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Florida A&M men’s basketball head coach Charlie Ward is about to get his first glimpse of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
In a rivalry game.
Ward’s Rattlers will play on the back half of a SWAC doubleheader with its longtime foes, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, this Saturday, Jan. 3, at Moore-Gymnasium in Daytona Beach.
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FAMU and Bethune-Cookman’s women’s basketball teams will tip off the two-game slate at 1 p.m. The men will follow at 3:30 p.m.
HBCU GO will televise the games for free.
FAMU men’s basketball enters its SWAC schedule with a 3-8 record, last faltering 89-65 in Atlanta to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Senior guard Jaquan Sanders leads the Rattlers in scoring, averaging 11.2 points per game. He’s followed by his FAMU teammates Antonio Baker (10.4) and Tyler Shirley (10.1).
Florida A&M Rattlers guard Jaquan Sanders handles the basketball during an NCAA game during the 2025-2026 season. Sanders, the 2022 New York High School Mr. Basketball, transferred to FAMU after stints at Hofstra and Seton Hall.
Bethune-Cookman is 3-10, last losing 103-77 at Oklahoma State.
FAMU versus Bethune-Cookman will be a battle between two coaches who were former players in the National Basketball Association.
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After winning the 1993 Heisman Trophy and quarterbacking the Florida State Seminoles football team to a national championship, Ward elected to pursue a professional basketball career. He was picked in the first round, 26th overall, of the 1994 NBA Draft and went on to play 11 seasons, primarily as a point guard with the New York Knicks.
Ward’s No. 12 Florida State basketball jersey was retired last October, joining his No. 17 football jersey. He’s the only athlete in school history to have a number retired in multiple sports.
Bethune-Cookman Wildcats head coach Reggie Theus was picked ninth overall out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the 1978 NBA Draft and played 13 seasons in the league.
He was a two-time NBA All-Star while playing shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls. His stardom in the Windy City actually predated Michael Jordan’s arrival by four months before ‘His Airness’ would go on to bring six NBA titles to the Bulls.
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Saturday’s FAMU at Bethune-Cookman SWAC doubleheader will be the first of the 2025-2026 season, with the rivals also scheduled to meet in Tallahassee on March 5 for the regular season finale.
Florida A&M at Bethune-Cookman
When: Saturday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. (women), 3:30 p.m. (men)
Where: Moore Gymnasium in Daytona Beach, Florida
TV/Streaming: HBCU GO
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Charlie Ward to lead FAMU basketball into rivalry game vs B-CU
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