TV: SEC Network, 8 pm ET: Undefeated Tennessee State Heads to Vanderbilt on Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Off to its first 6-0 start since moving to Division I prior to the 1977-78 season, the Tennessee State men’s basketball team heads across town to battle Southeastern Conference opponent Vanderbilt on Tuesday night. TSU is looking for its first-ever win over Vanderbilt and the program’s second victory over an SEC opponent.

NATIONAL HEADLINES: TSU is receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, released on Monday, Nov. 28. The Tigers also received a vote in the Nov. 21 AP Top 25.

RV/NR - TENNESSEE STATE (6-0)
at VANDERBILT (3-3)Tuesday, Nov. 29  |  7 p.m. CT
Memorial Gymnasium  |  Nashville, Tenn.

VIDEO: SEC Network Plus – Kevin Ingram and Shan Foster on the Call
TSU RADIO: 102.1 FM The Light – Greg Pogue (PxP) and Albert Dawson (Analysis) on the Call
LIVE STATS: VUCommodores.com
GAME NOTES: TENNESSEE STATE  | VANDERBILT
SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter - @TSU_Tigers |  Instagram - @TSUTigers  |  #BigBlueRising

LAST TIME OUT: Six players scored in double figures led by 18 points for Delano Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) in a 96-64 win over Reinhardt in TSU’s home opener on Nov. 26. Tahjere McCall (Philadelphia, Pa.) registered his second career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, while Jordan Reed (Philadelphia, Pa.) went over 1,000 career points at the Division I level.

ABOUT VANDERBILT: The Commodores are 3-3 in the first year of the Bryce Drew era with early season victories over Belmont, Norfolk State and Santa Clara. Selected sixth in the SEC Preseason Media Poll, Vanderbilt is led by Preseason All-SEC selection Luke Kornet and his 14.3 points per game to go with Matthew Fisher-Davis’ 14.2 points per game. Vanderbilt earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Tennessee State has gone 0-8 versus Vanderbilt in the all-time series, which began on Dec. 8, 1973. The Commodores earned a 78-46 victory over TSU in the last meeting on Nov. 23, 2014 in Head Coach Dana Ford’s first season. Darreon Reddick (Belleville, Ill.), who scored seven points in 37 minutes of action in the 2014 meeting, is the only player on TSU’s current roster who appeared in the game.

VERSUS THE SEC: TSU’s all-time record versus teams currently in the SEC is 1-35. The record includes a loss to South Carolina when the Gamecocks played in the Metro Conference and a loss to Missouri as a member of the Big 12. TSU’s lone win over an SEC opponent was on Nov. 20, 2011 in a 64-63 victory at South Carolina.

UP NEXT: TSU stays in Nashville for another road game at Lipscomb on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m.

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY TIGERS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

ESPN3, 7 pm: UNCG Men's Basketball Hosts Crosstown Rival North Carolina A&T for the Battle of the Boro Tuesday

GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- The UNCG men’s basketball team continues its six-game home stretch Tuesday night as the Spartans host crosstown rival North Carolina A&T for the Battle of the Boro at the Greensboro Coliseum. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3 and the ESPN App with Scott Pryzwansky and Darryl Kosciak on the call. Additionally, Parker Southern will produce and audio broadcast on TuneIn and online at www.uncgspartans.com/radio.

The first 1,000 UNCG students will receive a FREE Greensboro t-shirt and local group Citizen Shade will perform at halftime.



WATCH ESPN3

TUNEIN RADIO

LIVE STATS

GAME NOTES

UNCG enters Tuesday’s game with a 4-2 overall record and has won three straight games for the first time in non-conference play since 2014-15. The Spartans’ 4-2 record through the first six games of the season is their best start since the 2004-05 campaign when that team opened with a 4-2 record on its way to a 7-2 record through the first nine games. The 2004-05 team finished the year with an 18-12 record, the fifth most wins in program history at the NCAA Division I level. The Spartans’ best finish as an NCAA Division I program came in the 1994-95 season when they opened with a 12-2 record on their way to a program-best 23-6 mark.

UNCG is averaging 66.0 points per game while holding opponents to a league-low 58.0 points per game. The Spartans are shooting 42.8 percent (152-of-355) from the field and 35 percent (55-of-157) from distance through six games. UNCG is also out-rebounding opponents by a 34.5-27.7 margin, including 14.3 offensive rebounds per game.

Six different Spartans are averaging at least 7.0 points per game this season with three Spartans in double figures. Senior guard Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) leads the team and ranks 15th in the Southern Conference in scoring at 12.3 points per game. Baldwin ranks fourth on the team on the glass at 4.5 rebounds per game while leading the team with 23 assists and 15 steals. In fact, his 15 steals leads the entire SoCon at 2.5 thefts per game. Sophomore guard Francis Alonso (Malaga, Spain/Cushing Academy) is second on the team in scoring at 11.0 points per game. Alonso has hit 38.5 percent (15-of-39) from 3-point land this year and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the free throw line.

