Morgan State men’s basketball extended its winning streak to six due to its crunch-time defensive effort against Maryland Eastern Shore on Feb. 7.
Wait, really? The Bears rank seventh in the eight-team MEAC in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site. They’re allowing 79.5 points per game, sixth in the league. Opponents are shooting 47.7 percent from the floor, the second-worst mark in the conference.
Yes, really! UMES was ahead of Morgan, 64-63, with less than six minutes left when Bears head coach Kevin Broadus threw on a 1-2-2 press. Senior guard Alfred Worrell Jr. forced two consecutive turnovers at the top of the press. The first steal led to two free throws for Worrell, and the second steal led to a 3-pointer by Worrell that put Morgan up, 68-64.
Broadus then came out of the press … only to put it back on out of a timeout with 1:20 left in regulation, forcing another turnover and burning valuable seconds as the Hawks attempted to come back. Morgan won, 79-71, to improve to 10-13 overall and 6-2 in the MEAC.
So, how did Broadus know which button to push in crunch time?
“Tape — watching the games before us,” the seventh-year coach said. “I knew they struggled with pressure, and I kept that in my back pocket until later on in the game. I didn’t want to show it early because [UMES would make] adjustments. I waited. It just happened to be the right time. It worked out today.”
Worrell finished 2 of 8 from 3-point range, but one of those makes just so happened to be the biggest shot of the game.
“We’ve been working on [the 1-2-2 press] a lot at practice, so like Coach said, he pulled it out at the right time,” Worrell said. “Luckily, the basketball was just on our side. … I wasn’t really shooting the three-ball how I wanted to today, but I hit it when it mattered.”
Morgan has defeated conference foes Delaware State, Howard, Norfolk State and Coppin State on the road as part of its six-game winning streak, with three of those victories coming by one point. The Bears allowed 89 points to North Carolina Central just before the winning streak began, and they’ve taken steps in the right direction defensively since then, like holding Norfolk State to four points in the final four minutes as part of a furious rally on Jan. 26.
Where does that improvement come from?
“Practice,” senior forward Marland Harris said.
How so?
“We knew that we were struggling earlier in the season,” graduate guard Elijah Davis Jr. said. “Honestly, we were on the opposite side of the close games a lot in the nonconference, so I think like [Harris] said, practice, and also our tempo at practice and how intense we go. It’s starting to gel together and we’re starting to understand what we need to do to pull out those types of games.”
Broadus credited Davis with helping the Bears develop good practice habits.
“He’s the leader and he holds guys accountable. That’s the biggest thing,” Broadus said. “It’s not me always screaming, yelling, hollering and woofing. It’s a different voice telling them what I want to say sometimes. Sometimes I don’t even have to say it. Having a leader — him and [senior guard Rob Lawson] — is priceless.”
Morgan’s bread is buttered is on the offensive end, though. The Bears are tops in the MEAC in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Lately, the star of the show has been Worrell, who has scored 23 or more points in five consecutive games and in six of the Bears’ last seven.
A 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard out of Washington, D.C., Worrell transferred close to home after a season at Southern Miss in 2024-25. He is averaging 17.5 points and 37.9 percent shooting from 3-point range, both best on the team.
“When you’re playing with two great guards like Elijah and Rob that give me the ball, it makes my job a lot easier,” Worrell said. “Just relying on these guys, I’m just out there letting the game come to me. I take my hat off to my team because without them I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.”
A 6-foot-1, 175-pound point guard out of Saint Frances, Davis is on his fifth college in as many years but he’s the exactly sound ball-handler and decision-maker Broadus needed to run his offense.
Davis, who is averaging 13.1 points and 5.7 assists per game, has totaled 40 assists during Morgan’s six-game winning streak. He’ll get a chance to add to that on a road trip that will take the Bears to South Carolina State on Feb. 14 and North Carolina Central on Feb. 16.
“[Broadus] actually gives me the keys on offense and to the defense sometimes,” Davis said. “Trust goes a long way. That’s with anything in life, so I just feel like we’re at a point in time now, we’ve kind of been around each other for long enough. We kind of know how each other plays. That benefits us.”
Update: Morgan’s game at South Carolina State was rescheduled for Feb. 25.
Photo Credits: Michael Oduniyi