THE GAME
North Carolina Central University continues its season-long homestand looking to add to the current three-game winning streak. The maroon and gray welcome the arch-rival Aggies of North Carolina A&T to the friendly-confines for meeting No. 143 between these two programs. NCCU is 4-1 in the last five matchups.
THE SERIES
NCCU and NC A&T are meeting for the 143rd time since 1930 as the Aggies lead the series 75-67 all-time. The Eagles are 5-2 against the arch-rivals since moving to the NCAA Division I level. A&T took the last matchup between these two on March 13, 2013 in the MEAC Basketball Tournament in Norfolk, Va. on the way to their 16th tournament title.
NCCU SPORTS NETWORK
The NCCU Sports Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the matchup beginning at 5:15 p.m. with the Denny's of Durham Pregame Show as Jonathan Duren will call the action for the women's contest while play-by-play voice of the NCCU Sports Network Chris Hooks along with color analyst Joe Simmons will set the scene from McDougald-McLendon Gym on both 99.9 HD3-The Ticket and on NCCUEaglePride.com. The live video stream is available for $8.95, while the audio portion is free of charge. Fans can interact with the broadcast by following @NCCUAthletics on twitter using the hashtag #NCCUMBB and sending an e-mail to either whooks@nccu.edu or nccusn@nccu.edu.
SCOUTING REPORT: NC A&T
-North Carolina A&T enters Wednesday night's showdown on the heels of a 66-55 win over Delaware State to move to 2-1 in league play. Senior guard Richaud Pack led all scorers with 22 points as the FIU transfer went 3-for-5 from-the-outside and 11-for-11 from the foul line. A&T went 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from beyond-the-arc in the contest and had contributions from both senior point guard Jeremy Underwood who went 3-for-4 from deep with 13 points and five assists, while sophomore forward Bruce Beckford was 5-for-6 from-the-field with 11 points and seven rebounds in the win.
-A&T and NCCU have 142 previous times with the Aggies owning a 75-67 advantage in the series that dates back to 1930. Since the maroon and gray have joined the NCAA Division I level, the Eagles have had some success against NC A&T, but the Aggies ousted the second-seeded NCCU in the quarterfinals of the 2013 MEAC Basketball Tournament on the way to the program's 16th championship. NCCU is 5-2 against A&T since 2011.
3/13/13 vs. NC A&T*- 42-55 L
2/23/13 vs. NC A&T- 51-47 W
12/1/12 at NC A&T- 66-62 W
2/18/12 at NC A&T- 71-66 W
12/3/11 vs. NC A&T- 65-46 W
2/21/11 vs. NC A&T- 67-72 L
1/24/11 at NC A&T- 90-84 W (OT)
*-2013 MEAC Tournament (Quarterfinals)
-A&T is led by Pack's 17.7 points per game as he sits third in the MEAC, while his teammate Lamont Middleton is fifth in the conference averaging 17.1 points a game. In the post, Beckford is second in the conference grabbing 7.6 rebounds per contest. Pack is also 13th in the league shooting 47.3 percent from-the-field, while Underwood is fifth in the conference dishing out 3.1 assists per game and second in three-point field goal percentage shooting 40.6 percent from beyond-the-arc.
-The Aggies enter the matchup seventh in the MEAC in both scoring offense averaging 68.2 points a game and scoring defense surrendering 74.6 points a contest. A&T is fourth in the league in free throw percentage (71.2 percent), seventh in field goal percentage (40.3 percent), fifth in field goal percentage defense (44.2 percent), and second in three-point field goal percentage (34.5 percent). NC A&T allows its opponents to shoot 36.5 percent from deep, but is second in the conference in rebounding offense at 36.5 boards per affair.
-The Aggies are led by second year head coach Cy Alexander who is no stranger to the MEAC after his days at South Carolina State where led the Bulldogs to five tournament championships in seven appearances. Alexander was also successful at Tennessee State where he led the Tigers to the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game. In his first season at A&T he took the veteran squad on an unprecedented run to the tournament championship as a seven seed and has compiled a record of 25-29 during his time. Throughout his 24-year career he's compiled a 375-339 record.
NCCU VS. MEAC
Throughout NCCU's illustrious basketball history, the Eagles have taken on every team in the conference that it helped start back in 1970. NCCU is 285-264 against MEAC opponents all-time.
Bethune-Cookman- 5-4
Coppin State- 5-3
Delaware State- 18-13
Florida A&M- 8-2
Hampton- 45-31
Howard- 36-26
Md. Eastern Shore- 18-16
Morgan State- 45-40
Norfolk State- 8-27
North Carolina A&T- 67-75
Savannah State- 6-8
SC State- 24-19
COPELAND EARNS FIRST MEAC HONORS
North Carolina Central University redshirt junior forward Jay Copeland (Suffolk, Va.) caught the attention of the league as he earned MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) Defensive Player of the Week honors the league announced on Monday, Jan. 20. In three games during the week, the 6-7, 255-pound power forward led the maroon and gray averaging 12.3 points a game, 8.7 rebounds, shot 60 percent from the field, recording two blocked shots and two steals as NCCU started to gain momentum going 3-0 on the week. Copeland also recorded two double-doubles on the week beginning with Monday's (Jan. 13) 64-49 league win over Bethune-Cookman with 16 points and 10 boards and 13 points and 10 rebounds in the 71-55 victory over NJIT (Jan. 18), giving him three double-doubles on the year. In fact, over the last six contests , Copeland leads the team in scoring (11.5 points per game) and rebounding (8.2 rebounds) as NCCU has gone 4-2 in that span. He's also shooting 53.5 percent from the field.
GRAND LARCENY
In NCCU's 64-49 win over Bethune-Cookman, the Eagles amassed 12 steals on their way to a big conference win. Here's a list of the top defensive performances by the maroon and gray in steals since re-joining the league.
14- at Florida A&M (2/4/12)
13- at Florida A&M (1/12/13)
12- at Bethune-Cookman (1/13/14)
12- vs. Coppin State (1/26/13)
11- vs. South Carolina State (2/13/12)
11- vs. Howard (1/21/13)
10- at Md. Eastern Shore (2/4/13)
10- vs. Md. Eastern Shore (3/6/12)*
*-2012 MEAC Tournament (Quarterfinals)
