Concord Puts Two-Game Winning Streak on Line Versus W.Va. State, UVa.-Wise

Concord Stats - West Virginia State Stats - UVa.-Wise Stats - Live Stats (West Virginia State) - Live Stats (UVa.-Wise) - Live Video (UVa.-Wise) - Live Audio (UVa.-Wise) - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - Winners of two in a row and three of its last four, the Concord University men's basketball team will look to continue its January success when they match up with W.Va. State on the road 4:00 p.m. Saturday and home against UVa.-Wise 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The West Virginia State University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics fo Saturday's contest. Meanwhile, the Concord University Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics as well as live video for the matchup with UVa.-Wise. Addtionally, Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve Cox will full radio coverage of the game at 97.3 FM locally and at mywillie.com. All live coverage can be found at the top of the page or by clicking here.

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 9-5 this season overall and 5-4 in the Mountain East Conference.

West Virginia State is 3-13 overall and 3-5 in league action.

UVa.-Wise is 1-13 overall and still in search of its first conference win at 0-9

THE COACHES
• Concord's Kent McBride is 50-49 in his four seasons at Concord.

• West Virginia is coached Brian Poore who has amassed a record fo 282-180 in 16 seasons in Institute.

• Second-year UVa.-Wise coach Blake Mellinger is 12-29 as head coach.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• On Monday, the Mountain Lions downed Shepherd, 80-74, to pick up their ninth win of the season, surpassing last season's win total.

• Sophomore guard Aaron Miller paced CU with a career-high 35 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the field and 6-for-10 from three-point range.

• The Stephens City, Virginia native matched his personal best in made field goals with 13, after connecting on the same number to open the season at Virginia State.

• Miller's 35 poitns were the third-most by a MEC player this season.

• This season, Miller is fourth in the league in scoring (20.1 points per game, ppg), third in field goal percentage (.578), third in three-point percenage (.489) and third in made three-pointers (43).

• Additionally, Miller ranks seventh in the Atlantic Region in three-point field goal percentage.

• Senior guard Mike Boyd continued his recent string of good passing games as he handed seven or more assist for the fifth time in six games.

• Against Shepherd he had seven assists and leads the MEC in assists per game (6.).

• Boyd has also created opportunities for himself as he has made 28 of his last 29 foul shots.

• The Cincinnati, Ohio native is fourth in the MEC in free-throw shooting percentage (89-for-106 / .840).

• In the last five minutes of games, Boyd is 31-for-34 at the charity stripe.

• In Monday's game, junior forward Terry Hopewell swatted three shots by Shepherd. It was the sixth time Hopewell has had at least two blocks in a game this season.

• The three blocks versus Shepherd moved Hopewell into the top 10 at Concord in career blocks.

• The Columbus, Ohio native now ranks ninth with 55 career rejections.

• Hopewell is second in the MEC in blocks per game (1.5) and third in reboundings (8.0)

• His frontcourt mate, junior forward Jametrius recorded his third double-double of this season by finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds versus SU.

• While Hopewell and Wade have spearheaded Concord's rebounding effort that has led to the Maroon and Gray having the second in the conference (+4.6), it has been a complete team effort.

• Miller has already set a career high for boards in a season and Boyd, senior guard Paul Byrd and sophomore guard B.J. Hamlet are on pace to set personal marks for rebounds in a season.

• A big part of CU's success this season has been the play of its bench. In Concord's nine wins, the bench has averaged 17.1 ppg.

• Junior guard Rob Reed has been the most productive off coach Kent McBride's bench in terms of scoring as he has posted six double-figure scoring games and is fifth on the team in scoring (10.4).

• At West Virginia State last season, Miller lit up the Yellow Jackets for 18 points on 3-for-4 shooting.

• In two games versus WVSU last season, Boyd averaged 16 points and five assists.

• Boyd has matched up six previous time against West Virginia State and is averaging 11.6 ppg and 6.6 apg and has tallied at least five assists in every game.

• By splitting two meetings last season, Concord owns a slim 35-34 all-time series lead over the Yellow Jackets.

• Concord and WVSU has split the last 10 meetings with five of those contests being decided by six points or less.

• In his career, McBride in 5-1 against West Virginia State.

• WVSU is led by Dominic Phillips who is averaging 15.7 ppg and 5.7 apg.

• UVa.-Wise is searching for its first win since its season-opener.

The Cavaliers will host Charleston Saturday before coming to Athens on Thursday.

UVa.-Wise's best player in Philip Owens who averages 14.6 ppg.

A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
• A Concord win over West Virginia State would make McBride 6-1 against the Yellow Jackets in his four-year coaching career at Concord.

• A Concord win over UVa.-Wise would avenge two closes losses to the Highland Cavaliers a season ago.

• A Concord win over UVa.-Wise or West Virginia State would push CU past last year's MEC win total of five.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7-5- Concord is 7-5 in games decided by 10 points or less. Last season they were 7-13 in the same situation.

87- Concord has outscored its opponents by 87 points in the first half of games this season.

3.4- Concord has the fourth-best scoring margin in the MEC at +3.4.