By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | WATCH | LISTEN | STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. --Â After a hard-fought game at Connecticut Thursday, the Morehead State men's basketball team will take on Syracuse Saturday at 7 p.m. ETÂ from the Carrier Dome. The game is the second for the Eagles in the 2K Empire Classic.
The Eagles (1-1) were in the contest until the final horn at UConn. Syracuse opened the 2K Classic with its season opener Tuesday, defeating Eastern Washington 64-36.
The game will air on the ACC Network Extra and on the Watch ESPN app. Chuck Mraz and Dean Hardin have the radio call on WIVY-96.3 FM.
GAME NOTES
THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE
Morehead State and Syracuse have only met twice, with the first coming in the 1983 NCAA Tournament in Hartford, Conn. The other meeting came at Syracuse in 1987 with the Orangemen (at that time) winning both.
VERSUS THE ACC
Morehead State is 15-39 all-time against teams from the current Atlantic Coast Conference lineup. A majority of that came against Louisville where MSU is 13-29 all-time.
STILL DRAINING TRIPLES
Morehead State has made at least one three-pointer in 374 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 13, 2007 when the Eagles had an 0-for-17 day versus Jacksonville State.
MYSTIQUE OF MALEK
Sophomore forward
Malek Green, who nly had seven double-figure scoring games in 2017-18, has rewached that mark in both games so far in 2018-19, including a career-best 18 against KCU. Green has also been hard to defend, shooting 68 percent (15-of-22) in the opening two games.
THE 2K EMPIRE CLASSIC
The Syracuse game is the second for the Eagles in the 2018 2K Empire Classic. MSU also played UConn Thursday and then Missouri-Kansas City and Green Bay or Eastern Washington next weekend.
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UCONN GAME RECAP
Senior forward
Lamontray Harris posted his ninth career double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while senior guard
A.J. Hicks dished off a career best nine assists as the Morehead State men's basketball team battled Connecticut for the entire 40 minutes before falling 80-70 at a sold-out Gampel Pavilion Thursday in a 2K Empire Classic game. Besides Harris, the Eagles had four others reach double-figures in the point column. Sophomore forward
Malek Green chipped in 14, while junior guard
Jordan Walker shrugged off foul trouble and still scored 13. Sophomore guard De'von Cooper drilled a trifecta of triples and scored 11, while sophomore forward
James Baker came off the bench for 10 - tying his career high – with just his second career double-figure performance.
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HARRIS COMING INTO HIS OWN
Senior forward
Lamontray Harris registered his ninth double-double at UConn. Last season, Harris posted four straight double-doubles from Jan. 11 to Jan. 20. He is also hitting 58 percent of his shots so far in 2018-19 and is a career 80 percent free throw shooter.
EARNING HIS STRIPES
Junior guard
Jordan Walker nailed 30 consecutive free throws from Nov. 30-Jan. 4 last season. So, in fact Walker never missed a free throw in the month of December, going 23-of-23 in six games. For his career, Walker is a 77 percent free throw shooter (129-of-168). He is 8-of-9 this season.
DISHING DIMES
Senior guard
A.J. Hicks ranks second in the OVC with 7.5 assists per game. He now has 137 assists in 131 career games (4.4 per game).
BAKER COOKING UP SOME SOLID STUFF
Sophomore forward
James Baker canned a pair of three-pointers and tallied 10 points at UConn. That effort tied his career high for points. In fact, Baker only had one double-figure game in his freshmen season.
