Mercer Opens Season at UAB Tuesday Night

MACON, Ga. – Mercer's men's basketball team opens its 107^th season of collegiate basketball this Tuesday, Nov. 6 as the Bears travel to Birmingham, Ala., to take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers. Start time at Bartow Arena is 8 p.m. (ET).

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 | 8 p.m. (ET)
Teams: Mercer (0-0, 0-0 SoCon) at UAB (0-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. | Bartow Arena
Live Stats: UABSports.com/LiveStats
TV: C-USA TV (Link to come)
Radio: 100.9 The Creek FM and SportsMic – Rick Cameron
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

SERIES HISTORY
• First Meeting

BEAR NECESSITIES
QUICK RECAP
Mercer is coming off a 19-15 campaign, which concluded with a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. The Bears finished the season strong, winning nine of their last 11 games to secure a postseason berth, the sixth in the last seven seasons. Mercer was 11-7 in Southern Conference play and earned the No. 4 seed in the league's conference tournament.

ABOUT THE BLAZERS
UAB, members of Conference USA, comes into season opener following a pair of exhibition contests vs. Georgia (lost 56-54) and Morehouse College (won 75-54) …The Blazers finished 20-13 a year ago, including a 10-8 conference slate … UAB must replace four starters, including leading scorer and rebounder Chris Cokely (16.9/6.8) … Sophomore guard Zach Bryant is coming off of one of the most prolific rookie seasons in UAB history. Bryant was named to the league's All-Freshman team after tallying a Blazer freshman mark of 407 points for a 13.6 per game average. Bryant was named to the 2018-19 preseason Conference USA All-Conference squad … In the league's annual preseason poll, UAB was picked to finish eighth in the conference race … Despite being a relatively young basketball program (first year of competition was 1978-79), the Blazers have a proud hoops history. UAB has made 15 NCAA Tournament appearances and 12 NIT appearances … Head coach Robert Ehsan is in his third season at the helm and has compiled a 37-29 record.

FOR OPENERS
Under Coach Bob Hoffman, Mercer is 8-2 in season openers. During Coach Hoffman's tenure, the Bears are 7-0 in home openers, 1-0 in neutral site openers, and 0-2 in road opening contests … This marks the second year in a row that Mercer has opened its season on the road. Last season the Bears dropped an 88-79 decision at Central Florida.

NEW SEASON, NEW TEAM
Last season, the Bears featured a veteran senior-laden squad, including a trio of 1,000-point career scorers. Senior starters Stephon Jelks, Jordan Strawberry and Demetre Rivers all joined the school's 1,000-point club last season. Additionally, both Strawberry and Jelks earned second-team All-SoCon honors. Senior post man Desmond Ringer was recognized for his off the court achievements, as he was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Give Back Team, a prestigious group of 10 men's college basketball players that is recognized for their outstanding community service efforts. Senior guard Ria'n Holland, a preseason all-conference selection, was sidelined for 16 games with a broken hand, but still finished with 316 points and a team-best 17.6 per game scoring average … Mercer just may be the youngest team in the Southern Conference this season. The Bears welcome 10 newcomers to this year's club, including eight freshmen … Ross Cummings, a 6-3 junior guard, is the lone returning starter. Others who are back that saw extensive action a year ago include forward Cory Kilby and guards Jaylen Stowe, Marcus Cohen, and Ethan Stair … Mercer also features two new assistant coaches on this year's staff. Coach Paul Mrozik joined the Bears following extensive experience at the collegiate, professional, international, and high school levels. Coach Philip Pearson joined the staff following more than two decades of experience coaching at multiple Division I programs.

COACH BOB HOFFMAN
Under the direction of Head Coach Bob Hoffman, the Mercer men's basketball program has achieved a level of unprecedented success in the school's history. As Coach Hoffman begins his 11^th season with the Bears, that success and standard of excellence is only expected to continue … During the 2017-18 season, Coach Hoffman achieved yet another milestone in his illustrious career, winning his 500^th game at the men's collegiate level. Coach Hoffman enters the 2018-19 campaign just two wins shy of 200 victories at Mercer, and his 198 wins as the Bears' head coach ranks second all-time in the history of the program … A two-time conference Coach of the Year, Coach Hoffman has directed Mercer to six postseason tournament berths, 19 postseason tournament victories and 10 power conference wins. Twice the Bears have won a school-record 27 games (2011-12 and 2013-14) under his leadership.

BEAR TRACKS
Mercer has been chosen to finish fifth in the Southern Conference according to the 2018-19 preseason poll. UNCG, who captured both the regular season and conference championship titles a year ago, has been selected to repeat as league champions once again this year … Guard Ross Cummings, a 6-3 junior from Dickson, Tenn., has been selected to the preseason All-SoCon Team. Cummings started 12 games a year ago, averaging 8.7 points per contest. Filling in for the injured Ria'n Holland, Cummings quickly earned the reputation of being one of the most accurate outside shooters in the SoCon. He knocked down a team-best 57 three-pointers, shooting 43.2% from behind the arc, good for fourth best in the conference. Cummings led the club in scoring on four different occasions, scoring a career-high 23 points against UNCG … Sophomore guard Marcus Cohen appeared in all 34 games and ranked second on the team in assists, while averaging 4.2 points per outing. Senior forward Cory Kilby saw action in 33 of 34 contests and scored at a 4.0 clip while senior guard Jaylen Stowe played in all 34 games and tallied 3.0 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Ethan Stair was plagued by injuries much of the season but managed to average 5.9 points while appearing in 20 games … Mercer's roster features an Alabama flavor. Three players – junior guard Ethan Stair (Hazel Green); freshman guard CJ Williamson (Guntersville); and freshman forward Breck Cuddy (Vestavia Hills) – are all from the state of Alabama. Assistant Coach Philip Pearson is a native of Montgomery, played college basketball at the University of Alabama and went on to serve as an assistant coach and interim head coach with the Crimson Tide program.

ROSS CUMMINGS A.K.A. "THE MAMBA"
Cummings made the most of his opportunity of seeing unexpected playing time a year ago to emerge as one of the surprise offensive performers in the SoCon. When Holland went down with a hand injury in the game at VMI, Cummings stepped in over the second half of the season to make his mark for the Bears. Deemed the "Mamba," for raising his ability to another level, Cummings went for a career-high 22 points against Wofford, sinking six of eight three point shots, including three crucial baskets down the stretch. He went for 16 points on 6-12 shooting (4-6 on 3's) in the win over UTC … The "Mamba" scored 13 second half points enroute to a team-high 21-point effort in the Feb. 12 win at Samford … Cummings tallied 13 points in the Feb. 15 victory over VMI … In Mercer's comeback win over eventual league champ UNCG, Cummings broke his career-high by hitting for 23 points, knocking down seven of 10 field goal attempts, including four of six from behind the three point arc. Cummings totaled 19 points in the Feb. 20 victory over WCU, hitting five of eight three pointers … Cummings went for 14 points in the Feb. 23 win at The Citadel … Cummings appeared in 28 games with 12 starts, averaging 8.7 points and knocking down a team-best 57 three-pointers.

WHAT'S NEXT
Mercer plays its home opener this Friday, Nov. 9 against Piedmont College. Start time at Hawkins Arena is 7 p.m. (ET).

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

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Players Mentioned

Breck Cuddy

Ethan Stair

CJ Williamson

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