The Game: Towson Tigers (7-7, 0-1 CAA) vs. UNCW Seahawks (9-4, 0-1 CAA)
When: Saturday, January 6 – 2:00 p.m.
Where: TU Arena – Towson, Md.
Broadcast: Broadcast on Monumental Sports Network & FloHoops, Audio broadcast on TowsonTigers.com (Spiro Morekas & Jimmy Patsos)
Series: UNCW leads 25-22
TOWSON, Md. – Towson men's basketball will make their home Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) debut against UNCW on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers are coming off a 51-43 loss at Monmouth to open CAA play on Thursday.
Christian May led the Tigers with 12 points with
Charles Thompson adding 12 rebounds.
Saturday's contest will be Mascot Mania with local mascots coming to TU Arena and will scrimmage at halftime. The first 150 kids 12 and under will receive a free Tiger plushie.
The game against the Seahawks will air on Monumental Sports Network and FloHoops with the audio broadcast will be on TowsonTigers.com with Spiro Morekas and Jimmy Patsos on the call.
This will be the 47
th all-time meeting between the two schools. Towson has won the last two meetings and have won seven of the last nine dating back to 2019. This will be the first meeting in Towson since 2022.
LEADER OF THE PACK:
The reigning Skip Prosser Man of the Year,
Pat Skerry enters his 13
th season on the sidelines leading the Tigers. Skerry and the Tigers are coming off another 20-win season that saw Towson reach the Coast Athletic Association (CAA) Semifinals, finishing third in the standings during the regular season.
The Massachusetts native has rebuilt the Tiger program, which has the highest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the CAA. Over the last ten seasons, Towson has won 18+ games seven times. He currently has 199 wins at Towson and can become just the third head coach to win 200 games at Towson.
Skerry has used his platform as a head coach to start Autism Awareness in college basketball. What started as two guys with an idea has turned into a national event where hundreds of coaches wear the prominent blue puzzle piece pin. The effort put forth by Skerry was recognized as he was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game Service Award.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
The Tigers have been amongst the nation's best on the offensive glass in 2023-24. Towson ranks second in offensive rebounding at 16.5 per game. They also rank 10
th in rebound margin, outrebounding opponents by just under 12 per game.
Head coach
Pat Skerry became the third coach in program history to record 200 wins with the Tigers in a 97-46 win against Arcadia on December 30. Skerry is just two wins behind Terry Truax for second and 31 behind Vince Angotti for the all-time record at Towson.
GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN:
The Tigers return eight players from last season's 20-win team that reached the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) semifinals led by graduate student
Charles Thompson and sophomore
Christian May. Thompson enters his fifth season with the Tigers after being named to the CAA All-Defensive Team for the third straight season and All-CAA Second Team for the second consecutive season.
In addition to May and Thompson, juniors
Rahdir Hicks and
Tyler Coleman, redshirt freshmen
Dylan Williamson and
Cole Paar, graduate student
Chase Paar and redshirt junior
Brandon Held will suit up again for the Tigers in 2023-24.
CHARLES IN CHARGE:
The big man in the middle for the Tigers,
Charles Thompson, is back for his fifth season at Towson and is looking to cap his prolific career by leading the Tigers to a CAA championship. Thompson is coming off another strong campaign that saw him earn CAA All-Defensive Team and All-CAA Second Team honors last season after averaging 12.2 ppg and 8.0 rpg shooting 56.5 percent from the floor.
Thompson ranks in the top 10 in program history in six different categories. He is currently third in field goal percentage (.555), fourth in blocked shots (172), fourth in rebounds (847), tied for first in games played (131), sixth in minutes played (3,311), sixth in starts (97) and is 21st in scoring (1,153).
WELCOME TO TOWSON:
Towson will welcome seven newcomers for the 2023-24 season that includes three freshman and four transfers.
