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#1 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (24-7) vs. #4 WILLIAM & MARY (19-11)
2018 CAA Men's Basketball Championship Semifinals
Game #32
March 5, 2018 • 6:00 p.m. (ET)
North Charleston Coliseum (14,000)
at North Charleston, S.C.
 
Television: CBS Sports Network
Radio: College of Charleston Radio Network (ESPN Radio 910 AM)
Series History: William & Mary Leads 7-4
Last Meeting: William & Mary def. CofC, 114-104 (OT), on Feb. 24, 2018 in Williamsburg, Va.
Internet: Free Live Statistics at http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/central.php?tid=228
Live Video: Live Video at www.CBSSports.com
Tickets: www.Ticketmaster.com
Twitter: @CofCBasketball
 
THE COACHES
College of Charleston: Earl Grant
Fourth Year at CofC: 75-55
Fourth Year Overall: 75-55
William & Mary: Tony Shaver
15th Year at W&M: 212-250
32nd Year Overall: 570-371
 
TELEVISION (CBS Sports Network)
Play-By-Play: Dave Ryan
Color Analyst: Jordan Cornette
Sideline Reporter: Jenny Dell
 
RADIO (College of Charleston Radio Network)
Play-By-Play: Everett German
Color Analyst: Danny Johnson
 
GAME  PREVIEW
For the second-consecutive year, the College of Charleston men's basketball team (24-7) under the guidance of fourth-year head coach Earl Grant has reached the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship presented by Jersey Mike's. Not bad for a program that only entered the league five years ago in 2013. It's been a steady climb for the top-seeded Cougars who will face No. 4-seeded William & Mary (19-11) on Monday, March 5 at 6 p.m. (ET) at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, S.C. The winner will advance to the championship game versus either No. 2-seeded Northeastern (22-9) or No. 6-seeded and defending tournament champion UNCW (11-20) on Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. (ET). Just 10 short days ago, both schools battled in a high-scoring overtime thriller (L, 104-114) in the regular-season finale on Feb. 24 in Williamsburg, Va. All-CAA First Team performer Grant Riller, who is averaging a team-leading 18.4 points per game, drained a half-court shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime for the Cougars. CofC played without the services of big man Nick Harris (6.6 rpg), who missed the last W&M game due to a foot injury. He started in the Cougars' 66-59 win over Drexel in the quarterfinals. The Tribe advanced to their fifth-straight semifinal appearance with a 80-66 victory over No. 5 Towson in the quarterfinals. Coverage of the semifinal matchup, which will pit the CAA's top scoring offense (85.4 ppg) in William & Mary versus the top scoring defense (68.4 ppg) in CofC, will be televised live nationally on CBS Sports Network.
 
WILLIAM & MARY AT-A-GLANCE
William & Mary ranks in the Top 10 in multiple NCAA statistical categories including assists per game (7th, 17.8), field-goal percentage (2nd, 51.2%), free-throw percentage (1st, 80.9%), three-point field goals per game (8th, 10.9) and three-point field-goal percentage (1st, 43.5%). The Tribe has scored 80-or-more points in 19-of-30 games this season including the 100-point mark four times. They are led by All-CAA Second Team selection Nathan Knight, who is averaging a team-best 18.1 points per game.
 
WATCH CBS SPORTS NETWORK
A live stream of CBS Sports Network is available through CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App by authenticating with providers including: Buckeye, Cox, Cablevision, DirecTV, DISH, Frontier, Mediacom, Optimum, Suddenlink, Verizon and WOW. CBSSN is also widely available on OTT services including YouTube TV, fuboTV, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV and Hulu.
 
