This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball will welcome No. 16 University of Charleston to the Murphy Gymnasium, on Feb. 14, for a 7:30 p.m. matchup. The Falcons will head to Institute, W.Va. for a road contest against West Virginia State University, on Feb. 17. Tipoff of that game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Records: After one win and one loss last week, NDC has a record of 11-10, overall, and 6-9 in the Mountain East Conference. Charleston sits atop the conference with a league record of 13-2, while sporting an overall record of 18-3. West Virginia State has gone 9-1 since the beginning of January and has a record of 15-6 (11-4 MEC).
Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the Falcons and has a coaching record of 60-66 (45-52 MEC). Dwaine Osborne has been at UC for 11 seasons, putting together a record of 209-100. Bryan Poore is now in year number 25 at W.Va. State, with a record of 391-298.
Rankings: In the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top 25 poll, Charleston is sitting at No. 16. In the Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) National Poll, UC is No. 18. And in the D2CSC Regional Poll, Charleson is third in the Atlantic Region, while West Virginia State ranks seventh.
Series History: In the first matchup of the season, on Jan. 13, Charleston got past NDC, 98-79. Since the two teams first met in Jan. 2014, NDC has a record of 4-16 against the Golden Eagles. NDC and West Virginia State have played each other four times since the beginning of Jan. 2023. Notre Dame moved past the Yellow Jackets with a win last March, in the MEC Tournament, and earlier this season, WVSU snuck past NDC, 73-66.
Noting the Falcons: Despite a combined 47 points from
Trent Williams (20),
Andre Harris (15) and
RJ Ogom, NDC fell to Concord, by a score of 87-79, last Wednesday. The Falcons bounced back in a rematch with Glenville State, on Saturday. Notre Dame had five players score in double-digits, including 21 points by
Devin Haid, off the bench, and 15 points from both
Gbolahan Adio and Harris.
RJ Ogom added 14 points and
Jevontae Jones went 3-for-3 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line for 10 points. The Falcons jumped out to an eight-point lead at halftime by shooting 52-percent from the field in the first half. NDC outrebounded GSU, 48-43, throughout the game.
Devin Haid is back in the top ten in scoring in the MEC with an average of 14.1 points per game.
Andre Harris leads the team, and ranks seventh in the conference, with 6.3 rebounds per game. At the free throw line,
RJ Ogom is third in the league by shooting 86.9-percent, and
Devin Haid is seventh, shooting 81.6-percent. Haid also leads the Falcons with 2.6 assists per contest, while
Gbolahan Adio is not far behind, with 2.5. Haid averages one block per game, which is tied for eighth in the conference and totals 1.5 steals per game, which is seventh-best in the MEC.
Notre Dame ranks fifth in the MEC, scoring 82.6 points per game, and rank fourth in the league, knocking down 9.1 threes per game. The Falcons are also in the top five with an average of 12.5 offensive rebounds per game (fourth) and 25.9 defensive rebounds per game (fifth). The Falcons are third in assist average (15.2) and have moved into the top five in the MEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.05). On the defensive side, NDC is third in blocked shots, at 4.48 per game, and fourth in steals per game, at 7.71.
As a team, Notre Dame ranks 17th across NCAA Division II in blocks per game.
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston continued to roll as they defeated both Fairmont State, 80-72, and Frostburg State, 95-54, last week. UC has now won four consecutive games and 12 out of their last 13. Charleston is also 8-1 on the road this season. Against Fairmont, Shunta Wilson had 27 points, shooting 69-percent from the field, and Eddie Colbert III added 25, shooting 80-percent from the field. The Golden Eagles led by two at halftime against Faimont State, before shooting 60-percent in the final 20 minutes. Charleston then held Frostburg to 54 points, on 35-percent shooting from the field, and outrebounded the Bobcats, 45-23.
Eddie Colbert III is currently third in the MEC with an average of 18 points per game, while leading the league in field goal percentage (54-percent). Colbert ranks sixth in free throw percentage (83.7-percent), while teammate
DeAirius Barker is second in the MEC, at 87.5-percent. Colbert is also tied for eighth in rebounds per contest (6). Dwaine Jones leads the conference in assists per game (5.6) and he is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.5). Shunta Wilson is tied for eighth in blocked shots per game, with an average of one per game.
On the offensive end, Charleston is one of the most potent in the MEC. The Golden Eagles lead the league in field goal percentage (51.6-percent), three-point field goal percentage (37.8-percent) and free throw percentage (76.5-percent). In points per game, UC is third in the conference, with 85.3 per game. On the other side of the floor, Charleston is also at the top in many categories. They lead the MEC in points allowed per game, at 72.2 per game, and rank fifth in both opponent field goal percentage (43.9-percent) and opponent three-point field goal percentage (33.5-percent). The Golden Eagles are in the bottom half of the league in rebounds per game, but rank second in rebounding average (plus-6.8). The Golden Eagles rank second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.37) and assists (17.1).
In the national rankings, UC is second in field goal percentage, 14th in scoring margin (13.1 points) and 16th in rebounding margin. Individually, Dwaine Jones ranks fifth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, 10th in assists per game and 18th in total assists (118).
Noting the Yellow Jackets: Last Saturday, Fairmont State ended West Virginia State's nine-game winning streak, by defeating the Yellow Jackets, 82-80. WVSU led that game, 33-27, at the half, but Fairmont outscored them 55-47 in the second. The Yellow Jackets shot just 35-percent from the field in the second half, while the FSU Falcons went 18-for-25 (72-percent). And the game came down to two free throws by Zyon Dobbs, to give FSU a five-point lead, before W.Va. State's Antonio Carter knocked down a three at the buzzer. Last Wednesday, the Yellow Jackets had some issues with Frostburg State, in an 91-86 win. Both teams scored 56 points in the second half, and the Bobcats held a one-point lead, with 42-seconds left.
Anthony Pittman leads the team in most major categories. He ranks fourth in the Mountain East Conference by averaging 17.7 points per game, leads the MEC in both rebounding average, at 7.7, and steals per game, at 2.4, ranks fifth in field goal percentage, at 47.4-percent, and ranks eighth in free throw percentage, at 79.4-percent. Pittman is 10th in the conference in assists per game (2.9). Nate Mims is fifth in the league, blocking 1.1 shots per game, and Arthur Cox is ninth in free throw percentage at 77.5-percent.
This season, West Virginia State ranks second in the MEC in offense, by scoring 85.8 points per game, while allowing just 78.3 points. The Yellow Jackets rank third in field goal percentage (46.2-percent) and are fourth in three-point percentage (36-percent), despite averaging just 7.5 triples made per contest. At the free throw line, WVSU is fourth in the MEC with a mark of 74.3-percent. On the defensive end, opponents are shooting 43.2-percent from the field and 31.9-percent from three, which is top three in the MEC in both categories. The Yellow Jackets average 40.8 rebounds, which is fourth in the conference, and rank second in both blocked shots per game (4.71) and steals per game (8.76).
In Division II rankings, WVSU ranks eighth in free throws made per game (18.7), 12th in blocks per game, 14th in rebounds per game and 23rd in both scoring and steals per game. Anthony Pittman ranks 13th in the nation in steals per game and 22nd in total steals (47).
