Feb. 15, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THE GAME: North Carolina Central University hosts Chowan University in the Eagles' fifth home game of the season... This will be the first-ever meeting between NCCU and Chowan... NCCU has not played at home since hosting Coppin State on Jan. 16... NCCU senior Charles Futrell will be honored prior to the game as part of "Senior Day."

THE SERIES: This will be the first meeting between NCCU and Chowan.

UP NEXT: NCCU hosts its sixth home game of the season when Utah Valley University comes to Durham on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

THE EAGLES' COACH: Henry Dickerson (Morris Harvey, 1973) is in his fourth season as head coach at North Carolina Central and enters the contest with a 41-68 record at NCCU and a 113-141 career record. Dickerson arrived at N.C. Central in 2004-05 after a five-year stint as head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he was 72-73 and won two Southern Conference divisional titles from 1997-2002. He also served as associate head coach at Chattanooga from 1989-97, and held assistant coaching positions at Marshall from 1983-89 and Charleston from 1979-83.

RECORDS WATCH: AYALA CLIMBING NCCU CAREER RANKS: NCCU junior guard Bryan Ayala continues to climb up the ranks as one of the school's all-time career leaders in steals and assists. Ayala currently ranks fourth in career steals with 141 and eighth in career assists with 265. (see page 6 of game notes for complete lists)

EAGLES POSSESS 20/20 VISION: On Jan. 5 against East Carolina University, two Eagles scored 20 points or more in a game for the first time since the end of the 2004-05 season. Against ECU, senior forward Charles Futrell scored a game-high 23 points, while junior guard J'Mell Walters added 20 points in the 79-62 setback. The last time that occurred for the Eagles, Jonathan Moore tallied 25 points and Curtis Knight had 20 points versus Johnson C. Smith University during the CIAA Tournament inside the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C. on March 3, 2005. Two days later (Monday, Jan. 7), a pair of Eagles repeated the feat as Futrell notched a career-high 34 points and junior guard Bryan Ayala tallied 26 points at Norfolk State University. On Jan. 30, it happened for a third time as Ayala and Philip Branch tallied 21 points each during a road win at Coppin State.

FUTRELL A WORKHORSE FOR NCCU: NCCU senior forward Charles Futrell has played every minute in nine games this season. The senior workhorse is among the nation's leaders with an average of 36.9 minutes played per 40-minute game.