Coppin State men’s basketball to make at least three national television appearances during 2014-15 season

BALTIMORE – Witnessing the exciting debut of Michael Grant’s revved-up style of play will require fans to stay up later than David Letterman and Conan O’Brien while consuming lots of coffee.

Coppin State’s season-opener on Friday, November 14 at the University of Oregon will tip shortly after midnight and be shown live on the Pac-12 Network.

With Grant, Coppin State’s first-year men’s basketball coach, the Eagles will make at least three national television appearances this season. Some of Coppin State’s non-conference opponents, including Oregon, have announced game times and television plans for its 2014-15 season matchups against the Eagles.

Coppin State’s second game of the season against Illinois on Sunday, November 16 will be on the B1G Network at 6:00 p.m. CSU fans can watch the Eagles battle the Fighting Illini and then flip over to catch Carrie Underwood’s hot “Sunday Night Football” intro.

It will be the first of two Coppin State games to be televised live by the B1G Network. The Eagles’ Monday, December 22 matchup against Michigan will be beamed to a national audience in prime time as the contest begins at 8:00 p.m.

Another regional television game that has been announced is against reigning NCAA champion Connecticut on Sunday, Dec. 14. That game will be played at the XL Center in downtown Hartford at 4:00 p.m. and be televised live by SNY (SportsNet New York).

Other television appearances will be announced as they become available.

Grant and the Eagles start the season with a four-game road trip in which they will play once in each time zone of the contiguous United States. As far as the 2014-15 schedule, game times have been set for all but the Evansville (Sunday, Dec. 28) and Akron (Sat., Jan. 3) contests.

Coppin State, which won 12 games last season and advanced to the MEAC semifinals, has 11 players returning.

Senior guard Taariq Cephas, senior forward Dallas Gary, senior guard Daquan Brickhouse, senior forward Arnold Fripp, senior forward Brandon St. Louis, and junior guard Sterling Smith are among the top returning players for the Eagles this season. Cephas, who averaged 9.4 points per game, finished third in the MEAC in assists per game (4.1). Smith is the Eagles leading returning scorer (10.9 ppg.). He also led the Eagles with 60 3-pointers.