DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men's basketball program is putting its finishing touches on the preparation for the 2021-22 season, and look to put themselves into championship contention once again.
 
Last season NCCU played just 14 games, the fewest in a campaign since the Eagles played 11 in the 1936-37 season.  The Eagles stayed true to their defensive mindset, and finished the 2020-21 season with the third-best scoring defense in the league with 71.6 points allowed per contest.  NCCU also featured one of the league's top scorers in C.J. Keyser (Baltimore, Md.), who earned First Team All-MEAC honors after averaging 16.6 points per game, and was ranked 10th in the conference with a 45.8 field goal percentage.
 
Head coach LeVelle Moton returns for his 13th season at the helm of the men's basketball program, and he stands four wins shy of becoming just the third men's basketball coach in school history to reach 200 wins.
 
The Eagles will have just three returners from last season: Alex Caldwell (Columbia, S.C.), Nicolas Fennell (Bowie, Md.), and Justin Wright (Greenville, N.C.).
 
"It's not easy when you have so many new players, but we learned last year it's not easy when you have a bunch of guys returning either," Moton said.  "It's never easy.  We're trying to operate as efficiently as we can, and get the new guys acclimated."
 
Fennell starts his redshirt senior campaign with 63 games played and 35 starts as an Eagle.  Over his career, he has scored 320 points with 184 rebounds.  Last year, he averaged a career-high 7.8 points per contest, and shot 84.4 percent from the free throw line (27-for-32).
 
Caldwell appeared in six games last season as a junior, and averaged 10.3 minutes per game.  He scored a season-high 11 points against Florida A&M.
 
Wright made three starts in 12 appearances as a freshman, and totaled 16 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists, and nine steals inn 66 minutes of play.  He also earned MEAC Rookie of the Week honors on Feb. 2, after he reached season-highs of 12 points, six rebounds, and six assists against Carver.
 
NCCU will welcome 10 new student-athletes this season, including Randy Miller Jr. (Odenton, Md.) who returns after a stint at Indiana State during the 2020-21 season.  Miller started six games in 25 appearances with the Sycamores, and averaged 6.4 points and 20.6 minutes per game.  He also continued to shoot well from the arc, as he knocked down 30.4 percent of his attempts (21-for-69).
 
Miller started all but two of the 42 games he played as an Eagle during his first stay, and averaged 13.5 points per game.  He has made 82 treys while wearing maroon and gray (37.3 percent), and has shot 40.9 percent from the field.
 
"Randy is an older and more mature version of himself," Moton said of the Preseason Second Team All-MEAC guard.  "He understands our system and what we're trying to accomplish, so it's been good to have him back."
 
Suiting up for the Eagles for the first time are: Eric Boone (Lexington, Ky.), Cameron Butler (Chicago, Ill.), Chris Daniels (Raleigh, N.C.), Ja'Darius Harris (Trenton, Tenn.), Samuel Keita (London, England), Dontavius King (Greenville, S.C.), Marque Maultsby (Raleigh, N.C.), Kris Monroe (Raleigh, N.C.), and Asanti Price (Columbia, S.C.).  Moton says that these newcomers all provide versatility to the roster.
 
"We have a multitude of guys who can play various positions," said Moton.  "We didn't want to have anyone stuck at one position.  We wanted guys who could play a multitude of positions, and dribble, pass, and shoot."
 
Boone is one of the many transfers coming in, and he last played at Georgia Southern in 2020-21.  Last year, he played 24 games with 21 starts, and averaged 11 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game.  He was also one of the top defenders in the nation, as he was second in the Sun Belt and 21st in NCAA Division I with 2.2 steals per game.
 
Butler did not compete last season due to the pandemic at CSU Dominguez Hills, but was named First Team All-Inland Empire Athletic Conference in 2019-20 at San Bernardino Valley.  That season, he averaged 10.4 points and 10.9 boards per game.
 
Daniels is a freshman who joins as a walk-on.
 
Harris started his career at UT Martin in 2019-20, but most recently played at East Florida State College in 2020-21.  Last year he scored 10.6 points per game, and shot 46.2 percent from the floor and 35.6 percent from the perimeter.
 
Keita is a transfer from Salt Lake Community College, where he shot 64.7 percent from the field with 14 blocks in 21 appearances and two starts.  He also averaged 4.0 points and 3.4 boards in 10.8 minutes per outing.
 
King spent two years at College of Charleston, making four starts in 17 appearances as a redshirt freshman last year in 2020-21.  He averaged 5.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game with the Cougars, and scored a career-high 15 points in a 6-for-9 shooting performance against Limestone.
 
Maultsby competed for three seasons at New Hampshire, playing 73 games with 50 starts with the Huskies.  He tallied up 518 points with 238 rebounds, and averaged 25.1 minutes per game.
 
Monroe is also coming from the northeast after playing three seasons at Providence, and now joins NCCU after totaling 46 points and 34 rebounds in 40 games with the Friars.
 
Price began his career with Georgia Tech in 2019-20, but played last season at Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kansas.  Last season, he helped the Cougars advance to the Region VI semifinals, and averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in 23 appearances and 18 starts.
 
Looking ahead to the start of the season, Moton says everything comes down to the team putting into motion what they have worked on in the offseason.
 
"In the preseason it's all paper, and everyone is excited about their teams, and so on and so forth; but none of that matters until and unless they can go out and execute, and play the way we think they're capable of playing," Moton stated.  "We expect them to be able to score the ball.  I want us to be able to defend on the perimeter at a higher level than we have done in the past.  I also expect us to play hard, play smart, and play together."
 
NCCU will start the season on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Richmond at 7:00 p.m.