Men's Basketball | 2/22/2022 4:07:00 PM
North Carolina A&T vs. High Point University
When: Wednesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Where: Corbett Sports Center (East Greensboro, N.C.)
TV/Radio: ESPN+ / Spencer Turkin, pxp; Cy Alexander, analyst
A&T Team Leaders
Points: Marcus Watson (12.0 PPG)
Rebounds: Marcus Watson (5.6 RPG)
Assists: Kameron Langley (4.7 APG)
Blocks: Harry Morrice (19)
Steals: Kameron Langley (40)
Field Goal Percentage: Tyler Maye (.487)
3-pt Field Goal Percentage: Demetric Horton (.350)
Free Throw Percentage: Tyler Maye (.750)
A&T Big South Leaders (Top-10)
Rebounds: Marcus Watson (5.7) – 10th
Assists: Kameron Langley (126) – 1st
Blocks: Harry Morrice (19) – 10th
Steals: Kameron Langley (40) – 6th; Demetric Horton (35) – 10th
A&T National Leaders (Top-100)
Assists: Kameron Langley (126) – 40th
NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES (11-17, 6-8 Big South): The Aggies suffered an 0-2 week last week and are coming off an after-the-buzzer loss to the Campbell Fighting Camels. The previous three games between the two squads have come down to the final shot.
A&T has struggled to score of late, scoring 65 points or less in three of their last five games. In the Aggies last matchup against High Point University, they trailed by 16 with four minutes to play. The Aggies then went on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to two, 70-68, with 1:32 to play.
David Beatty had two 3-point plays, and Horton scored on two 3-pointers during the run. But with 55 seconds to play, and with the Aggies trailing 74-70, Horton's 3-pointer came up short as the Panthers survived the Aggies comeback attempt, 78-71.
Coach Jones is in his third season overall and second full season after initially taking over on an interim basis on December 24, 2019. In that same year, Jones earned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) coach of the year honors and sports a 36-32 (.529) overall record.
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY (11-17, 5-9 Big South): High Point is in an unusual spot right now with then-head coach Tubby Smith stepping down from the position last week and his son, GG Smith, taking over.
Since then, the Panthers are 0-2 and coming off a 66-64 road loss to the Radford Highlanders.
Preseason first-team All-Big South selection and junior guard John-Michael Wright paces HPU at 18.6 points per game. That scoring average sits first amongst conference players by over 1.5 points per night. When these two teams met earlier on Jan. 15, Wright went off for 28 points.
HPU sits last in the league in free throw shooting at 64.4 percent, and they have a minus-1.00 turnover margin on the season.
THE SERIES: Wednesday will be just the sixth all-time matchup between these two local rivals, with the Aggies leading the series, 3-2.
QUOTABLE: "A ton. It's a ton. It's these guys continuing to believe in what we do and doing it to the best of their ability. Not worrying about who gets the credit and just going out there and playing basketball. We have to get this team to reach their potential right now."
Head coach Will Jones on what remains to be seen from his team this year
GAME NOTES:
- The two teams first met in 1967. The Aggies won the game, 84-79.
- The team is 10-6 (.667) all-time in February under head coach Will Jones, but 8-0 inside the Corbett Sports Center.
- This season, A&T is 7-2 at home and 21-5 (.808) all-time at Club Corbett under Jones.
- Over the last five seasons, they have won 45 games at home.
- The Aggies rely heavily on their defense when it comes to winning games. In fact, in their six conference wins, A&T holds their opponents to 37.3 percent shooting from the field and only 29.3 percent from 3-point range.
- In their eight losses, however, Aggie opponents shoot 49.0 percent from the floor, including 42.7 percent from downtown.
- Graduate guard Kameron Langley leads the Big South in assists per game (4.7). His 883 career dimes are first among active players and 17th-most in NCAA history.
