The Coastal Athletic Association delivers a New Year's Day matchup between the Hampton Pirates (4-8, 4-5 ATS) and the Drexel Dragons (7-6, 6-6 ATS). This is the conference opener for both teams. Hampton just went into Eastern Michigan and lost 72-69, but covered as 4.5-point dogs. Drexel is coming off a tough road loss, losing 104-86 to Bryant, losing outright as four point favorites. These teams split their two matchups last season, with each team winning at home. Drexel is currently listed as 15-point favorites. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 EST from Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, and can be found on CBSSN.
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The Hampton Pirates have four wins on the season, but three of the wins came against teams outside of Division I. Their lone DI win was against Florida Gulf Coast back on November 18th. The Pirates come into this matchup on a three game losing streak, though they have kept the games closer than expected as they covered their past two games as underdogs. In their last game, Hampton was led by Kyrese Mullen with 19 points and 14 rebounds in the near loss against Eastern Michigan.
Mullen leads the team in points and rebounds with 16.0 PPG and 9.3 RPG as a 6'7 sophomore forward. Mullen has recorded a double-double in four of his last five games, and is coming off the big 19 and 14 game against Eastern Michigan. Mullen does the majority of his work in the paint, as he is only shooting 27.3% from three. Tedrick Wilcox is their only other double figure scorer, the 6'6 senior guard adds 13.9 PPG and 5.3 RPG. Wilcox is the top shooter on the team with 22 made threes on the year, but is in a bit of a slump as he scored six or less in his last two games. Tristen Maxwell is a 6'3 junior guard adding 9.2 PPG and a team high 3.7 APG. Jerry Deng is a 6'9 freshman on the inside, he adds 8.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG.
Hampton is currently ranked 315th overall according to KenPom. Their offense ranks 319th in efficiency and their defense ranks 292nd. The Pirates play fast on offense, they rank 25th in tempo out of 362 Division I schools.