ABOUT THE GAMES

• Millersville men’s basketball is off to an historical start. The Marauders won their first two games by an average margin of 23.5 points, and it is the first time since 1936 that the team has opened the season with back-to-back 20-point victories. The coach of that 1936 team was the gymnasium’s namesake, John Pucillo. West Virginia State, a member of the Mountain East Conference with similar NCAA Tournament aspirations, enters the game 2-0 boasting a high-scoring offense that scored more than 90 points in each of the first two games. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

•  Not only did Millersville score more than 80 points in both games, it held both opponents to under 40% shooting (31% and 37.9%) and gave up 61 points to Frostburg State and 59 to Claflin. Among the 14 PSAC teams with at least two games played, only Mercyhurst has surrendered fewer points (58.0 points per game). Millersville’s 34.1% field goal percentage defense leads all PSAC teams. Millersville’s aggressiveness on defense led to 23 steals, which ranks second in the PSAC behind IUP’s 26. 
• Jaden Faulkner returned to Millersville’s lineup for the first time since his knee injury on Nov. 24, 2019, and he picked up right where he left off. Six days before his injury, Faulkner was named the PSAC East Athlete of the Week, and on Monday, he won the award again. Faulkner’s 18.5 points per game led Millersville on the weekend, and he also led the team with 4.5 assists per game while adding 7.0 rebounds per game. Faulkner’s presence is significant. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Millersville has averaged 86.1 points per game in the Faulkner’s seven full games. Without him, Millersville averages 76.9 points per game.
• Faulkner wasn’t the only Marauder to win some hardware. Caden Najdawi was named the PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week after leading the team with 8.5 rebounds per game and totaling three blocks and four steals. Najdawi won also won the award the last time he stepped on the court--the final week of the 2019-20 regular season. Najdawi led all PSAC East players in rebounding over the weekend. He was also fourth among PSAC East players in blocks and eighth in steals. 
   

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS

•  The Mountain East Conference preseason poll voted West Virginia State fourth. In the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season, the Yellow Jackets went 9-7. In the last full season, the team went 19-10. WVSU is led by fifth-year players Glen Abram and Jeremiah Moore. Abram was an All-MEC First Team selection in 2021, ranking second in the league with 23.5 points per game and leading the league in 3-pointers made with 53. Pittman was also an All-MEC First Team pick, ranking second nationally in rebounds per game and double-doubles. Another addition is Ernest Jenkins who scored 1,000 points at WVSU before attending Morgan State for one year. He’s back and is off to a hot start, averaging 16.5 points per game through the team’s first two games.
• It’s been an impressive start to the season for WVSU as the team has averaged 93 points per game in its 2-0 start. Abram, who scored 47 in a game last year, scored 35 in the opener and 21 in game two. Pittman already has 19 rebounds, five blocks and nine steals but has fouled out of both games.

THE LAST TIME OUT

• Millersville: Millersville 81, Claflin 59 (Nov. 14, 2021) - Jaden Faulkner's 16 points led four Marauders in double figures, and Millersville topped 80 for the second-consecutive game. Claflin sent Millersville to the line 42 times on 28 fouls--two Panthers fouled out and two others finished with four fouls. Faulkner alone got to the line 12 times and made 10. The 42 free throws were the most attempted by Millersville since Jan. 3, 2014 when it attempted 42 in a win over Slippery Rock. 
• West Virginia State: WVSU 92, Shaw 83 (March 13, 2021) - Sophomore Anthony Pittman's 22 points led the team. The sophomore also notched seven rebounds, a pair of blocks, and three steals. Graduate student Glen Abram delivered another solid performance, tallying 21 points, and fellow grad student Jeremiah Moore registered a game-high 10 boards, finishing with 14 points and six assists. 
   

SERIES HISTORY

• Millersville and West Virginia State meet for the seventh time on Wednesday and for the first time since December of 2008. West Virginia State holds a 4-2 all-time lead in the series and has a 2-2 record in Pucillo Gymnasium. All six meetings between the teams came between 1997 and 2008. All four of the games played in Pucillo have been close. Millersville’s 97-87 win in 2008 was the largest margin of victory. Millersville’s two losses to WVSU (1887 and 2005) came by four points and one point respectively. 
• The Last Meeting - Millersville 97, W.Va. State 87 (Dec. 6, 2008):  Led by Makal Stibbins’ career-high 26 points, the Millersville men’s basketball team caught fire on offense, erased an early deficit and ran away with a 97-87 victory over West Virginia State. Freshman Mike Seibert, who entered the game having scored just three points in five appearances, turned in a perfect shooting performance. He hit 5-of-5 shots from the floor including 4-of-4 from 3-point range and knocked down 3-of-3 from the charity stripe to finish with 17.