A&T Men Look to Finally Play In A Conference Tournament

A&T has not been able to complete a conference tournament in two years.

Kevin L. Dorsey

Kameron Langley will take his final shot at winning a conference tournament.

Men's Basketball | 3/2/2022 6:58:00 AM

North Carolina A&T vs. Radford Highlanders
When: Wednesday, March 2, 11:30 a.m.
Where: Bojangles Coliseum (Charlotte, N.C.)

A&T Team Leaders
Points: Marcus Watson (11.8 PPG)
Rebounds: Marcus Watson (5.6 RPG)
Assists: Kameron Langley (4.7 APG)
Blocks: Harry Morrice (19)
Steals: Kameron Langley (46)
Field Goal Percentage: Tyler Maye (.487)
3-pt Field Goal Percentage: Demetric Horton (.352)
Free Throw Percentage: Tyler Maye (.769)

A&T Big South Leaders (Top-10)
Assists: Kameron Langley (136) – 1st
Steals: Kameron Langley (46) – 4th; Demetric Horton (36) – 9th

A&T National Leaders (Top-100)
Assists: Kameron Langley (136) – 42nd

NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES (11-19, 6-10 Big South): This year has been a rollercoaster for the A&T men's basketball team. They began Big South Conference play, winning four of their first five games but have since dropped nine of their last 11.

They have enjoyed highs, such as beating No. 1-seed Longwood on Feb. 12, and they remain the only team to have done so.

Another memorable moment this season was when the Aggies picked up a big-time road win at East Tennessee State on Dec. 14 when Tyler Maye hit a game-winning reserve layup.

They have also experienced lows, like their 29-game home conference winning streak coming to an end in January after the Campbell Fighting Camels hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer. Or when they surrendered a season-worst 93 points in a loss to rival Hampton four days after the Longwood win.

The Aggies, projected to finish third in the North Division before the season, finished fifth. They came into the Big South having not lost a home conference game in over four years but lost four this year.

A&T is 1-2 in neutral site games this season. On Wednesday, they will get another shot at the Highlanders in the first round of the Big South tournament in Charlotte after losing to the Highlanders in their regular-season finale.

Head coach Will 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 36-34 (.514) overall record at A&T.

RADFORD (11-17, 7-9 Big South): The Highlanders seem to be having the exact opposite type of season as A&T.

Their records are very similar, but while A&T has lost nine of their last 11, Radford has won four of their previous five, with their only loss coming in a five-point defeat to Longwood. Radford has allowed only 61.8 points per game during that five-game span, including surrendering just 53 points to the Aggies on Saturday.

Junior forward Rashun Williams leads them offensively with his 9.9 points per game. On Saturday, he plagued A&T for 15 points and five rebounds in their matchup.

First-year head coach Darris Nichols has an overall 11-17 record with the Highlanders in his inaugural season.

THE SERIES: Wednesday will be the 13th time these two schools have faced off. Radford leads the all-time series 9-3 and won the most recent matchup on Saturday, 62-53, inside Club Corbett.

QUOTABLE: "We haven't played in a conference tournament in two years, and that has to be something that even the seniors are hungry for today. Our last conference tournament game was against Howard two years ago. So we should be hungry to play in a conference tournament and be playing our best basketball."

Head coach Will Jones on the A&T Basketball Coach's Show last week

GAME NOTES:

After the regular season on Saturday, A&T secured the No. 9 seed in this week's Big South Conference Tournament.
They will face No. 8 Radford for a chance to play No. 1 Longwood in the second round.
The Aggies have not played a conference tournament game in almost two years after being removed from last year's MEAC tourney due to a false positive COVID-19 test.
Single-digits have decided both games between these clubs, and the Aggies are 8-10 in such games this year.
Radford is 7-8 in games decided by single-digits, but 4-1 in the last five.
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 ten losses, however, Aggie opponents shoot 48.5 percent from the floor, including 40.0 percent from downtown.
Graduate guard Kameron Langley leads the Big South in assists per game (4.8). His 893 career dimes are first among active players and tied for 15th-most in NCAA history.

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