COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (11-2, 0-0 CAA) vs. UNCW (4-9, 0-0 CAA)
Game #14
December 29, 2018 • 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Trask Coliseum (5,200)
at Wilmington, N.C.
 
Television: SportsLive
Radio: College of Charleston Radio Network (ESPN Radio 910 AM | 94.7 FM)
Series History: Series Tied 13-13
Last Meeting: CofC def. UNCW, 88-74, on Feb. 17, 2018 in Wilmington, N.C.
Internet: Live Statistics at www.UNCWStats.com
Live Video: Live Video at http://www.collegesportslive.com/?media=82043f7f-f579-4872-ac16-8536c8e2ecdd
Twitter: @CofCBasketball
 
THE COACHES
College of Charleston: Earl Grant
Fifth Year at CofC: 88-58
Fifth Year Overall: 88-58
UNCW: C.B. McGrath
Second Year at UNCW: 15-30
Second Year Overall: 15-30
 
TELEVISION (SportsLive)
Play-By-Play: Jeff McCarragher
Color Analyst: Nate Ross
 
RADIO (College of Charleston Radio Network)
Play-By-Play: Everett German
 
GAME PREVIEW
The College of Charleston men's basketball team (11-2) will play its first three Colonial Athletic Association games on the road starting off with its league opener at UNCW (4-9) on Saturday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. (ET) in Wilmington, N.C. The Cougars have won eight in a row including a hard-fought 73-71 victory over Coastal Carolina before the winter break on Dec. 21 at TD Arena. The defending CAA co-regular season and tournament champions, CofC's title defense starts this weekend against one of its biggest rivals that has developed since joining the conference six years ago. The Cougars are averaging 74.9 points per game and have scored 83+ points in four of their last six contests. They are also holding opponents to a league-best 67.4 points per game, which ranks No. 84 in the country. Senior forward Jarrell Brantley earned his second CAA Player of the Week nod this season with double-doubles performances in three of his last four games including 22 points and 10 rebounds versus Coastal. He is currently the only player to rank in the Top 5 in scoring (20.5 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg) in the Colonial. The Cougars, who moved up to No. 7 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, are 3-1 on the road this season with their lone loss at Oklahoma State on Nov. 18. They will ring in the New Year at Towson and James Madison next week.
 
A LOOK AT UNCW
The Seahawks return home after playing their last four games on the road against the likes of North Carolina (L, 69-97), Furman (L, 50-93), Georgia State (L, 71-86) and Mercer (L, 73-77). In the team's last outing, leading scorer Jeantal Cylla turned in a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds at Mercer as did leading rebounder Devontae Cacok with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Behind Cacok, UNCW is one of the top rebounding teams in the country and league averaging 37.4 boards per game. The big man also ranks No. 39 nationally in field-goal percentage with a 58.8 percent accuracy from the floor and No. 9 in offensive rebounds per game (3.85 avg.).
 
COFC ALL-TIME IN CAA OPENERS
College of Charleston is 4-1 all-time in CAA openers and will commence conference play on the road for the third time since its first season in 2013-14. Last season, the Cougars opened league play successfully at home against Towson (W, 73-62) on Dec. 30, 2017 at TD Arena. In previous years, CofC opened at Elon (W, 66-54) in 2016-17 and at James Madison (W, 65-62) in 2015-16. In its inaugural campaign as CAA members, CofC claimed its first-ever league win over James Madison (75-61) on Jan. 7, 2014 at TD Arena.
 
COUGARS ON THE AIRWAVES
Fans can listen to all CofC men's basketball games throughout the 2018-19 season on ESPN Radio 910 AM and 94.7 FM in Charleston or via a live audio link at: www.charlestonsportsradio.com. Voice of the Cougars Everett German will call the action live from Trask Coliseum on the College of Charleston Radio Network.
 
PROJECTED COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON STARTERS
#10 Zep Jasper, G, 6-1, 170, RS-Fr. (7.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.4 apg, 28.4 min)
#1 Grant Riller, G, 6-3, 190, Jr. (22.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.8 apg, 35.8 min)
#2 Brevin Galloway, G, 6-2, 215, So. (9.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.9 apg, 27.2 min)
#5 Jarrell Brantley, F, 6-7, 255, Sr. (20.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.8 apg, 33.0 min)
#23 Nick Harris, F, 6-10, 270, Sr. (3.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 21.2 min)
 
PROJECTED UNCW STARTERS
#10 Kai Toews, G, 6-2, 180, Fr. (7.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 7.0 apg, 28.6 min)
#1 Jaylen Fornes, G, 6-3, 210, Jr. (9.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.9 apg, 22.4 min)
#12 Jay Estime', G, 6-5, 190, So. (8.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 22.5 min)
#2 Jeantal Cylla, F, 6-7, 216, RS-Jr. (14.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.9 apg, 29.6 min)
#15 Devontae Cacok, F, 6-7, 240, Sr. (13.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 0.4 apg, 25.9 min)
 
SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series between College of Charleston and UNCW is tied at 13-13. Last season, the Cougars swept the Seahawks for the first time since joining the Colonial Athletic Association in July of 2013 with a 14-point win (88-74) on Feb. 17, 2018 in Wilmington, N.C. Prior to that outing, six of the last seven games in the series have been closely-contested and decided in single digits. CofC is 4-4 all-time when playing the Seahawks on their home court and 2-4 in CAA play.
 
