THE GAME
North Carolina Central University officially heads down the backstretch of the 2013-14 regular season as the Eagles get set to face the Bulldogs of South Carolina State University for the first of two times over a span of two weeks beginning with Saturday's 6:00 p.m. tilt from Orangeburg, S.C.

THE SERIES
The first meeting took place between NCCU and SC State back on Jan. 16, 1941.  Since moving to the NCAA Division I level, the Eagles are 6-0 against the Bulldogs.

3/4/13- vs. SC State- 62-54 W
2/18/13- at SC State- 71-52 W
2/27/12- vs. SC State- 71-57 W
2/13/12- vs. SC State- 71-56 W
3/3/11- vs. SC State- 78-61 W
12/4/10- at SC State (OT)- 74-71 W

NCCU SPORTS NETWORK
The NCCU Sports Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of Saturday's MEAC doubleheader from Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center in Orangeburg, S.C. beginning at 3:45 p.m. with the Denny's of Durham Pregame Show.  Play-by-play voice Chris Hooks will call all the live action in both contests.  The men's game can be heard on 99.9 HD3- The Ticket along with the NCCU Sports Network App and www.NCCUEaglePride.com.  Fans can also interact with the broadcast on twitter by following @NCCUAthletics using the hashtag #NCCUMBB or by sending an e-mail to nccusn@nccu.edu.

SCOUTING REPORT:  SOUTH CAROLINA STATE
-South Carolina State gets back to action after a week off as the Bulldogs have not been in action since their 61-53 loss on the road at Delaware State.  In that game, DSU's Tyshawn Bell scored a game-high 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, while SCSU went just 5-for-23 (21.7 percent) from deep, 36.2 percent from-the-field in the loss.  Leading scorer, 6-11 center, Matthew Hezekiah was held to eight points on 4-for-9 shooting, but did rip down 10 boards.  Sophomore Daryll Palmer was the lone Bulldog in double figures with 11 points.

-SC State has lost its last two games, but did beat Florida A&M on Feb. 1 63-59 to earn the eighth win of the season for the program.  SCSU beat in-state foe Coastal Carolina twice and dropped a tight ballgame to South Carolina (82-75, Jan. 3, 2014) in Columbia.  The Bulldogs did pull off one of the major upsets in MEAC play dispatching Norfolk State 73-61 on Jan. 25 inside the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.  In that victory, senior point guard Adama Adams scored 23 points that included a perfect 17-for-17 from the free throw line as the Spartans shot a dismal 36.8 percent from-the-field, 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from beyond-the-arc.

-As a team, SC State is eighth in scoring offense (64.7 points per game), ninth in scoring defense (73.5 points per game), ninth in free throw percentage (66.6 percent), seventh in field goal percentage (40.4 percent), ninth in field goal percentage defense (44.1 percent), 12th in three-point field goal percentage (29.7 percent), seventh in three-point field goal percentage defense (35.2 percent), fourth in rebounding offense (36.6 boards per game), and third in assists (12.7 assists per game).

-Individually, one of the top centers in the league in Hezekiah patrols the lanes for the Bulldogs as he leads the squad averaging 13.3 points a game, shooting 55.5 percent (fourth in the MEAC) from-the-field.  The 6-11 senior is second on the team in rebounding (5.8 rebounds per game, 13th in the league) behind Palmer who is seventh in the MEAC averaging 6.6 boards per game and sixth in the league in blocked shots (1.4 blocks per game).  Adams is seventh in the conference dishing out 3.0 assists per game,  while his teammate, 6-1 freshman from Charlotte, N.C., Jalen White is 13th in the conference at the foul line shooting 79.2 percent.  Junior combo guard/forward Devin Joint is 15th in the MEAC averaging 1.2 thefts a game, while freshman shooting guard Koran Wright is 14th in the league shooting 34.4 percent from three-point range (31-for-90).  

-SC State is led by head coach Murray Garvin who took over for the departed Tim Carter on Feb. 6, 2013.  Garvin is 10-22 in Orangeburg, but the Bulldogs are on their way up the MEAC ladder under his tutelage.  Garvin has compiled a 69-36 overall coaching record as he spent time as the head man at Clinton Junior College from 2001-05, while also spending time at Winston-Salem State (2008-10) and Charleston Southern University (2004-08).

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 293-264 against MEAC opponents all-time.

Bethune-Cookman- 6-4
Coppin State- 6-3
Delaware State- 18-13
Florida A&M- 9-2
Hampton- 45-31
Howard- 38-26
Md. Eastern Shore- 19-16
Morgan State- 46-40
Norfolk State- 8-27
North Carolina A&T- 68-75
Savannah State- 6-8
SC State- 24-19