ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team opens up the season at the Winston-Salem State Classic 7:00 p.m. Friday night against Winston-Salem State before taking on defending CIAA Tournament champion Livingstone 5:00 p.m. Saturday.
MOUNTAIN LION NOTES• The Mountain Lions are coming off a 20-9 season a year ago in which they finished third in the Mountain East Conference and had their first 20-win season since the 2004-2005 season.
• Senior guard
Rob Reed finished the 2014-15 season on quite a roll as he scored in double-digits nine times over the final 11 games of the season including 40 points and tying the school-record for most three-pointers made in a game with 10 at home against West Virginia State Feb. 14.
• The South Bend, Indiana native also scored a team-best 26 points in Concord's Mountain East Conference Tournament game versus Wheeling Jesuit.
• Junior guard
Aaron Miller not only emerged as one of the top scorers for CU during the 2014-15 campaign, but was also near the top of the MEC in several scoring statistics.
• The Stephens City, Virginia native finished sixth in points per game (18.1), third in field goal percentage (.549), third in three-point percentage (.465) and fourth in three-pointers made (74). The 74 three-pointers made by Miller a season ago was the 11th most by a Mountain Lion in a single season.
• A big reason for the much-improved record of Concord in 2014-15 was Concord's ability to outrebound its opponent.
• The Mountain Lions pulled down a league-high 39.7 rebounds per game and had the second-best rebounding margin in the MEC (+5.7) trailing only West Liberty's +5.8 rebounding margin.
• Additionally, senior forwards
Jametrius Wade and
Terry Hopewell finished third and fourth in the MEC in rebounds per game at 7.9 and 7.5.
• Concord will return three starters from last year's team, but will have to replace its two starting point guard,
Mike Boyd and
Paul Byrd. Boyd is now an intern assistant coach for the Mountain Lions.
• Boyd and Byrd combined to have a 2.51 assist-to-turnover ratio last season.
• Furthermore, Boyd led the MEC in assists per game with 5.1.
• Freshman guard
Tommy Bolte and junior guards
Michael Sanchez and
Kamal Shasi will be tasked with filling the void left behind by Boyd and Byrd.
• Last season, the Concord bench averaged 20.6 points per game as it scored 47 points on two different occasions.
• Reed led the bench-scoring effort last season.
• However, junior guard BJ Hamlet, sophomore forward
Babe Murphy and senior forward
Taylor Smith each contributed significantly off the CU bench.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS11- Number of games Concord shot at least 50 percent from the floor last season.
8- Combined double-doubles for Hopewell and Wade last season.
212- Number of three-pointers made by CU last season, seventh-best in school history.
SCOUTING WINSTON-SALEM • Winston-Salem State returns just one player, C.J. Ford, from a team that won 18 games and advanced to the championship game of the CIAA Conference Tournament in March.
• Last season, Ford averaged 7.1 points per game and shot 41.9 percent from the field. Two seasons ago, the Rams defeated the Mountain Lions 76-73 to open the season.
• Only three current Concord players played in the contest, Hopewell, Shannon and Smith. No current Winston-Salem State player appeared in that game.
SCOUTING LIVINGSTONE• Livingstone was the lone team that represented the CIAA in the NCAA Division II Tournament last season.
• The Blue Bears earned the automatic bid after winning the conference tournament over Winston-Salem State. Livingstone returns three players from last year's team led by guard Juwan Cole. Last season, Cole averaged 1.8 points per game.
• In the preseason, Livingstone played an exhibition game with Duke, losing 119-54 to the Blue Devils.
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