Concord Welcomes Charleston in MEC Opener

Concord Stats - Charleston Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team gets into Mountain East Conference action with a 4:00 p.m. Saturday home game at the Carter Center against Charleston.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live streaming video and live statistics of the game. 

Live Stats
Live Video

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS CHARLESTON
January 18, 2023: Charleston 93 - Concord 82 (Charleston, W.Va.)
November 19, 2022: Charleston 82 - Concord 77 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 4, 2022: Charleston 88 - Concord 84 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
January 19, 2022: Charleston 99 - Concord 71 (Athens, W.Va.)
November 20, 2021: Charleston 94 - Concord 74 (Charleston, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 3-0
MEC Record: 0-0
Home Record: 1-0
Away Record: 1-0
Neutral Record: 1-0

OFF AND RUNNING
Concord improved to 3-0 on the young season as it held off a furious Bluefield State comeback Wednesday night in a 94-91 win. For the second straight game, the Mountain Lions put four players in double figures, led by the second career 20-point performance from junior forward Amare Smith as he netted 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting—it was Smith's first 20-point game since February 2021 versus Davis & Elkins. Sophomore guard Kollin Tolbert provided 19 points on an efficient 7-of-11 showing in the contest. Senior guard Jordan Wooden added 16 points, and in his first career start sophomore forward Ayden Ince pumped in a career-best 12 points. The 3-0 start for the Maroon and Gray is the best open to a season since the 2015-16 squad started 7-0.

BE THE HAMMER
One theme has remained constant in Concord's first three wins of the season—the ability to win the rebounding battle. CU grabbed 47 rebounds Wednesday as opposed to the 34 boards that BSU plucked down. Against Bluefield State and Pitt-Johnstown, the Mountain Lions have held a double-digit rebounding margin. Senior guard JJ Harper snared a career-best nine rebounds versus Bluefield State. Fifth-year senior forward Jevon Laidler hit the glass for eight boards while Ince and Smith both went for six rebounds. CU's rebounding margin of 10.7 is 16^th in Division II. Charleston outrebounded Concord in both games last season, 38-34 in November and 36-33 in January. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Concord is 23-9 when it outrebounds the opponent as opposed to 9-21 when it does not.

MR. ALL AROUND
In addition to scoring 19 points, Tolbert added four rebounds, four assists and a career-best four steals. Tolbert's performance led the Mountain Lions to recording nine total steals. The nine steals were the most for CU since they swiped nine passes versus West Virginia Wesleyan in February. Harper added two steals versus Bluefield State. Tolbert became the first CU player with 15 points, four assists and four steals in the same game since Daniel Rahama put together 25 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals at Fairmont State last February. Tolbert ranks top 20 in the MEC in points per game (13.3) while being eighth in assists per game (3.7) and tied for fifth in steals per game (2.0).

RIVALRY WEEK CONTINUED
Coming off the three-point win against Bluefield State in the 105^th all-time meeting between the schools, Concord turns its attention towards the most played series in program history, taking on Charleston for the 157^th time. By sweeping the Mountain Lions last season, UC owns a 101-55 advantage in the series. The Maroon and Gray is going for its first win over the closest MEC school in terms of distance since January 2021. The Golden Eagles have won six straight games in the all-time series. CU shot 56 percent in the second half of last November's game, but fell 82-77. Smith scored 15 points in 16 minutes. Wooden hit double figures with 10 points. The Mountain Lions heated up for 52 percent in the second half of the January game at UC, but lost 93-82. Laidler and Smith both shot 6-for-8 from the floor while scoring 18 and 14 points, respectively.

MAKE IT HARD
Under 11^th-year head coach Dwaine Osborne, Charleston has traditionally been one of the most efficient teams on the offensive end in the MEC. The Golden Eagles have finished in the top 10 nationally in field-goal percentage the last two years. UC shot 51 percent in January versus Concord and connected on 49 percent from the floor in November. CU has the best field-goal defense in the MEC so far this season (37.9 percent) and finished fifth in the conference last year. This season, Charleston is shooting 46.3 percent from the field, but that percentage goes up 20 points on two-point field goal tries. UC enters Saturday hitting on just 30 percent of its three-point attempts, despite making 10.5 per game.

GET TO THE RIM
In scoring 94 points against Bluefield State, the Mountain Lions tallied 52 points in the paint. Early in the season, Concord has yet to find its shooting stroke from three-point distance as the Maroon and Gray is making less than 30 percent of their three-point tries. CU is shooting 42 percent overall this season, but on just two-point field goals, the shooting rises to 48.2 percent. And in the paint Concord is shooting 53.3 percent this season. Furthermore, Concord has scored 55 percent of its points in the paint through three games in 2023-24 (128 of 233).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Number of 50-rebound games for Concord last season with CU already tallying two in three games this year.

28.8- Percentage that the Mountain Lions are limiting opponents to from three-point range.

47.8- Percentage that Concord shot in the two games versus Charleston last year despite losing both.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Overall Record:1-1
MEC Record: 0-0
Home Record: 1-1
Away Record 0-0

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Already bringing back 66 percent of its scoring from last year, Charleston dipped into the transfer portal to bring in MEC players Dwaine Jones (West Virginia State), Freddie Word (Glenville State), Obinna Ugwuakazi (Notre Dame) and DeAirius Barker (Notre Dame). CJ Meredith is scoring 18 points per game while shooting 55 percent the floor. Eddie Colbert dumped in 23 points in a win over Salem, but did not play in the loss to Gannon last weekend. Barker is averaging 16 points and six rebounds per game.