The Florida A&M men’s basketball team is on a four-game road trip, and they are in a very tough stretch of their season. They have won two of their last eight conference games, they are on a three-game losing streak and on Monday, they lost to the worst team in the conference by 26 points.
The great thing about conference play in college basketball is that a school has numerous opportunities to redeem itself and on Saturday the Rattlers will certainly have the chance to do just that.
Florida A&M’s next game is against the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks. This will be a chance for the Rattlers to avenge a loss they suffered to the Hawks earlier in the season.
The Hawks (7-17 overall, 5-5 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) defeated the Rattlers (5-18 overall, 2-8 in the MEAC) in the Al Lawson Center 67-51 on Jan. 16.
The Rattlers were unsuccessful scoring the ball as a team in the first match-up, despite having three players who scored in double figures. They shot 32.7 percent from the field (18 of 55), and 15 percent (3 of 20) from three-point range.
Freshman forward Amin Stevens led the Rattlers with 12 points, and he logged only 14 minutes of game action. The leading scorer for the Hawks in the first contest was senior forward Neal Pitt who scored 15 points in the win. Freshman center Sean Berry also posted a double double for the Hawks with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Rattlers may be able to rectify some of their mistakes from the first game if they can get off to a strong start on Saturday by getting on the scoreboard early. The Hawks jumped out to an early lead in the first match-up, and the Rattlers have not fared well this season when they have to come from behind.
The Hawks are coming off of a 73-71 loss to the North Carolina Central University Eagles (6-20 overall) on Wednesday and they have lost three of there last games.
Each school in the MEAC only has a handful of conference games left to play this season. The Rattlers will only have five games left to play after this weekend, and they will be at home for three of those five.
The Rattlers will face the Hawks on Saturday in Princess Anne, Md. The game will be held in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center and tip off is at 4 p.m.