Florida A&M

Rattlers open Crarey Era at Texas Christian University

11/3/2024 4:06:00 PM

FORT WORTH, Texas –– Florida A&M men's basketball begins the Coach Crarey era on the road at Texas Chrisitan University (TCU), a team that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed.

The Rattlers will look different from last season as they have ten new faces to open the season and return five players from last year's team and one from the 2023 team. The Rattlers' leading returners are guard Jordan Chatman and center Ja'Derryus Eatmon. Chatman averaged 4.3 points per game in the 2024 season and scored a season-high 15 points versus Jackson State. Chatman also scored 10+ points five times. Eatmon averaged 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in a season cut short in February due to injury. Eatmon had one of his best games on the road at South Carolina, scoring 14 points.

The Rattlers' top newcomer to watch is dynamic scorer Milton Matthews, who joined Coach Crarey from St. Thomas University, where he had back-to-back 18+ points per game season and All-Sun First Team appearances. Matthews also set the program record with 45 points last season. Other newcomers expected to impact the Rattlers include Lenard Taylor Jr., Trey Lewis, Sterling Young, Shaqir O'Neal, Kaleb Washington, Jamine Charles, Tyler Shirley, and Jocobi Hendricks.

TCU enters the season with a significantly retooled roster after losing nine scholarship players, including all of last season's top seven scorers. TCU has reloaded with seven transfers and a top-20 freshman class. Returning just 4.7% of its scoring from last season, the fewest in the Big 12, TCU has brought in impact transfers such as Frankie Collins (Arizona State) and Trazarien White (UNC Wilmington), as well as standout freshmen Micah Robinson and David Punch. Known for their speed, the Horned Frogs led the nation in fast break points over the past two seasons.

The game will tipoff on Monday, November 4, at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+. This will be the first time the two schools have played each other.

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