CCU

Chants Usher In Hoops Season Friday Against Piedmont

       

Kierre Greenwood led the Chants with 117 assists last season.

Kierre Greenwood led the Chants with 117 assists last season.

Nov. 11, 2010

Coastal Carolina (0-0) vs. Piedmont College (0-0)
Friday | 11.12.10 | 7:30 p.m.
Conway, S.C. | Kimbel Arena (1,039)

MEDIA
Live Stats: CCUSports.com
Live Radio: Chanticleer Sports Network (Chris Burgin, play-by-play)

Game Notes

CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men’s basketball raises the curtain on the 2010-11 season Friday evening when the Chanticleers welcome Piedmont College to Kimbel Arena at 7:30 p.m. 

Coastal Carolina returns two starters and six letterwinners from a team that won the Big South Conference last year with a 28-7 overall record and a 15-3 mark inside the league.  The Chanticleers reached the final game of the Big South Tournament and earned a berth in the NIT to reach the postseason for the first time since 1993. 

Chanticleer head coach Cliff Ellis returns for his fourth season after winning Big South Coach of the Year honors a season ago to mark the fourth league in which he has accomplished the feat.  Ellis enters the year with 586 career wins and stands as the 10th winningest active NCAA Division I head coach. 

Senior forward Chad Gray was selected to the preseason All-Big South Team and is expected to be one of the Chants’ top scoring threats this year.  Gray paced the team and ranked seventh in the Big South a season ago with 14.3 points per game and stood fourth in the conference with a .515 field goal percentage en route to an All-Big South first team selection. 

Gray turned in five games of at least 20 points, which included a career-high 31 points on 11-for-13 shooting against Savannah State.  The South Carolina transfer was also third on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game and featured eight games with at least seven rebounds. 

Sophomore guard Kierre Greenwood returns for his second season in teal after landing on the Big South All-Freshman team last year.  Greenwood started all 35 games for the Chants last season as a true freshman and finished the season with 9.1 points per game and a team-leading 117 assists.  In fact, Greenwood ranked eighth in the Big South with 3.3 assists per game.

Greenwood put together 10 games with at least five assists and featured 18 games where he scored in double digits.

Sophomore Sam McLaurin proved to be one of the top defensive players in the conference and set a Coastal Carolina single-season record with 57 rejections.  The Havana, Fla., native already ranks ninth all-time at Coastal in blocked shots with 59 and would move into sole possession of second place should he match his rejection total from last year.