LAST 16 GAMES IN THE SERIES
W, 88-74 on 2/17/18 in Wilmington, N.C.
W, 80-76 on 1/18/18 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 78-69 on 3/6/17 in North Charleston, S.C.^
W, 67-66 on 2/2/17 in Wilmington, N.C.
L, 59-65 on 1/19/17 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 64-66 on 3/5/16 in Baltimore, Md.^
L, 55-59 (OT) on 2/20/16 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 55-65 on 1/30/16 in Wilmington, N.C.
L, 53-79 on 3/7/15 in Baltimore, Md.^
L, 45-58 on 2/11/15 in Wilmington, N.C.
L, 56-58 (OT) on 1/21/15 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 55-57 (2OT) on 2/22/14 in Wilmington, N.C.
W, 75-70 on 1/22/14 in Charleston, S.C.
W, 100-80 on 12/19/08 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 91-98 on 11/10/07 in Wilmington, N.C.
W, 91-70 on 11/26/06 in Charleston, S.C.
^ CAA Tournament
 
COUGARS CONTINUE WINNING WAYS
The College of Charleston continued its winning ways with a pre-winter break home victory over Coastal Carolina to extend their current win streak to eight-straight games. The Cougars are currently tied with the seventh-longest current win streak in NCAA Division I with Old Dominion, Mississippi State and TCU. Houston, Michigan, Nevada and St. John's boast the longest streak having won 12 straight, Virginia fifth (11) and Toledo sixth (9). Last year, CofC won 11-consecutive games during conference play under head coach Earl Grant.
 
CURRENT NCAA DIVISION I LONGEST WIN STREAK
1T. Houston - 12
1T. Michigan - 12
1T. Nevada - 12
1T. St. John's - 12
5. Virginia - 11
6. Toledo - 9
7T. College of Charleston - 8
7T. Old Dominion - 8
7T. Mississippi State - 8
7T. TCU - 8
 
COASTAL CAROLINA RECAP
College of Charleston 73, Coastal Carolina 71
• College of Charleston went with the starting lineup of Zep Jasper, Grant Riller, Brevin Galloway, Jarrell Brantley and Nick Harris (11-2).
• With the win, College of Charleston improved to 37-13 in the all-time series with Coastal Carolina. The Cougars have now won three-straight games in the series. Each of the last six being decided in single digits including Friday's contest (+2).
• Jarrell Brantley recorded his fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds versus Coastal Carolina. It was his third double-double in the last four-game stretch versus Georgia College, VCU, Siena and Coastal. He has now tabulated 1,541 career points, which is tied for seventh on the all-time career scoring list with former great Dontaye Draper (1,541 points).
• Grant Riller extended his double-digit scoring streak to seven games with 20 points and a team-best four assists against Coastal Carolina. He has scored 20+ points in a game on nine occasions this season.
• Zep Jasper went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line – all at the end of the game – to lead the Cougars to victory over the Chanticleers. He tallied nine points in the winning cause.
• CofC matched an 11-2 start in the first 13 games of the season next to the 2003-04 squad, which also went 11-2 under former head coach Tom Herrion.
• The Cougars extended their home-court win streak to 22 games, which is the third-longest in the nation and tied for the third-longest in program history.
• CofC made only seven turnovers in the ballgame, which was the second-fewest this season in a single game.
 
COUGAR SOUND BITES
"It's conference play and everybody is going to be fired up for a new season. I expect it to be a real challenge. It's on the road and in conference. Certainly they (UNCW) have talented players and always have a good crowd. We have to prepare ourselves for the challenge to be in a position to be successful on Saturday." – CofC Head Coach Earl Grant on the team's conference opener at UNCW
 
"We had a pretty good non-conference schedule with a lot of different challenging games on it. We played really good teams from really good conferences. We did well and went 11-2. Certainly it would have been nice to win a few more games. Our non-conference schedule has really prepared us for the CAA with the type of teams that we will play. Our guys did a good job playing most of the time without Marquise Pointer, who is really important to our program. To be able to have some success and deal with adversity the way that we did, I thought we handled it well." – Coach Grant on the team's non-conference schedule preparing them for conference play
 
"It's the first time all year when you get some consistency. The (non-conference) games are all scattered out. You might have two back-to-back games on the road with one day to prepare. You play tournament games on a neutral site. It was always different every week in terms of the scheduling. It will help our players and staff in terms of preparation to be able to get into a routine. That routine has been good for us in the past, and hopefully, it will be good for us as we start off conference play." – Coach Grant on playing a consistent Thursday-Saturday schedule