CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's basketball team will host South Alabama in two games, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 8-9 at the HTC Center. Friday's action is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, while Saturday's matinee will begin at 3 p.m. ET.
After splitting the two conference games in the opening weekend of play against Georgia State, the Chants will look for consistency in both games against the Jaguars. Defensively, the Chants only allowed a combined 139 points against the Panthers, but the offense had two entirely different games, scoring 81 in the win and only 62 in the loss, the lowest offensive output of the season.
The Chants (7-2 / 1-1 Sun Belt) continue to lead the Sun Belt in scoring at 90.7 points per game and will put that on the line against a USA team that scores 80.8 points per game, fourth in the conference.
DeVante' Jones continues to lead CCU and the Sun Belt in scoring averaging 23.3 points per game. It is not only his scoring ability that opponents are talking about, it's his defense as well. He is averaging over seven rebounds per game and leads the nation and conference in steals at 4.1 per game. With a team that averages over 90 per game, he has plenty of scoring help.
Deanthony Tipler has been forced into a starting role due to injuries and has flourished with a 16.7 points per game average.
Essam Mostafa is coming off his worse scoring performance of the season, but is averaging a double-double, scoring 14 points per game along with 10.4 rebounds per outing.
Tyrik Dixon has missed the last four games but could be back into the starting lineup this weekend. The Chants need the starting point guard and his 10.2 points per game average.
While
Ebrima Dibba is averaging only 8.3 points per game, he continues to help the team score in other ways. He is the team-leader in assists with 51 and his 5.7 assists per game average is second in the Sun Belt.
In a bit of irony, both head coaches in these games have experience at the opponent's institution. CCU head coach
Cliff Ellis was the head coach of the Jaguars from 1975-84 and won 171 games at USA. The Jags head coach Richie Riley was an assistant coach under Ellis at Coastal Carolina from 2009-11.
The Jags (7-4 / 1-1 Sun Belt) were picked to finish second in the East Division in the Sun Belt Conference coaches' preseason poll and Riley has a talented and balanced team coming to Conway. The Jags have five double-digit scorers led by Michael Flowers at 21 points per game. The other leading scorers are Tyreke Locure (14.3), John Pettway (11.0), Kayo Goncalves (10.9), and David Walker (10.8).
With the Chants victory over Georgia State in the Sun Belt Conference opener, Ellis moved into the top-10 in all-time coaching wins in NCAA D-I history. He enters the weekend with 787 total wins which moved him past Lefty Driesell into 10th place. He remains fifth among active coaches with 865 total collegiate wins.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats will also be available at
www.GoCCUsports.com.
For complete coverage of CCU men's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
