Men's Basketball

Complete Game Notes

Game 18
Howard (4-13, 1-2 MEAC) vs.
South Carolina State (5-12, 1-2 MEAC)

Date: Monday, Jan. 21
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Place: S-H-M Memorial Center, Orangeburg, S.C.
Series: South Carolina State leads, 41-32
TV: ESPNU

The Game
This is a conference game between the Bison of Howard and the Bulldogs of South Carolina State.  The Bison (4-13 overall, 1-2 in the MEAC) are coming off a 64-56 road loss to Winston-Salem State on Saturday while the Bulldogs (5-12 overall, 1-2 in the MEAC) are coming off a home loss to Hampton, also on Saturday. Both teams are looking for their second conference win.

Howard
Probable Starters

Reserves

South Carolina State
Probable Starters

Reserves

The Coaches
Howard is coached by Gil Jackson (Elizabethtown College, '69), who is in his third season and has a 19-54 career record to date.  Prior to coming to the Hilltop, Jackson served as assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania for 16 years.  SC State is coached by first year head coach Tim Carter (Kansas, ‘79), who is in his first season after serving as an assistant at Florida State for one season and head coach at University of Texas at San Antonio for 11 seasons.

Bulldog Bites
SC State is averaging 20 turnovers per game...the Bulldogs have dropped four of their last five...Hampton shot 44 free throws in its win over SC State...Jason Flagler poured in a game-high 27 points and Carrio Bennett added 17 in the loss...the Bulldogs are an "Equal Opportunity" team as seven players average between five and 11 points...Jason Johnson leads the MEAC in field goal percentage at 58 percent...Jessie Burton is tied for 4^th in assists...the Bulldogs are shooting only 58 percent from the charity stripe as a team, last in the conference...Johnson also has 23 blocks...the Bulldogs are 3^rd in the MEAC in scoring and 2^nd in rebounding and assists.

Bison Hooves
The Bison have had 11 different starting lineups due to injuries...the team lost projected starting point guard and Chicago native Julius Hearn before the season started to a knee injury that required surgery...then both freshman forward Adam Walker and freshman guard Kyle Riley went down with injuries just before the season opener...they both returned in the third game only to have starting forward Randy Hampton suffer a concussion in the game against Hampton that caused him to miss the past four games...and if that was not enough, starting point guard Jeron Smith suffered a knee injury following a dunk in the game against American University and leading scorer Eugene Myatt suffered a knee contusion in that same game, forcing them to miss the last two games...at one point, the Bison suited up only eight players...Myatt leads the team in scoring, in three-point shooting, in assists and in minutes played...as a team, Howard is shooting only 24 percent from three-point range...Howard is on a pace to have one of its best seasons in recent years in blocked shots...the Bison currently average 4.81 per game...Walker, who is second in the MEAC in blocked shots, has 22 on the season while Kirkpatrick has 17...Myatt's 14 three-point baskets are more than he scored in the previous two seasons combined....the Bison are second in blocked shots (4.8)...Myatt is sixth in scoring, 7^th in shooting (50 percent) and 8^th in three-point shooting (37 percent)...after starting the season at 2-2, the Bison have gone 2-11, dropping 9 of their last 10...Howard opponents are averaging 11 steals per game.

Next Up
The Bison return home for a two-game stand against Morgan State on Saturday at 4 pm in Burr Gymnasium...they will follow with a Monday contest against Coppin State at 7 pm...that game will be televised live on ESPNU as part of the MEAC TV package.  The Bulldogs travel to Norfolk, VA to take on the Spartans next Saturday at 6 pm.