HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team heads south to resume South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday in a road test against the Coker Cobras.
Winning Start to the Week
- Catawba took down Livingstone, 88-78, on Monday night, opening the three-game week in a positive manner
- The blue and white out-rebounded the Blue Bears 36-27, possessed a 10-2 edge in second-chance scoring, and led 13-4 off fast breaks
- Kris Robinson drained five three-pointers in an 18-point outing that included four assists and two steals from the senior guard
- Ibra Athie supplied 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, tallying his fourth double-double of the season
- Jalen Hilliard doubled his previous career high in scoring with nine points while recording the squad's best plus/minus at +15
Sharpshooting Solomon
- Solomon Tucker went 3-for-3 from the field on Monday night, marking his fifth flawless performance
- The Charlotte native holds a team-best 71.0 percent shooting percentage; that value balloons to 76.9 percent (20-of-26) since Dec. 4
- Tucker has a knack for drawing fouls as well, earning 14 attempts at the free-throw line in the past two games with a 63.3 percent clip for the year
Battle of the Swipers
- Catawba boasts the conference's top steals per game tally of 11.9 which also ranks eighth nationwide
- Winning the turnover battle has been the Catawba Indians' M.O. thus far as the blue and white stack up first in the SAC for turnovers forced per game (17.6) and turnover margin (4.6)
- Catawba will visit another program that specializes in thievery on Wednesday as the Coker Cobras have the league's second-best marks in the same three categories Catawba leads
- The Coker offense, bolstered by additional possessions generated by 10.6 takeaways per game, nets an average of 107.4 points per matchup to land second nationally
All-Time Series
- The blue and white have had Coker's number historically with a 20-4 series record and currently maintain a four-game winning streak while taking 15 of the last 16 meetings
- Catawba is 8-2 in the series as visitors, collecting victories in each of the last six trips to Hartsville
- Coker fell victim to Catawba in the opening round of the SAC Tournament in Rock Hill, S.C. by an 87-77 margin less than a month after engaging in a 115-108 shootout at Goodman Arena
Scouting the Cobras
- Coker comes into the contest with an 11-3 record after enduring a two-game skid with losses to Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial
- The high-flying Cobras started the campaign piping hot, going 8-0 while scoring over 100 points in each tilt; C-N and LMU returned the favor, both surpassing the century mark as Coker was held below it
- The last two setbacks caused Coker to fall out of the NABC Coaches' Poll released Tuesday, but the Cobras have the second-most votes among unranked teams
- Five players average double-figure scoring led by freshman Max Hurray (14.4 PPG), whose three-point percentage of 40.7 is fourth in the SAC, and Ian Blue (14.3 PPG), who shoots it well from the field (54.3) and at the charity stripe (77.6)
Follow Along
Tune in to the live broadcast on FloCollege and/or follow the stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.
