Coppin State Eagles

Date: Saturday December 9th, 2023
Time: 6:00 PM ET
Venue: Charles E. Smith Center
TV: ESPN+
Analytic Ranks: 360th (KenPom), 359th (EvanMiya), 360th (Haslametrics)
NET Ranking: 360th
2022-23 Record: 9-23, 4-10 (T-6th in MEAC)
2023-24 Projected Record: 5-23, 4-10 (8th in MEAC)

Head-to-Head: 5-1. GW has played Coppin in each of the past three seasons, and won all of them by an average of 13.7 ppg. In last season's matchup, GW came out on top 83-71. The Buff and Blue took a slim two point lead into halftime before pulling away in the second half. GW notably shined at the free throw line, going 17/19 (90%) and hopefully that performance can be repeated after an uncharacteristic performance against Navy the other night. GW also absolutely crushed CSU on the glass, with an impressive 42-22 advantage and also finished with 15 assists in the game. With slightly better three point shooting, the game could have been won by even more. It would have also helped a bit to not allow Coppin to shoot nearly 51% from the field. Akingbola's presence and the Eagles losing many guys from last year should theoretically lead to an improvement there going into tomorrow.

JB finished with 30 points, while BA added 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ricky had his usual productive performance in all areas except three point land (11 points, 7 rebounds). Max was still coming off the bench at that point, but he had a real breakout performance with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. I still remember the number of huge offensive boards he had in the game. The 5 assists is a career best for him. Max has had some flashes as a passer this year (a couple of passes down low to Stretch for dunks) but I feel like that part of his game hasn't been showcased enough on the year. Maybe this is a matchup for him to highlight that more. I think he has shown willingness to do so, but is still in the process of adjusting to the new guys around him.

Offensive Efficiency: 361st (KenPom), 361st (EvanMiya), 361st (Haslametrics)
Defensive Efficiency: 313th (KenPom), 317th (EvanMiya), 339th (Haslametrics)
Pace: 300th (KenPom), 218th (EvanMiya), 271st (Haslametrics)
Roster Rank: 354th (EvanMiya)
Offensive Shot Quality Rank: 358th
Defensive Shot Quality Rank: 323rd
Rim & 3 Rate: 70% (347th)

Strengths: (2022-23 Season)
3-PT Field Goals Attempted Per Game - 24.8 3PA (49th)
Free Throws Made Per Game - 14.9 FTM (T-50th)
Free Throws Attempted Per Game - 20.8 FTA (53rd)
Steals Per Game - 7.7 SPG (60th)
3-PT Field Goals Made Per Game - 8.4 3PM (71st)
Opponent Turnovers Per Game - 13.7 TO/G (93rd)
Opponent Personal Fouls Per Game - 17.7 PF/G (104th)

Weaknesses: (2022-23 Season)
Field Goal Percentage - 43.5% (247th)
Defensive Rebounds Per Game - 24 DRPG (T-248th)
Field Goals Made Per Game - 24.3 FGM (270th)
Field Goals Attempted Per Game - 56 FGA (T-275th)
Blocks Per Game - 2.5 BPG (T-278th)
Opponent Field Goal Percentage - 46.2% (318th)
Assists Per Game - 11.3 APG (320th)
Opponent Steals Per Game - 7.5 SPG (327th)
Opponent Free Throws Attempted Per Game - 21.7 FTA (337th)
Opponent 3-PT Field Goals Made Per Game - 8.9 3PM (341st)
Opponent Free Throws Made Per Game - 15.7 FTM (343rd)
Personal Fouls Per Game - 19.7 PF/G (347th)
Opponent 3-PT Field Goals Attempted Per Game - 26.2 3PA (349th)
Rebounds Per Game - 30.4 RPG (352nd)
Opponent Assists Per Game - 17.1 APG (357th)
Opponent Field Goals Attempted Per Game - 63.4 FGA (357th)
Offensive Rebounds Per Game - 6.5 ORPG (T-358th)
Opponent Defensive Rebounds Per Game - 28.1 DRPG (T-358th)
Opponent Field Goals Made Per Game - 29.3 FGM (358th)
Points Allowed Per Game - 83.2 PPG (362nd)
Opponent Offensive Rebounds Per Game - 13.3 ORPG (363rd)
Opponent Rebounds Per Game - 41.4 RPG (363rd)

Key Returning Players:
Justin Winston (RS Senior; West Orange, NJ) - 8.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg; 49% FG, 36% 3-PT, 79% FT per 17.1 mpg
      Last Season vs. GW: DNP (foot injury)

