DURHAM, N.C. – It's crunch time in the MEAC.
With seven games left in the regular season, North Carolina Central begins the second half of the conference schedule with two home contests in three days.
The Eagles host Coppin State at McDougald-McLendon Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. Two days later, they square off against Morgan State on Monday at 5:30 p.m. ESPN+ will livestream both contests.
NCCU has a favorable schedule coming down the stretch. Four of their remaining regular season games are at home. The Eagles have been highly successful at McDougald-McLendon Arena, boasting a 3-0 conference mark at home.
The Eagles (6-16, 3-4 MEAC) look to keep their home league streak alive against Coppin State (14-9, 5-2 MEAC) and Morgan State. A string of wins at home would help them climb up the MEAC standings before the conference tournament, which is a month away. The Eagles are currently in a three-way tie for fourth with Morgan State (10-12, 3-4 MEAC) and Maryland Eastern Shore while Coppin State sits in third.
The Eagles will lean on standouts
Kyla Bryant,
Morgan Callahan and
Jada Tiggett to continue their hot streak at home. Bryant, a sophomore guard, leads the Eagles in scoring (13.9 ppg) and assists (3.5 apg) and Callahan is the second-leading scorer (13.0 ppg) and team's top rebounder (7.3 rpg). Callahan, a graduate forward, has over 600 career rebounds and is 42 points away from the 1,000-point career mark.
The versatile Tiggett, a sophomore guard-forward, leads the Eagles in blocks (1.9 bpg) while averaging 5.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and nearly 1 steal per game.
Shakiria Foster, a freshman guard, averages over 11 points a game.
NCCU is 4-1 against Coppin State in the last five games of the season series. The Eagles are 2-1 against Morgan State in their last three matchups.
The Eagles' game plan is to slow down Coppin State's Laila Lawrence, who leads the team in scoring (17.3 ppg), rebounding (9.6 rpg), steals (2.7 spg) and blocks (1.3 bpg). Against Morgan State, NCCU looks to stop Naya Ojukwu, who is the Bears' scoring leader (16.3 ppg) since playing in January.
Both Coppin State and Morgan State edged visiting NCCU in close games last month. Coppin State won 69-66 on Jan. 4 and Morgan State won 84-79 two days later.
The Eagles look to return the favor at home.
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