COUGARS ALL-TIME IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PLAY
College of Charleston is 32-18 (.640) all-time in conference tournament play as members of the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) from 1993-98, Southern Conference from 1998-2013 and Colonial from 2013-Present. The Cougars gained NCAA Division I status during the 1991-92 season. They are 6-2 all-time in first-round games, 14-6 in quarterfinal games, 9-4 in semifinal games and 3-6 in championship games. CofC has played in the conference tournament championship game three times in the last eight years as members of the SoCon in 2011 (lost to Wofford) and 2013 (lost to Davidson) as well as members of the Colonial in 2017 (lost to UNCW). The Cougars won the TAAC regular-season title as first year members of the league in 1994 and won the SoCon regular-season and tournament title as first year members in 1999.
 
GOING FOR 25
CofC will be gunning for another 25-win season in back-to-back campaigns under Earl Grant. It would mark only the eighth time in the school's NCAA Division I history (1991-Present) to record 25-or-more victories in a single season. Legendary Head Coach John Kresse, who retired in 2002, owns three of those 25-win seasons in 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1998-99, while the Cougars also did so under former head coaches Tom Herrion once in 2002-03 and Bobby Cremins twice in 2008-09 and 2010-11.
 
COUGARS ON THE AIRWAVES
Fans can listen to all CofC men's basketball games throughout the 2017-18 season on ESPN Radio 910 AM in Charleston or via a live audio link at: www.charlestonsportsradio.com. Voice of the Cougars Everett German will call the action live from the North Charleston Coliseum alongside color analyst Danny Johnson on the College of Charleston Radio Network.
 
PROJECTED COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON STARTERS
#13 Joe Chealey, G, 6-4, 190, Sr. (18.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.7 apg, 35.6 min)
#1 Grant Riller, G, 6-3, 195, So. (18.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 33.1 min)
#12 Cameron Johnson, G, 6-4, 200, Sr. (8.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.8 apg, 32.7 min)
#5 Jarrell Brantley, F, 6-7, 250, Jr. (17.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.6 apg, 31.4 min)
#23 Nick Harris, F, 6-10, 260, Jr. (6.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.4 apg, 25.7 min)
 
PROJECTED WILLIAM & MARY STARTERS
#34 David Cohn, G, 6-2, 168, Sr. (14.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 6.7 apg, 35.8 min)
#2 Matt Milon, G, 6-5, 195, RS-So. (13.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.1 apg, 30.4 min)
#10 Connor Burchfield, G, 6-4, 180, Sr. (12.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 30.3 min)
#23 Justin Pierce, G/F, 6-7, 215, So. (15.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.4 apg, 31.5 min)
#13 Nathan Knight, F, 6-10, 235, So. (18.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, 28.5 min)
 
SERIES HISTORY
William & Mary leads 7-4 in the all-time series with College of Charleston. The last two seasons, the Tribe and Cougars have split the regular-season series protecting each of their respective home courts. The only neutral site game in the series was CofC's first year in the league – a 70-59 loss in the CAA Quarterfinals to W&M at Royal Farms Arena on March 8, 2014 in Baltimore, Md. The last seven-straight contests in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.
 
LAST EIGHT GAMES IN SERIES
L, 104-114 OT (-10) on Feb. 24, 2018 in Williamsburg, Va.
W, 82-77 (+5) on Feb. 8, 2018 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 79-89 (-10) on Feb. 11, 2017 in Williamsburg, Va.
W, 77-67 (+10) on Jan. 14, 2017 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 61-63 (-2) on Jan. 14, 2016 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 70-78 (-8) on Jan. 2, 2016 in Williamsburg, Va.
W, 80-72 (+8) on Feb. 5, 2015 in Charleston, S.C.
L, 45-75 (-30) on Jan. 3, 2015 in Williamsburg, Va.
L, 59-70 (-11) on March 8, 2014 in Baltimore, Md.
 
COUGARS ALL-TIME vs. CAA TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS
College of Charleston is 5-4 all-time in the CAA Men's Basketball Championship since joining the league in July of 2013 and is celebrating its fifth-year anniversary in the Colonial. Of the 10-member schools, the Cougars have only faced Delaware (1-0), Drexel (2-0), James Madison (1-0), Towson (1-0), UNCW (0-3) and William & Mary (0-1) in postseason conference play. They last met W&M in the 2014 Quarterfinals (L, 59-70) in Baltimore, Md.
 
