CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team will be back home this week to begin its final homestand of the season. The four-game homestand will begin on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. ET, with CCU hosting Marshall at the HTC Center. The Chants will then turn around and host James Madison on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. ET.
Coastal, looking to move up in the conference standings, enters this week's action with a 10-14 overall record and is tied for 11th in the Sun Belt Conference with a 4-8 conference ledger.
Both Marshall and James Madison are in their first season as members of the Sun Belt Conference, and both have made an impact in the men's basketball conference standings.
Marshall enters Thursday night's game 19-6 overall and tied for third in the Sun Belt Conference with an 8-4 record, while James Madison enters the week with a 17-8 record and is tied with Marshall for third in the Sun Belt Conference with an identical 8-4 record.
The two teams are also the top-scoring teams in the conference with JMU's 81.9 points per game leading the Sun Belt and Marshall's 81.5 points per game a close second.
LAST TIME OUT
CCU ended its latest road trip with a 73-57 loss at Arkansas State. The Chants' 15 turnovers turned out to be a major problem in the loss, as those turnovers led to 19 Red Wolves points.
Josh Uduje came off the bench to lead the Chants with 13 points, while
Essam Mostafa scored 11 points in the loss.
HISTORY BETWEEN COASTAL AND MARSHALL
Thursday's action will be only the second time that the two teams have faced each other with the Thundering Herd winning the only game between the two, which occurred earlier this season.
Marshall and Coastal met for the first time earlier this season on Jan. 7 in Huntington, W.Va. The home team, led by the Sun Belt's leading scorer, Taevion Kinsey, scored an 81-66 win over CCU with Kinsey scoring a game-high 27 points for Marshall. The Thundering Herd's 7'1" center Micah Handlogten had 19 points and 19 rebounds in the victory.
CCU had four scorers in double digits, led by
Antonio Daye's 15 points.
Linton Brown and
Jomaru Brown came off the bench to score 11 and 10 points respectively, in leading CCU's bench to a 23-5 scoring advantage. Mostafa finished the game with 10 points.
HISTORY BETWEEN COASTAL AND JAMES MADISON
CCU and JMU have met just twice on the hardcourt with the Dukes winning both times. The last time they met was just two weeks ago on Jan. 26 in Harrisonburg, Va.
JMU jumped out to a 45-27 lead in the first half and led 47-37 at halftime. CCU made a 21-3 run over the final nine minutes of the first half and into the second half to tie the game at 55. From that point on, there were six ties, but CCU could never take the lead, with the difference coming at the free throw line where JMU attempted 33 free throws and the Chants only attempted six.
Daye scored a career and game-high 23 points, while
Linton Brown and
Kylan Blackmon came off the bench to score 19 and 16 points each.
ABOUT COASTAL
After missing several games, CCU's scoring leader
Jomaru Brown is back on the court, and his 13.9 points per game average still leads the team. Uduje, who has averaged 15.5 points per game over the last 10 games, has improved his season scoring average to 12.7 points per game. Mostafa is averaging 12.4 points per game to go along with his team-leading 9.8 rebounds per game, while Daye is averaging 10.9 points per game.
ABOUT MARSHALL
Marshall enters the game winners of seven of its last nine outings, including a win over Southern Miss, who sits atop the conference standings.
The Thundering Herd features the conference's leading scorer in Kinsey, who is scoring at a 21.4 points per game clip. Marshall may also have the league's top freshmen in 7'1" center Handlogten. He is tied for second in the league in double-doubles with eight. He averages 8.3 points per game to go along with his 10.5 rebounds per game average.
Andrew Taylor is scoring at an 18.8 points per game clip, while Kamdyn Curfman is averaging 12.0 points per game.
ABOUT JAMES MADISON
The Dukes enter the week on a four-game winning streak and winners of six of their last seven games, with three of those wins coming on the road.
With JMU leading the conference in scoring, the Dukes feature a balanced attack led by Vado Morse and Terrence Edwards, who both average 12.5 points per game. Takal Molson averages 10.8 points per game, followed by Mezie Offurum's 10.4 points per game.
The games can be heard on WRNN Hot Talk 99.5 FM 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.
