CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team will open the 2021-22 season Tuesday, Nov. 9, as the Chanticleers host Ferrum at the HTC Center at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game is part of a doubleheader with the women's team who will open the evening of basketball at 5 p.m. ET against Agnes Scott.
 
Head coach Cliff Ellis is beginning his 48th season overall and his 15th roaming the CCU sidelines. He enters the season just two wins short of 800 NCAA Division I career wins and is presently ranked fourth among all active coaches with 876 overall career wins. He is also 13th on the overall NCAA Division I victory list, needing just 18 more wins to move into the top 10.
 
Ellis will have eight returning players on the roster led by redshirt junior Ebrima Dibba and redshirt sophomore Essam Mostafa, a 2021-22 Preseason All-Sun Belt selection.
 
Other returning players are seniors Garrick Green, Kevin Williamson, DeShawn Thomas, and Isaac Hippolyte. All four players have been in the starting lineup for the Chants during their careers. Also back are juniors Ahmard Harvey and Jalen Milner.
 
Playing in a Chanticleer uniform for the first time when the Panthers come to town will be transfers Rudi Williams, Jourdan Smith, Wilfried Lakayi, Vince Cole, and the team's lone freshman in Josh Uduje.
 
The Chanticleers are coming off an 18-8 season and finished second in the Sun Belt East Division with a 9-5 record, their best conference record since beginning Sun Belt play in 2016-17.  CCU made a run into the semifinals of the 2020-21 Sun Belt Conference Championship before falling in overtime to eventual SBC Tournament Champion Appalachian State. The Chants then moved into the CBI Tournament where they finished as the tournament runners-up to Pepperdine.
 
Ferrum is also coming off a winning season finishing with a 7-6 overall record in a pandemic-shortened season. The Panthers finished 5-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. They return their top-three leading scorers from last year in Kajuan Madden-McAfee (15.6 ppg), James Smith (13.5 ppg), and Darius Kemp (12.0 ppg).
 
CCU and Ferrum have met one previous time, a 91-47 Chanticleer victory back in 2018.
 
The game can be heard on HANK FM 105.5 and can be watched live on ESPN+. Links for both along with live stats can be found 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 www.GoCCUSports.com.