The American University Eagles played a home exhibition game Monday night against the Howard University Bisons. The Eagles won, scoring 74-66. The AU pep band, cheer and dance teams were on hand to usher in the new season of AU basketball.
The Eagles were able to capitalize on points from turnovers and led in points in the paint. Howard found success with more than three times American‘s bench points, edging out American in fast break and second-chance points.
The game was significant being led by two Black head coaches, each DMV legends in their own right after staring at perennial power DeMatha Catholic High School.
AU men’s basketball coach Duane Simpkins is in his second year as head coach for the AU’s men’s basketball team. The team is entering the season with high hopes after a successful first year, the Eagles tied for second in the Patriot League facing adversity and overcoming injuries the plagued them for most of the season.
Howard University head men’s basketball coach Kenny Blakeney is entering his sixth season with the team. In 2023, the team secured the 2023 and 2024 MEAC Tournament titles and achieved back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time. Before working at Howard, Blakeney served as an assistant coach at various universities including Harvard, Columbia and Marshall University.
Athletic Directors JM Caparro (AU) and Kery Davis (HU) and the teams’ head coaches partnered with The Team and HeadCount, non-profit organizations that embrace robust civic engagement initiatives to encourage people to register to vote.
When speaking with “Listen In With KNN” founder and FOX Sports Radio host/reporter Kelsey Nicole Nelson, he said he hoped the game would resonate with people who were in attendance to go out and vote.
After the game, Simpkins said, “We didn’t expect to have a sold-out crowd, but I think the people who were here were exposed to the initiatives we got going on right now. Hopefully, it sparked some people to say ‘Hey. Make sure you do vote before next week,’ and get out there and try to make something happen.”
Blakeney also shared similar attributes about college athletes being civic leaders in the upcoming election after the game. “For us to be role models in this community, people that young women and men look up to and to see we’re prioritizing our social justice initiatives with voter registration,” Blakeney said. “It’s really big.”
The exhibition game was organized by the efforts of AU’s assistant director of compliance Fred Reynolds, who submitted a legislative relief waiver to the NCAA for this contest which was then approved by the NCAA for the game to take place.
The event was organized in coordination with The Team, an organization that creates programs that mix non-partisan civic engagement and voter participation with college athletics. They offer pathways for every athlete, coach and administrator to become more engaged citizens. Also involved in the planning was HeadCount, an organization that uses music, culture and digital media to register voters and inspire participation in democracy.
In attendance at the game was famed alum and sports journalist David Aldridge, former University of Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon, former Howard guard Jelani Williams and Head Varsity Basketball Coach at Gonzaga College High School Steve Turner to name a few.
Looking ahead, American University will play 18 Patriot League games, facing every team in the league twice.
All photos are courtesy of Kelsey Nicole Nelson
