College of Charleston
Morehead State
Cougars Blaze Past Eagles In Early-Morning Tilt, 72-57
11/15/2011 5:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
CHARLESTON, S.C. - White-hot shooting from downtown led the College of Charleston men's basketball team to a 72-57 win over Morehead State in a nationally-televised game pitted at the 8 a.m. (ET) time slot of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon on Tuesday morning with students clad in pajamas at TD Arena.
The Cougars (2-0, 0-0) won their second-straight game at home, while 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Morehead State (0-2, 0-0) lost its second game in less than three days.
Sophomore Jordan Scott (Darlington, S.C.) led the way with 22 points, hitting 5-of-7 three-pointers, while senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) tallied 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) reached double figures in rebounds for the second-straight contest, grabbing 12 boards and putting up seven points inside. Freshman Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) finished with eight points and six rebounds, while junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) led the team in assists with five, while also scoring nine points.
The Cougars got out to a quick start yet again, hitting three-straight threes to lead 9-0 for the second time next to their opener against Holy Cross on Nov. 11. CofC continued to build an 18-5 advantage until the Eagles finally hit their first field goal at the 13:18 minute mark.
Charleston solved the Eagles' trapping zone with excellent ball movement, consistently finding open shooters in the perimeter or at the top of the key.
CofC built its largest lead of the game at the 4:26 mark after a Wiggins steal led to a fastbreak alley-oop dunk from Lawrence back to Wiggins, putting the Cougars up by 22 points, 36-14. They hit 8-of-16 three-pointers in the first half, leading 37-25 at the break.
Morehead State threatened at the end of the first half and start of the second, cutting the lead to just 10 at the 9:15 mark after a three-pointer jumper from Marsell Holden. However, the Cougars immediately responded by rebuilding a 59-42 lead after an old-fashioned three-point play from Wiedeman and fast-break dunk from Wiggins.
MSU was led by 13 points and six rebounds from Terrance Hill. The Eagles could not threaten in the final minutes as the Cougars played good perimeter defense to avenge a 69-49 road loss to MSU on Jan. 2, 2011 in Morehead, Ky.
Up next, the Cougars will travel to Clemson (1-0) for a Saturday, Nov. 19, non-conference rematch at 7 p.m. (ET) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. The game will be televised live on ESPN3.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second consecutive game, CofC used the starting five of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Jordan Scott, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (2-0).
• With the win, the Cougars even the all-time series to 1-1 with Morehead State. It marked the program's ninth all-time victory against an opponent hailing from the Ohio Valley Conference (9-2).
• CofC is off to a 2-0 start to the season for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign and first under head coach Bobby Cremins. Since the 2003 opener, the Cougars have played tough major-conference teams such as Auburn, Colorado, Villanova, Arkansas and Maryland in their first two games of the season.
• Jordan Scott registered a career-high 22 points on a 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. It marked his first career 20-point outing playing a career-best 27 minutes against the Eagles.
• The Cougars extend their home winning streak to 10 consecutive games dating back to an 87-66 victory over crosstown rival The Citadel on Jan. 15, 2011. They remain undefeated in the year 2011 at TD Arena.
• For the second-straight contest, Antwaine Wiggins scored in double figures with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. He has recorded 847 career points to date.
• Redshirt junior Matt Sundberg made his debut at the 10:34 minute mark of the first half and contributed six points off the bench. It marked his first minutes played since the 2009-10 season. He redshirted the 2010-11 campaign and had been hobbled by foot injuries in the preseason.
• Trent Wiedeman led the team in rebounding for the second-straight game with 12 of the team's 37 boards. It was one short of his career high (13) in the category.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the early-morning game on national television ...
"First of all, I need to thank our fans. Wow, what a great fan base. We kind of ventured into a new territory. Everyone asks, 'why 8 a.m.?' and it's simple. It's exposure for our program. We are not the ACC or the SEC, but we have to play with these guys. For us to get exposure, we have to recruit against those guys. Anytime you get the opportunity to play a national TV game, you have to take a hard look at it. We have done it before. Our conference has to do things like that and our fans, they responded today."
On preparation for Morehead State ...
"My (coaching) staff did a great job of preparing this team. Last year, you can make excuses all day long. After we beat Tennessee, we should have drove right back home to Charleston. But, we went to Morehead State instead and had a one-day prep. You can see how tough they are. They are physical, tough and well coached. They play relentless pressure. You have to match their intensity and we did not do that last year. This time, obviously, we had the advantage. They had to go to NC State (on Sunday) and play a tough game on the road and then travel here. We've been sitting and waiting for them like they were sitting in Morehead (Ky.) last year waiting for us. They are tough to go against."
College of Charleston Sophomore Guard Jordan Scott
On getting into a rhythm after shooting his first three of the game ...
"When I first shoot my first shot (in a game), I'm just shooting, since I'm open and it's a good shot. If it goes in, it goes in. If it doesn't, I'm just going to shoot when I'm open."
On the early-morning game against Morehead State ...
"Early in the morning, it's hard to get up and get into a groove. On my normal nights, I just try to warm up as much as I can before a game. The game shots just felt normal today, like usual. To me, it felt like a regular game. Time doesn't really matter, because we've been practicing for this, getting up early and getting our bodies ready. We were prepared."
College of Charleston Sophomore Trent Wiedeman
On playing at 8 a.m. in the morning ...
"It was real tough. Right when I got into the gym, all I could think about was how early it was. Once the game started, I think everyone was fine. It didn't feel like 8 a.m. in the morning anymore. It felt like a regular game. We definitely shot well and played well as a team again with balanced scoring. Now, we will go to class, eat some lunch and I'm going to take a long nap."
College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
On Morehead State's zone ...
"We wanted to get a little revenge against Morehead State, since they beat us really bad there last year. It's (Morehead's zone) tough to deal with. They put a lot of pressure on you to make a lot of turnovers. We practiced all week to get ready for their zone. We were ready for it."