Key Losses:
Sam Sessoms (Graduated; Philadelphia, PA) - 20.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 5 apg, 2 spg; 51% FG, 35% 3-PT, 80% FT per 36.5 mpg
Nendah Tarke (Transferred to Towson; Gaithersburg, MD) - 12.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.7 spg; 43% FG, 33% 3-PT, 54% FT per 35.4 mpg
Mike Hood (Graduated; Kansas City, MO) - 9.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg; 36% FG, 35% 3-PT, 88% FT per 23.2 mpg
Justin Steers (Graduated; Philadelphia, PA) - 8.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1 apg, 1 bpg; 47% FG, 79% FT per 21.3 mpg
Kam'Ron Blue (Graduated; Greenville, SC) - 6.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg; 40% FG, 35% 3-PT, 29% FT per 24.8 mpg

Key Transfers:
Daiquan Copeland (Senior transfer from Morgan State; Philadelphia, PA) - 5.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.9 apg; 35% FG, 81% FT per 17.5 mpg
Toto Fagbenle (Senior transfer from Morgan State; London, United Kingdom) - 2.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 spg; 38% FG, 71% FT per 13.5 mpg
Zahree Harrison (Junior transfer from St. Francis PA; West Philadelphia, PA) - 1.3 ppg, 1 rpg, 1.6 apg; 33% FG, 25% FT per 7.4 mpg
Darryon Prescott (Freshman transfer from Florida International; Philadelphia, PA) - DNP (redshirt)

Preview:
The 2022-23 season marked the sixth and final year with former Maryland great/NBA player Juan Dixon at the helm at Coppin State. The initial hire back in 2017 came with quite a bit of fanfare, especially for a Coppin State program that has been mediocre at best since 1998. Since that year, the Eagles have finished above .500 just three times. Granted, it's never easy to finish with a winning record at any MEAC school when you fall behind record-wise during a grueling OOC schedule, but the Coppin program was pretty successful in the 90s which included the notable win over South Carolina in the 1997 NCAA tournament.

When Dixon took over, Coppin was a program in dire need of a reset, as the Eagles failed to win even 10 games in four of the previous five seasons at the time. Dixon knew that it would be a challenge taking on the job, but the hope was that his connections/popularity in the region would help land recruits that Coppin may never have landed otherwise. The MEAC isn't the same league either - with just eight teams remaining in the conference, a case could be made that CSU is a middle to top-end job in the league given its location. Heck, Dixon's pedigree could allow CSU to win on talent alone even if he wasn't fully there as a coach. The one strike against him was that he had been a head coach for just one year for the UDC's WBB program and on top of that went a dismal 3-25 (tied for last in the East Coast Conference).

For a number of reasons, things didn't pan out with Dixon as the leader of the program which is a shame given the hype. I still remember Maryland fans at the time hoping that things would play out well at Coppin so that Dixon could eventually take over at his alma mater (seemed like Terp fans were already tired of Turgeon's early exists in the NCAA tournament). Coppin managed just one first place MEAC finish under Dixon, and that came in the COVID year where teams like NC Central were hit badly and Norfolk State wasn't as dominant as they usually are. 

During his tenure, CSU was pretty consistently awful on the offensive end, and they didn't even rebound well enough given the number of initial shots that they missed. The Eagles shot a ton of threes, but shots hardly went in so any hope to put points up on the board came from the free throw line. Coppin was marginally better on defense, but opponents never had a difficult time getting the shots they wanted and they got infinite opportunities even if a shot was missed. I'm not sure there's been a program with a worse offensive rebounding margin than CSU under Dixon in his time there. A bunch of teams stylistically choose to not crash the offensive glass, but they are generally at least solid at preventing second chances defensively. CSU was bad at both and may have easily been the worst by a not very close margin in the country.

That's not even talking about the off the court issues where there were several. At GW, we are blessed (especially now) to have a full staff so that each member isn't responsible for a million different duties. Coppin State unfortunately doesn't have the resources/budget to be as fortunate, and that came to the forefront in their December 2021 game against Drexel, where the the team forgot to bring their actual jerseys. The oversight was partly a product of the number of buy games they were playing all over the country that I guess ensuring the jerseys get packed got lost somewhere along the way, but I believe the program has just two assistants so the director of basketball operations has to wear many hats.

