Men's Basketball

Road-Heavy Schedule To Highlight Week 6 Of MEAC Basketball

WEEK 6 RELEASE 

• Seventeen games are on the docket this week as only two games will be played on the home courts of MEAC teams.

• Morgan State had an impressive week with wins over Binghamton and Towson. The Bears moved to within a game of .500 as a result. Howard split its past two games with Appalachian State and American en route to a 6-3 overall mark. Bethune-Cookman’s west coast swing was a heartbreaker as the Wildcats dropped both games at San Jose State and Cal Poly in the closing seconds.

• Howard University sophomore guard RJ Cole was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year. Last year’s MEAC Freshman of the Year, Cole ranked seventh nationally and led the MEAC with 23.7 points per game and 6.1 assists in his first collegiate season.

• Bethune-Cookman was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the MEAC this season. BCU captured a share of the MEAC Championship last season under then first-year head coach Ryan Ridder. The Wildcats finished 12-4 in MEAC play and 18-14 overall. They return nine players and four starters from last year’s squad.

• There was little change in the offseason as only two teams feature new head coaches. Delaware State named Eric Skeeters, a Coppin State alum, from Maryland Baltimore County as its head coach while Clifford Reed takes over as the interim at Maryland Eastern Shore. Reed formerly served as Bethune-Cookman’s head coach from 2001-11.

• Don Corbett, the legendary North Carolina A&T State men’s basketball coach who led the Aggies to seven Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) tournament championships over 14 seasons, died at the age of 75 from cancer in October. The mark is still tied with the University of Kentucky for the longest such streak in NCAA Division I history (1944-50).

• Four of the MEAC’s top 10 scorers from 2017-18 are back in RJ Cole (Howard/23.7 ppg), Charles Williams (Howard/20.4), Isaiah Bailey (BCU/16.1) and Raasean Davis (NCCU/15.1)

• Bethune-Cookman and Savannah State are the reigning MEAC regular season co-champions while North Carolina Central has won back-to-back tournament championships.

• The 2019 MEAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 11-16 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.