NCCU Basketball Teams Announce 2020-21 MEAC Schedules

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has released its altered league basketball schedules for the 2020-21 season on Thursday with the North Carolina Central University men’s and women’s basketball teams slated to play 16 conference doubleheaders within the Southern Division beginning in January.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the MEAC has constructed new divisional schedules for each institution with each team in NCCU’s Southern Division playing each other four times (twice at home and twice on the road).

The 16 twin bills for the Eagles will consist of four showdowns apiece with North Carolina A&T State University, South Carolina State University, Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University.

For the first time since joining the MEAC at the NCAA Division I level in 2011-12, NCCU will not play any team in the Northern Division in the regular season (Norfolk State University, Howard University, Delaware State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University or Coppin State University).

The Eagles will open up play at South Carolina State on Saturday, Jan. 2.

NCCU will host its first league skirmish against its in-state rivals North Carolina A&T two days later on Monday, Jan. 4. The Eagles schedules also have them hosting the Aggies in their regular-season finale on Thursday, March 4. 

Both NC Central basketball teams had success against N.C. A&T last season with the Lady Eagles sweeping all three games against the Aggies, while the NCCU men’s basketball team secured the 2020 MEAC regular-season title with a win over N.C. A&T in its last regular-season game. The Eagles and Aggies will also meet twice in Greensboro in a 15-day stretch on both Saturday, Jan. 16 and Saturday, Jan. 30.

Half of NCCU’s eight home doubleheaders will occur in January. After battling the Aggies on Jan. 4, NCCU will conclude a season-long, three-game homestand with contests against Florida A&M (Jan. 9) and Bethune-Cookman (Jan. 11). NCCU will entertain the Wildcats and Rattlers a second time for their only home games in February on Saturday, Feb. 6 and Monday, Feb. 8, respectively.

NCCU will play a rare league doubleheader on a Wednesday when the Eagles first host South Carolina State on Jan. 20 before both Bulldog programs return a second time on Monday, March 1.

The 2021 MEAC Basketball Tournament will play out over the course of the week of March 8-13. The postseason competition will also feature some new changes during the pandemic with first-round games now being hosted at campus sites of each higher seed for that round. The conclusion of the MEAC Basketball Tournament will once again be contested inside Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

For more information or for tickets, visit nccueaglepride.com.