JC Smith basketball (2-0) looks to extend strong start

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith basketball coach Steve Joyner (right) has the Golden Bulls off to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

Johnson C. Smith basketball is supposed to be an also-ran in the CIAA.

Two games into the season, the Golden Bulls are unbeaten going into the weekend’s JCSU Tip-Off Classic at Brayboy Gym. JCSU, which plays Virginia University of Lynchburg tonight at 7:30 p.m., was picked to finish sixth in the seven-team CIAA Southern Division, opened with nonconference wins against Belmont Abbey and Anderson (S.C.). Those results are an encouraging start to a season of low expectations on the outside. The Golden Bulls last opened 2-0 in the 2017-18 season.

“I think it’s too early to tell,” Golden Bulls coach Steve Joyner said. “I think we are ahead of ourselves in some cases. We’ve got nine new players, but we’re getting better every day so that’s what it's all about. That’s the important factor – not what people think about us but what you think about yourselves, so we’re just trying to improve every day and we think we’re doing it.”

Although the roster is loaded with newcomers, JCSU has some experience returning from a team that finished 9-17 a season ago. Ezekiel Cannedy, who earned CIAA Rookie of the Year and first-team all-conference, averaged 15.4 points per game as a freshman. Point guard Cedric Patterson averaged 5.8 points per game primarily as a backup last year and forward Javon Floyd averaged 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds last year.

Cannedy is off to a hot start averaging 22.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while Patterson is averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 boards per outing as is Avery Huggins, a 6-7 transfer.

Among the newcomers, Asa White, who played at Combine, one of the region’s top prep programs, is a 6-9 forward who scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds in 20 minutes against Anderson.

“I don’t think we’ve settled in on the [starting] five yet,” Joyner said. Javon Floyd is definitely off to a slow start (at 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game). He’s struggling a little bit with his confidence and whatnot. We’re trying to help him along with that and that’s one of our primary performers from last year. We’ve got a lot of little things that we’ve got to continue to work on individually and collectively as a group.”

The Golden Bulls have taken divergent paths to their two wins, rallying from a double-digit halftime deficit to beat Belmont Abbey 81-72 in the opener and holding off Anderson 93-85 after leading by as many as 26.

“We were down against Belmont Abbey and had to come from behind,” Joyner said. “(Against Anderson) we ran good in the first half and slumped in the second half, so we’re still a work in progress.”

JCSU, which needed six games last season to earn its second win, has a chance to build on its start at the showcase against Virginia-Lynchburg and Coker (S.C), who are a combined 1-10. Considering the Golden Bulls’ struggles since earning a share of the CIAA South crown with a 20-8 season in 2019-20, the weekend is an opportunity to build on a strong start. The Golden Bulls haven’t won four straight since the 2019-20 campaign.

“It will be tremendous for us,” Joyner said. “I think it would do a lot for our confidence. Every win for us is a signature and a confidence win and so to be off to go to a 2-0 start, that's excellent. But if we can win both games this weekend, that will mean a lot to us.”

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