Concord Stats -
Urbana Stats -
Notre Dame Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team concludes its road trip when it travels to Urbana 7:30 p.m. Wednesday before coming home to take on Notre Dame 4:00 p.m. Saturday in two Mountain East Conference games.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: Live in-game statistics will be provided for boht games courtesy of the Urbana University and Concord University Sports Information Departments
Video: Live streamign video will also be available for the games from each school.
RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 3-4 overall and 1-1 against conference opponents this season.
Urbana takes the court with a 1-5 mark and is 0-2 in the MEC.
Notre Dame sports an identical 1-5 record and is 0-2 versus league foes.
NO VOLUME NEEDED
Senior guard
Trey Brisco and senior forward
Martin Kelly Jr. were highly efficient in a narrow 98-94 loss at West Virginia State before Thanksgiving. The duo each threw in 25 points as they combined to shoot 18-for-24 from the floor. For Brisco, it was the most points scored since he dropped in 29 points in a road win at Urbana two seasons ago as he made his first seven shots before a miss against WVSU, finishing the game 9-for-11. Meanwhile, Kelly Jr. netted a career high with the 25-point outburst against the Yellow Jackets. His previous career best was 15 points in the first game of the season versus Pitt-Johnstown. Additionally, Kelly Jr. had 18 of his 25 points after halftime.
SEASON BEST
While Brisco and Kelly Jr. spearheaded a good shooting night for the Mountain Lions, other Concord players factored into CU shooting a season-best 53 percent (35-for-66) from the field in the setback. Junior forward
Liam Evans came off the bench to score seven points on 3-for-5 shooting. In fact over the last two games, Evans is a combined 8-for-12 with 19 points. Senior forward
Simun Kovac shot 7-of-11 from the field to finish a point off his career best of 16 points. Coming off back-to-back 50 percent or better shooting games, Concord will face an Urbana team that is 11
th in the MEC in field goal defense (49.7) while NDC allows opponents to shoot 47.8 percent—ninth in the league.
GLASS SMASH
The Mountain Lions pulled down a season-best 47 rebounds at West Virginia State which was also the most rebounds since Concord grabbed 47 rebounds in a road win at Urbana February 23, 2019. Additionally, CU owned a +21 advantage in rebounding which was the largest rebounding margin for the Maroon and Gray since a +23 margin on the glass at UVa.-Wise January 20, 2018. Kovac led the way on the boards as he notched his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. Kelly Jr. added eight rebounds to go with 25 points while Brisco had another seven boards. The dominance on the glass vaulted CU into fourth in the MEC in rebounding margin (-0.4).
ONE SIDED AFFAIR
Concord owns an 11-1 all-time series advantage against Urbana including winning the last five contests with the Blue Knights. In two meetings last season, Concord shot a combined 61.9 percent (70-for-113) that included a 67.3 percent shooting effort in a 99-79 win last November at the Carter Center. In the last five games against UU, the Mountain Lions are shooting 51.3 percent (153-for-298). In his only two career games versus Urbana, Kovac is averaging 10.5 points and 13.5 rebounds. Meanwhile, sophomore guard
Brandon Kennedy tallied a career-best 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting in a 105-79 win last season on the road.
ALTERNATING WINS
The short all-time series between Concord and NDC is much closer with the Falcons holding a 7-6 edge on CU. Notre Dame was able to take back the all-time series advantage on Concord with two wins last season which marked the first time either team had swept the season series since the Mountain Lions defeated NDC in all three matchups during CU's 2015-16 MEC Tournament Championship campaign. Concord was held to 35.6 percent shooting in an 80-69 home loss last season, but was much better from the field—46.9 percent (30-for-64)—in an 88-79 road defeat in February. Junior guard/forward
Malik Johnson went for 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting while Kovac added 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5- Number of players averaging double figures in points per game. CU hasn't had five players average double figures for an entire season since 2005-06.
20- Average number of assists for Concord in two games against Urbana last season.
94- Points put up by CU at West Virginia State, the most since last February's 105-point performance at Urbana.
URBANA AT A GLANCE
The Blue Knights are under the direction of first-year head coach Josh Gibson after coming from NAIA school Lourdes. Tehree Horn leads UU in scoring at 14.5 points per game which shooting exactly 50 percent (27-for-54) from the field. Kyle Kegley is adding 9.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as he ranks eighth in the league in rebounding. Despite its 1-5 record, Urbana has been involved in four games that have been decided by 10 points or less, including a 56-53 win over Kentucky Wesleyan.
NOTRE DAME AT A GLANCE
After defeating Division I Cleveland State in an exhibition, 69-64, at the end of October, NDC has been on the wrong side of a couple close games to start the season. Notre Dame was defeated at the buzzer by Slippery Rock and was edged 70-66 against Edinboro. The Falcons also have a new head coach in Mark Richmond who was an assistant at Charleston earlier in the decade. Richmond also has ties to West Virginia as a student assistant and manager for WVU in the 2000s. With the core of its nucleus gone from last season's MEC Championship roster, Levi Frankland is the top scorer for NDC this season, averaging 17.2 points per game. 2019 All-MEC First Team guard Larenz Thurman is scoring 12.8 points per game, but is shooting just 36.8 percent from the field this year.
