The Notre Dame College Falcons (11-10 6-9 MEC) welcome the 16th ranked University of Charleston Golden Eagles (18-3 13-2 MEC) to South Euclid Wednesday night. Tip off is slated for 7:30 PM from Murphy Gym You can catch all the action on MountainEast.TV
"We need to defend at the highest level and not beat ourselves. We also must win the rebounding battle," NDC guard Josh Dames stated.
"Charleston is a really good team and they are really disciplined. They are really well coached. If you let them play the way they want to they are really good," NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
NDC is coming off a 88-77 win over Glenville State on Saturday. Devin Haid paced the Falcons with 21 points, Gbolahan Adio and Andre Harris each scored 15, RJ Ogom added 14, and Jevontae Jones added 10. As a team the Falcons score an MEC fifth best 82.6 points per game while on the defensive end they are seventh in the conference allowing 82.4 points per night. NDC shoots 45.1 percent from the field which is seventh in the MEC, while on the defensive end they are sixth in the conference allowing the opposition to shoot 44.3 percent. From the 3-point line the Falcons shoot 35.5 percent which is sixth in the MEC while on defense they are seventh in the conference guarding the 3-point line while they shoot 34.4 percent. At the free throw line the Falcons shoot an MEC 10th best 69.6 percent. The Falcons are sixth in turnover margin and fifth in assist to turnover ratio. NDC blocks 4.48 shots per game which is third in the MEC and 17th in the country. They dish out 15.19 assists per game which is also third in the MEC, and are seventh on the glass being out rebounded by 0.6 rebounds per game (38.3-38.9) rebounds per night. Devin Haid leads the Falcons scoring 14.1 points per game which is good for 10th in the MEC, shoots 81.6 percent from the free throw line which is seventh in the MEC, and he leads the team in assists at 2.6 per game. Haid is eight in the conference blocking one shot per game and is seventh in steals per game at 1.5 shots per game.
Richmond talked about Haid:
"Devin continues to work on his consistency. He is an aggressive scorer who is getting better and better. He can get hot and get going. He can't force shots in a game like tomorrow from the jump. He really needs to be patient."
Harris scores 12.4 points per game and is seventh in the MEC grabbing 6.3 rebounds per contest. Ogom nets 10.9 per night and is shooting an MEC third best 86.9 percent from the free throw line. Adio scores 10.4 points contest and dishes out 2.5 assists per night. In the first meeting with UC (A 98-79 loss) Haid and Harris each scored 17. Richmond talked about getting a guy like Dames going on offense:
"Josh has got to stay with it. When you have some good games at this level people will scout you. He still plays really, really hard. He just needs to see one go in."
UC is coming off a 95-54 drubbing of Frostburg State on Saturday. Eddie Colbert scored 21, Shunta Wilson and Obinna Ugwuakazi each scored 16, DeAirius Barker added 14, and CJ Meredith added 11. As a team the Golden Eagles score 85.3 points per game which is third in the MEC while they are the best defensive team in the conference giving up 72.2 points per night. They shoot an MEC best 51.6 percent from the field, while defensively they hold the opposition to 43.9 percent shooting which is fifth in the MEC. UC also leads the MEC in 3-point percentage (37.8 percent) and rank fifth on the defensive end holding the opposition to 33.5 percent from the 3-point line. They also lead the conference in free throw shooting at 76.5 percent. They are seventh in turnover margin and second in the MEC in assists per game (17.1.) UC is second on the boards getting 6.8 (36.4-29.7) rebounds per night.
Richmond talked about that:
"We will have to do a great job on the glass. They will make you take some tough shots as well as try to get out in transition."
UC blocks 3.3 shots per game which is good for sixth in the MEC.
In the first meeting with NDC Colbert had 19, Tyler Eberhart added 17, Ugwuakazi added 15, Dwaine Jones scored 14, CJ Meredith added 11, and Keaton Turner tallied 10.
Colbert is averaging an MEC third best 18 points per contest, is tied for eighth in the league grabbing six rebounds per night as well as leading the MEC in field goal percentage (54 percent) from the field.)
Richmond talked about Colbert:
" Colbert is a matchup problem. He plays inside out and is the best in the MEC of the guys that do that. If you put a smaller guy on him he will take you inside, if you put a bigger guy on him he can play on the perimeter. We will need to mix it up on defense and make it tough on him."
Barker scores 12.6 points per game, dishes out 2.3 assists per night, and is shooting at a 87.5 percent clip from the free throw line which is second in the MEC. He is also playing 30.4 minutes per game which is ninth in the MEC. Eberhart scores 11.3 points per game and dishes out 2.3 assists per contest. Jones leads the MEC in assists per game (5.6,) is second in assist to turnover ratio as well as playing the second most minutes in the MEC (32.7) per night. Wilson blocks one shot per game.
Richmond gave his final thoughts ahead of this one:
"We will have to disrupt them offensively. We will have to make the extra pass on offense. We will need to make shots because they are usually in the right spots on defense. We will have to put pressure on the rim and get to the free throw line."
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
West Virginia Wesleyan @ Concord
Wheeling @ Fairmont State
Davis & Elkins @ Glenville State
West Liberty @ Frostburg State
West Virginia State @ Salem
MEC Standings:
Charleston 13-2 (18-3)
West Liberty 11-3 (17-5)
West Virginia State 11-4 (15-6)
Concord 10-4 (17-4)
Fairmont State 9-6 (16-6)
Davis & Elkins 7-7 (12-10)
Glenville State 6-8 (11-11)
NDC 6-9 (11-10)
Wheeling 4-11 (7-14)
Frostburg State 2-13 (2-20)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-13 (2-20)
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