Coppin State had to wear Drexel practice jerseys in loss to Dragons

Confusion filled the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Tuesday night as the Coppin State men’s basketball team walked on to the court wearing odd jerseys.

The visitors were sporting the logo of their opponents, the Drexel Dragons, across their jerseys.

The Eagles realized shortly before tipoff that they were missing their jerseys. Instead of being forced to forfeit the game, they agreed to wear Drexel’s practice uniforms.

“We had a team, they were willing to play,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said. “A mistake was made and we just wanted to help them get some gear so we can play the game.”

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The generous act caught many by surprise.

“I found out as I was in the middle of shooting and asked what was going on and our trainer told us,” said Drexel sophomore guard Lamar Oden Jr. “We were all confused, but we’re used to something happening. It’s nothing new.”

The Eagles fell to 1-14 with a 76-69 loss to Drexel, their ninth straight defeat amid a brutal stretch to start the season. The Baltimore school has played 13 games in the first 30 days of the campaign, 11 of which were on the road.

“If you study their schedule and see how many games they’ve played and how many rest days they’ve had in between games, nobody in the country has played their type of schedule,” Spiker said. “They’re good players, they have unique circumstances.

“If you gave me a vote, I know no one will be more battle-tested than Coppin State when it comes tournament time.”