Cougars Wrap Up Regular Season Versus Drexel On Senior Day

Saturday, February 29

TD Arena

4:00 PM

College of Charleston

Drexel

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Cougars Wrap Up Regular Season Versus Drexel On Senior Day

2/28/2020 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Drexel Game Notes

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (16-13, 10-7 CAA) vs. DREXEL (13-17, 6-11 CAA)
Game #30
February 29, 2020 • 4:00 p.m. (ET)
TD Arena/John Kresse Court (5,100)
at Charleston, S.C.

Television: FloSports
Radio: College of Charleston Radio Network (ESPN Radio 910 AM | 94.7 FM)
Series History: CofC Leads 12-6
Last Meeting: CofC def. Drexel, 76-65, on Dec. 28, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Internet: Live Statistics at www.CofCStats.com
Live On-Demand Video: FloSports Subscription at http://bit.ly/2JP6sGV
Tickets: www.CofCSports.com/tickets
Twitter: @CofCBasketball

THE COACHES
College of Charleston: Earl Grant
Sixth Year at CofC: 117-78
Sixth Year Overall: 117-78
Drexel: Zach Spiker
Fourth Year at Drexel: 48-79
11th Year Overall: 150-191

TELEVISION AND RADIO (FloSports and College of Charleston Radio Network)
Play-By-Play: Everett German
Color Analyst: Danny Johnson

GAME PROMOTIONS
It's Senior Day presented by the Zack Kelly Agency as the Cougars take on the Dragons. Be in your seats by 3:45 p.m. for the pre-game ceremony honoring seniors Emily McGee, Zach Rabinowitz, Osinachi Smart, Sam Miller, Jaylen McManus and Grant Riller. Senior Cheerleaders, Cougarettes and Chucktown Sound members will also be recognized during the game. A limited number of tickets are still available for purchase by calling (843) 953-COFC or online at: www.CofCSports.com/tickets

GAME PREVIEW
The College of Charleston men's basketball team (16-13, 10-7 CAA) wraps up the regular season with Drexel (13-17, 6-11 CAA) on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 4 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. This will be only the second time in the program's NCAA Division I Era (1991-Present) to play a game on Leap Day (lost 70-68 to Middle Tennessee on Feb. 29, 1992 at the old John Kresse Arena). The Cougars got back on the right track with a come-from-behind victory over Delaware (80-71) to sweep the regular-season series between the two schools on Feb. 27. Senior big man Sam Miller and junior guard Brevin Galloway were hot from beyond the arc draining eight of the team's 12 three-pointers against the Blue Hens. It was Charleston's first game shooting 50 percent or better (52.2%) from long range since a 13-for-24 season-best performance in a road win at James Madison on Jan. 4. Grant Riller also poured in a game-high 24 points and moved into third all-time on the Colonial Athletic Association's career scoring list. The Dragons enter the regular-season finale looking to end a six-game skid in conference play including a 76-65 road loss at UNCW. CofC won both teams' last meeting in the Philadelphia (76-65) in the CAA opener back in December. The Cougars and Dragons are two different teams since that time, as seniors on both sidelines look to finish their respective careers on a high note.

SCOUTING DREXEL
The Dragons are looking to turn the corner after a pair of losses to Northeastern (L, 74-81) and Hofstra (L, 68-77) last week at home. They will play in the first-round game as either the No. 8 through No. 10 seed in next week's conference tournament. Drexel junior forward James Butler is the CAA's top rebounder averaging 11.6 boards per game. He also ranks second behind William & Mary's Nathan Knight in double-doubles (19) on the season.

SENIOR SALUTE
The Cougars will honor six seniors – team manager Emily McGee (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Zach Rabinowitz (Economics and Philosophy), Sam Miller (Economics), Osinachi Smart (Sociology), Jaylen McManus (Psychology) and Grant Riller (Sociology) – prior to Saturday's game against Drexel. Over the last four years, all have been a part of many memorable moments in program history including a NIT appearance in 2017 and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018. During that span, the Cougars also compiled a 91-40 (.695) record.

CAA TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
Hofstra clinched a share of the regular-season title. If Hofstra and William & Mary finish tied for first, the Tribe will be the No. 1 seed and the Pride the No. 2 seed in next week's CAA Tournament. If Towson and W&M finish tied for second, the Tribe will be the No. 2 seed and the Tigers the No. 3 seed. If Towson and Charleston finish tied for third, the Cougars will be the No. 3 seed and the Tigers the No. 4 seed based on a sweep of the head-to-head series. If CofC, Delaware and Towson finish tied for third, the Cougars are No. 3 seed (based on 4-0 record against UD and Towson), Tigers No. 4 and Blue Hens No. 5. If CofC and Delaware finish tied for fourth with an 11-7 or 10-8 record in league play, the Cougars will be the No. 4 seed and Blue Hens the No. 5 seed. If Charleston, Delaware and Northeastern finish tied for fourth at 10-8 and William & Mary is the No. 1 seed, CofC is No. 4, UD No. 5 and NU No. 6. If CofC and Northeastern finish tied for fifth at 10-8, the Huskies are No. 5 and the Cougars No. 6 (based on a sweep of the head-to-head series).

COUGARS ON THE AIRWAVES
Fans can listen to all CofC men's basketball games throughout the 2019-20 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 TD Arena along with color analyst Danny Johnson on the College of Charleston Radio Network.

