The Notre Dame College Falcons (6-5 2-4 MEC) take on the West Virginia State University Yellow Jackets (6-5 3-3 MEC) in a key MEC tilt at home on Wednesday. Tip time is slated for 7:30 PM from Murphy Gym and you can catch all the action on MountainEast.TV
"Obviously looking forward to getting back home here. We really have been just practicing for the last 10 days since our previous game. It has been a long wait to starting league play here in the second half of the season," NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
NDC is fifth in the MEC scoring 83.8 points per game while on the defensive end they give up 83.2 points per night which is seventh in the MEC. The Falcons are fourth in the MEC in field goal percentage on both ends of the floor (45.8 percent on offense and 42.4 percent on defense this season.) The Falcons shoot 34.1 percent from the 3-point line which is eighth in the conference while on defense the opposition shoots 35.9 percent which is good for ninth in the MEC at that end. NDC shoots 71.9 percent from the free throw line which is tied for eighth in the conference. The Falcons dish out 15.5 assists per game which is fourth in the conference while they block 5.7 shots per night which leads the MEC and is fourth in the country. The 16.6 fast break points the Falcons average is good for 17th in all of Division II and Richmond talked about that:
"The key is to take care of the ball and move it, take good shots and rebound at a high level. Playing in transition has been a focus for our guys. We have lots of length, athleticism, and guys that can run. Rebounding and getting stops is a key to our defense and transition offense."
Last time out the Falcons were a 91-81 winner over D'Youville. Devin Haid led the way with 25 points, Andre Harris scored 20, while both Jevontae Jones and Gbolahan Adio tallied 15. On the glass NDC is being out rebounded by 0.8 (39.7-40.5) boards per night. Haid leads the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game which is tied for 10th in the MEC, his 2.6 assists are also top 10 in the conference, the redshirt sophomore from Wooster blocks 1.4 shots per game which is fourth in the MEC, gets 1.7 steals per game which is fifth in the MEC, and plays 29.5 minutes per game which is tied for 10th in the conference. Haid leads the conference and is third in the country shooting 94.9 percent from the free throw line. Harris puts up 12.7 points per game, grabs an MEC second best 7.6 rebounds per game and shoots 48.6 percent from the field which is fifth in the MEC. His 1.3 blocks per game are good for fifth in the MEC. RJ Ogom scores 12.5 points per game and shoots 93.2 percent from the free throw line which is second in the MEC and fifth in the country. Adio rounds out the double digit scorers putting up 12.1 points per night and is just outside the top 10 in the MEC playing 29 minutes per night.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 84-82 loss in the Virgin Islands last time out. Anthony Pittman scored 24, Kahlil Camara had 14, Mahzi Thames added 12, Nate Mims tallied 11, and Arthur Cox scored 10 in the loss to Bloomfield.
Richmond talked about the Yellow Jackets:
"West Virginia State is a very talented team with a lot of length and size led by Pittman who has been there forever. We will have to do a good job of making it difficult on him. They have several guys who can really rebound and they have some good wins this year. They are much better on defense especially in the half court this year and are not pressing as much as in the past."
The 80.6 points per game that WVSU averages is good for eighth in the MEC while on defense they give up 74.9 points per night which is fifth in the conference. WVSU shoots 44.2 percent from the field and allows the opposition to shoot just 41.8 percent which is third in the conference. They shoot an MEC ninth best 33.8 percent from the 3-point line while the opposition shoots 32.2 percent which makes WVSU fourth on that end of the floor. They are tied for eighth in the MEC shooting 71.9 percent from the free throw line and getting 2.6 more rebounds per night than the opposition (42.3-39.7) rebounds per night. The Yellow Jackets get 9.3 assists per game which is second in the MEC and block 5.4 shots per game which is third in the MEC and seventh in the country. Pittman is the engine that makes WVSU go as is evidenced by several numbers. His 17.1 points per game lead the team and are tied for third in the MEC. He also grabs seven rebounds per game which is fourth in the MEC. His 47 percent shooting from the field is seventh in the MEC, and he also gets 2.2 steals per contest which is third in the MEC. Cox puts up 11.5 points per game and Mims rounds out the double digit scorers at 11.4 points per Jevontae Jones talked about energy with students on break right now:
"We have to create our own energy. We have to get ourselves ready for conference. We have to bring our own energy every game," Jones stated.
Haid agreed:
"We got to bring our own energy ourselves for all 40 minutes," Haid mentioned.
Richmond gave the final thoughts:
"It should be an interesting game. They have been off for almost three weeks and we have been practicing against each other for the last 10 days but I think we have made some great strides."
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
Glenville State @ Davis & Elkins
Charleston @ Salem
Concord @ West Virginia Wesleyan
Frostburg State @ West Liberty
Fairmont State @ Wheeling
MEC Standings:
Charleston 5-1 (8-2)
West Liberty 4-1 (9-3)
Davis & Elkins 4-1 (8-4)
Concord 3-2 (7-2)
Glenville State 3-2 (7-5)
Fairmont State 3-3 (9-3)
West Virginia State 3-3 (6-5)
Wheeling 2-3 (5-6)
NDC 2-4 (6-5)
Frostburg State 1-5 (1-11)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-5 (1-11)
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