Date: December 1, 2007
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Site: Mackey Arena
Tip-off: 3:05 p.m.
Radio: ESPN Radio Am 1300
Talent: Brian Fritz and Matt Renn
TV: Big Ten Network
Talent: Mike Crispino and Bob Ford
Series: Purdue leads 26-4
Last Time: ISU 89, Purdue 70 (12/28/06)
Indiana State heads into today's game the winner of two-straight, after victories at home last week against Northern Illinois and IPFW. That brought the Sycamores above .500 for the season with a 3-2 record, with all three wins coming at home in front of the fans at the Hulman Center.
On Saturday, junior forward Adam Arnold paced the Sycamores with 12 points and five rebounds, as ISU earned a 63-55 win over IPFW at home. The win broke the series tie and gave ISU a 2-1 lead in the all-time series over the Mastodons.
However, the Sycamores have not fared well on the road, with two losses this season in their only two contests away from home. They will be looking to reverse that trend today, but it will not be an easy task against Purdue at Mackey Arena.
The Boilermakers are 3-1 to date this season and are coming off a hard-fought 61-58 loss at Clemson on Tuesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Freshman Scott Martin was one of three Boilermakers in double figures, as he led the way with 13 points in the loss to the Tigers. He was joined in double-digits by Tarrance Crump (11) and Nemanja Calasan (10).
Purdue fields a very young squad with five freshmen and three sophomores. That could be good for the Sycamores, as the Boilermakers will no doubt want revenge for their convincing 89-70 loss to ISU last year on December 28 at the Hulman Center. It was the first time ISU has defeated Purdue on its home court since 1977 and their first win over Purdue since 1978.
► Indiana State's Kevin McKenna is in his first season at the helm of the Sycamores program, after completing his ninth season at Creighton as an assistant coach, where he helped the Bluejays advance to four NCAA tournament appearances. From 2001-05, McKenna spent four years as the head coach (89-33) at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Omaha, where he guided the Mavericks to four consecutive 20-win seasons and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament. He is assisted by Greg Lansing, Stan Gouard and Lou Gudino.
► Purdue's Matt Painter is in his third season at the helm of the Purdue program and has posted a career record of 34-32. He took over the program in 2005 after serving as an assistant coach for one season under former head coach Gene Keady after serving as Southern Illinois' head coach during the 2003-04 season (25-5). He is assisted by Counzo Martin, Paul Lusk and Rick Ray.
► Purdue University is located in West Lafayette, Ind., and has an enrollment of 39,102 students. The Boilermakers are members of the Big Ten
Conference and play their home games at Mackey Arena (14,123).
► The Boilermakers are led by third-year head coach Matt Painter, who has compiled a 34-32 record in his time at the helm of the Purdue programs.
Prior to taking over as head coach during the 2005-06 season, Painter served as an assistant coach under former head coach Gene Keady was
announced as his successor on April 9, 2004. Before returning to his alma mater, Painter led Southern Illinois to a 25-5 record and a NCAA Tournament
birth as head coach during the 2003-04 season.
► Purdue returns seven players and three starters from last year's squad that finished 22-12 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten. That earned the
Boilermakers a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated Arizona 63-72 to advance to the second round and were defeated by eventual National
Champion Florida 74-67.
► Through four games this season, freshman Scott Martin leads the way for the Boilermakers with 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He is joined in double-figures by fellow freshman E'Twaun Moore, who is averaging 12.0 points per game and leads the team with seven made three-pointers.
Through the first five games of the season, it's pretty easy to see that the Sycamores like to play basketball at home in front of the fans at Hulman Center. In ISU's three games at home, the squad is averaging 77 points per game while allowing opponents just 58.5 points per contest. The Sycamores are shooting .461 from the field, including .381 from three-point range, while posting a +9 turnover margin on way to a 3-0 record. However, the road has been less friendly to the Sycamores, as they are averaging just 58.5 points compared to their opponent's 77.0 average in two games. ISU is shooting a dismal .348 from the field as a team, including a miniscule .173 from three-point range, which has led to a 0-2 record.
There was definite parity in the scoring column last week for the Sycamores, as four players scored in double figures in both of the Sycamores' wins. In Tuesday's 75-65 win over Northern Illinois, Gabe Moore led the way with 14 points and was joined in double figures by Marico Stinson (11), Aaron Carter (10) and Isiah Martin (10). On Saturday, Adam Arnold (12) joined in the fun and led ISU in scoring and was complemented by Moore (11), Martin (10) and Cole Holmstrom (10). The last time the Sycamores had two-straight games with four players in double figures was last season, when the squad did it in games against Wagner (12/21) and Purdue (12/28).
