This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball prepares for a week filled with a couple tough tests. On Feb. 16, NDC will travel to the University of Charleston for a matchup that is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. And on Feb. 19, they will come home to face West Virginia State University at 4 p.m.

Spectator Reminder: There will be no reserved seating or advance ticket sales for the game on Saturday. Masks are required.

Records: Notre Dame has an overall record of 15-9 and they hold a 12-6 MEC mark. Charleston enters the week with a record of 19-5, overall, and 14-4 in conference play. WVSU sits at 19-6, while also holding a 14-4 MEC record. The Falcons are fifth in the conference standings while UC and West Virginia State are tied for second.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in his third season as the head coach of the Falcons. He has an overall record of 32-38 and has gone 27-29 in conference play. Dwaine Osborne is now in his ninth season on the sideline at Charleston and he holds a record of 167-85. Bryan Poore has been with West Virginia State for 23 seasons. He has a coaching record of 371-290.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 Poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame is 3-13 all-time against Charleston and 10-9 against West Virginia State.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame is coming off of an impressive week, defeating No. 10 Fairmont State (78-73), at home, and Frostburg State (74-63), on the road. The NDC Falcons had four players score in double-digits in the win over Fairmont State as Michael Sampson had a double-double (10 points, 10 assists) and Daylin Lee scored 18 points off the bench. Notre Dame never trailed in the second half in the win over Fairmont State.

Jaedon Willis won MEC Player of the Week after he averaged 20 points per game and 5.5 assists over the two games. He led the team in scoring in both games and averaged a staggering 15.5 points in the second half of both contests. Against Frostburg State, he totaled a season-high eight assists. Willis ranks 15th in NCAA Division II in total points (495) and three pointers made (75). He is also 19th in the country, and second in the MEC, with 3.12 three pointers made per game. The native of Baltimore, Md. ranks 24th in D2, and fourth in the conference, with 20.6 points per game.

Michael Sampson ranks 24th in the country in total steals, with 48 this season. The junior ranks fifth in the conference with 8.3 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Falcons are allowing just 77.5 points per contest, which is third in the MEC and they rank second in the conference by holding opponents to a 45-percent field goal percentage. NDC shoots the ball at 37-percent from three, which is third in the MEC. Notre Dame ranks fourth in both turnover margin (+1.13) and assist/turnover ratio (1.24). The Falcons are third by averaging 15.4 assists per game.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Following a loss to West Liberty earlier this month, Charleston has put together a three-game win streak. Charleston had four of their five starters score double-digits in a 92-63 win over W.Va. Wesleyan last week. The Golden Eagles scored 46 points in each half and Keith Williams led the squad in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting. UC stole the ball 12 times, and Shaunn Monroe had four of them. In the second game of the week, an 80-71 win over Davis & Elkins, Charleston trailed 41-32 after 20 minutes. The Golden Eagles outscored the Senators 48-30 in the second half to win by nine. Lamont McManus had 22 points and seven rebounds for UC.

Eddie Colbert III is second in the conference with a free throw percentage of 87.1-percent. He also leads the team in scoring with 14.2 per game.

The Golden Eagles rank second in the nation, and first in the MEC, in field goal percentage (52.6) and they are 18th in D2 in scoring offense (85.4 points per game). At the free throw line, UC is second in the MEC, shooting 76.1-percent. They hold a plus-8.3 rebounding margin per game, which is leading the conference and is 10th in Division II. On the defensive side, they hold teams to 73.7 points, which is at the top of the conference.

Noting the Yellow Jackets: In three games since Wednesday, Feb. 9, West Virginia State has scored over 100 points, twice. Prior to last week, they had done that once all season. In a 112-87 victory over Davis & Elkins, Noah Jordan (26 points, 9-of-13 shooting) and Glen Abram (24 points, 9-of-15 shooting) combined for 50 points. The Yellow Jackets scored 54 points in the first half and 58 in the second. Later in the week, Jeremiah Moore went off for 39 points, 15 made baskets and nine made free throws in a win over West Virginia Wesleyan. However, WV State allowed 52 second half points to the Bobcats in the second half in the 93-86 victory. The Yellow Jackets also allowed 55 points in the second half to Glenville State on Monday, but still won by 17 (110-93). Ernest Jenkins led the team with 24 points against GSC.

Glen Abram has had a solid season shooting the ball, ranking third in the country in 3-pointers attempted (229), sixth in 3-pointers made (80) and 17th in the country, and first in the MEC, in 3-pointers made per game (3.2). He is 11th in Division II with 386 field goals attempted and 21st in total points (485). Abram ranks seventh in the conference in scoring average at 19.4 points per game. Underneath the basket, Jeremiah Moore holds a 64.3-percent field goal percentage, ninth-highest in D2, and grabs 3.24 offensive rebounds each night, 25th-best in D2. Anthony Pittman has totaled 55 steals, putting him eighth in the country. Pittman (8.1), Moore (7.0) and Noah Jordan (6.8) are in the top 10 in the conference for rebounding average. Dwaine Jones ranks fourth in the conference with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.2 and an assist average of 4.5 per game. Anthony Pittman is second in the conference with 1.2 blocked shots per game and 2.2 steals per contest.

WV State is a high-scoring offense, ranking 20th in the country with 84 points per contest. The team has made 380 free throws this season, leading the conference and ranking 14th in the country in that stat. The Yellow Jackets are shooting 74.4-percent from the free throw line, which ranks fourth in the conference. They still hold teams to 45.5-percent shooting, which is third-best in the Mountain East Conference and WVSU grabs 36.6 rebounds per game, which is fourth highest in the conference. They rank third in the MEC with a plus-1.8 turnover margin and the Yellow Jackets block 3.84 shots per game, which leads the conference, and steal the ball 7.8 times each game, which is second in the conference.