GAME PREVIEW: Hawks travel to Temple to open season on Monday night


PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -  The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team opens up the 2023-2024 season on the road at Temple University on Monday night. The Hawks and the Owls will tip-off the season inside the Liacouras Center at 7:30 pm.


PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS: Coming off last year's 10-20 overall record and 5-9 mark in the MEAC, the Hawks were picked to finish fourth in the eight team MEAC standings. The predicted order of finish is as follows:

1. Norfolk State
2. Howard
3. Morgan State
4. Maryland Eastern Shore
5. Coppin State
6. North Carolina Central
7. Delaware State
8. South Carolina State


ALL-TIME SERIES: Monday is the third all-time matchup between the Owls and the Hawks with the teams splitting the previous two.

 
THE LAST TIME OUT: UMES beat the Owls, 86-78, in December of last year. UMES found themselves trailing 16-7 with 14:10 on the first half clock. What followed was a 26-9 Hawk run spanning nearly seven minutes of clock to give the good guys a 33-25 advantage with just under eight minutes left in the first.
 

Temple narrowed the gap and took the lead going into the intermission, 45-43, but the Hawks took the punch and swung back with a 24-13 stretch to open the second half. Over that run, UMES sunk nine of their 13 shots from the floor (69.2 percent) and made four threes. The Owls rallied to make a game of it late, but had to resort to the foul game. The Hawks logged a pair of successful trips to the stripe to secure the win. The Hawks played their best three-point shooting game of the season, knocking down nearly 46 percent (11 of 24) of their shots from beyond the arc. UMES also set a new season-high for assists, logging 20 in the game.
 

The Hawks outrebounded Temple 40-29 on the evening, their third 40+ rebound game of the year. They also topped 10 steals for the seventh time this season, nabbing 10 Owl passes. Da'Shawn Phillip scored a career-high 18 points, leading all scorers in the win and shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Nathaniel Pollard Jr. tallied his second double-double in as many games, posting 14 points and 10 boards while tying his career-mark in assists (five). Tuka Nugent came off the bench, scoring 13 points with two threes and bringing in four rebounds in 16 minutes on the floor. Jojo Anderson did the very same, tying his career-high with six dimes in 14 minutes.
 

Kevon Voyles and Chace Davis each scored 11, with Davis burying a game-high three three-pointers. Ahamadou Fofana did a little bit of everything for UMES, scoring 8 points while collecting four steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists. 



MEAC PREDICTIONS: The Hawks were picked to finish fifth in the eight team MEAC standings. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
 
School                                        Votes/Points
1. Howard (11)                            107
2. Norfolk State (1)                     96
3. North Carolina Central            79
4. Morgan State (2)                     72
5. Maryland Eastern Shore         55
6. Delaware State                        39
7. Coppin State                           30
8. South Carolina State               26
 


DAVIS NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MEAC FIRST TEAM: The top returning scorer from last season, UMES junior guard Chace Davis was named to the Third Team Preseason All-Conference after he tallied 7.5 points per game and shot 37.5 percent from three-point range last year.



ROSTER BREAKDOWN: The Hawks return SIX players from last year's roster and welcome seven new players to the program. Returners include, Toby Nnadozie, Chace Davis, Dionte Johnson, Damani Claxton, Victory Naboya and Troy Hupstead. Davis and Hupstead logged the most action of the six returners from last season. Newcomers include transfers Elijah Wilson (Univ. of Toledo), Tyler Mack (Henry Ford CC), Devon Ellis (State Fair CC), Malang Athian (Cloud County CC), Israel Yaw (ASA College), and Kelechi Okworogwo (Austin Peay) along with freshmen Antwan Wilson (Wicomico HS/Salisbury, Maryland). This year's team is without a senior on the roster and will look to Davis and Hupstead along with others to step into key leadership positions.


COACHING STAFF: Jason Crafton enters his fifth season as the head basketball coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Crafton led a 2022-23 Hawks program that finished 18-13, resulting in the school's best win percentage (.581) in 40 years and the most wins in a season of Crafton's UMES coaching career. The team broke last season's school records in steals (345) and steals-per-game (11.1). The Hawks ranked No. 1 in the nation in steals per game along with turnovers forced (19.0). Crafton guided the Hawks to a 10-3 record at William P. Hytche Athletic Center, the best home mark for the program since the 1973-74 season. The team also logged significant non-conference wins at Temple on December 20 and Columbia on December 28. The Hawks finished the first half of MEAC play at 6-1, the best Division I record to open league play in 50 years. Under Crafton, forward Nathaniel Pollard Jr. was named to the All-MEAC Second Team and guard Zion Styles received All-MEAC Third Team and All-Defensive Team honors. Pollard was also named to the 2023 HBCU All-Star Game in Houston, Texas. Crafton was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Coach of the Year award, recognizing the top Division I minority coach annually.


Kassim Kaba enters his second season at UMES as an assistant. Kaba was an assistant at Raritan Valley Community College before coming to the Hawks. He has also coached on the grassroots level with the NJ Beasts 16u and 17u teams working with recruiting and game strategies. The Newark, New Jersey native played college basketball at Raritan Valley Community College and American International College. He graduated from American International in 2018 with a degree in criminal justice.


Newcomers to the Hawk staff include veteran Keith Coutreyer and Steve Howard. Coutreyer, who was hired in August, is a long-time Mid-Atlantic regional coach with his most recent coaching stop as an assistant at Hampton University. Prior to Hampton, he spent 10 years as part of the coaching staff at Howard University. Howard was hired in October and comes to UMES after serving as a player development assistant with the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G-League.


NEXT UP: After Monday night's contest, the Hawks will turn their focus towards Saturday's home opener against Cairn at 3 pm.


FOLLOW MONDAY NIGHT'S HOOPS ACTION: Monday night's game will be show live on ESPN+. Follow the Hawks on X and Instagram for in-game updates (@UMESHawkSports).