title image via Juan Richardson
Courtesy of North Carolina Central Athletics
DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men’s basketball team will take its talents on the road to the neighboring state of Virginia. The first stop for the Eagles will be the University of Virginia on Tuesday at 7 p.m. followed by a game at Radford University on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. NCCU played both teams for the first time last season.
Full Game Notes – Game 10 (Game notes for Radford will be available on Thursday)
2023-24 Regular Season
North Carolina Central (4-5, 0-0 MEAC)
at
Virginia (7-1, 1-0 ACC)
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 – 7:00 p.m.
John Paul Jones Arena – Charlottesville, Va.
Watch: ACC NetworkX
Follow: Live Stats
Tickets: UVA Tickets
at
Radford (6-4, 0-0 Big South)
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023 – 4:30 p.m.
Dedmon Center – Radford, Va.
Watch: ESPN+
Follow: Live Stats
Tickets: Radford Tickets
NC CENTRAL BENCH
NCCU men’s hoops suffered its first home loss of the season in a close battle with USC Upstate. The Eagles came back from a 15-point deficit, eventually leading in the final minutes. Upstate scored a go ahead bucket with 1.8 seconds left to take back the lead and won the contest 85-82 on Dec. 2.
Sophomore Perry Smith Jr. started his first game at NC Central and scored a game and career-high of 17 points against the Spartans. Smith also grabbed five rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Josh Smith finished with 16 points last Saturday.
The starters for the Eagles’ last game were Smith, Po’Boigh King, Fred Cleveland Jr., Ja’Darius Harris and Cobey Harraway. King is coming off a MEAC Defensive Player of the Week award and added 16 points for NC Central on Saturday.
In last season’s road game at Virginia, junior Devin Gordon played 19 minutes and scored five points and blocked three shots. Cleveland started last year’s game at Radford scoring six points and passing for six assists in 22 minutes.
VIRGINIA BENCH
Virginia already has one Atlantic Coast Conference game under its belt, defeating Syracuse 84-62 last Saturday. The leading scorer for the Cavaliers’ last outing was Isaac McKneely with 22 points. He also grabbed five rebounds.
McKneely, Reece Beekman, Andrew Rohde, Jacob Groves and Ryan Dunn were the starters for UVA on Dec. 2. This group combined for 57 of the 84 points scored by Virginia.
UVA is second in the nation in defense, allowing only 54 points per game. The Cavaliers were also ranked 24th in the AP poll the week of Thanksgiving but has since dropped out and are still receiving votes.
RADFORD BENCH
Radford University defeated Elon 82-72 this past Sunday at home. Bryan Antoine scored 30 points against the Phoenix. Justin Archer also had a double-double performance with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Antoine, Archer, Chandler Turner, Kenyon Giles and DaQuan Smith started the last game for the Highlanders, combining for 67 of 82 points scored. The team shot over 50 percent from the field and hit seven threes against Elon.
Radford is ranked in the top-50 in the nation for field goal percentage defense (39.4 percent) and three-point percentage defense (27.7 percent). The Highlanders are also top-20 in three-point percentage ranking 18th at 40 percent.