Then there were issues in Dixon's personal life, with allegations of cheating on his on-again, off-again partner, Robyn. I never thought I'd ever mention The Real Housewives of Potomac of all shows in any of these previews, but here we are. Juan's wife Robyn is a star on the show and so reports of actual cheating partly came out because of that. The two were high school sweethearts, who married in the 2000s before separating, divorcing, and eventually marrying again more recently. Anyways this is a basketball preview so I'll just leave it at that and link an article that came out a couple weeks back talking about the situation. To my knowledge, Dixon is not employed as a coach right now so perhaps he gets guest spots on this season of the show. I don't watch it so I wouldn't know either way.

If it was just those two things, perhaps Dixon is given one more year to lift Coppin towards the top of the MEAC. Unfortunately, there was one even bigger story than either of those and it's perhaps the craziest story related to CBB in recent memory. Former player Ibn Williams, who spent two years with the CSU program between 2018-2020 was sexually catfished and blackmailed by an assistant coach on the team. Williams sent pictures pictures of his body to what he thought was to a woman but it was actually the assistant coach on the other end. Just crazy stuff, and that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the story. A lawsuit was filed against Dixon, the assistant coach, and the school last year and I believe CSU was dismissed from the case earlier this year. It's little surprise that dysfunction off the court led to dysfunction on it as well.

Despite what was going on behind the scenes, Dixon managed to assemble a fairly talented roster last year. The headliner was of course Sam Sessoms, who stunned many by transferring to Coppin from Penn State. It's not even that he was an end-of-bench guy for the Nittany Lions either, as he averaged 11.6 ppg at State College the season prior. I guess he wanted to get back to being "the guy" like he was when he was at Binghamton. Dixon gave him every opportunity and Sessoms responded by finishing 18th in the nation in scoring. Dixon also had Nendah Tarke returning, an all-league guy who was additionally a standout defensively in the MEAC. This duo made CSU a threat during OOC play, as the Eagles notably knocked off James Madison and Navy as well as nearly defeating Georgetown. CSU went a perfect 3-0 at home during this time. Unfortunately, things fell off the rails during conference play. A win against a poor South Carolina State team was followed by nine consecutive losses. Seven of those were by double digits, including two by an unfathomable 30+ points. It was too little, too late by the time the Eagles finished the year winning three of the last five games as the Dixon's fate was probably already sealed before that point.

Dixons dismissal begins a new dawn at Coppin. Larry Stewart, who was a player during the aforementioned time when CSU was playing at a high level in the 90s, returns to his alma mater as head coach. Like Dixon, Stewart had a lengthy NBA career which can without a doubt be used to sell to recruits. Coppin has recruited the Philadelphia area well in recent years and they should be able to continue to do so under Stewart, who hails from the City of Brotherly Love. While this will be his first rodeo as head honcho, Stewart definitely knows and understands the league as he was an assistant at the two other Maryland MEAC schools, Morgan State and Maryland Eastern Shore, with four years at each school.

It may take some time for Stewart to get things going at Coppin, but given his history as a player at the school he'll probably be given time to turn things around. It's likely that this year he will lean on former St. Bonaventure/Robert Morris wing Justin Winston who enters his second year with the program after missing roughly half the year due to a foot injury. Winston has the chance to be a force in the MEAC if he can stay healthy. He can score the ball at all three levels offensively which most players at his height cannot do in that conference. It's easy to forget that he was a key cog on that SBU squad his freshman year and looked to be the same player at RMU and CSU when healthy. He's not the best shooter from distance but is great at the line and can help out on the boards. It will be up to him to become a leader on the defensive end which is probably what cost him bigger roles at his previous schools. While he did not face GW last year, he scored 18 points between two contests against us back in 2019-20 while still at Bona. The Bonnies won both games, including one by 25 (ouch).

Four other players return from last year which helps provide at least some continuity for the program through a coaching change:

Isaiah Gross is the team's designated shooter, as over 70% of his career FG attempts have come from 3. He's not a terrible shooter either, as he's shot 36% from 3 the past two years. Gross scored six points off the bench against GW last year and showcased a nice shooting stroke. Staying healthy has been a challenge over his career, as injuries caused him to miss his true freshman year and half of last year. He has yet to play this season, which I assume must be due to injury.

Greg Spurlock isn't as much of a scoring first option (although he may end up doing more of that by default given the departures), but he helps out in other ways. He rebounds well for his height and can help move the ball on offense. The latter may be needed even more this season given all that Coppin has lost.

Malik Battle came over from Charleston Southern last year but was forced to play a much smaller role given the crowded backcourt last year. He had the ability to fill it up in his high school days at Robert S. Alexander HS near Atlanta (averaged nearly 20 a game), and he did actually shoot the 3 well in limited time at Chuck South. I'd imagine he gets on the court a lot more this year given all the departures. He started last year's game but did not score.

