CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team will not get too much time off as they are set to host Mercer University Monday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. ET at the HTC Center.
The game represents the third game in five days for the Chanticleers who are coming off two solid victories in wins over South Carolina (80-56) and a Saturday win over Winthrop 74-64. It's also the third game of a six-game homestand, with CCU in the midst of playing nine of 10 games at home.
COASTAL vs MERCER HISTORY
This will be the fourth meeting between the two programs with the Chants holding a 2-1 lead in the series, with both teams winning the games played on their home court.
The first game of the series was back in 1997 a CCU win at home 68-63. The following year the game moved to Macon, Ga., with the Bears pulling out a close 77-73 win. 18 years passed before they met again and it took the CIT Tournament to bring the teams together in 2016. With the game being played at the HTC Center, the Chants pulled out a 65-57 win.
CCU enters the action with a 4-2 record while the Bears are 5-4.
ABOUT COASTAL
Transfer
Rudi Williams has been phenomenal shooting the ball in the Chanticleers two wins this week. He has scored 49 combined points in wins over South Carolina and Winthrop, including a 30-point explosion against the Eagles. Along the way in the two games he hit 17 of his 23 field goal attempts for 74 percent. He was even better than that from outside the three-point line where he was a perfect five-for-five, and he hit 10 of his 14 free throws.
With those performances he has now taken over as the team's leading scorer with a 17.2 points per game average.
Even after a sub-par game, sophomore
Essam Mostafa continues to average a double-double on the season. He averages 16.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
Vince Cole has also stepped into a scoring role for the Chants. He averages 11.2 points per game, becoming the third double-digit scorer for CCU.
CCU fans are used to seeing the strong all-around game from junior
Ebrima Dibba, and they saw that against Winthrop with his 15 points, and game-highs in assists (5) and steals (3). On the season he averages 8.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and over five assists per game.
ABOUT MERCER
Mercer enters the game on a three-game winning streak, with their last outing a strong 83-77 win over Sun Belt-member Georgia State. The other two wins were over Milligan College (88-49) and at Kennesaw State (73-71).
The Bears have three players scoring 59 percent of their points in Neftali Alvares (14.9), Felipe Haase (14.4), and Jalen Johnson (13.8).
Mercer averages 73.2 points per game and is shooting 46 percent from the field and is knocking down over 34 percent of their three-point attempts and 73 percent at the free throw line.
Defensively, the Bears are averaging over nine steals per game and the opposition is shooting 45 percent from the field.
The game can be heard on WRNN 99.5 Hot Talk and 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.
