Raleigh, NC – The Bobby Collins Era of Shaw University men's basketball will finally get underway as the Bears travel to Institute, WV for the Earl Lloyd Classic on the campus of West Virginia State University.

Shaw will take on Davis and Elkins at 5:30 pm on Friday, November 12 followed by taking on host WVSU Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be streamed live at mountaineast.tv/wvsu.

Collins was named head coach at Shaw on March 24, 2020. He is assisted by Ken Spencer, Wykevin Bazemore, and Jawann Baker.

The Bears saw their 2020-21 season put on hold due to Covid-19 concerns and will be playing their first game since February 26, 2020, when Shaw fell to Fayetteville State University in the opening round of the 2020 CIAA Tournament in which Shaw finished the season 5-23 overall. The Bears welcome 16 new players to their roster with a mixture of transfers and freshman athletes.

Davis and Elkins heads to Institute for the opening of their 2021-22 regular season as well after dropping a 113-72 exhibition to Division 1 Marshall on October 31.  Courtney Walton and Evan Busby led the Senators in points scoring 15 points each followed by Sam Rolle IV with 11 points. Breland Walton just missed a double-double in reserve fashion finishing with 8 points and 9 rebounds.

WVSU opens their season this weekend as well against CIAA foe Livingstone College Friday before facing the Bears Saturday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets were able to compete in the 2020-21 season finishing 9-7 overall. Leading scorer Glen Abram returns from last season where he averaged a team-high 22.9 points per game. The Yellow Jackets also return second-leading scorer Jeremiah Moore who tossed in just over 18 points per game.