PROJECTED COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON STARTERS
#10 Zep Jasper, G, 6-1, 175, So. (7.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 30.0 min)
#1 Grant Riller, G, 6-3, 190, Sr. (21.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.0 apg, 33.4 min)
#2 Brevin Galloway, G, 6-2, 215, Jr. (11.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, 29.8 min)
#24 Jaylen McManus, F, 6-7, 230, Sr. (8.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.5 apg, 26.7 min)
#20 Sam Miller, F, 6-9, 240, Sr. (8.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 23.4 min)

PROJECTED DREXEL STARTERS
#11 Camren Wynter, G, 6-2, 175, So. (16.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 5.2 apg, 36.2 min)
#5 Zach Walton, G, 6-6, 205, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.6 apg, 27.4 min)
#15 Matey Juric, G, 5-11, 193, So. (5.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 23.7 min)
#21 Mate Okros, F, 6-6, 193, Fr. (5.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 23.8 min)
#51 James Butler, F, 6-8, 242, Jr. (13.6 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 2.2 apg, 32.6 min)

SERIES HISTORY
College of Charleston leads 12-6 in the all-time series with Drexel. The Cougars have won five of the last six contests in the series. Last year, the Dragons ended CofC's 22-game home-court winning streak with a one-point victory (79-78) on Jan. 10, 2019 at TD Arena.

LAST 10 GAMES IN THE SERIES
W, 76-65 (+11) on Dec. 28, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pa.
W, 73-61 (+12) on March 10, 2019 in North Charleston, S.C.^
W, 86-84 (+2) on Feb. 9, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pa.
L, 78-79 (-1) on Jan. 10, 2019 at Charleston, S.C.
W, 66-59 (+7) on March 4, 2018 at North Charleston, S.C.^
W, 89-67 (+22) on Feb. 10, 2018 at Charleston, S.C.
L, 82-87 OT (-5) on Jan. 5, 2018 at Philadelphia, Pa.
W, 80-67 (+13) on Feb. 25, 2017 at Charleston, S.C.
W, 90-76 (+14) on Jan. 28, 2017 at Philadelphia, Pa.
W, 60-38 (+22) on Feb. 6, 2016 at Charleston, S.C.
^ CAA Tournament

CAA CHAMPIONSHIP AHEAD
The 2020 Hercules Tires CAA Men's Basketball Championship will make its debut in Washington, D.C., on March 7-10, at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. The new state-of-the-art facility is home to the WNBA champion Washington Mystics and also serves as the official practice facility for the Washington Wizards. For additional information on the CAA Men's Basketball Championship, visit www.CAASports.com.

DELAWARE RECAP
College of Charleston 80, Delaware 71
• For the third-straight game, College of Charleston went with the starting five of Zep Jasper, Grant Riller, Brevin Galloway, Jaylen McManus and Sam Miller (11-7).
• With the win, College of Charleston won its ninth-straight game in the all-time series with Delaware. The Cougar swept the Blue Hens for the fourth-straight season and improved to 12-5 all-time in the series.
• Grant Riller recorded a game-high 24 points and dished out a team-high six assists against Delaware. He moved past Carlos Yates of George Mason (1981-85) for third all-time in the CAA record books in career scoring. Riller has now tabulated 2,423 career points to date. It marked his 16th 20-point game of the season.
• Brevin Galloway reached double figures for the 18th time this season with 19 points (all in the second half) on 4-of-7 shooting from long range against the Blue Hens.
• Sam Miller was also hot from beyond the arc pouring in 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from long range versus Delaware. He also brought down a team-high eight rebounds in the victory.
• The Cougars scored a whopping 52 points in the second half of play – the most this season in a single half.
• CofC's 80 points was the fifth-highest scoring output in a game this season.
• Charleston took care of the ball only committing five turnovers versus UD – tied for the second fewest this season in a single game.

COUGAR SOUND BITES
"Grant, Jaylen, Sam and Zach – it will be an emotional day. Grant was one of my first recruits. He was one of the first guys to say, 'yes, I'm coming to the College of Charleston.' For him to be here for five years, stay loyal, don't look to transfer or test the NBA Draft last year and graduate in May. That's special. I'm really happy for all of them. A guy like Zach was a manager and he worked his way up to a walk-on. I hope the fans will show up and send our guys off in a special way. We have to game plan and come up with the best recipe for this next game. It will be another challenge." – CofC Head Coach Earl Grant on Senior Day and getting ready to play Drexel with a short turnaround

"We knew going into the game we were going to play other people. Early in the game, Brenden Tucker and Quan McCluney, they went in early for Grant and Brevin. I wanted to watch minutes. I didn't want to play guys 38 minutes. That has been part of our issue. I wanted to trust the bench more and that's what we did. Grant played 33 which was the most out of anybody on our team. I thought it was a total team effort and a collection of guys stepping up and helping us find a way to win." – Coach Grant on playing his bench against Delaware

"I told our guys, 'we've been down, but we don't have to be out.' If you watch a boxing match, those guys get knocked down a lot, so you keep getting back up. I think getting knocked down and getting back up is a good thing. It can build endurance in you. This next game against Drexel is going to be a challenge. We want to play good basketball heading into the CAA Tournament. You give yourself the best chance in D.C., by playing successful before you go there." – Grant on keeping the locker room positive to close out the regular season on a high note

"There might be (tears) and there might not. At the end of the day, it's going to be an emotional day for me. Regardless if I show it or not." – Senior Guard Grant Riller on his last regular-season game at TD Arena