Date: December 8, 2007
Location: Terre Haute, Ind.
Site: Hulman Center
Tip-off: 7:05 p.m.
Radio: The Crock 92.7
Talent: Brian Fritz and Michael Menser
Television: WTWO NBC Ch. 2
Talent: Jason Pensky and Jim Waugh
Series: ISU leads 67-55
Last Time: Ball State 73, ISU 70 (12/2/06)
After a couple tough road losses at Purdue and Miami (Ohio), the Indiana State Sycamores return home tonight to face off against longtime in-state rival Ball State at the Hulman Center.
Tonight's game will be the 123rd in the series between the two schools, with ISU holding a 67-55 lead all-time. However, the Cardinals have won seven out of the last nine contests, including last year's overtime win over the Sycamores in Muncie. ISU has been good at home in the series, though, posting a 46-16 record in Terre Haute.
Both teams head into the game struggling. ISU has lost two-straight road contests and have yet to win a game on the road. In Tuesday's loss at Miami (Ohio), senior Gabe Moore scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the second half against the RedHawks, but it was not enough to hold last year's Mid-American Conference tournament champions.
Ball State brings an 0-7 record with them into the contest, but have faced some tough teams in Butler, No. 5 Georgetown and most recently Purdue. The Cardinals dropped a 57-70 decision to the Boilermakers on Wednesday night in West Lafayette to keep the team winless. Senior guard Peyton Stovall led the way in the game for BSU with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
In addition, tonight's game is the second-straight against a MAC opponent for the Sycamores. Following ISU's game at Tulane, another MAC team will head into Hulman Center as Bowling Green will play ISU on December 22 in the final non-conference game of the season for the Sycamores.
► 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.
► Ball State's Billy Taylor is in his first season at the helm of the BSU program. Prior to coming to Ball State, Taylor served as the head coach at Lehigh for the past five seasons, where his teams posted an overall record of 81-69. He is assisted by Bob Simmons, Jim Molinari and Joseph Price.
► Ball State University is located in Muncie, Ind., and has an enrollment of 17,285. The Cardinals are members of the Mid-American Conference (West Division) and play their home games at John E. Worthen Arena.
► The Cardinals are led by first-year head coach Billy Taylor. Prior to coming to Ball State, Taylor served as the head coach at Lehigh for the past five seasons, where his teams posted an overall record of 81-69.
► The squad returns six letterwinners and four starters from last year's team that finished with a 9-22 overall record. However, Ball State's current 10-man roster includes just seven scholarship players and three walk-ons.
► BSU heads into tonight's game with an 0-7 record, with losses to teams such as Butler, No. 5 Georgetown and at Missouri Valley Conference member Evansville. The Cardinals are coming off a loss on Wednesday at Purdue, where the team suffered a 57-70 defeat at the hands of the Boilermakers (5-1).
► Junior forward Anthony Newell had been strong for the for the Cardinals early in the season, as he led the team with 22.5 point per game and 7.5 rebounds per contest before being injured. He will miss six-to-eight weeks with a foot injury. Senior guard Peyton Stovall, who is averaging 12.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game has picked up the slack and is averaging 38.0 minutes per game.
► Despite a current roster with no one taller that 6-4, the Cardinals own just a -0.6 rebounding disadvantage through its first seven games. Stovall leads the team with his 7.0 average, while Malik Perry is adding 6.5 boards per game.
Tonight's game will be the 123rd in the series between the two schools, with ISU holding a 67-55 lead all-time. However, the Cardinals have won seven out of the last nine contests, including last year's overtime win over the Sycamores in Muncie. ISU has been good at home in the series, though, posting a 46-16 record in Terre Haute.
The Sycamores have become very familiar with the Mid-American Conference this week and will continue to in the near future. On Tuesday, the Sycamores were defeated by Miami (Ohio) on the road in Oxford by a score of 74-58. Tonight, ISU will face off against Ball State for its second game in a row against a MAC opponent. Then, Bowling Green will come play the Sycamores in the final non-conference match up of the season. Throw that in with the team's victory over Northern Illinois this season, and the Sycamores will have faced off against four foes from the MAC during the 2007-08 with a possibility of a fifth game when the 2008 O'Reilly/ESPNU BracketBuster pairings are announced.
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 58.8 points compared to their opponent's 74.8 average in four games. ISU is shooting .393 from the field as a team (opponents .493), including a miniscule .205 from three-point range (opponents .438), which has led to a 0-4 record.
The Sycamores were trailing at halftime on Tuesday at Miami (Ohio), so a couple of seniors decided to step up and try to get their team back into the game. Point guard Gabe Moore scored 14 of his game and season-high 17 points in the second half, including an 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line. Reserve guard Todd McCoy also got into the action with a solid second-half performance, as he scored all nine of his points in the game on 4-of-6 shooting from the field during the half. McCoy's three-pointer with 12:39 left in the game cut the Miami (Ohio) lead to eight point and a jumper later in the half cut the lead to just six points with nine minutes left.
Heading into last Saturday's game at Purdue, few would have guessed that sophomore Harry Marshall's name would be at the top of the stat sheet in the scoring column. However, the sixth man for the Sycamores took over the game and led his team in the first half with 14 points. Beginning at the 7:42 mark, he scored six-straight points for ISU and after an Adam Arnold made three-pointer, he connected on another jumper to pull the Sycamores within two points at 28-26 with 5:37 left to give him eight points in about a two-minute span. Then, later in the half he scored five-straight points with just over a minute to play to give the Sycamores their first lead of the day and get his team to the locker room with the halftime lead. He finished the game with six more points to finish with a total of 20 to lead all scorers in the contest.
Freshman Isiah Martin is certainly enjoying his opportunity as a starter for head coach Kevin McKenna and he's proving that he's earned it with his performance over the last two games. In his first career start, the Chicago, Ill., native scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots in a win over IPFW. He followed that up with a career-high 14 points, five rebounds and four blocks at Purdue last Saturday. In his first two starts, Martin averaged 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game for ISU.
Blocked shots have been much more prevalent this season for the Sycamores, as the squad already has 21 through just six games this season for an average of 3.0 per game. That production currently ranks tied for fifth among teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, with freshman Isiah Martin's 11 blocks and 1.57 bpg average placing him fifth overall in the conference as well. In addition, if the team stays on that current pace, ISU will rack up approximately 87 blocks this season which would more than double last year's total of 42 as a team.
ISU's last home 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 performance at home for the Sycamores two weeks ago, as the squad posted non-conference wins at home against Northern Illinois (75-65) and IPFW (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).
National Signing Day can be a very stressful time for coaching staffs, as they wonder whether or not their coveted recruits will sign on the dotted line. However, the Indiana State men's basketball staff now has nothing to worry about as Carl Richard Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Richards HS), Tyler Cutter (Murfreesboro, Tenn./Siegel HS) and Koang Doluony (Omaha, Neb./Bryan HS) have all signed National Letters of Intent to continue their basketball careers as Sycamores. The three new recruits will fill the vacated roster spots of seniors Gabe Moore, Todd McCoy and Mick Yelovich. Richard Jr., A 6-4, 180-pound small forward, averaged 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists per game as a junior at Richards High School, the alma mater Miami Heat All-Star Dwyane Wade. Cutter, A six-foot point guard from Murfreesboro, Tenn., averaged 18.5 points, five assists, two steals and four rebounds per game as a junior for Siegel High School. A 6-7 forward with a wing span of almost seven feet wide, Doluony brings a long presence on the defensive side of the ball for the Sycamores. Originally from the Sudan, Doluony averaged eight points and seven rebounds per game during his junior season at Nebraska power Omaha Bryan High School.
