Men's Basketball Opens 2015-16 Season Friday
11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CONWAY - The 41th edition of Coastal Carolina men's basketball officially get underway Friday when the Chanticleers face Nevada at the Hawai'i University-hosted Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic. The Chanticleers will conclude the tournament Sunday against the Rainbow Warriors. Both games are scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. HT) and will be carried live on WSEA Sports Radio 100.3 "The Team" with Aaron Marks on the call.
Game Information
Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic
Date / Time vs. Nevada: Fri., Nov. 13, 2015 / 4:30 p.m.
Date / Time vs. Hawai'i: Sun., Nov. 15, 2015 / 4:30 p.m.
Site: Honolulu, Hawai'i / Stan Sheriff Center (10,300)
Audio Broadcast: Chanticleer Sports Network
Radio: WSEA Sports Radio 100.3 "The Team"
Online Audio Link: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/coastal/
Talent: Aaron Marks (play-by-play)
Online Video Broadcast: BigWest.tv
Live Stats: HawaiiAthletics.com
Twitter Updates: @GoCCUSports
Coastal vs. Rainbow Classic Field
• Of the other three teams in the Rainbow Classic field -- Hawai'i, Nevada and Montana State -- Coastal has only faced Hawai'i in a prior season.
• The Chanticleers have fallen twice to the Rainbow Warriors on their home floor. The team first met on Dec. 19, 1992 in the Hawai'i Pre-Holiday Tournament with Chanticleers falling 66-62. Coastal made a return trip to Hawai'i on Nov. 26, 2004 and suffered a 72-65 setback.
Last Time Out
• Coastal Carolina fell 86-72 to No. 1 seed and eventual national runner-up Wisconsin in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
• Despite the loss, Coastal shot 48.3 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three.
• Elijah Wilson led all returners with 20 points on 7-of-11 from the floor.
Up Next
• Coastal Carolina plays host Hawai'i at 4:30 p.m. (HT) on Sunday before returning to the mainland. The Chanticleers open their home schedule on Wed., Nov. 18 hosting Grace Bible at 7 p.m. inside the HTC Center.
Coastal Carolina In Season Openers
• Coastal Carolina is 25-16 all-time in season openers.
• Coastal defeated Trinity Baptist 79-36 inside the HTC Center to open the 2014-15 season.
• Coastal Carolina is 4-11 all-time when opening the season on the road, an 0-1 mark under head coach Cliff Ellis.
Wilson 78 Away From 1,000
• Junior Elijah Wilson is only 78 points shy of becoming just the 20th member of Coastal Carolina's 1,000 point club.
• Wilson has scored 922 points in his 68 career games for a 13.6 points per game average.
• At his current pace (13.6 ppg), Wilson will eclipse the 1,000 career points plateau on Nov. 28 at Campbell.
• Wilson played with Coastal's most recent 1,000-point scorer in 2015 graduate Warren Gillis. Wilson shared the court with Gillis (1,352 points) during both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
• Wilson will need to score 430 more points to reach the CCU all-time top-10 career scoring list.
• At his current pace of 461 points per season, Wilson would finish his career with more than 1,800 points.
Wilson and Diagne Named Preseason All-Big South
• Elijah Wilson was named to the Big South Conference's preseason first team, while Badou Diagne was named to the second team.
• Wilson, an all-freshman team and honorable mention honoree in 2013-14, is the reigning Big South Tournament MVP after averaging 20.3 points per game en route to leading Coastal to the title. Last season, Wilson ranked second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 points per game, while leading the Chanticleers with 66 made 3-pointers. He enters his junior campaign 88 points shy of becoming the 20th Chanticleer to score 1,000 career points
• Diagne, a senior forward, enters his final season with 738 career points and 581 rebounds. He averaged career highs in 2014-15 with 9.5 points and 7.3 boards per game. In addition, he was a threat from 3-point range, making 29 of 67 attempts (43.3 percent). Diagne started in each of Coastal's 34 game last season and made 114-of-233 shot attempts for a 48.9 shooting percentage.
