Morgan State men’s basketball graduate point guard Elijah Davis is averaging 6.0 assists per game in 2025-26 entering the MEAC tournament, better than the previous single-season program record of 5.5 per game set by Chico Langston in 1992-93.
Davis has five double-digit assist games on the season, including a 15-assist performance against Delaware State on Feb. 21 that tied the program single-game assist record originally set by Kam Hobbs in December 2023. He has 150 total assists, giving him a shot to break Morgan’s total single-season assists record (170) set by Jermaine Bolden in 2008-09.
One of the beneficiaries of Davis’ playmaking has been senior guard Alfred Worrell Jr., who is averaging 17.4 points per game and shooting 36.4 percent from 3-point range.
“Playing with a guy like Elijah, like I’ve been preaching all year, he’s a guy that you would love to play with — being able to get you the ball,” Worrell said last month. “And the thing about it is people think that’s what he does — just getting guys the ball, but him being able to score as well, he can score at a high level as well, so I think that makes him even more dangerous.”
Davis has helped lead Morgan to a 14-15 overall record and 10-4 mark in the MEAC, good for the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament that begins on March 11 at Norfolk Scope Arena. The Bears play Delaware State on March 11, needing to win three games in four days to earn the MEAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Morgan last went to the Big Dance in 2010 under Todd Bozeman.
Bears head coach Kevin Broadus brought Davis to Morgan last offseason after program stalwarts Hobbs and Will Thomas moved on. Broadus recently credited Davis with creating a strong practice environment, an evaluation that was proven by … a black eye? Davis had a shiner visible under his left eye during his 15-assist game.
“We practice hard every day,” Davis said. “We don’t go as long as we used to, but every day we’re practicing. I’m a competitor, so [I’m in] there with the trees. It is what it is.”
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound point guard goes hard in practice, and he does the same during games. In addition to his playmaking, Davis is averaging 13.7 points per game on 45.8 percent shooting. His strong decision-making with the ball helps Morgan rank third in the eight-team MEAC in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site.
“He brings a lot of ease to our program in terms of not only production but also mindset,” said associate head coach Chretien Lukusa, who served as the head coach during Davis’ 15-assist game. “He’s a competitor. I wish we could have Elijah and the rest of these guys for many more years because he plays so hard, with such an edge on his sleeve. He controls the game. He knows the pace we want to play, the tempo with which we want to play and he’s unselfish.”
A native of Severn, Davis graduated from Saint Frances in 2021 and since then has been on a journey no longer uncommon in college hoops. He has attended five schools in five years: Mississippi Valley State (2021-22), Walters State Community College (2022-23), Incarnate Word (2023-24), Division II Bowie State (2024-25) and finally Morgan.
Davis will try to finish his college career with a MEAC championship and NCAA Tournament bid.
“I’m extremely confident because I put in a lot of hours into this — a lot of hours,” Davis said. “There were a lot of sad nights, a lot of lonely nights, but I just keep trusting the process, keep trusting God and just keep going forward every day. Trying to just prove to everybody that we, as in Morgan, are who we are, who everybody thinks we are.”
COPPIN MAKES STRIDES
Coppin State finished 7-24 overall and 5-9 in the MEAC, but the program’s first four-game winning streak since 2010-11 showed that the Eagles made strides during conference play.
Coppin allowed an average of 56.3 points in wins against Delaware State, North Carolina Central, South Carolina State and Maryland Eastern Shore in February. The Eagles are sixth in the eight-team MEAC in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, but showed what they could do when locked in on that end.
“Guys finally got committed to what we were working on all year long defensively,” Coppin head coach Larry Stewart said. “… Guys bought in to making extra efforts. Guys bought in to just going out there and focusing on the little things. As a result, we got on that four-game winning streak.”
The Eagles are ineligible for the MEAC and NCAA Tournaments this year due to Academic Progress Rate penalties stemming from the 2020-2024 time period. Stewart said it wasn’t difficult to keep his players motivated this year even without the possibility of a postseason payoff.
“You don’t really put too much emphasis on it because it is what it is,” said Stewart, who just completed his third year as Coppin’s coach. “Life is you’re going to be thrown crowbars, you’re going to be thrown things that are not in your control. Just control what we can control, and that is we’ve still got an opportunity to play the game that you love and just go out there and be committed to your teammates.”
Seniors DeMariontay Hall (10.6 points, 5.4 rebounds per game), Hassan Perkins (6.6 points, 2.9 assists, 37.2 percent from 3-point range), Taj Thweatt (6.0 points, 38.3 percent from deep) are among the Eagles who are out of eligibility. However, juniors Khali Horton (7.4 points, 2.1 rebounds), Hussain Williams (7.3 points, 2.4 rebounds) and Jamari Piercy (6.8 points, 2.3 rebounds) can come back.
Stewart says he’ll have a better idea of who will return for the 2026-27 season after Coppin’s spring break (March 15-22). Players can enter the transfer portal from April 7-21.
“I feel like we’re in a good spot,” Stewart said. “I do feel that guys do want to come back, but you know how that can go. How I feel is not necessarily how things are always going to look.”
BIG OFFSEASON FOR LOYOLA
Loyola finished 12-20 overall and 8-10 in the Patriot League and ended its season with a loss to Colgate in the conference quarterfinals. The Greyhounds could take a big step forward next season if they can keep their best players around.
Point guard Braeden Speed earned second-team All-Patriot League honors, averaging 15.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game as a sophomore out of Phoenix, Ariz. He took the steering wheel for Loyola in January and never looked back.
Big man Emmett Adair earned third-team all-league honors, averaging 14.6 points and 5.4 rebounds as a freshman out of Australia. He presented himself as one of the more intriguing players in the Patriot League as conference play progressed.
Now head coach Josh Loeffler is tasked with managing the realities of the college basketball offseason with Speed, Adair and other Greyhounds likely to attract interest from other programs.
“I could meet with a guy tomorrow and he says, ‘I’m definitely coming back,'” Loeffler said. “But the portal doesn’t open for another month, so that could all really change in 20 days. The kid might be telling me what he thinks is the absolute truth when we had that conversation … and I don’t think that’s anything where the kid is some terrible person or he handled things poorly. It’s just things change really rapidly with the way this all goes now.”
Players can enter the transfer portal from April 7-21.
“It’s not like the portal’s going away or anything like that, so you’ve got to stay adaptable and ready to accept change, ready to move and make decisions as your situation adjusts and changes and just try not to panic,” Loeffler said.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of MSU Athletics