Concord Stats -
UVa.-Wise Stats -
West Virginia State Stats -
Live Stats (UVa.-Wise) -
Live Video (UVa.-Wise) -
Live Audio -
Live Stats (W.Va. State) -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.V.a. - The Concord University men's basketball team returns home for a brief time as it hosts UVa.-Wise 7:30 p.m. Thursday before going back to the road to play West Virginia State 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
LIVE COVERAGE
The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live streaming video and live in-game statistics of Thursday's contest while the West Virginia State Sports Information Department will have live statistics for Saturday's game. Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live play-by-play audio of the home game at 97.3 "Willie" FM and online at
www.mywillie.com.To access any of the live coverage, follow the links at the top of the page or click
here.
MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
Concord is 5-11 overall this season and 1-9 in the Mountain East Conference.
UVa.-Wise is 3-13 and also 1-9 in the league.
The Yellow Jackets are 5-11 with a 2-8 mark against conference foes.
UPCOMING SUCCESS
Despite losing both games of the road trip to Wheeling Jesuit and West LIberty, the Mountain Lions will take on a pair of opponents they have had success against in the past.
CU has won four straight versus UVa.-Wise with the average margin of victory being 86.2-67.
Additionally, Concord held the Cavaliers to under 60 points in two of those games.
Since the beginning of the 2014-15 season, the Maroon and Gray has only kept opponents under 60 points a total of four times.
Meanwhile, the Mountain Lions have won six straight over WVSU with five of those victories coming by double digits including a 92-82 win earlier this season at the Carter Center.
HITTING THE MARK AGAINST UVA.-WISE
After scoring 27 points on the recent two-game road swing for the Mountain Lions, senior guard
Aaron Miller needs three points to register 1,500 points for his career.
The Stephens City, Virginia native scored his 1,000th-point versus the Cavaliers almost a year to the day that he could score his 1,500th point in a CU uniform.
On January 21, 2016, Miller netted point 1,000 in a 100-85 road win at UVa.-Wise.
Furthermore, then-senior guard
Rob Reed topped the 1,000-point plateau in the home finale last season versus UVa.-Wise.
In six career games against the Cavaliers, Miller is averaging 20.5 points per game with 27 points coming in last year's road win.
During the four-game win streak against UVa.-Wise, Concord has hit 39 three-pointers or an average of 9.7 per game.
Of the 39 triples, 17 of them have been hit by current players on the roster led by Miller with eight.
Additionally, junior guard
B.J. Hamlet and senior guard
Michael Sanchez have three each while junior guard
Cal Cistaro, senior guard
Cam Shannon and senior forward
Stephen Thompson have each hit one three-pointer against UVa.-Wise.
NEWCOMER IMPACT
Freshman forward
Patrick Eugene netted a career-high 12 points on the road at Wheeling Jesuit.
In the particular game against WJU, the Mountain Lions also got double-figure scoring from four other players to mark the first time since December 12, 2016 at Virginia Union when they had five score 10 or more points.
Eugene just missed his first career double-double on Monday night at West Liberty as he scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
In his last two games, Eugene is averaging 10 points and six rebounds while shooting 10-for-12 from the field.
Prior to the northern panhandle swing, Eugene was 15-for-30 on the season from the field.
At Wheeling Jesuit, Eugene tied his career high with 29 minutes played.Â
UNSELFISH PLAY
 In the six times Concord and UVa.-Wise have clashed in MEC contests, the Mountain Lions are averaging 18.8 assists per game.
Furthermore, Concord has assisted 62 percent of its makes against the Cavaliers in the last three season while recording a 1.85-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Furthermore, CU has only committed 10.1 turnovers per game in those contests and has two games of single-digit turnovers versus UVa.-Wise.
In the three previous seasons, CU's assist percent is 15 points higher (62.0) against UVa.-Wise than it is overall (47.1).
Sanchez averaged seven assists per game in two meetings with the Cavaliers last season while sophomore guard
Tommy Bolte had a career-best seven assists at UVa.-Wise last season.
BALANCING ACT
In its six-game win streak against West Virginia State, the Mountain Lions have leaned on its ability to spread the ball around and find multiple scorers including off the bench.
CU is averaging 33 points from its bench in the six wins over WVSU.
Back in November, Concord scored 39 bench points which is the second highest this season.
Bolte notched 11 points off the bench in the first meeting this season.
Some other highlights from the bench in recent memory versus the Yellow Jackets includes Reed coming off the bench to tally 40 points and 10 made three-pointers on Valentine's Day in 2015, junior forward
Babe Murphy recording a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds last season at home and Miller scoring 18 points off the bench as a freshman during the 2013-14 season.
SCOUTING UVA.-WISE
In a conference loaded with talented big men, the Cavaliers have one of the best in Taiwo Badmus, a Fairmont State transfer.
Badmus is third in the league in scoring (21.0 points per game) and fifth in rebounding per game (9.5).
The last time out for UVa.-Wise they nearly knocked off nationally-ranked Wheeling Jesuit as it took a three-pointer at the end of the regulation to force overtime with the Cavaliers. WJU went on to win in the extra session.
The Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the MEC in takeaways, ranking third in steals per game (7.8). UVa.-Wise is winless on the road this season.
SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA STATE
Freshman Ernest Jenkins has been one of the best newcomer in the MEC this season, averaging 17.5 points per game.
Jenkins is tied for 10th in the conference in scoring.
Most of Jenkins' success has come from the three-point line where he ranks fourth in the conference in three-pointers made per game (3.1). Brent Bauer (13.4) and Jayson Hankins (13.1) also score in double figures per game.
The Yellow Jackets will travel across Kanawha County for their rivalry game with Charleston Thursday night before hosting the Mountain Lions Saturday afternoon.
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