Game 2: GMU (1-0) vs Coppin St. (0-1) on Friday, November 6, at 7:00 PM.

Patriotsince81

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
Size
Large
The game is on ESPN+.

Coppin St. opened the season with an 88-54 loss at Va Tech.

Preseason notes:
Coppin St. is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
They were picked to finish tied for 6th in preseason polls.
Brendan Johnson (transfer from Merrimack) and Tafara Gapare (transfer from Villanova) were on the “MEAC Preseason Watch List” although neither made significant contributions to their former teams.

They finished the 25-26 season with an overall record of 7-24 and finished 5-9 in conference play. They were 3-6 at home, 4-15 on the road, and 0-3 at neutral sites.

Coppin St. was 0-3 against Quad 1 teams, 0-3 against Quad 2, 0-5 against Quad 3, and 5-11 against Quad 4 teams. 2 wins against non D1 opponents.

26-27 Schedule:
KenPom: Gives us a 98% chance of winning.
GMU - 100
Coppin St. - 361
NET:
Mason - 94 last season
Coppin St. - 363 last season

History:
We are 2-0 against Coppin St. all-time. We beat them 91-53 on 12/23/22 and 93-55 on 11/20/24.

Returning players:
6’6” Josiah Brown - 1.7 ppg & .8 reb in 6 minutes per game - Junior
6’5” Hussain Williams - made 7 starts last year - 7.3 ppg & 2.4 reb - Senior
6’4” Baasil Saunders - 16 starts last year - 3.2 ppg & 1.9 reb - Senior
6’4” Daveyon Lydner - made 3 starts - 2.3 ppg & .9 reb & 1.6 assists - Sophomore
6’4” Camaren. Sparrow - made 3 starts - 5.6 ppg, 3.3 reb, & 1.1 assists - Senior
6’5” Jamari Piercy - 6/8 ppg & 2.3 reb - Senior
6’9” Nelson Lamizana - made 5 starts - 6.6 ppg & 3.0 reb - Sophomore
6’9” Tyler Koenig - made 21 starts - 5.3 ppg & 3.8 reb - Senior

Transfers:
6’4” Brendan Johnson from Merrimack - only played 33 minutes - Sophomore
6’11” Favour Aire from UMES - 2.8 ppg & 2.0 reb in 9 minutes per game - 5th year
6’8” Allen Meyers from Manhattan - played a total of 5 minutes 2 years ago - Junior
6’7” Levi Lawal from NJIT - 6.5 ppg - Senior
6’9” Tafara Gapare from Villanova - played in 9 games - 2.9 ppg & 1.2 reb - 5th year
6’9” Elijah Taylor from Midland College - 3.6 ppg & 2.1 reb - Senior
6’2” Sven Djopmo from Arizona - played a total of 34 minutes over 2 years - Junior

Freshmen:
6’4” Malik Shackleford

Roster: https://coppinstatesports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Team Stats: From 25-26 -
Coppin St. averaged 65.5 points per game while giving up 80.4.

The Eagles shot 40.9% from the floor and 30.5% from 3.
Opponents shot 46.7% from the field and 37.8% from 3.

The Eagles shot 67.4% from the free throw line.

They were out rebounded by opponents by 3.2 boards per game and averaged 15.4 turnovers per contest.

Thoughts: They were one of the worst teams in D1 last year. The starting line-up fluctuated over the year as 14 different players started at one point or another. Their top two scorers ( 10.6 and 7.4 ppg) are gone. This should be an easy win.

Discuss.
 

Attachments

  • VS-CoppinSt.jpeg
    VS-CoppinSt.jpeg
    180.3 KB · Views: 168
Last edited:

mbush

Preferred Walk-On
Caught a bunch of Gapare when he was a freshman at Umass, and thought he was going to be a baller in the A-10 (yeah, whoops). I remember Miami having interest in him (under Coach L) when he transferred out after his first year.

Interested to see how Jones does against him... should be a fun matchup.
 

FreeGunston12

All-American
Caught a bunch of Gapare when he was a freshman at Umass, and thought he was going to be a baller in the A-10 (yeah, whoops). I remember Miami having interest in him (under Coach L) when he transferred out after his first year.

Interested to see how Jones does against him... should be a fun matchup.
Thought Favour Aire might end up here when transferring from Miami. So there at at least a couple intriguing names to watch.
 

Portlandian

Hall of Famer
Seems like each time Mason plays (every 2 years) CSU both teams go up 2 points.

We beat them 91-53 on 12/23/22 and 93-55 on 11/20/24.

so logically Mason should win 95-57.

and in 28 Mason will win 97-59, ect. One day Mason will score 101 points vs Coppin State.
 

DRK331

All-American

Highlights from the first time we played Coppin State during the Kim English era

Mason fans can help donate to the program here:


Share this link with other Mason fans
 
Last edited:

mkaufman1

Administrator
Staff member
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
Box score form the Tech - Coppin St. game if anyone is interested. Only one player really stood out for the Eagles. 6'4" Brendan Johnson, transfer from Merrimack scored 17. No one else in double figures.

I'm not surprised he was good - I saw he was a Baltimore player of the year. If I had to guess, he will be in the portal and may or may not make the "pick up recruit" list that Kaufman makes, lol
 

TweederGMU

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
I watched the game and Coppin just has a huge void of talent against a middle pack ACC team - they do have this one kid Johnson who is pretty decent. Outside of Johnson the rest of the cast is below average shooters and defenders.

From this game a glaring problem is the 24 turnovers.... I'd say 60% (if not higher) were not forced by VT but done by a CSU player - bad passes, bad dribbling, or non-forced errors (traveling). 2 of 12 from 3... they were down double digits from the beginning of the game and they still did not attempt many three's, nor make them. 2-12 from 3. Looks like they don't want to shoot the 3 ball much.

VT could have scored way more but they were switching a lot of their B and C caliber players in a lot in the first half and second half...where these players missed some easy layups and jumpers.

Competing against our team I think they will have some more success in scoring and cutting down on turnovers hence I upped their point scoring prediction a little. They are not D III level talent wise.... a few of their guys are quick and can defend and get to the rim... us scoring 90+ points against them is a bit of a reach. But we should win by 15+.

Boxcore:

 
Last edited:
Top