The Notre Dame College Falcons (8-7 5-5 MEC) will look to get back to their winning ways tomorrow night when they travel to Wheeling, West Virginia to take on the Wheeling University Cardinals ((3-13 1-9 MEC) on Wednesday night. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM from the McDonough Center.
"We will need to be ready to go from the jump tomorrow night, "NDC head coach Mark Richmond mentioned. "Obviously Wheeling was a young team early in the year when we played them. They have continued to improve and had a nice win at Frostburg on Saturday. We have to do a good job against them especially being on the road. They have played some tight games against some really good time on their home floor. We will have to have a great effort to come out of that place with a win."
"It is a good opportunity for us to get back on track and get back to playing our brand of basketball, "NDC Guard Jaedon Willis said. "Our focus has to be on getting better one day at a time."
"We have to be more disciplined as a team, but we have been working on that so we should be good, "NDC Guard Gbolahan Adio stated. "Looking to start a win streak tomorrow."
NDC is coming off a 20 point loss at a surging University of Charleston squad on Saturday (the Golden Eagles have now won seven straight.) Willis led the way for NDC with 22 while DeAirius Barker netted 17 in the defeat. As a team the Falcons shot 32.8 percent from the floor, 36 percent (9-25) from the 3-point line and 76.2 percent (16-21) at the free throw line.
The Falcons are putting up 82.1 points per game which is good for fifth in the Mountain East Conference, while they are giving up 76.5 points per night which is second in the MEC. They shoot 44.1 percent as a team which is 11th in the conference, while they lead the conference holding the opposition to 41.9 percent shooting on the season. They shoot an MEC fourth best 36.7 percent from the 3-point line while they hold the opposition to an MEC best 29.2 percent clip from the 3-point line on the defensive end. The Falcons are second in the MEC shooting 73.6 percent from the free throw line and are ninth in the MEC being out-rebounded by 1.0 (39.1-40.1) rebounds per night.
Willis leads the season box score scoring 20.9 points per game which is second in the MEC and trails only Bryce Butler of West Liberty in the conference. The Baltimore native continues to be one of the best shooters in the conference as he shoots 41.1 percent from the 3-point line (third,) 87.7 percent from the foul line (second,) and makes 2.6 3-pointer's per contest (fourth in the MEC.) Barker leads the team dishing out 2.9 assists to game to go with his 10.3 points per night. Andre Harris scores 10.1 points per game and is sixth in the MEC hauling in 7.1 rebounds per contest. Daylin Lee is eighth in the conference shooting 79.1 percent from the free throw line as well as averaging a little over eight points per night. In the first meeting back on 11/19 Willis paced the Falcons with 28 points and Barker tallied 18.
Richmond talked about being ready to play on the road:
"Obviously it is easier to get ready to play when you are at home. It takes ultra focus to prepare yourself to get ready to go on the road. We are continuing to work on that. The better teams you play and later in the season it gets it's very important."
Richmond then talked about figuring out the starting five tomorrow night:
"It is based on previous practices. We will talk about it as a staff and come up with a plan of who will give us the best chance to get off to a good start. There is a good chance that we will change it up again tomorrow. Obviously what we did the other night (Saturday) was not the answer."
Wheeling (3-13 1-9 MEC) is coming off their first conference win of the season at Frostburg on Saturday. In the 83-78 win John Korte led the way with 27 points, Marcus Johnson scored 22, Brent Price netted 14, and George Taylor chipped in 13. In the first meeting against NDC Johnson scored 16, Korte added 14 points and 10 rebounds, SJ Hutchinson also chipped in 14.
Richmond talked about the trio of scorers for the Cardinals:
"Korte, Price, and Johnson have helped them recently. Korte has really been scoring the ball, Johnson is a big physical kid who is a new guy for them, and Price is really important. Whenever he (Price) plays well they play well as a team, we will have to do a good job on those three guys. They also have their fair share of depth and talent as well as a team. It could be a different story than the first meeting as they have a more experienced team now."
In that first meeting Johnson had 16 points while Korte and Hutchinson each tallied 14. As a team the Cardinals score 76.4 points per game which is 10th in the MEC, on the other end of the floor they give up 81.1 points per game which is eighth in the conference. WU shoots 44.8 percent from the field (10th in the MEC,) while the opposition shoots 47.7 percent from the 3-point line (9th in the MEC.) They shoot 34.4 percent from the 3-point line which is 10th in the conference, while defensively the opposition shoots 36.5 percent from the 3-point line which is ninth in the conference. They also shoot an MEC fourth best 72.9 percent from the foul line. On the glass WU is ninth being out-rebounded by one (34.1-35.1 rebounds per contest.)
Korte paces the Cardinals scoring an MEC third best 18.6 points per game, while he is fifth in the conference in field goal percentage (53.8 percent.) Korte also grabs 6.8 rebounds per contest which is ninth in the MEC. Johnson is 10th in the conference scoring 16.3 points per night. Price stuffs that stat sheet as he scores 14.4 points per game, grabs 5.7 rebounds per night, and dishes out a team leading 3.1 assists per contest.
Richmond talked about trying to turn things around:
"A lot of this steak we are on now has been a product of the schedule. It is easy to streak one way or the other in this league. Obviously we would like to play well the whole season but we have struggled against some really good teams. We have found ways to lose rather than found ways to win. We need to get back on track with a win Wednesday and hopefully get rolling a little bit. The faster we get on a roll the better off we will be. It all starts tomorrow."
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
Davis & Elkins @ Fairmont State
Frostburg State @ West Virginia Wesleyan
Glenville State @ West Virginia State
Concord @ Charleston
Alderson Broaddus @ West Liberty
MEC Standings;
West Virginia State 9-1 (15-1)
West Liberty 9-1 (14-2)
Charleston 8-2 (11-5)
Fairmont State 7-3 (12-4)
Concord 7-3 (10-5)
Glenville State 6-4 (10-6)
NDC 5-5 (8-7)
Davis & Elkins 3-7 (9-7)
Alderson Broaddus 3-7 (4-10)
Frostburg State 1-9 (5-11)
Wheeling 1-9 (3-13)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-9 (1-13)
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