CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team will be back on the court for a pair of Sun Belt Conference games this week, as the Chanticleers will face Appalachian State in a home-and-home series this weekend. The first game of the two, will be played at Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 p.m. ET. The two teams will then travel back to Conway where they will play the second game on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 2 p.m. ET at the HTC Center.
CCU enters the week of play at 9-6 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt Conference action, while Appalachian State is 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt.
COASTAL vs. APPALACHIAN STATE HISTORY
The two teams have met 10 times on the hardcourt with Appalachian State holding a 7-3 lead in the all-time series. The Mountaineers have won the last two times the teams have met with both of those games coming in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
In 2020, CCU traveled to Boone to face App State in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Mountaineers won a close 70-65 contest in the final seconds. Last season, the two teams met in the semifinals of the SBC Championship in Pensacola, Fla., with App State again winning a close game, this time 64-61 in overtime on the Mountaineers way to winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship.
The Chanticleers have won only one time in Boone, an 84-77 victory during the 2019-20 regular season. The series is even at 2-2 in Conway, while the Mountaineers hold a 4-1 lead on their home court.
ABOUT COASTAL
The Chanticleers continue to search for their first road win of the season. CCU is 0-3 on the road and coming off a tough 69-59 loss at Troy last week. The Chanticleers game scheduled for last Saturday at South Alabama was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Jaguars program.
The Chants are second in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring, averaging 77.1 points per game, and is sixth in the conference in defensive scoring allowing 64.7 points per game. CCU's defense leads the conference in defensive field goal percentage, holding its opponents to just a 37.4 shooting percentage. The opponents are also only managing to hit 29.9 percent of their three-point attempts.
Essam Mostafa continues to lead a trio of Chants in double-digit scoring with an average of 15.9 points per game.
Vince Cole (13.5) and
Rudi Williams (13.4) are the other scoring leaders in double figures.
Josh Uduje has moved into the starting lineup for the past four games and has averaged 11 points per game during those contests.
Ebrima Dibba continues to be one of the top assist leaders in not only the Sun Belt but across the nation as well. He comes into this week's action averaging a team and conference-leading 6.5 assists per game. He is also seventh nationally in assists per game.
ABOUT APPALACHIAN STATE
The Mountaineers return four starters and 12 returners from last season's Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship team. In the Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches' poll, they were picked to finish fourth with 109 total points and also picked up two first-place votes.
Adrian Delph is the lone double-digit scorer for the Mountaineers, averaging 16.0 points per game. Michael Almonacy (9.5), Donovan Gregory (9.4), and Justin Forrest (8.6) round out App State's top four season-leading scorers.
Defense is where the Mountaineers have been making their living this season, as their opponents are only averaging 63.1 points per game and are only shooting 41.7 percent from the field. App State out rebounds its opponents by two rebounds per game and has forced 231 turnovers with 98 steals and 47 blocked shots.
Both games 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.