Finally, Slovenian big man Luka Tekavčič returns as a guy who can provide real height down low at 6'11". Tekavčič, who began his career at Oral Roberts, is pretty raw as a player on both sides of the floor but his sheer presence should help out a CSU team that was a sieve near the basket. That is, if he can show that he can earn more court time this year. Last year, Tekavčič saw two minutes in garbage time.

Thankfully not listed in the returners group is Australian Daniel Titus, who had the game of his life against GW last year with 16 points. There have been plenty of "boy did that come out of nowhere" performances against GW in the past, but what Titus did may take the cake. We are talking about a guy who coming in scored 3 points TOTAL through the first 10 games of the year. Yes, you read that right. He was averaging 0.3 ppg entering the game and put up 16 against GW. He would only finish in double figures one other time all season (which happened to be against another DC school in Howard). What Titus did really sums up the struggles GW has had defensively in recent years.

Given CSU is beginning a new era, I wouldn't be surprised to see their freshmen get a lot of run as Stewart assess who could be pieces for the future. Seven freshmen (including two-walk ons) enter the fold this year:

One of the walk-ons, Camaren Sparrow, is a local prospect for them (New Town) who is currently third on the team in scoring. While not the most efficient three point shooter, Sparrow has shown promise inside the arc, is a willing rebounder for a guard, and provides good on-ball defense.

Preist Ryan has started a handful of games and has great positional size for a guard but is still searching for consistency on the offensive end. As of right now, he's more of a high volume guy who puts up stats on a bad team.

Don Don Ferguson (interesting name) is a Minnesota native who (like many other players that hail from that state) comes in with the reputation of being a good shooter. He's 5/11 from 3 on the year, which is much needed for a CSU team that has been dreadful from deep thus far (26%).

Aa'Reyon Munir-Jones is the other freshman walk-on who plays with the toughness of a guy that grew up in Chicago. Munir-Jones is a pass-first guy who is a menace on the defensive end (second on the team in assists and steals). If he can develop a shot moving forward he will be a key piece for Coppin.

Ryan Archey is more of a penetrating guard thus far, as he's attemped just eight threes so far and has missed all of them. He'll need to improve his efficiency in order to stick out among all the freshmen Stewart has brought in.

Khali Horton is a name that may ring a bell, as GW offered him early in his recruitment under JC. I'm a bit surprised he ended up at CSU because he looked to have quite a bit of skill coming out of HS. Horton provides a unique look on a team that is dominated by mostly guards. As a stretch forward, he can step out and make a three but will need to work on attacking the basket a bit more.

Finally, Darryon Prescott enters his first year with Coppin but actually redshirted last year while at FIU. Prescott's best attribute is his height, as 7 foot tall bigs don't come around often in the MEAC. Like Tekavčič, he's a bit raw right now but if either one of those two bigs can emerge, that will give CSU a major advantage up front in league play.

In order to balance the roster out with a bit of experience, Stewart did land a few guys from the portal. It's somewhat spicy that CSU was able to land not one but two players from crosstown rival Morgan State. Daiquan Copeland has played sparingly thus far this year but averaged a respectable 5 ppg at MSU last year. He incredibly took just one three all of last year so expect him to attack the basket when in the game. London native Toto Fagbenle is an experienced interior scorer and rebounder who has taken strides forward after appearing in 16 contests last year for the Bears and starting a handful of them.

Also entering the fold for the first time are St. Francis PA transfer Zahree Harrison and JUCO guard Ronnie Williams. Harrison was a consistent role player in his first two years with the Red Flash before falling out of the rotation last year. He is yet another penetrating guard who has been a non-factor from 3. The hope is that he will take on primary ball handling responsibilities as the most experienced PG on the roster. Williams, a Tampa, FL native, played at nearby St. Petersburg College last year. That team was dreadful (just 6-23), and Williams was also not much of a factor his freshman year there outside of solid FT shooting. Still, he has good positional size which may allow him to be an effective player down the line.

I know that for the remaining OOC games on the schedule the most important thing is winning, but let's be honest - it would be a major disappointment if we don't win tomorrow's game by 20+. Coppin's roster is one of the worst in the country and they are in the running for the honor of worst CBB team in the entire nation. As long as we aren't fouling and sending them to the line, this is a squad that averages four threes a game and all but three players shoot under 30% from deep. It's just brutal all around. Their team also averages barely seven assists a game, so expect to see pickup basketball on that side of the court. Can Stretch top his blocks record from a game ago?