Marcus Watson,
Nendah Tarke and
Messiah Jones join the Tigers from Division I programs with
Tomiwa Sulaiman joining the Tigers from Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Jones joins the Tigers after a four-year career at Wofford where he played in 93 games, shooting 63 percent from the floor and being named to the All-SoCon Freshman Team and SoCon Academic Honor Roll. Watson comes from CAA rival North Carolina A&T where he averaged 13.4 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game in 61 total games with the Aggies. Tarke made the short trek up to Towson from nearby Coppin State where he was a three-time All-MEAC performer and led the nation in steals during the 2021-22 season.
Sulaiman spent three seasons at IUP, earning PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 2022 and All-PSAC West First Team honors last season. During his career with the Crimson Hawks, Sulaiman led the team to a pair of PSAC titles and an NCAA DII Final Four appearance.
Jaiden Cole,
Mekhi Lowery and
Tyler Tejada will be making their collegiate debut for the Tigers in 23-24, all coming off prolific prep careers. Cole comes from the NBA Academy Latin America after leaving at the eighth-highest scorer in academy history. Lowery left his mark at Oswego East High School as the program's all-time leading rebounder and as a nominee for the McDonald's All-American game. Tejada was a three-time all-league player at Teaneck High School, earning All-New Jersey Second Team honors last season.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE:
Towson has had a major home court advantage over the last nine years at TU Arena. Since moving into the arena from the Towson Center in 2013, the Tigers have gone 97-41, including a 27-4 record in the last two plus years. Towson has had a winning record in home games in seven of the nine seasons, including winning the 2022 CAA regular season title against Delaware at home.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE:
The Tigers will play eight total regular season games in front of a national television audience including four Coastal Athletic Association games in January and February. The Tigers will play Elon (February 12, 9 p.m.) and Charleston (February 24, 12 p.m.) on CBS Sports Network at TU Arena and will be on the road on CBS Sports Network against Delaware (January 27, 2 p.m.) and Hofstra (February 3, 6 p.m.).
In addition to the CBS Sports Network games, Towson will open the season on Pac 12 Network against Colorado and will have all three games at the Charleston Classic air on the ESPN family of networks.
The Tigers will also air on local linear television with seven home games on Monumental Sports Network (formerly NBC Sports Washington) as well as their game against UMBC on MASN. Towson also announced on December 14 that three games (Jan. 25 vs. Drexel, Feb. 8 vs. Delaware, Feb. 22 vs. Monmouth) will also air on MeTV, a digital subchannel of WBAL.
CAA OUTLOOK:
Charles Thompson earned his second consecutive All-CAA Preseason First Team honor. The graduate student is coming off a season that saw Thompson earn All-CAA Second Team and All-Defensive Team honors for the second straight year in 2022-23. The Fort Washington native had his best season as a Tiger last season averaging 12.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg with 56 blocks and 29 steals. He shot 56.5 percent from the floor in just under 30 minutes per game.
Charleston was chosen as the preseason favorite with 10 first-place votes. UNCW and Drexel also garnered first-place votes with three and one respectively. Hofstra was picked just ahead of Towson and Delaware in fourth. Northeastern, William & Mary, Stony Brook and Elon rounded out the top ten with Monmouth, Campbell, Hampton and North Carolina A&T completing the 14-team field.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
UNCW comes to Towson at 9-4, 0-1 CAA after a 78-63 loss at Drexel on Thursday night. The Seahawks trailed by just two at the break but got outscored 42-29 in the second half en route to their second straight loss. The Seahawks have four players averaging double figures led by Trazarien White at 19.9 ppg. White is also the team's leading rebounder at 5.8 per game and is shooting 54.7 percent from the floor. Shykeim Phillips is just behind him at 14.3 ppg with Maleeck Harden-Hayes (10.6) and KJ Jenkins (10.1) also in double figures.
UP NEXT:
Towson will stay home to take on Stony Brook on Thursday, Jan. 11. Tipoff with the Seawolves is slated for 7 p.m. and will air on FloHoops with Spiro Morekas and Jimmy Patsos on the call.