Chanticleers Tabbed Second In Big South Preseason Poll
• After winning back-to-back VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Basketball Championships and turning in a combined 45-wins over the past two seasons, Coastal Carolina men's basketball has been selected second in the annual Big South Conference preseason poll.
• The Chanticleers garnered 301 total points and 10 of 31 first-place votes, but were edged out by High Point (320 total points and 17 first-place votes) as the league favorite by 19 points. Winthrop received three first-place votes and 281 total points to finish third in the poll followed by Radford (188 total points) and Gardner-Webb (187 total points). Longwood totaled 191 total points to finish sixth followed by UNC Asheville (164 total points), Charleston Southern (140 total points and one first-place vote), Presbyterian College (132 total points), Campbell (119 total points) and Liberty (42 total points) rounded out the poll.
GoCCUSports.com
• Coastal Carolina's official athletic web site can be found at www.GoCCUSports.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches, video and audio broadcasts, is part of the CBS College Sports network. CBS College Sports currently hosts sites for more than 100 NCAA Division I universities.
Just The Two of Us ...
• Head coach Cliff Ellis became just the second coach in NCAA Division I history to win 100 or more games at four different institutions during the 2012-13 season. Coach Ellis has won 100 or more games at South Alabama (171), Clemson (177), Auburn (186) and Coastal Carolina (149). He joined Lefty Driesell who won 100 or more games at Davidson (176), Maryland (348), James Madison (159) and Georgia State (103).
... But Now He's The Only One
• Ellis separated himself from Driesell with a 68-56 victory over UNC Asheville on Feb. 3, 2015. The victory marked Ellis' 150th as a Chanticleer and made him the only coach in NCAA Division I history to win 150-plus games at four different universities.
Back-to-Back 20 Win Seasons
• With its 81-57 win over Campbell on Feb. 19, 2015, Coastal Carolina secured a 20-win season for the second time in as many years. The 20-win season marked the 12th in program history and the fourth under the direction of head coach Cliff Ellis. Prior to Ellis' arrival nine seasons ago, Coastal had managed only eight 20-win seasons in 32 years of hoops action.
Shaw To Make Chanticleer Debut
• Redshirt sophomore Jaylen Shaw will officially make his Chanticleer debut during the Rainbow Classic. Shaw, who was recruited heavily by Coastal out of Hartsville HS, sat out the 2014-15 season after transferring from South Carolina.
• At South Carolina, Shaw appeared in 28 games and averaged 3.0 points during his true freshman campaign.
HTC Center - Home Sweet Home
• The 2015-16 campaign marks the fourth for the Coastal Carolina basketball at HTC Center.
• Since the building opened on Nov. 9, 2012, Coastal has rolled to a 42-11 (.792) overall record.
• Coastal's longest winning streak at the facility spanned 14 games -- including a 3-0 record in the 2014 Big South Tournament. Coastal started the streak on Feb. 8, 2014 before it ended on Jan. 17, 2015.
• The Chanticleers' current home win streak sits at 7-0, including a perfect 3-0 record on their way to the 2015 Big South Tournament crown.
Chanticleers Make Historic Foreign Tour To Cuba
• The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team made history during the summer, becoming the first NCAA Division I basketball team to take a foreign tour to Cuba. NCAA rules allow for a foreign tour by an intercollegiate team once every four academic years. The Chanticleers, led by veteran head coach Cliff Ellis, were the first collegiate team to play basketball on the Caribbean island, facing the Cuban National Team in three games Aug. 8 to 10. Along with playing basketball on the island, the team and travel party experienced the culture and saw some of the sights of the nation, which has been essentially off limits to Americans since the United States and Cuban governments severed relations in January 1961.
• The Chanticleers lost all three exhibition games against the Cuban National Team by scores of 76-68, 96-72 and 93-86.
• The games did produce encouraging signs of things to come as guards Jaylen Shaw and Shivaughn Wiggins each averaged 16.5 points per game.