Junior forward Marvin Smith (Richmond, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) rounds out the Spartans in double figures at 10.5 points per game. Smith leads the team on the glass at 5.8 rebounds per game, including a team-high 17 offensive rebounds. He is also shooting 32.4 percent (12-of-37) from distance. Senior center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) is fourth on the team in scoring at 7.5 points per game while adding 5.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Demetrius Troy (Raleigh, N.C./Word of God) adds 7.4 points per game while junior forward Jordy Kuiper (Groningen, Netherlands/Canaries Basketball Academy) chips in 7.3 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Tuesday’s game marks the 18th meeting all-time between UNCG and N.C. A&T. Additionally, it is the 15th time the two teams have played at the Greensboro Coliseum, but just the third time since it became the home court of the Spartans. UNCG trails the all-time series by an 11-6 margin to the Aggies. N.C. A&T opened the series by winning the first five meetings from 1990-94 before UNCG posted wins in six out eight meetings from 1995-2002. N.C. A&T has won the last four meetings from 2010-15, including a 77-68 victory at the Corbett Center last year. The Aggies jumped out to a 20-point first half lead (44-24) and held off the Spartans’ second half charge. UNCG connected on just 38.1 percent (24-of-63) from the field while N.C. A&T connected on 55.3 percent (21-of-38) from the field. The Aggies also went to the free throw line 38 times in that victory. Alonso scored a game-high 25 points in the loss, courtesy of seven 3-pointers while White added 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Bruce Beckford led the Aggies with 21 points while Sam Hunt chipped in 20 points on the strength of 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point land.

North Carolina A&T enters Tuesday’s game with a 1-4 overall record and has dropped its last four games. The Aggies opened the season with a 67-50 win over Greensboro College before dropping games to East Carolina, Grambling, Western Kentucky and Jacksonville. N.C. A&T is averaging 55.6 points per game while allowing 62.6 points per game ... The Aggies are shooting 42.3 percent (101-of-239) from the field and 27.7 percent (23-of-83) from distance.

Sam Hunt leads the Aggies in scoring at 13.0 points per game. Hunt has hit a team-high nine 3-pointers this year, shooting at a 26.5 percent clip. Davaris McGowens is second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game. McGowens leads the team on the glass with 7.2 rebounds per game. He has gone to the free throw line a team-high 28 times, hitting at 67.9 percent.

Eliel Gonzalez is third on the team in scoring at 8.3 points per game .Gonzalez leads the team with 14 turnovers. James Whitaker chips in 7.5 points per game while Donte Watson adds 7.0 points per game.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA GREENSBORO ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

ESPN3, 7 pm: Hampton Pirates hit the road to face East Carolina

GREENVILLE, North Carolina – The Hampton University men's basketball team will end a string of five straight games away from home on Tuesday, taking on the Pirates of East Carolina at 7 p.m. in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Live Video: ESPN3.
Radio: WHOV 88.1 FM.

The Series: The Pirates are 0-1 against East Carolina, with the only meeting between the two teams coming in the 2003-04 season. East Carolina won that game 77-53 in Greenville, N.C.

Pirates Against the AAC: The Pirates are 3-4 against schools currently in the American Athletic Conference, going 2-0 against Central Florida, 0-1 against Connecticut, 0-1 against East Carolina, 0-1 against South Florida, 0-1 against SMU, and 1-0 against Tulsa. Hampton has never faced Cincinnati, Houston. Memphis, Temple, or Tulane.

Pirates on the Road: In head coach Edward Joyner Jr.'s first seven-plus seasons at the helm, the Pirates are 43-62 on the road, including an 8-7 mark last season. Hampton has won at least eight road games in three of its first seven seasons under Joyner – and in all three of those seasons, the Pirates made the postseason (2011 and 2016 NCAA, 2015 CBI). Hampton's best road mark came in 2010-11, when the Pirates were 8-5 in true road games.

Scouting the Pirates: East Carolina (5-2), in its seventh season under head coach Jeff Lebo, is coming off a 2015-16 season in which it went 12-20 and finished tied for ninth in the American Athletic Conference with a mark of 4-14. The Pirates return two starters and six letterwinners this season, and senior guard Caleb White leads three Pirates in double figures with 16.0 points per game. Sophomore swing man Kentrell Barkley leads the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg), and his 13.1 points per game are third on the team.

