Men's Basketball Welcomes Coastal Carolina to the High Country on Alumni Day

BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State men's basketball will begin a three-game home stand on Saturday against Coastal Carolina on Alumni Day...Tip is set for 2 p.m. inside the Holmes Center and on ESPN+...The contest can also be heard across the Appalachian Sports Network from IMG Learfield College.

TICKETS
Single game tickets are on sale and can be purchased by clicking here or by contacting the Appalachian State ticket office at 828-262-2079.

ALUMNI DAY
The Mountaineers will host their annual Alumni Day...The Mountaineers will recognize over 20 members of the program at halftime.

FOOTBALL CELEBRATION
During halftime, App State will celebrate the 2018 Sun Belt champion and R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl champion football squad...The team will be hand to sign autographs pregame on the concourse beginning at 1:30 p.m.

AUTISM SPEAKS COACHES POWERING FORWARD
The Mountaineer coaching staff will be wearing blue puzzle piece pins as part of Coaches Powering Forward for Autism...Autism Speaks Coaches Powering Forward was created in 2014 after NCAA Coaches Pat Skerry and Tom Herrion embarked on a mission to raise awareness of autism. Inspired by their sons, both diagnosed with autism, they made a simple request to fellow coaches: Wear the Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece pin during the televised February weekend games. In an overwhelming response, more than 82 NCAA coaches and broadcasters took to the sidelines and airwaves throughout the weekend wearing the puzzle pin...By 2018, the support soared to 375 NCAA coaches wearing the pins and more than 420 schools showing their support of people with autism. Click here to see a list of participating schools for 2019. Today autism affects 1 in 59 children in the U.S. and more than 70 million people worldwide. 












THE SERIES

• This will be the sixth meeting all-time between the two schools, with App State leading 3-2.
• The Mountaineers swept the season series last year, but fell 89-72 in Conway earlier this season on Jan. 19.

LAST TIME OUT

• The Black and Gold dropped a 78-68 contest at UT Arlington in its last game on Feb. 9.
•  Ronshad Shabazz paced App State (8-16, 3-8 SBC) with 15 points, a season-high eight rebounds and a team-high three assists. Isaac Johnson added nine points and six rebounds, while Justin Forrest had seven points and three rebounds. Off the bench, Tyrell Johnson reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 11 points. Bennett Holley drained a trio of three-pointers to finish with nine points and Michael Bibby finished with a career-high seven points and three rebounds. In all, the Mountaineer bench held a 30-20 scoring edge.
• In the opening half, neither team built a lead larger than four points. A jumper from Ronshad Shabazz with 4:49 left in the first frame gave the Black and Gold a 33-29 edge. The Mavericks used a late spurt to take a 39-37 lead into the intermission. In the second half, UTA used an early 9-2 run to build a 52-42 lead with 15:41 remaining in the game. The Mavericks pushed their lead to 13 points at 57-44, only to see the Black and Gold cut the deficit to nine points at 59-50 with 11:31 to play. UTA pushed its lead back to 76-61 with just under seven minutes remaining. App State would pull within 10 points late, but could get no closer.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS

• App State stands at 8-16 on the season and 3-8 in Sun Belt play.
• In Saturday's game, the Mountaineer bench contributed 30 points, marking the seventh time this season App State has seen its bench score 30 or more points.
• Tyrell Johnson has tallied double figures in seven of his last nine games and is averaging 12.0 points on 52.7 percent shooting and 4.1 rebounds.
• Isaac Johnson continues to be a force on the glass, averaging a Sun Belt leading 8.6 rebounds. His rebound average ranks 57th in the country and his 206 total rebounds are tied for 68th in the nation.
• Ronshad Shabazz ranks second in program history and is tied for 12th in nation with 1,917 points...He is just 42 points shy of moving into the top-10 in Sun Belt history in scoring.

SCOUTING THE CHANTICLEERS

• Coastal Carolina fell at Texas State 65-57 on Saturday to drop to 12-11 on the season adn 6-5 in conference play.
• Zac Cuthbertson paced the Chanticleers with 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals...DeVante Jones had 10 points and four steals and Tommy Burton tallied 10 points and five rebounds in a reserve role.
• Cuthbertson is averaging a team-best 18.4 points and also is pulling down a team-best 8.1 rebounds, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt.
• As a team, Coastal Carolina owns the second best rebound margin in the conference (+3.5) and ranks third in scoring defense, surrendering 70.3 points per game.

UP NEXT
App State will continue its home stand next week against Georgia State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Georgia Southern on Saturday at 2 p.m. ...Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard on the Appalachian Sports Network from IMG Learfield College.