Chants Open Big South Play Saturday With Charleston Southern
12/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2010
Coastal Carolina (6-2, 0-0) vs. Charleston Southern (4-4, 0-0)
Saturday | 12.04.10 | 2:00 p.m.
Conway, S.C. | Kimbel Arena (1,039)
MEDIA
Live Stats:
Live Radio: Chanticleer Sports Network (Matt Hogue, play-by-play)
CONWAY, S.C. - On the heels of a four-game winning streak, the Coastal Carolina men's basketball team opens Big South Conference play Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when the Chanticleers welcome Charleston Southern to Kimbel Arena.
Coastal Carolina (6-2) enters the weekend following a 72-64 win over The Citadel last Saturday inside Kimbel Arena. Senior forward Chad Gray scored a season-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and three blocked shots to lead a trio of Chants in double figures.
Junior Desmond Holloway tallied his first double-double at Coastal after finishing with 18 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Holloway was also a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line and is leading the Big South with a .891 shooting percentage from the charity stripe.
Anthony Raffa added 12 points and four rebounds and has scored in double figures in four straight games.
Holloway leads the Chants on offense with 18.1 points per game and ranks third in the Big South in scoring. The Indianapolis, Ind., native is also leading the team with 6.8 rebounds per game.
Sophomore guard Kierre Greenwood ranks second on the team with 11.5 points per game and paces the team with 27 assists. Gray pours in 11.1 points per game and is third on the team with 5.0 rebounds per game. Sam McLaurin has blocked a team-high 15 shots this season and ranks second in the Big South with 1.86 rejections per game.
Charleston Southern (4-4) enters the weekend riding a two-game winning streak following its 120-43 home victory over Toccoa Falls Tuesday night. The Buccaneers also defeated Southern 89-54 on Nov. 27 for their other win during the streak. Charleston Southern, however, has yet to win a road game in three tries. The Buccaneers were defeated on the road to Georgia Tech, Richmond and Southern Illinois and lost by an average of 14.0 points per game.
Individually, senior guard Jamarco Warren leads the Buccaneers and ranks eighth in the Big South with 14.3 points per game and is shooting 44.7 percent from three-point range to pace the conference in that category. Freshman guard Sheldon Strickland is second on the team with 10.6 points per game and is shooting 42.4 percent from beyond the arc. Junior forward Kelvin Martin leads Charleston Southern with 7.9 rebounds per game.
Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern will be meeting for 58th time on the hardwood when the two schools matchup Saturday afternoon. Charleston Southern owns a 29-28 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1984-85 season. The Chants, however, have won 10 of the last 15 meetings and two straight games against the Buccaneers.
Coastal swept the season series last year and won both games by an average of 9.0 points per game. Charleston Southern also owns a 13-12 lead over Coastal in games played at Kimbel Arena. The Chants, however, have beaten the Buccaneers in six of the last seven games at Kimbel Arena.
Coastal Carolina has enjoyed a great deal of success over the years in its opening Big South Conference game. In fact, the Chanticleers are 19-6 all-time in the first game of the conference schedule and have won six of the last eight Big South openers. Last season, Coastal Carolina won 111-97 at VMI in the conference opener.