Pirates Picked to Finish Third: Despite winning back-to-back MEAC titles, the Pirates were picked to finish third in the conference this season in a poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Hampton, which returns just one starter from last season, picked up two first-place votes and racked up 250 points in the poll. Howard was tabbed the preseason favorite, while South Carolina State – which fell to the Pirates in last season's MEAC Tournament championship game – was picked to finish second.

Cooks the Only One: Lawrence Cooks is the lone returning starter for the Pirates, and he comes into 2016-17 as the team's top returner in scoring (7.8 ppg), rebounding (3.7 rpg), assists (47), and steals (19). He is also the only player on this year's team that isn't a freshman, sophomore, or junior – though he does have two MEAC championship rings and NCAA Tournament appearances to his credit. Cooks dropped a career-high 22 points at Winthrop last season, a campaign in which he scored in double figures 11 times. Cooks had 10 points in Hampton's season opener against Rider.

Wilson-Fisher Looking for a Bigger Role: Charles Wilson-Fisher was a key role player in the Pirates' run through the MEAC Tournament in 2015, and he was a key reserve down low for the Pirates last season. 2016-17 could figure to be a breakout season for the Los Angeles native with the graduation of Jervon Pressley, and Wilson-Fisher will be looking to improve on his scoring and rebounding averages (2.7 and 2.5, respectively) this season. He tied his career high in points with 10 last season against Northern Arizona, and this past Friday against Rider, he set new career highs in rebounds (15) and blocks (two).

Strong Start for Marrow: Six games into his collegiate career, freshman Jermaine Marrow leads the Pirates in scoring, averaging 13.7 points per game. He opened his career with 13 points against Rider, before dropping 11 points on Nov. 17 in an overtime win over Chowan and then scoring 15 points at Kansas State and dropping 16 at Richmond. He dropped a season-high 25 points this past Saturday against Stony Brook, and Marrow has scored in double figures in five of his first six games. The Heritage High graduate from nearby Newport News, Va. was 4A East State Player of the Year last season, proving to be one of Virginia's best scorers – averaging over 25 points a game in 2015-16.

Astroth Making an Impact: AJ Astroth was key in Hampton's win over Chowan on Nov. 17 – not just because he poured in a season-high 18 points and nine rebounds in just his second game with the program, but because it was his layup in the closing moments that gave the Pirates the lead. Astroth is second on the team in scoring, averaging 9.3 points per game.

For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5757, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

HAMPTON UNIVERSITY PIRATES SPORTS INFORMATION

Rashad Andrews fighting for spot in Southern's starting lineup

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Tre’lun Banks always knew Rashad Andrews had it in him to be a starter.

Long before Andrews got his chance to start for the Southern men’s basketball team for a few games in the middle of last season, Banks, the Jaguars starting point guard, could tell he had what it takes to join the starting ranks.

So when Southern went on an eight game winning streak beginning the first game Andrews cracked the starting lineup, Banks knew the exact reason.

“We called it before it happened,” Banks said. “We weren’t surprised. Rashad hasn’t started every game or played a lot of starting minutes, but he’s been here just as long as a starter and he knows just as much as a starter. … When we put him in the starting lineup, we don’t lose anything. We add to it.”

Andrews started in 14 games last season before being put back on the bench toward the end of conference play. The Jaguars went 11-3 during that stretch.

Even this year, Andrews came off the bench for the first three games of the season — all Southern losses.

CONTINUE READING

TV: Fox Sports 2, 6:30 pm: St. John’s vs. Delaware State: how to watch, listen, keys to the game

QUEENS, New York -- Home cooking against an opponent that should be beatable will feel good for a St. John’s team that has lost four straight games between the Gavitt Games matchup and the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Red Storm need to take the lessons from the Bahamas tournament and refine their attack, gain some confidence, and put a W on the board after returning with a 2-4 record.

But for the developing team, it’s still early; the freshmen will learn, the sophomores will adjust and the team’s ceiling is still there.



Game Details
Who: St. John’s Red Storm (2-4) vs Delaware State Hornets (1-5)
Where: Carnesecca Arena
When: Tuesday, November 29, 6:30 PM
How to follow: On TV: FS2 (Announcers will be Rich Ackerman and Ron Thompson) and online on FoxSports Go. On radio, 970 AM WNYM (Announcers are John Minko and Brandon Tierney).
Twitter: Follow @rumbleSBN and @StJohnsBBall for updates.

Scouting Delaware State
The Delaware State Hornets play in the MEAC like season-opening opponent Bethune-Cookman. The Hornets have also gotten blown out by Rice, Maryland-Baltimore County and Montana State in their 1-5 season, despite returning a number of starters from last year. (The one win was against non-Division I Clark’s Summit.)

