W&M News and Notes
- Drexel leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 23-15, but W&M has won six of the last 10 meetings. The Green and Gold have claimed four of the last five meetings in Philadelphia.
- The Tribe has come on strong defensively with the start of CAA play. Over the first three games of the league slate, W&M ranks second in defensive efficiency (98.4), allowing opponents less than a point per possession. In its last five Division I games, W&M is holding opponents to 67.2 points per game.
- W&M limited Delaware to 58 points and Towson to 61 in its last two contests. It marked the first time in three years that the Tribe held back-to-back opponents to 61 or fewer points. The 58 points allowed at Delaware on Jan. 3 was the lowest total for a CAA opponent in nearly two years, while Towson shot only 14.3 percent (2-of-14) from 3 on Dec. 30, which was the lowest for a CAA opponent since 2015.
- Prior to its 58-56 setback at Delaware on Thursday, the Tribe started 2-0 in CAA play under head coach
Tony Shaver for the second-straight season and eighth time during his tenure. Prior to Shaver's arrival in Williamsburg, W&M had started 2-0 in CAA play on just four occasions.
- For the second time this season, freshman
Chase Audige was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on Monday. He averaged 16 points, four assists, three rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocked shots per game, while shooting 60 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from 3 last week. He is one of three CAA players to earn the league's top rookie honor on two occasions this season and the first W&M player since Omar Prewitt in 2013-14 to win multiple honors. Audige ranks third among CAA rookies in scoring at 9.1 points per game.
- The Tribe dished out 22 assists in each of its first two CAA wins over James Madison and Towson. W&M has dished out 20 or more assists in three of the last five games and five times overall this season. The Tribe is 4-1 in those contests. Over the last nine seasons, the Green and Gold is 41-3 when dishing out 20 or more assists in a game. W&M is averaging 20.7 assists per game in CAA play.
- The Green and Gold leads the CAA in blocked shots at 4.2 per game, which also ranks 94th nationally. W&M has ranked among the top three in the league each of the previous four years, including leading the CAA at 4.9 rejections per game in 2016-17. Each of the last four seasons has ranked among the top 10 in W&M history, and the Tribe has averaged 4.3 per game over the last five years and 136.5 per season during the last four. Individually, junior
Nathan Knight leads the CAA at 1.7 blocked shots per game.
- The Tribe has turned the ball over 10 or fewer times in seven of the last eight games and is averaging just 9.3 miscues per contest during that stretch. In the first seven games of the season, W&M averaged 15.9 turnovers per contests. The Tribe leads the CAA and ranks 36th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38). The Green and Gold has also ranked among the top 20 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio each of the last three years.
- Junior
Justin Pierce recorded his sixth double-double and flirted with a triple-double vs. James Madison in the CAA opener behind 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He ranks 23rd nationally in double-doubles. Pierce, who is among the top 15 in the CAA in eight different statistical categories, is one of only six players in the country averaging 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists per game (as of Jan. 2).
- Knight scored 22 points at No. 3/5 Virginia on Dec. 22, which equaled the most points scored against the Cavaliers this season. He ranks third in the CAA with seven 20-point games. Knight became the 40th player in school history and 13th under head coach
Tony Shaver to score 1,000 career points with his 24-point effort at Hampton on Dec. 8. He was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Week on Nov. 26.
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Paul Rowley was named one of 30 candidates for the 2018-19 Senior CLASS Award®. The award recognized DI seniors with notable achievements in four categories (community, classroom, character and competition). W&M is one of three schools (out of 353 in DI) to have both a men's and women's player recognized as Bianca Boggs was also honored. Rowley, a second-year law student who graduated magna cum lade in just three years with a double major in finance and computer science, is the third Tribe player to be named a candidate, joining Quinn McDowell '12 and Omar Prewitt '17. The CAA led all conferences with four players on the men's 30-player list. The 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award will be named in February.
- W&M, which has led the CAA five of the last six years, once again tops the league in assists at 16.9 per game in 2018-19. That number also ranks 27th nationally. The Tribe is ninth in the country according to KenPom.com in assists percentage, recording an assist on 63.8 percent of its made field goals. W&M has ranked among the top 50 in the category in 10 of head coach
Tony Shaver's 16 seasons, including each of the last four.
- Pierce is one of the top rebounders in the country, ranking 43rd at 9.2 per game. He averages 7.4 defensive rebounds per game which ranks third in the CAA and 22nd nationally. His defensive rebounding percentage (27.4) is 25th in the country.
- Knight was named one of 21 players nationally to the Watch List for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The 6-10 center was selected to the CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List and was an NBC Sports Preseason Mid-Major All-America Second Team in September.
