PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore gets another chance to pick up its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference victory of the season on Saturday when they play at South Carolina State.

"I looked at the numbers from the last game and I couldn't believe it," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "Even looking back at stats from Norfolk until now, we have been losing by the numbers. You look at the rebounds, points, turnovers — it's not any of that. It's just all shooting percentages."

The frontcourt play has been strong since conference play began, however the same can't be said for the backcourt play.

"I don't think I have ever seen three games of statistics this bad," Batchelor said. "So we are going to make some changes. We have to make some changes to change the results. We aren't going to be able to focus on becoming better shooters in the next week."

The Hawks (4-13, 0-3 MEAC) will be looking to try and use defense to create offense and help spark a stagnant shooting percentage during this five-day road trip which will also see them face North Carolina Central on Monday (Jan. 23).

"We have to change the way we play," Batchelor said. "We have to stay motivated. One thing is that I have seen us be better focused on the road than at home. I think it may be that we are getting away from distractions.

"I'm not really sure because usually your young teams play better at home. I think they are distracted easily as a team at home and I think that may not just be youth, but a little bit of immaturity as well. They are good kids, just a young and inexperienced group. I don't think I ever had a team before where I didn't have one kid who is in their fourth year playing."

The Bulldogs (1-15, 0-1 MEAC) missed two conference games so far for health reasons and are off to a slow start overall in the first year for head coach Tim Eatman. But Batchelor knows that doesn't mean his team can take South Carolina State lightly, especially on the road.

"If we don't play against anyone with a sense of urgency and a mentality that they are better than us and we have to work for it — I don't care who it is — we are not going to be successful," Batchelor said. "I saw that early on with this team. This is really a team which could lose to any team in our league and beat any team in our league.

"That's a different type of team and I don't know if I have ever had a team like that."