maroon and gray participated in their last CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) Tournament.
CHASTEN JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
Senior Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) scored eight points at South Carolina State on Feb. 27 to become the 34th Eagle in the 77 year history of the NCCU basketball program to score 1,000 points during their career. Chasten is the second such player under the tutelage of head coach LeVelle Moton to join that club with C.J. Wilkerson scoring 1,023 points during his two-year Eagle career. The Oxford, N.C. native is 29th on the school’s all-time scoring list. Chasten has 1,003 career points and needs 16 points to move into the top-30 in school history tying John Keels (1954-58) who compiled 1,019 points at NCCU.
