Men's Basketball

Bison and Eagles Battle on ESPNU

Complete Game Notes (Men's Game)
Complete Game Notes (Women's Game)

Men's Game

Game 20
Howard (4-15, 1-4 MEAC) vs.
Coppin State (4-16, 0-6 MEAC)

Date: Monday, Jan. 28
Time: 7:05 p.m. EST
Place: Burr Gymnasium, Washington, D.C.
Series: Coppin State leads 31-16

The Game
This is a MEAC game between the Eagles of Coppin State and the Bison of Howard.  The Eagles (4-16 overall,  0-6 in the MEAC) are still looking for their first conference win after dropping a disappointing 56-54 road decision to Hampton this past Saturday.  The Bison (4-15 overall, 1-4 in the MEAC) dropped their third straight, a 69-51 loss to Morgan State University at home on Saturday.  Coppin State has dropped three in a row also and 14 of its last 15.  The Bison have lost 11 of their last 12.

Howard
Probable Starters

The Coaches
The Eagles are coached by Ron "Fang" Mitchell (Edison State College, '84), who is his 23^rd season there and has a 256-111 record to date.  Mitchell's overall career record is 346-297 as a head coach. Howard is coached by Gil Jackson (Elizabethtown College, '69), who is in his third season and has a 19-56 career record to date.  Prior to coming to the Hilltop, Jackson served as assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania for 16 years.     

Eagles Prey
Coppin State is second in the MEAC in free throw shooting, hitting at a 70 percent clip as a team...the Eagles have had their problems scoring as they average only 54.5 points per game, last in the conference...CSU is shooting only 37 percent from the field...the Eagles do take good care of the ball as they are second in the MEAC in turnover margin with a plus 0.63...McKee continues to show why he is a perennial All-MEAC selection...the senior guard leads the conference in free throw shooting (89 percent), is 3^rd in three-point shooting (40 percent), is 4^th in steals (1.63) and is 8^th in scoring (15.2)...A'Daeron is 6^th in free throw shooting (81 percent).

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 seven 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 two games...the recent victim of the injury epidemic is freshman guard Kyle Riley, who injured his back and could miss up to a month...at one point, the Bison suited up only eight players...Myatt is 10^th in the conference in scoring and 13^th in field goal percentage (47 percent)..he 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, who rank second in the conference in blocked shots,  currently average 4.47 per game...Walker, who is a strong candidate for the All-Rookie team, ranks 5^th in blocked shots, 6^th in offensive rebounding and 10^th in overall rebounding...Kirkpatrick ranks 7^th in blocked shots and Kandi Mukole 9th...Myatt's 14 three-point baskets are more than he scored in the previous two seasons combined...after starting the season at 2-2, the Bison have gone 2-13, dropping 11 of their last 12...Howard opponents are averaging 11 steals per game.

Next Up
The Eagles host North Carolina Central on Wednesday, January 28 while the Bison travel to Greensboro, NC to take on the Aggies of North Carolina A&T on Saturday at 4 pm.

Women's Game

Game 18
Howard (2-15, 2-3 MEAC) vs.
Coppin State (9-10, 4-2 MEAC)

Date: Monday, Jan. 28
Time: 9:30 p.m. EST
Place: Burr Gymnasium, Washington, D.C.
Series: Howard leads 30-19
Television: ESPNU
TV Talent: Charlene Curtis and Jerry Bembry

The Game
Howard will face off with Coppin State (CSU) in a MEAC matchup today at 9:30pm and with the contest being televised on ESPNU on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 5 pm. The Bison fell to 2-3 in league play with a 91-48 loss to Morgan State in its last time out on Jan. 26. Shannon Carlisle paced Howard with a team-high 16 points while Reyna Gross added 12 points and two assists. Tamaya Daniels added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds. 

WSSU is 3-2 in MEAC play and defeated Hampton 64-54 on Saturday. Rashida Suber (24 points) and Shalamar Oakley (18 points) combined for 42 points in the victory. Whitney Cunningham pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Coppin State
Probable Starters

Scouting Coppin State
Coppin State is averaging 63.4 points per game in its 18 contests this season. Opponents are shooting 39% against the Lady Eagles while opponents hold a +0.6 rebound advantage over CSU.

The Lady Rams are coached by Derek Brown, who is in his eighth season at Coppin State. He has a 134-94 record at the school and in his career record as a head coach.

Sharing is Caring
Reyna Gross dished out a season high eight assists in a 79-70 win over Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 14, falling one assist shy of her career-high.

Seeing Double
Howard had two players pull down double-doubles in the win over Bethune-Cookman. Terease Thornton scored 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds and Tamaya Daniels finished with 12 points and 10 boards.

Woman of Steal
Shannon Carlisle (3.6 spg) is 2^nd in the MEAC and 9^th in the NCAA in steals per game.

Pounding Pavement
Howard opened up its regular season with nine consecutive games on the road. The Lady Bison kicked off its season at perennial powerhouse Baylor in the Basketball Travelers Classic, hosted by the Bears, on November 9-11. Howard took on Baylor on November 9, Prairie View A&M on November 10 and St. Mary's (CA) on November 11 during the three-day tournament.

HU hit the road again against Navy on Nov. 14 and took on Longwood and Campbell at the Longwood Classic on November 16-17. The Bison battled non-conference foe Bucknell on November 19 before heading to Providence for the Brown Bear Basketball Classic on December 1-2. Howard made its home debut against William & Mary on Dec. 9.

Double Figures for Shannon
Howard senior guard Shannon Carlisle (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) scored 16 points during the Bison's loss to Morgan State on January 26. It was the 13^th time this season that she has scored at least 10 points.

Defending the Three
Howard held Brown to 1-9 (.111) shooting beyond the arc at Providence on December 1. So far this season, the Bison have held 10 of its opponents to under five made three-pointers. Opponents are shooting .365 (300-481) from three-point range versus Howard this season.

Bison Picked Eighth in the MEAC
The Howard University women's basketball team has been picked to finish eighth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's annual preseason poll, as voted on by the League's Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors. The announcement was made on October 10 in Raleigh, N.C. as part of the 2007-08 Tip-Off Media Luncheon. Howard received 214 points in the preseason poll. Coppin State was picked first as the Lady Eagles garnered 12 first-place votes with 442 points. CSU was followed by Delaware State (437, nine first-place votes) while North Carolina A&T (356 points) rounds out the top three.

Starters, Seniors Leading the Way
Howard's starters have been a strong point early on and if head coach Cathy Parson can get strong production from her reserves, it will keep the starters' legs fresh as the season wears on.

So far this year, the starters have scored 568 points and account for 75% of the offense, while the senior class has scored 474 points (62% of the offense).

Santee, Carlisle Named to All-Tournament Teams
Asha Santee and Shannon Carlisle have received All-Tournament recognition this season. Santee was named to the Basketball Travelers All-Tournament team on Nov. 11 following a strong weekend at the Baylor hosted tournament while Carlisle garnered All-Tournament honors at the Brown Bear Basketball Classic.

Bison Outscored at the Stripe
A problem Howard has had this year is getting to the free-throw line. The Bison have committed 394 fouls already this year (compared to 310 by opponents), resulting in 481 free throw attempts for Howard's opponents. Opponents are currently 300-481 (.624) from the stripe. Meanwhile, Howard has been to the line just 300 times, converting 183 of them (.610).

However, HU seems to be turning the tide as of late. The Bison connected on 13 of 14 from the line (92.9%) against FAMU and went 12 for 12 in the first half against Hampton on Jan. 5.