MBB: App State Visits Coastal Carolina in Border Battle Thursday

Jan. 10, 2023

Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@ap******.edu)

Online: https://appstatesports.com/news/2024/1/10/mens-basketball-app-state-visits-coastal-carolina-in-border-battle-thursday.aspx

Game Notes: Attached 

CONWAY, S.C. – Coming off the team’s first loss in the Sun Belt portion of their schedule, the App State Mountaineers (11-4, 2-1 SBC) look to bounce back against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (4-10, 1-2 SBC) as the team continues its season-high four-game road trip at the HTC Center on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+. 
 
App State will look to win its second Sun Belt Conference road game in its first three tries on Thursday in Conway. The Mountaineers have opened their Sun Belt road schedule by winning two of their first three road contests two previous times under head coach Dustin Kerns, with the last occurrence coming in 2021-22. The Mountaineers have won two of their first three conference road games just three times since 2010. 
 
Despite a loss in its last contest, App State has started the season winning 11 of their first 15 games, marking the best 15-game start to a season since the 2006-07 team won 12 of 15 games to start their season. The Mountaineers’ 11-4 start matches the second-best 15-game start to a season since the turn of the 21st century. 
 
Additionally, the Mountaineers come into play on Thursday having won 10 of its last 12 games, which is the best 12-game stretch in a season since Buzz Peterson’s squad won 10 of 12 games in the 2009-10 season. App State’s current 12-game stretch is tied for the second-best stretch posted by the Mountaineers this century with only the 2006-07 team having a better 12-game stretch (11 of 12). 
 
The Matchup 

• Who: App State at Coastal Carolina
• Where: HTC Center // Conway, S.C.
• When: Thursday, Jan. 11 // 7 p.m. 

 
Tune In

• Watch: ESPN+
• Listen: 97.3 WKBC, 96.5/1450 WATA, 790/93.7 WETB, 1250/103.9 WBRM
• Live Stats: appstatesports.com 

 
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers fell to the Troy Trojans 62-66 on the road last Saturday, despite a hearty comeback effort in the final minutes. It was the Mountaineers’ first loss in the Sun Belt this season and the first true road loss since Nov. 14. 
 
Two players notched double-figure scoring nights for the Mountaineers against the Trojans. On his 22nd birthday, CJ Huntley led the team in scoring with 13 points on 5-6 shooting, marking the second straight contest that Huntley has recorded a double-digit scoring game off the bench. Tre’Von Spillers recorded his seventh consecutive game reaching double-figures, tallying 11 points. 
 
Scouting the Mountaineers
The Mountaineers enter play against Coastal Carolina at 11-4 and have won 10 of their last 12 games. App State is one of just two teams in the Sun Belt Conference with at least 10 wins coming into play on Thursday. 
 
App State’s complementary style of play has led to nine double-digit wins and five wins by at least 20 points this season. Both numbers lead the Sun Belt. Because of this, the Mountaineers enter play against the Chanticleers with the second-best scoring margin in the Sun Belt and the 38th-best in the country at 13.5. App State pairs the lowest-scoring defense in the conference with the sixth-highest scoring offense to get to that number. 
 
Offensively, the Mountaineers boast a deep team that takes care of the basketball and scores at an efficient clip. Entering play against Coastal Carolina, App State owns the top assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 1.56, turning the ball over at the lowest clip in the Sun Belt while dishing out the second-most assists. Additionally, the Black & Gold sees five players score at least seven points a night while the bench unit has played a large role in the offensive production, as the second unit averages the 24th-most points a game in the country. 
 
Defensively, the Black & Gold play stifling defense and block shots at one of the best rates in the country. Entering play on Thursday, App State boasts the best blocks per game average in the NCAA, blocking a shot on an astounding 14.9 percent of its defensive possessions, according to KenPom. Two of the five best shot blockers in the Sun Belt reside in the App State front court in Justin Abson and Tre’Von Spillers. Abson ranks fifth in the country in blocks (40) and sits sixth in blocks per game (2.7). 
 
Scouting the Chanticleers
Coastal Carolina is 4-10 on the season and comes into Thursday’s contest with App State having lost four of their last five games. The lone Chanticleer win in their last five games came last Thursday against Texas State in San Marcos. 
 
The Chanticleers see three players average double-figures in Kylan Blackman, Jacob Meyer and John Ojiako. Ojiako enters play against the Mountaineers as the only player in the Sun Belt to average a double-double, as the Lagos, Nigeria, native scores 12.6 points a game while pulling down 10.4 boards a night. 
 
After 49 seasons and 831 career wins at the Division I level, the Chanticleers’ legendary head coach Cliff Ellis stepped down on Dec. 6 after 17 seasons. Interim head coach Benny Moss took over the program after Ellis’ resignation after spending the previous 12 seasons as an assistant under Ellis. In his career, Moss is 42-78 as a head coach at the Division I level. 
 
Series History 
The Mountaineers and Chanticleers will meet for the 15th time on Thursday and will be the first of two meetings between the two squads this season. App State leads the all-time series 10-4, but the series has been close historically as 10 of the 14 matchups have been decided by less than 10 points. App State has won five of the last six contests in the series. 
 
The two teams split the season series last year with each team winning at home. The last time the two teams squared off was last January, with Coastal Carolina picking up an 84-93 overtime win. Two current Mountaineers notched double-figures in Conway last January in Donovan Gregory and Terence Harcum. Gregory tallied 19 points, nine assists and four steals in 42 minutes. 
 
Although Kerns has never faced Coastal Carolina head coach Benny Moss, Kerns is 6-2 against the Chanticleers in his career, which is tied for the second-most wins against a single opponent in Kerns’ head coaching career. Moss has coached against the Mountaineers three times, all coming while he was at UNC Charlotte from 2000-06. He is 2-1 in his career against the Black & Gold. 
 
Next Up
App State will cap off their season-high four-game road trip on Saturday with a journey to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on the James Madison Dukes at Atlantic Union Bank Center. The Dukes received the third-most votes in this week’s AP Poll for unranked teams, marking the second time this season that App State will face a team receiving votes in the AP Poll. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.

—

App State Athletics Strategic Communications
425 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, NC, 28608
www.appstatesports.com