HARRISONBURG, Va. – In a rematch from last Saturday in Boone, the App State Men's Basketball team (10-7, 4-2 SBC) and the James Madison Dukes (10-8, 3-3 SBC) will meet for the second time in the last seven days on Saturday, this time in Harrisonburg. Saturday's game marks the halfway point of the Mountaineers' season-long four-game road trip. Tipoff from the Atlantic Union Bank Center is set for 4 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Entering play on Saturday in Harrisonburg, the Mountaineers are on a four-game winning streak, the team's second winning streak of four games this season. All four wins during this streak have come by double-digits with two of them coming by at least 20 points. Since the Jan. 4 contest against Texas State, App State is outscoring its opponents by 73 points. Of the Mountaineers' 10 wins this season, eight have come by double digits.
The Mountaineers' contest at James Madison on Saturday will mark the final game of four straight contests against teams from Sun Belt East schools. Since Kerns became the head coach at App State, the Mountaineers have done well against Sun Belt East opponents, playing to a 38-15 record (72 percent win percentage). This mark includes a perfect 13-0 record against Sun Belt East opponents a season ago. App State has won 16 straight against Sun Belt East foes after defeating its first three Sun Belt East opponents of the season prior to Saturday's game in Harrisonburg.
After Thursday's win over Old Dominion, the Mountaineers have now won seven straight contests against programs from the state of Virginia, which includes a 3-0 mark this season (wins over JMU, ODU and William & Mary). The last time App State lost to a program from Virginia was Feb. 18, 2023, when Old Dominion took down App State in Boone. Saturday's contest will be the last of two games this season in Virginia, a state in which App State hasn't lost in in the Kerns era (5-0).
The Matchup
- Who: App State at James Madison
- Where: Atlantic Union Bank Center // Harrisonburg, Va.
- When: Saturday, Jan. 18 // 4 p.m.
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPN+) | Curt Dudley (PxP), Steve Buckhantz (Color)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 96.3 (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), 1350/96.1 (Asheville), 1250/103.9 (Marion), 790/93.7 (Johnson City) | Dan Cordtz (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
Scoring 14 of the game's first 15 points to take an early double-digit lead, App State extended its winning streak to four games with a dominant 62-43 road victory over the Old Dominion Monarchs on Thursday. The win marked the first win of the season for the Mountaineers in true road games.
App State never trailed in the contest, marking the second time in the last three games that the Mountaineers haven't endured a deficit in a game. In fact, when the Mountaineers made the score 11-1 with 15:46 to play in the opening half, the Mountaineer advantage fell below 10 points just one other time in the contest. App State led by as much as 20 points in the game, the fourth consecutive game in which it has held at least a 20-point lead.
Continuing his recent torrid stretch,
CJ Huntley recorded his third consecutive 20-point game against the Monarchs, scoring 26 points, one shy of his career high. He also recorded his third double-double in his last four games as he grabbed 12 rebounds to go along with his scoring effort.
Myles Tate flirted with a triple-double, tallying 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and
Jalil Beaubrun recorded his third consecutive double-digit scoring game.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Now on a season-best four-game winning streak, the Mountaineers enter Saturday's contest with a 10-7 record and a 4-2 conference record. During the Mountaineers' four-game winning streak, the largest deficit they have faced has been three points. The Black and Gold have also posted two wire-to-wire wins in their last four games and have led by as many as 20 points in every contest.
Stifling defense has continued to be the story for App State this season as they enter play on Saturday with the Sun Belt's second-best scoring defense and the nation's 17th-best scoring defense, allowing just 62.9 points a game. App State hasn't let an opponent get over 70 points in each of its last nine games, which is the longest streak in which App State has held its opponents below 70 points since it held 13 straight opponents under 70 in the 2021-22 season. During this streak, App State is giving up just 59 points a contest.
The Mountaineers have been especially stellar at defending the three this season, keeping their opponents to just 118 made threes on 422 attempts, which is good for a 28 percent mark. App State has let just two opponents make at least 10 3-pointers against it this season and boasts the ninth-best 3-point defense in the country as of Saturday. The Mountaineers haven't let an opponent shoot over 40 percent from behind the arc since its first game of the season against Miami (Ohio) and have held 11 opponents below 30 percent from the long line entering Saturday.
One of the best duos in the conference resides in Boone, N.C., as both Tate and Huntley head into Saturday's game against the Dukes in the top five in the Sun Belt in scoring. Both Huntley and Tate average 15.4 points a game entering Saturday, good for the fourth- and fifth-highest average in the league. The two have combined to tally each of the Mountaineers' 11 20-point scoring games this season.
Scouting the Dukes
After dropping two straight on the road, James Madison bounced back on Thursday, defeating Marshall 67-64 on its home floor. The Dukes moved to 10-8 this season and 3-3 in Sun Belt Conference play with the victory.
Since the start of last season, James Madison has claimed victories in 22 of its last 24 contests at home, which includes an 8-1 mark this season. The only loss the Dukes suffered last year on their home floor came against App State in mid-January. The Dukes and Mountaineers are tied for the best home win percentage in the Sun Belt since last season, both owning a 91 percent win percentage in home contests.
A quartet of Dukes enter play on Saturday averaging better than 10 points a game in Mark Freeman, Elijah Hutchins-Everett, Xavier Brown and Bryce Lindsay. Between the four players, they score 48.2 of JMU's 73.9 points a game, which is good for 65 percent of the total points the Dukes have scored this season.
Series History
The Mountaineers and Dukes will square off for the second time in the last seven days on Saturday and the 12th time overall. In last Saturday's contest, the Mountaineers used an extended 16-0 run to take control of the contest just before halftime, helping lead to an 86-66 win at the Holmes Center.
With the win last Saturday, App State has now claimed three wins in a row over James Madison and four of the last five in the series. Saturday's contest will mark the Mountaineers' third trip to Harrisonburg since the Dukes joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. All-time, App State owns a slight 3-2 edge in games played against the Dukes in Harrisonburg.
It was a sloppy game in last year's contest between the Mountaineers and Dukes at the Atlantic Union Bank Center as App State turned the ball over a season-worst 23 times. Despite that, App State held what was a high-scoring Duke squad to just 55 points on 36 percent shooting. Tate played a huge role off the bench at James Madison last season posting a team-high 15 points, which included the game-sealing free throws with 11 seconds to play.
Next Up
App State is set to continue its season-long four-game road trip next Thursday in a nationally televised bout against the Sun Belt Conference's preseason favorite Arkansas State. Tipoff from Jonesboro is slated for 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
