Concord Begins Season at Virginia Union

Concord Stats - Virginia Union Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team lifts the lid on the 2024-25 season when they face Virginia Union in a non-conference road contest inside Barco-Stevens Hall 6:00 p.m. Wednesday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Virginia Union Sports Information Department will have live statistics and live video of the contest. 

Live Stats
Live Video

SERIES HISTORY: Concord leads 2-1

ALL-TIME MEETINGS
February 12, 2024: Concord 63 - Virginia Union 60 (Athens, W.Va.)
December 12, 2017: Concord 84 - Virginia Union 80 (Athens, W.Va.)
December 11, 2016: Virginia Union 95 - Concord 78 (Richmond, Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
2023-24 Overall Record: 22-8
MEC Record: 14-6
Home Record: 11-2
Away Record: 9-4
Neutral Record: 2-2

FAMILIAR FACES
Head coach Todd May returns three of five starters as well as eight of the top ten players in last year's rotation from last year's 22-8 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In all, the Mountain Lions return 81 percent of last year's point scoring production, including All-Mountain East Conference First Teamer junior guard Kollin Tolbert. Last season, the Cincinnati, Ohio native averaged 14.2 points per game as he scored in double figures in 23 of 30 games and had a team-best six double-doubles. Tolbert shot 47.4 percent from the field and was fifth in the MEC in free-throw shooting (83.9 percent). Junior forward Rene Diop was All-MEC Honorable Mention as he scored 9.8 points per game and registered double figures in 14 games. Although Diop did not qualify for the MEC leaderboard in shooting percentage, he made 62.8 percent of his shots (123-for-196) and grabbed 6.1 rebounds per contest.

WELCOME BACK
Three seniors highlight the roster for the Mountain Lions in guard Corey Boston, forward Amare Smith and guard Jordan Wooden. Boston is a junior college transfer just in his second year with CU, and averaged 6.3 points per game last winter. However, Smith and Wooden have both played more than 85 games in the Maroon and Gray. The last time Concord had two or more players that already had 80 Concord games under their belt to start a season was Aaron Miller and Cam Shannon to start the 2016-17 season. Over 90 career games, Wooden is averaging 8.0 points per game, including netting 9.5 points each of the last two years. For Smith, he has seen action in 86 career games, making 44.0 percent of his shots and scoring at least 8.1 points per game in each of the last two seasons.

RECORD WATCH
The next win for Coach May will be his 121^st career win at CU which would move him into fourth place all-time on the Concord coaching wins list. With five more wins, May would tie Ira Blankenship (1963-1975) for third on the all-time wins last at Concord. Diop starts the season needing 23 blocks to move into the top five at CU as he has recorded 74 blocks over his first two seasons as a Mountain Lion. The Dakar, Senegal native led the MEC in blocks last season at 1.9 per game. And Tolbert needs 21 made free throws to reach 200 for his career which would allow him to qualify for all-time free throw percentage at CU. Tolbert's current career mark of 83.3 would rank seventh all-time at Concord.

NOT BACKING DOWN
Wednesday's game marks the start of a rugged stretch for the Maroon and Gray to start the season. The first four games of the year and six of the first eight games are on the road. After Wednesday's tilt at Virginia Union, Concord faces nationally-ranked California (Pa.) before squaring off with Bluefield State November 20. And then into MEC play where Concord faces Charleston and West Virginia State to close the month. Of the first five games, everyone but Bluefield State has made at least one of the last two NCAA Tournaments. And CU's first five opponents combined for 100 wins last year. CU was 11-6 away from the Carter Center last season, and went 8-2 in non-conference games.

GUARD THE ARC
Wednesday night is a rematch of a 63-60 slugfest last season at the Carter Center won by Concord February 12. Concord was held to 41.5 percent shooting, and needed four free throws by Tolbert in the final 29 seconds as well as a defensive stop at the buzzer to win the game. Despite making four less shots and being outscored 42-32 in the paint by the Panthers, Concord held Virginia Union to one made three pointer in the game—VUU only attempted eight triples. Diop was 7-of-9 from the floor as he scored 15 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Tolbert took advantage of an 8-for-8 showing at the foul line for his 13 points. Wooden pitched in nine points.

ONE AND DONE
Another chief reason Concord was able to slip past Virginia Union last season was the ability to limit second possessions. VUU recorded eight offensive rebounds, but Concord only allowed six second-chance points. Last season, the Mountain Lions were the best defensive rebounding team in Division II as they pulled down 31.5 defensive rebounds per game. Additionally, CU's +7.6 rebounding margin was tied for 10^th in Division II. In the limited possession game, Concord outrebounded VUU 33-32 a season ago. Virginia Union averaged 15 offensive rebounds in two games over the weekend that turned into a  total of 30 second-chance points.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Blocks by Diop in last year's win over Virginia Union.

10- Tolbert's next 20-point game will be the tenth of his career, most among active Concord players.

406- Combined games played for the eight rotational players from last season. Diop (58) and junior forward Ayden Ince (51) have played north of 50 career games along with Smith and Wooden.

VIRGINIA UNION AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 2-0
CIAA Record: 0-0
Home Record: 0-0
Away Record: 1-0
Neutral Record: 1-0

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Virginia Union had back-to-back 20-win seasons before last year's 14-18 campaign. VUU is off to a 2-0 start thanks to a 21-point win over Pitt-Johnstown and an overtime win over Slippery Rock. Tahj Harding poured in a game-best 21 points last year at Concord. Alderson Broaddus transfer Jonathan King tallied 12 points and eight rebounds. Harding scored 33 points in two games over the weekend while King pulled down 13 rebounds versus Slippery Rock.