PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team travels to Washington, DC to face George Washington University on Friday, November 18. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the Charles E. Smith Center.
The duel with the Colonials represents the second straight road game in the span of five days for the Hawks, with their last coming on Monday, November 14 against UNC Charlotte.
UMES will get a reprieve from the road trips after their date with George Washington, returning home to face Marist on November 22.
Last Time Out
The Hawks failed to find their flow on offense in Monday's contest in Charlotte, falling to the 49ers 80-47.
The Hawks opened the game with a 7-4 advantage with 17:44 on the first half clock. Charlotte responded with a 17-2 run over the next 3:48, leading 23-9 with 12:49 to go.
Later in the half, the 49ers built a 12-0 run spanning nearly five and a half minutes of the half. The teams split the remainder of the opening half 4-4 on their way to the halftime score of 41-18.
Charlotte held the Hawks to a 7-of-26 shooting clip in the first. UMES got to the line 12 times in the second half and made all 12, but failed to close the gap in the loss.
Da'Shawn Phillip had his best offensive performance of the year against the Niners, tying his career-high with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting and three made three-pointers.
Zion Styles was second on the squad with 13 points, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.
The History
The Hawks and Colonials have faced five times over the years, most recently on November 11, 2016. George Washington came out of that matchup with the victory, 75-71.
Led by then-head coach Bobby Collins, the Hawks were headlined by senior Bakari Copeland. Copeland totaled 21 points including a 14-point effort in the second half and four rebounds in the contest.
Ryan Andino and Thomas Rivera also topped double-digits in the contest. Andino nailed a key shot during an attempted Hawk comeback in the second half to cut the deficit to four, but it was not enough to give UMES the win.
All five contests between the squads have been claimed by the Colonials. Friday night will be head coach
Jason Crafton's first meeting against George Washington with the program.
Scouting the Colonials
George Washington enters Friday night's action following their first defeat of the new season. They lost by a score of 85-80 on the road against Hofstra on Monday, November 14.
After falling behind 48-37 at the break, the Colonials mounted a second-half comeback effort on the back of a career-high 44 points from James Bishop IV but came up short. Prior to this contest, the Colonials record home wins over Virginia State and fellow-MEAC school Howard on November 7 and 11, respectively.
"We've got to try to find a way, which many people haven't been able to do, to slow down Bishop," head coach
Jason Crafton said. "He's a lefty, he's tough and had 44 points against Hofstra. We've got to find a way to contain him."
Bishop leads the team averaging 25.3 points and has a team-high 19 assists through the first three games. On the glass, forward Ricky Lindo Jr. pulls in a team-best 9.7 rebounds per contest while averaging just over 8 points per game as well.
"Their forwards hit the glass extremely hard, Ricky Lindo especially is extremely aggressive on the glass," Crafton said. "All their forwards are high-motor, good athletes, so it's going to start with trying to contain Bishop and it continues with trying to neutralize their bigs on the glass."
The Colonials are led by first-year head coach Chris Caputo. Caputo's last stop before Foggy Bottom was in Miami, where he served as the associate head coach beginning in 2015.
After a disappointing result in Charlotte, the Hawks are looking for an improved showing on both sides of the ball in DC on Friday night.
"I really want to see us compete defensively," Crafton said. "We haven't been playing as hard as I'd like to see us play defensively. That's going to be the theme of this game, to be aggressive and rebound."
The game, beginning at 7 p.m., will be streamed on ESPN+. To watch, visit
https://es.pn/3JyuDaF.
