ATHENS, W.Va. - After the starting the season with three straight games away from the Carter Center, the Concord University men's basketball team starts Mountain East Conference play at home against Notre Dame 4:00 p.m. Saturday before hosting Urbana 3:00 p.m. Monday. Prior to Saturday's game, CU will unveil its 2016 MEC Championship banner.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live radio coverage of Saturday's contest with the pregame show starting at 3:45 p.m. The game can be heard on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at www.mywillie.com.
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics for all home games throughout the season.
Video: Live streaming video of the game can be accessed for both contests as well.
RECORDS
Concord is 2-1 heading into the opening weekend of MEC play.
Notre Dame won its first two games, but lost to Roberts Wesleyan to move its record to 2-1.
The Blue Knights are 0-1 after falling in their season-opener to Salem, 78-72.
ROAD TRIPPIN'
The Mountain Lions concluded their three-game road slate to start the season with an 84-68 win at Bluefield State in a rivalry game Tuesday night.
Senior guard
Tommy Bolte led the charge for Concord going 13-for-25 from the field and scoring 31 points.
It was the 40th time in Bolte's career he finished a game in double digits, and the 29th time in his career he has gone for 20 or more points.
Junior forward
Trey Brisco collected his second straight and fourth career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds against BSC.
The 13 boards were a career best for the Stephens City, Virginia native, and seven came on the offensive end.
Brisco's seven offensive rebounds were the most for a CU player since Brisco, himself, also had seven at UVa.-Wise last season.
HELPING HAND
Along with Bolte and Brisco, junior guard
Jair Rodgers finished in double digits scoring with 18 points against Bluefield State.
Bolte leads Concord in scoring with 25.7 points per game, an MEC best. Rodgers is averaging 20.7 points per game which ranks seventh in the league.
And Brisco is averaging 11.0 points per contest.
It marks the first time since November 25, 2017 prior to its game against Alderson-Broaddus that CU has three players averaging at least 10 points per game.
The Mountain Lions have had at least three players score in double figures in all three games this season.
Last season, Concord had three players with 10 or more points just 13 times out of 30 games.
HOME EXCITEMENT
Dating back to the 2012-13 season, the Mountain Lions has lost just one home opener—a narrow 87-83 defeat against Bluefield State last season.
And while three of the five wins have come by at least 10 points, the other two games have come down to the end.
In November 2015, Concord used a three-point shot by
Rob Reed to defeat Charleston 69-66.
Two years before that, the Maroon and Gray hit a half-court shot to down Bluefield State in the home opener, 81-78.
In the home opener last season, Bolte went 29 points, only playing 28 minutes versus Bluefield State.
Since the formation of the MEC, prior to the 2013-14 season, Concord is a combined 8-2 versus Notre Dame and Urbana and has a four-game home winning streak over NDC.
Between the two home games last season versus Notre Dame and UU, Bolte averaged 35.5 points while shooting 22-for-41 from the field and 21-for-24 from the free-throw line.
TAKE CARE OF THE ROCK
At Bluefield State, Concord had eight turnovers after having just seven turnovers against Indiana (Pa.) to start the season.
For the season, CU is turning the ball over just 9.3 times per game, the best in the MEC.
In fact, the Mountain Lions are the only team in the MEC averaging less than 10 turnovers per game early in the campaign.
Likewise, Concord is fourth in the league in turnover margin (+3.0) after coming up with a season-best 10 steals at BSC including three from Bolte.
TOUGH SLEDDING
Saturday's contest will be a matchup of two of the best defenses in the MEC in terms of field goal defense.
Notre Dame leads the conference in field goal defense limiting opponents to 37.8 percent shooting--the only team in the MEC with a field goal defensive percentage below 40.
However, Concord is fourth in field goal defense in the league (44.8).
Even though CU has yet to shoot above 45 percent in a game this season, the Mountain Lions held Pitt-Johnstown and Bluefield State to 43 percent and 40 percent shooting.
Additionally, Concord has held its opponents to 29.8 percent shooting from three-point range, third in the MEC.
CLOSE CALLS
Each of the last three times Urbana has come into the Carter Center, the games have been decided by a total of eight points including a 63-60 win for CU last season.
Bolte made four foul shot over the final 91 seconds to lift Concord to a win.
During the 2016-17 season, Urbana won 73-71 with a last-second layup.
Three years ago, the Mountain Lions held off a UU rally to win 93-90 at home.
Along with last season's narrow win at home, Concord got a late layup from Brisco to win 77-73 at Urbana to sweep the Blue Knights.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9- Assists needed by Bolte to reach 300 for his career. He would become the 14th player in program history to reach the milestone.
14- CU has had at least 14 offensive rebounds in its first three games of the season.
95- Concord shot 95 percent from the foul line (18-for-19) in last year's home win over Notre Dame.
NOTRE DAME AT A GLANCE
After missing a large portion of last season, Notre Dame returns preseason All-American Will Vorhees to the lineup.
Coming into the weekend, the veteran forward is averaging 21.7 points per game and 11.7 rebounds per contest.
Isaiah Sanders and Halil Parks both average 14.3 points per game to help Vorhees out.
NDC has the second-best rebounding margin in the league at +4.7, but CU is third at +4.3.
URBANA AT A GLANCE
The Blue Knights held a 40-26 advantage on the glass in their game against Salem to start the season.
However, Urbana was outscored 50-39 in the second half in its loss on the road.
Matt Treacy had 23 points and seven rebounds to start the season.
Malik Jacobs nearly had a double-double of 11 points and nine rebounds.
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