COUGARS TOP 10 IN TURNOVERS PER GAME
The Cougars lead the CAA in turnovers per game averaging only 9.7, which ranks No. 5 in the nation behind Virginia, Michigan, Southern Miss and Saint Mary's (Calif.). In total turnovers for the season, they have only made 292, which is third fewest in the nation behind Virginia and Davidson.
 
FEWEST TURNOVERS IN NCAA DIVISION I
1. Virginia                                                  264
2. Davidson                                               284
3. College of Charleston                                     292
4. Saint Joseph's                                      298
5. Southern Miss                                                       301
6. Florida                                                    305
7. Saint Mary's (Calif.)                         311
8T. UC Santa Barbara                           312
8T. Notre Dame                                       312
10. Old Dominion                                  313
 
DREXEL RECAP
College of Charleston 66, Drexel 59
• The College of Charleston went with the starting five of Joe Chealey, Grant Riller, Cameron Johnson, Jarrell Brantley and Nick Harris, who returned to the lineup after missing the Cougars' final regular-season game at William & Mary on Feb. 24 due to injury.
• With the win, College of Charleston is now 5-4 all-time in CAA Tournament games since joining the league in 2013. The Cougars improve to 2-0 in those games when playing Drexel. Both teams last met in the 2015 First Round. They are now 14-6 in quarterfinal games all-time in program history.
• Joe Chealey led all scorers with a game-high 22 points versus Drexel. It marked his 11th 20-point game this season. He has now tabulated 1,777 career points to date which ranks fifth all-time in program history.
• Jarrell Brantley recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds against Drexel. He also added two blocked shots and two steals in 33 minutes of action.
• Grant Riller registered 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field versus Drexel. He became the 38th all-time player in school history to gain entrance into the 1,000-Career Point Club with his sixth point in the first half of play. Riller also became the fastest-ever player in school history to reach 1,000 career points in 65 career games played. CofC all-time leading scorer Andrew Goudelock scored 1,000 points in 68 career games played during his sophomore season in 2008-09. Riller has totaled 1,011 career points to date.
• CofC outrebounded Drexel, 40-35, including 11 on the offensive glass – 3 from Marquise Pointer off the bench.
• The Cougars held the high-scoring Dragons to their fewest points (59) of the season next to a 78-59 loss versus Mercer on Nov. 18, 2017.
 
COUGAR SOUND BITES
"There is no secret. Our program is built on toughness and hard work. We got to have effort and a determined spirit. That's who we are. When we do that, we are very dangerous. I told our guys, 'we are an elite team when we defend at a high level.' If we share the ball offensively, we have enough talent that we can make some shots and score. Our secret weapon is a our defense and we got to continue to do that throughout the tournament." – CofC Head Coach Earl Grant on the team's signature defense and getting stops in the Cougars' 13-0 run at the end of the game versus Drexel in the quarterfinals
 
"Marquise (Pointer) is one of those guys that a lot of his stuff never shows up in the box sore. His stuff is all about energy, grit, toughness and loose balls. I thought he had big deflections and big rebounds. He was unbelievable in contesting (Tramaine) Isabell who was really getting it going. I thought he did a great job for about five minutes of making it rough for that guy to get open looks. Marquise is a huge part of what we do and he gave us a big lift tonight." – Coach Grant on Marquise Pointer's play off the bench versus Drexel and defending their leading scorer
 
"Defense and energy plays. Every team in our league is capable of scoring a lot of points. If we can separate ourselves on the defensive end, it will help us out a lot." – Sophomore Guard Grant Riller on what it will take to be successful in the CAA Championship
 
"We know we have enough firepower offensively to score. It is just going to come down to who can get timely stops at the end of the game. That's what happened tonight (versus Drexel), and hopefully, we can keep it up." – Senior Guard Joe Chealey on all of the close games in conference play this season