This Week: Notre Dame College will be in the Murphy Gymnasium, on Jan. 10, for a matchup with West Virginia State University, at 7:30 p.m. The Falcons will travel to Charleston, W.Va. to battle the Golden Eagles, at 4 p.m., on Jan. 13.

Records: NDC gets back into conference play with an overall record of 6-5, and a conference mark of 2-4. West Virginia State has also started the season 6-5, but is one game in front of the Falcons with an MEC record of 3-3. The University of Charleston is at the top of the MEC standings with a 5-1 MEC record, going 8-2, overall.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the Falcons and has a coaching record of 55-61 (41-47 MEC). Bryan Poore is now in his 25th year on the sideline at WVSU and holds a record of 402-306 with the Yellow Jackets. Charleston's head coach is Dwaine Osborne and he has been at UC for 11 years. His teams have gone 191-97.

Rankings: In the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll, Charleston is receiving seven votes.

Series History: Notre Dame is 11-12 all-time against West Virginia State, dating back to the 2013-14 season. During the 2022-23 campaign, Notre Dame went 0-2 against the Yellow Jackets in the regular season before upsetting them in the MEC Tournament by a score of 92-79. That win snapped a seven-game NDC losing streak against WVSU. Notre Dame holds a 4-15 all-time record versus Charleston. Last season, the Falcons lost to the Golden Eagles on the road, but defeated UC (77-64) in South Euclid. That win snapped a six-game NDC losing streak against Charleston.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame enters the week on a four-game winning streak and has not lost a game since Dec. 6. The last conference game that NDC played was a 75-69 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan, on Dec. 9. Since then, the Falcons have defeated the University of the District of Columbia (88-67), Washington Adventist University (100-89) and D'Youville University (91-81). On Dec. 30, in a win over D'Youville, four Falcons scored in double digits and the team had a shooting percentage of 60-percent from the field. Devin Haid totaled 25 points, making nine field goals, while Andre Harris added 20 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Falcons have been strong on the defensive side this season. In the Mountain East rankings, they lead the conference with 5.73 blocks per game, rank third in steals per game, at 8.18, and are fourth in opponent field goal percentage, at 42.4-percent. On the offensive side, the Falcons rank fifth in scoring, at 83.8 points per game, and fourth in field goal percentage, at 45.8-percent. The team is fifth in the MEC in rebounds per game, at 39.7, and ranks fourth in assists per game, at 15.5.
 
Devin Haid leads the team in points per game, and ranks 11th in the conference, with 13.9. He also leads the MEC in free throw percentage (.949), is fourth in blocks (1.4), ranks fifth in steals (1.7) and 10th in assists (2.6). Andre Harris leads the Falcons, and ranks second in the MEC, in rebounds per game, with 7.6. Harris also ranks fifth in the MEC with 1.3 blocks per game and ninth with 1.4 steals per contest. At the free throw line, RJ Ogom is second in the conference with a 93.2-percent mark at the stripe.

Across Division II, Notre Dame is fourth in the nation in block per game (5.7) and 17th in fastbreak points (16.64). Devin Haid is third in D2 with a 94.9-percent free throw percentage and RJ Ogom ranks fifth (93.2) at the line.

Noting the Yellow Jackets: Back on Dec. 9, West Virginia State battled No. 2 ranked West Liberty down to the final buzzer, falling by a score of 91-89, in the final MEC game of the calendar year. The Yellow Jackets cut it to one point, 89-88, with 15 seconds left, but WLU sealed the game with a pair of free throws. WVSU then took a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Dec. 15 and 16. W.Va. State beat Fort Lauderdale, 80-60, but lost to Bloomfield, 84-82. Anthony Pittman led the team both games of the tournament, averaging 21.5 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds.
 
WVSU is fifth in the conference by holding teams to 74.9 points per game, while ranking third in opponent field goal percentage, at 41.8-percent. The Yellow Jackets are second in the MEC with 9.27 steals per game and third in blocked shots per game, at 5.36. However, West Virginia State is in the bottom half of the league in offense, scoring just 80.6 points per game, while making just 6.6 threes per game. The Yellow Jackets have rebounded the ball well this season, ranking second in the conference with an average of 42.3 rebounds per game, and ranking fourth in rebounding margin, at plus-2.5 each night.
 
Anthony Pittman has done just about everything that he can for the team. He is tied for second in the conference with 17.1 points per game and he ranks fourth in the MEC with seven rebounds per game. Pittman shoots 47.4-percent from the field, which is sixth best in the conference, and also leads the Yellow Jackets with 2.6 assists per game, 2.2 steals per game and 1.2 blocks per contest. Nate Mims also blocks 1.2 shots per game, ranking sixth in the MEC and Mahzi Thames is fourth in the conference with 1.8 steals per game.

Nationally, W.Va. State is seventh in Division II in blocks per game (5.4), free throw attempts per game (26.8), free throws made per game (19.3) and rebounds per game (42.3). They are also 10th in defensive rebounds per game (29.3).
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston was cruising through the start of conference play, taking down five consecutive MEC opponents, until Dec. 9, when the Golden Eagles were upset by Wheeling, 81-80. UC beat Bloomsburg (107-66) on Dec. 14 and Georgian Court (76-60) on Jan. 2. Charleston only made four 3-pointers in the win over GCU, last week, but shot 42.6-percent from the field, overall. Eddie Colbert III had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Dwaine Jones added 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Off the bench, Obinna Ugwuakazi made seven shots from the field and scored 17 points.
 
Charleston has been solid on both ends of the floor this season. The Golden Eagles rank third in the MEC by scoring 84.6 points per game and are allowing just 74.8 points to their opponents, which is fourth-best. They shoot an MEC leading 50.6-percent from the field and are second in the conference with a 36.6-percent three-point percentage. UC knocks down 9.4 triples per contest. At the free throw line, Charleston is shooting 77.8-percent, which is at the top of the MEC. The Golden Eagles rank second in the MEC in assists per game (15.8) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.17).
 
Eddie Colbert III is second in the conference with a scoring average of 17.1 points, he is third with a field goal percentage of 51.4-percent and is ninth in free throw percentage, at 84.8-percent. He also leads the team in rebounding by bringing down 5.6 per game. DeAirius Barker is third in the conference with a free throw percentage of 91.7-percent. Dwaine Jones ranks second in the MEC with 5.4 assists per game and is third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7.

In Division II rankings, UC is 17th in field goal percentage (50.6) and 18th in free throw percentage (77.8). DeAirius Barker is 13th in the country with a 91.7-percent free throw percentage and Dwaine Jones is 16th in assists per game (5.4).