Winning the turnover battle usually leads to success and ISU is certainly looking to keep its current trend alive throughout the season. Through the first five games of the season, the Sycamores are averaging 14.4 turnovers per game, while their opponents are giving the ball away 17.2 times per game. That translates into a turnover margin of positive 2.8, which should equal some wins as the team progresses if that number stays on the positive side.
Freshmen Aaron Carter and Isiah Martin earned their first career starting assignments last week and both made the best of it. Carter posted a career-high 10 points on a 4-for-5 effort from the floor including a 2-for-3 effort from beyond the 3-point line in the team's win on Tuesday over Northern Illinois. Martin was equally impressive on Saturday against IPFW in his first career start and made his presence felt on both ends of the floor. He tied his career-high with 10 points while grabbing five rebounds, including three on the offensive glass. He also added three blocked shots in his 21 minutes played.
Take one look at the stat line for senior guard Gabe Moore from ISU's win over NIU last Tuesday night and you will see some very balanced numbers. Not only did the Little Rock, Ark., native lead the team in scoring with 14 points, but he also added eight rebounds and seven assists to come close to a triple-double. In addition, he added three steals on the defensive end.
It's early in the season, but so far the Sycamores are winning the battle on the glass. Through five games, ISU has 176 rebounds for an average of 35.2 per game. Opponents are averaging just 31.2 rebounds per contest, giving the Sycamores an advantage of 4.0 caroms per game which currently ranks fourth among teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. ISU is also averaging 13.0 offensive rebounds per game, which currently ranks first among teams in the Valley. Last season, ISU averaged 32 rebounds per contest, which was 2.1 lower than its opponents.
Saturday's game against IPFW was highlighted by the performance of junior forward Adam Arnold. The Decatur, Ind., native put together his best game of the season to date as he scored a team-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. He also dished out two assists and blocked his fourth shot of the season at the Sycamores went on to a 63-55 win over the Mastodons.
It was a 2-0 week for the Sycamores, as the squad posted non-conference wins at home against Northern Illinois on Tuesday (75-65) and IPFW on Saturday (63-55). That brought the team's record this season at home to 3-0 and added to an impressive non-conference home record over the past few seasons. Since the 2005-06 season, ISU has compiled a 14-2 record at the Hulman Center against non-conference opponents, with the only losses coming to IPFW (1/2/06) and Miami-Ohio (2/17/07).
You normally hear the term wire-to-wire in horse racing, but the saying would also apply to Indiana State's season-opening win over Oakland City. The Sycamores led for the entire game over the Mighty Oaks and eventually pushed the lead to as much as 37 points at one time. Oakland City did manage to cut the lead to four points early at 14-10, but the Sycamores broke out and never led by less than 20 points in the second half to secure the 78-45 season-opening victory.
Many players say they always remember the first basket they scored in college. For a couple of ISU freshmen, those baskets should be very easy to remember. Both Aaron Carter and Isiah Martin earned their first two collegiate points by way of the slam dunk. Even though the stats won't officially count because they occurred in the team's exhibition win over DePauw, the fast break dunks should be common for the duo throughout the season in new head coach Kevin McKenna aggressive offense.
With the start of the new season comes the start of a new era in Indiana State basketball, as Kevin McKenna takes over as head coach of the Sycamore program. McKenna comes to ISU via fellow Valley foe Creighton, where he completed his ninth season as an assistant coach and helped the Bluejays advance to four NCAA Tournaments as well as two National Invitation Tournaments. However, this is not McKenna's first stint as a head coach, as he spent four highly successful years from 2001-05 as the head coach (89-33) at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Omaha, where he guided the Mavericks to four consecutive 20-win seasons, two North Central Conference titles, and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
As new head coach Kevin McKenna takes over the reigns at Indiana State, he will not be alone as four other new head coaches will take over at their respective Valley schools. Keno Davis (Drake), Marty Simmons (Evansville), Tim Jankovich (Illinois State) and Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) join McKenna as new coaches in the league, which marks the most changes since the 1978-79 season. During that season, ISU hired Bill Hodges as its new head coach and he quickly took the Sycamores to the Final Four after winning his first 33 games with a little help from All-American Larry Bird.
