WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary men's basketball team opens the home portion of its schedule, welcoming instate foe Hampton to Williamsburg on Wednesday night. The teams meet for the 20th time in the last 23 years at 7 p.m., inside Kaplan Arena.
The contest will be streamed on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet for FREE in HD. Tribe fans can also catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.
Catch up with the Tribe through social media. Fans can keep up with W&M men's basketball by following the program on social media as well. Be sure to check out the Tribe on
Twitter (@WMTribeMBB),
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W&M News and Notes
- Since Kaplan Arena opened in 1971, W&M is 36-11 (.766) all-time in home openers. Head Coach
Tony Shaver has enjoyed even more success in home openers, going 13-1 as the Tribe headman. In its 14 home openers under Shaver, W&M averages 78.3 points per game and winning by an average margin of 17.3.
- W&M and Hampton meet for the 20th time in the last 23 years, and the Tribe leads the all-time series at 11-8. The Pirates won 79-69 in Hampton last season, while the Green and Gold has won the last five meetings in Williamsburg, including an 86-67 victory in 2015.
- The Tribe owns an 18-game home court non-conference winning streak, dating back to 2013. The Tribe's home record over the last four seasons is 47-10 (.825).
- W&M won 13 home games in 2016-17, which were the second most in program history behind only the 18 home wins in 1949.
- In his first collegiate start, sophomore
Justin Pierce enjoyed a career game at High Point. He tallied 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. Pierce recorded career-highs in points, rebounds, blocked shots, field goals, field goals attempted and minutes played (35).
- Sophomore
Nathan Knight became just the third player in W&M history with two games of six or more blocked shots in a career. His six rejections at High Point are tied for ninth in program history. He joins elite company in David Cully '96 and Terry Tarpey '16 with two games of six or more blocked shots.
- When the CAA released its preseason awards in October, senior
David Cohn and sophomore
Nathan Knight were named honorable mention Preseason All-CAA. It marks the fifth-straight season that the Green and Gold had two players honored as preseason All-CAA selections.
- Junior
Paul Rowley holds a distinction that few ever have in college basketball. After graduating from W&M in just three years with a double major in finance and computer science, Rowley started his first year of law school this fall. Last year, he became the first men's basketball player since 1912 to be named Phi Beta Kappa. Rowley is currently one of two Division I players in law school (Pepperdine's Kevin Hempy), but he is the only men's player to be a recruited scholarship player and attend law school at the same institution that he earned his undergraduate degree.
- The Tribe took part in a seven-day international trip to Jamaica in August to get a jump start on the 2017-18 season. W&M went 3-0 during the excursion, winning by an average margin of 37.7 points. The Green and Gold downed the Jamaican Youth National Team (103-59), Jamaica Select (98-53) and the Minto 79ers (71-47). As a team, the Tribe averaged 90.7 points and 21.7 assists, while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3.
- W&M is one of only two teams, along with 2017 national runner-up Gonzaga, to rank among the top 30 nationally in field goal percentage each of the last five years. The Tribe was 10th in the country at 49.1 percent in 2016-17.
- According to the website KenPom.com, W&M ranked among the top 25 nationally in effective field goal percentage each of the last five seasons. W&M was 11th at 56.2 percent in 2016-17 and finished as high as No. 6 in both 2013-14 (55.9) and 2014-15 (56.3).
- With an offensive system predicated on long-range shooting and sharing the basketball, the Tribe topped the CAA in 3-point percentage (38.2) and assists per game (17.5) in 2016-17. It marked the fourth time in the last five years that W&M led the league in both categories.
- In 12 of
Tony Shaver's 14 seasons, W&M ranked among the top 100 in the country in assist percentage according to KenPom.com. The Tribe ranked in the top 50 in seven of the last 10 seasons, including 15th nationally last season at 61.6. The Green and Gold's 17.5 assists per game in 2016-17 established a new school record and ranked seventh nationally.
