Concord Stats -
Bluefield State Stats -
Live Audio
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team takes on Bluefield State 8:00 p.m. Tuesday in a non-conference road game at Ned Shott Gymnasium.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will provide live play-by-play radio coverage of Tuesday's contest on 94.5 "Willie" FM and streaming online at www.mywillie.com
RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 1-1 on the season after splitting games at the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic over the weekend.
BSC is off to a 2-0 start after winning both games on its home floor this weekend.
PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF
CU picked up a 79-76 win over Pitt-Johnstown to open the season before falling short against nationally-ranked Indiana (Pa.), 80-73, Saturday night. The Mountain Lions had the contest against IUP down to a three-point margin with 1:24 left in the contest. In the win over UPJ, Concord erased a six-point deficit in the final five minutes to win. The weekend performances come on the heels of CU being locked up in several tight games last season. Concord was 10-7 in games decided by 10 points or less in 2018-19 including a 7-4 record in games decided by two possessions.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
In Friday's game against Pitt-Johnstown, freshman guard
Ethan Heller bursted onto the scene of the college game with 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting. The last time a CU player had at least 25 points and shot better than 65 percent from the field was
Tommy Bolte when he netted 39 points on 15-for-22 shooting against West Liberty at home last season. Another key factor for Concord in the win over UPJ was senior guard
Martin Kelly Jr. who scored 15 points off the bench in his first career CU action after redshirting last season due to an injury. Kelly Jr. also added five rebounds and four assists.
REBOUND MACHINE
Over the weekend, senior forward
Simun Kovac collected his sixth career double-double as he recorded 13 points and 16 rebounds against Indiana (Pa.). Additionally, Kovac hauled in 10 rebounds against Pitt-Johnstown. The Ljubuski, Bosnia and Herzegovina native is tied for 11th nationally in rebounding through two games. Kovac finished last season with 9.3 rebounds per game and his 250 total rebounds were just outside of the top 20 in program history for single-season rebounding.
GIMME THAT
The Mountain Lions collected 14 steals over the two games in Pennsylvania which were the most in a two-game span since tallying 19 in back-to-back home games against West Liberty and Wheeling last season. At IUP, Kelly Jr. accounted for nearly have the steals with three in each games. Senior guard
Trey Brisco added three steals while Heller came away with two steals. With its pack line defense, Concord had five or more steals in 20 of 30 games last season including at least five in nine of the last 10 contests.
THREES ARE NOT FREE
In addition to taking the ball away from the opponent in two games over the weekend, the Mountain Lions did not allow either Pitt-Johnstown or IUP to find their shooting stroke. UPJ shot just 22.2 percent from three-point range (4-for-18) while the Crimson Hawks were below 30 percent (29.6 percent / 8-for-27). Going back to last season, CU has held opponents to less than 30 percent from beyond the arc in five straight games. In 2018-19, Concord's opponents shot 35 percent or better in just 12 games.
BRINGING OUT THE BEST
Concord owns the all-time series advantage over Bluefield State, 60-37, including winning the last three games and five of the last six contests versus the Blues. Last season, CU won 84-68 at Bluefield State before squeezing out an 86-83 home win on a go-ahead basket by junior forward
David Bea Mulumba with seven seconds left in regulation. In his career, Brisco has just four double-doubles, but two have come against BSC including a 17-point, 13-rebound performance on the road last season. Brisco also owns a line of 12 points and 11 rebounds versus CSC which came on January 29, 2018.
BLUEFIELD STATE AT A GLANCE
The Blues opened the season with a 120-80 win over Campbellsville-Somerset, but their second game was much closer as they won, 80-76, over Campbellsville-Harrodsburg. Bluefield State shot 53.4 percent from the floor in the two wins. Marquez Cooper is averaging 23 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest despite attempting just two three-pointers this season. BSC has just five returners from last season's roster: Brandon Anyanwu, Teyon Henry, James Moreland, Greg Purnell and Antonio Watson. In the game at BSC last season, Henry had six points, eight rebounds and nine assists as he flirted with a triple-double.