For this last stretch of OOC games, the focus should be on turnovers and turnovers alone. These squads we'll face take pride in turning teams over and getting any offense they can running the other way. CSU doesn't even like playing fast this year, so that should help a bit but tomorrow's game will be judged by how many times (or few) I want to pull my hair out because we're turning the ball over for stupid reasons. The good news is that the Navy game should prevent the team from coasting in the game (at least I hope so).

Projected Score: GW 80, Coppin State 61. 96% chance to win (KenPom). ESPN gives us a 91.8% chance to move to 6-0 at home.
 

GWU wins the game by halftime
i just wish they would bring the cheerleaders, dance team and the band.

10 Turnovers with 3:48 in half against Coppin… ugh!

Can’t remember ever having refs with such light whistles in the Smitty… Only 5 fouls combined?

GW wins 76-45!

ZAMOKU  WELUCHE-UME!!  nice to see him do well! great to see the back of the bench get some good minutes of play 

our KenPom rank rocketed up 10 more spots with the W.    8-2 through 10 games 

 

Last edited by The Dude (12/09/2023 9:42 pm)

Well….they had three more assists than turnovers tonight, so baby steps I guess!  We do need to figure out how to ply less sloppily before we start playing the big boys   Max can be a human turnover machine, amd we ain’t gonna get away with it in conference. Great to see some of the bench get some extended time tonight. Some good looking shots from those guys too.

There's not a lot to take from the game. Coppin State is atrocious offensively and that was even more evident with half their team out. I'm a bit confused as to why the team was slowing things down and not looking to get up and down with the major depth advantage, especially when many of the slowed down possessions resulted in a bad turnover. Still, Stretch's presence on defense is great to watch on a nightly basis. He's a monster down low.

dmvpiranha wrote:

For this last stretch of OOC games, the focus should be on turnovers and turnovers alone. These squads we'll face take pride in turning teams over and getting any offense they can running the other way. CSU doesn't even like playing fast this year, so that should help a bit but tomorrow's game will be judged by how many times (or few) I want to pull my hair out because we're turning the ball over for stupid reasons.

Unfortunately GW failed big time with turnovers. Virtually none of the turnovers were forced by Coppin either which was that much more infuriating. When Max gets to the paint, he should just go up with it instead of passing it unless Stretch/another player has an absolutely wide open lane to finish. This is true probably 9 out of 10 times. His dribble is also a tad loose at times. Garrett also drove into traffic a few times when his jumper wasn't falling. The right idea to not settle, but he doesn't need to take it on himself. These are correctable as most of the turnovers came from the young guys.

Was actually somewhat happy that JB wasn't inclined to look for his shot tonight (much like against Stonehill). I'm not sure he really needs to prove anything the rest of the way until conference play begins given the competition. Glad the young guys got plenty of time. Agree that he should look to take his midrange more even if not analytically a good shot to take.

Jacoi has definitely worked a lot on his jumper and I have confidence he can lead the offense moving forward. Trey put on a good performance in front of his dad and I liked that he crashed the glass a bit as well. Zam has a nice shot, although also had a hilarious defensive sequence where he let a Coppin player just take the ball to the hoop without contesting because he forgot to rotate. Antoine's shot looks good as well although defense is a question mark. Liked Benny's aggression on offense but also his extra effort trying to make hustle plays on defense with pressure. CC did implement a couple traps here and there but I thought GW could have done a bit more of that at times.

Is Keegan hurt? Didn't see him on the bench during the game but could be mistaken. Hope it's nothing too serious.

Finally, sending my condolences to Jun and his family. I didn't realize his grandmother passed a few days back. Credit to him for continuing to play at a high level despite the grief that I'm sure he's going through.

Next up is Bowie State. Since margin of victory doesn't matter against D2 competition, I'd be fine if we just ride with Jacoi-Trey-Max-Garrett-DBJ for the majority of the game with Zam and the walk-ons mixed in.
 

Keegan is not hurt.  He has been ill these past few days.

BM wrote:

Lots of unforced errors, but I try to keep in mind that we’re playing 3-4 freshmen at almost all times.  Were going with four freshmen and one sophomore for a bit.  It’ll bear fruit in a year or two.

At one point yesterday, we had 5 freshmen on the court (counting the red shirt freshmen as freshmen)

Hoopsfan23 wrote:

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Keegan is not hurt.  He has been ill these past few days.

Very unconfirmed but I have heard that keegan stepped away from the team.

This is not accurate.