The Opponent: Howard Bison 1-1, MEAC Conference
Founded in March 1867 as the Howard Normal and Theological School for the Education of Teachers and Preachers.

The Coach: Kevin Nickleberry (fifth season, 24-76 at Howard - Last season 7-24, 4-12 MEAC). Formerly HC at Hampton U.

The Series: This has been a short rivalry, with W&M leading the Series 3-1. The Tribe eked out a 84-79 OT win in frigid DC last season after picking up a 78-69 win at the Kap in 2013. Howard got a 67-58 win in the series 1st meeting back in 2011.


The Skinny: The Bison, picked to finish seventh in the MEAC this season (out of 13), will be playing their second road game. Howard was extremely young last season, with a roster that included 9 true freshmen. This year they are a much more seasoned squad, led by senior forward James Carlton and soph guard James Daniel. The Tribe will have to try to slow down the Bison quickness.

Little known Basketball Truism: It’s NEVER good to have NINE Freshmen on your team in one year. It’s much better when they all become Sophomores. The Bison should be better this season.

Last Time Out: The Bison defeated Goucher College by 101-54, behind 18 points from James Carlton and 17 points from guard James Daniel. Howard opened their season with an 84-49 loss at Miami of Florida.


The Key Players:

5’11” So. Guard 11 James Daniel 13.5 ppg, 1.5 apg(Phoebus HS)
6’8” Sr. Forward 1 James Carlton 11.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg
6’5” So. Forward 15 Damon Collins 7.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg
6’4” So. Guard 33 James Miller 7.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg
6’10” So. Center 5 Marcel Boyd 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg




Tribe Disa & Data:


• The Tribe will just try to put the first game of the season behind them. A 6:30 scoring drought pretty much put to bed any upset chances against the #7 Gators.
However, if you look around the edges of the stats page (obviously a 2 for 22, .09%, performance from three puts a pretty big hole in the middle of the sheet), you can see some solid things for the future.

1.The Tribe only committed 12 turnovers in 40 minutes against one of the quickest defenses they will see all season.
2.They stayed with the Gators on the boards in the second half.
3.They shot 45.7% from inside the arc and outscored Florida by 1 in the second half.
4.Lots of young players got a chance to maker their college debut, getting that hurdle (and nerves) out of the way.
5.Jack Whitman showed he has some skills. If he can get healthy, we may not be as thin in the paint as we thought.

• Sophomore Forward Omar Prewitt put up 15 points on Friday and pulled down six rebounds while getting a steal and a block. He was obviously the Zaxby’s Player of the Game. Prewitt was the go to man in last season’s OT thriller against the Bison, dropping in a team high 24. Marcus Thornton added 14. Both will need to be on tonight.




The Broadcast: This game is a 7 PM tip. The Countdown to Tipoff begins at 6:30 PM on our affiliates 92.3 FM and 107.9 FM and on the internet at www.tribeathletics.com. Tune in early to hear Tony's thoughts on the game. There is no regional TV coverage of this game.



Final Thoughts: The Tribe needs to just start fresh on Tuesday, not worrying about the first game performance. This is still a very young team (11 players with a year or less experience) and they just need to work on getting the chemistry right and playing solid D. A good start from beyond the arc probably wouldn’t hurt either.

Go Tribe!!

Looks like Tarpey is back and will start tonight. Hopefully there's a good crowd to get the season back on track.

Great preview.

This is a game we have to win if this team is going to make the strides that we expect this year. I know we're putting a lot of expectations on a young team, but this is the way things should be if we're taking that next step as a program.

Really looking forward to being able to follow on Tribeathletics.com. Big 2 weeks coming up.

I just hope Tony has the boys ready to go. We've definitely played down to our competition in years past and I would love for this season's team to put an end to that.

With 11:51 to go in the first half, the teams are 5 of 9 from 3 and 0 for 7 for 2. Tribe winning 12-5 (Howard with 2 FTs).

Nice run the last 3 minutes and now up 23-7 with 8:28 to go in the half

Wow. Tarpey is a fantastic creator, and great at finding someone close to the basket; we just need to receive those passes a bit better, but that will come with time. Great overall defense, Schlotman is like glue.

I love watching Tarpey play, that kid does everything! Looking good so far, I really like Whitman's play, excited to see him develop.

33-16 at the half. Rebounding could use some work

Through one and a half games I find myself much more impressed by our defense than our offense. It's not a position I expected to find myself in

I like what the guys are trying to do on offense - much better than the pass around the perimeter that we have had in some years. They just need a little more time to gel and cut down on some of the errors. Energy on defense has sagged in the 2nd half.

Whitman has looked sharp so far. Excited to see him develop.

Also northeastern and Florida state in a close one right now. Looking like they will be team to beat as predicted in preseason.

The 2nd half hasn't gone terribly well.

Well a lot to work on, but definitely some positives. A win is a win, just glad the game stopped at 40 minutes.

Big win by Northeastern over Florida State.

Terry Tarpey has to be on the floor for this team - 12 rebounds and 7 assists.

Is Tot injured? He didn't play tonight.

That didn't seem too impressive....

We are awfully young. I think we need to check on the expectations.

Well at least we won. I think a healthy Schlotman would go a long way on the offensive end

Glad to see the Tribe hold on for a win. The last 15 minutes were painful. Glad to see Tarpey and Scholtmann on the floor. Whitman continues to impress. Prewitt seems to come through with a big basket at the right time.

1st win is a win. Could have been prettier in the 2nd half but we got it. Need to work on shooting including FT% but it's a step.

And UNCW beating UNCG by 10 with 4:25 to go. Good CAA day today hopefully.