Their interior defense is poor, despite some size on the inside in sophomore starters Demola Onifade and DeVaughn Mallory. The defense seems to play a bit of zone, which can be an equalizer. In a related note, the Hornets lost to Louisiana-Lafayette on the road by one point and competed with Texas Southern - and both of those teams lean on inside scoring. The teams that blew Delaware State out shot from the perimeter to do so.

CONTINUE READING

North Carolina Central Men's Basketball Shocks Mizzou 62-52

The NCCU Eagles defense clamped down on Missouri, holding Tigers to 25 percent shooting for the game. 

COLUMBIA, Missouri — North Carolina Central University came to Columbia "to win a basketball game," said head coach LeVelle Moton.

And it did.

In fact, the Eagles never trailed in the 62-52 win, which brought Missouri's brief winning streak to a screeching halt. The Tigers (3-3) were aiming for their third consecutive win, a feat accomplished just once in Kim Anderson's tenure as head coach. Instead came an uninspired effort from a team with a sour history against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference competition. Missouri fans might remember the team's shocking loss to 15th-seeded Norfolk State in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

"There's really no celebrating," Moton said.

NCCU (4-2) players and coaches were emotional after the school's chancellor, Dr. Debra Saunders-White, died from cancer just two days ago.

"She was the best chancellor on the planet and the best person on the planet," Moton said. "She was probably our biggest cheerleader."

CONTINUE READING 

Lafayette Leopards Fall Short in Final Seconds Against Hampton Lady Pirates

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – Despite putting together a stellar second half performance, the Lafayette women’s basketball team was unable to hold onto a late lead and ultimately fell 58-55 in the closing seconds of a Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge game to Hampton on Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center.

The Leopards (1-6) dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lady Pirates 42-31. Olivia Gumbs made her mark, corralling a game-high 10 boards to go along with 10 points for her first collegiate career double-double. The Maroon and White shot the ball at a 38 percent clip, compared to Hamptons’ 31 percent mark. Maia Hood led the Leopards in scoring with 12.

In the opening minutes of the game, Hood knocked down a three from the right corner to knot the game up at five apiece. The Lady Pirates (3-4) took a timeout and responded with an 8-2 run to close out the opening quarter with a 13-7 advantage.

That run would continue into the second quarter, as Hampton came back onto the court and put up four unanswered points before Lafayette scored on a free throw by Gumbs. The Lady Pirates did most of their damage inside the paint early and utilized their speed to get to the rim and score in transition.

Midway through the second quarter, Hampton had a 21-10 lead, with 14 of those points coming from down low. Hampton’s leading scorer, Malia Tate-Defreitas, found success from all areas of the floor, connecting on four of her first seven shots for 11 first half points. The senior closed out her day with a game-high 22 points.

The Leopards struggled to get into many offensive sets due to a bevy of turnovers and the Lady Pirates took advantage of that by scoring 25 of their 58 points off of turnovers.

At the half, the Lady Pirates held the edge in scoring, 28-20.

Lafayette began to gain some momentum though in the latter half of the third quarter. Hood poured in four and following a Ptasinski midrange jumper, the deficit was trimmed to five. The Maroon and White continued to get quality looks at the basket and cut the Hampton lead to one after Stipa made a pair of foul shots in the final minute of the quarter.

To open up the fourth, a Hood jumper recaptured the lead for the Leopards, 36-35. Lafayette then put in back-to-back baskets to cap off an 18-5 run. From that point forward, it turned into a grind-it-out game as both the Leopards and the Lady Pirates went back and forth. It was the most successful quarter of the night for the Leopards, who shot 53 percent in the fourth.

Hampton deployed a full-court pressure and forced three turnovers, which resulted in six points to trim the Leopards’ lead to one. Lafayette eventually figured out how to break the press though and made two easy layups on two consecutive possessions. The Leopards held a three-point advantage before Tate-Defreitas lined up a three from far beyond the arc and buried it to even the score up at 50-50 with just over two minutes to play.

Hampton grabbed the lead on the ensuing possession, but it did not hold for long as Alexis Santarelli brought down an offensive board for the Leopards and put it back in while getting fouled. The freshman made the foul shot, but the Lady Pirates retook the lead on a Jephany Brown layup with less than 30 seconds left to play.

It came down to the final seconds and Hampton led by just one. However, the Leopards failed to get a shot off and were forced to send Tate-Freitas to the foul line, where she sank two to put her team up by three.

Lafayette inbounded the ball with six seconds on the clock and got a look at the basket, but the shot was blocked and Hampton survived late to capture the win.

The Leopards’ four-game road stretch has come to a close and the Maroon and White will return to College Hill for the just the second time this season to square off against Penn on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m.

BOX SCORE

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE LEOPARDS ATHLETIC MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS