Recovery and Redemption in the MEAC: Men’s basketball bounces back from injury ridden season

The Morgan State men’s basketball team suffered from some injuries this season but kept fighting up until the end.

Senior+forward+Malik+Miller.

Osaretin Iyare

Senior forward Malik Miller.

Michael Pope, Staff Writer

Despite the men’s basketball team suffering many injuries, the Bears are fourth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC.)  

The team lost some players on their roster but still did their best in every game. 

In the beginning of the season, they had a full roster. As the season went on, some players got hurt. Some of those injuries included Senior guards Malik Miller, David McCullough, and  Junior forward Khalil Turner. 

McCullough said, “I just been playing with a sprained wrist for the last few games and I’m not really having the time to heal it due to the MEAC tournament around the corner.”

He is back in the lineup after he suffered a sprained wrist from a game against Delaware State on Feb. 4.

Team manager Evan Eubanks said, “We got a few guys down, losing Malik really hurt since he was on track to be MEAC player of the year. The overall message amongst the team next man up. The Bears have stepped up as a whole and put up 89 points in their last meeting with the Howard Bison on Feb. 20.”

The Bears won two more games after they defeated Howard. They put 83 points against Delaware State and 68 points on University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Eubanks continued, “We have a lot of guys down so everybody really has to step up and do their part. One of the guys who has made the most of his opportunity is Kam Hobbs. He has played great for us in conference play. To overcome the adversity, our guys just have to go 10 times harder than before.”

Sophomore guard Kam Hobbs has stepped up and scored more efficiently. He is averaging 8.3 points per game, 2.9 assists per game and shooting 44 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from the three, which is the highest percentage on the team. He leads the team in steals and assists. 

Junior Guard Will Thomas also stepped up. He averaged four rebounds per game, played 24.2 minutes per game, shot 43.9 percent from the field, and shot 78.6 percent from the free throw line.

Miller had a great season until he suffered an ACL injury which ended his time on the team earlier than expected. 

Miller played the second most minutes on the team at 32.4. He averaged 17.5 points per game, 9.8 points per game, 3.9 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game. Miller was the second leading scorer on the team and had the highest field goal percentage at 50.6 percent. 

Miller believed the whole team had to step up and play a bigger role than before so they could win. 

“The team is doing good. We can’t get overwhelmed by the success even when we win. We beat Norfolk earlier in the season which is the best team in the MEAC without me playing. We just have to remain humble and stay focused,” Miller said. 

The Bears finished the season (15-15) and will play University of Maryland Eastern Shore on March 9 in an exciting matchup at the MEAC tournament in Norfolk, VA.