The Basics ? The Indiana State Sycamores host Eastern Illinois on Friday night in the opening game of The Sycamore Holiday Showcase at Hulman Center. Eastern Illinois off to a hot start, boasting an 8-3 record, while ISU is looking to avoid its first five-game losing skid under ninth-year head coach Jim Wiedie. ISU will host nationally-ranked Kansas State on Saturday afternoon.
Eastern Illinois Series Notes ? In what is one of the longest running series in the history of the basketball program, Indiana State holds a 30-22 record all-time against Eastern Illinois. The Sycamores own a 15-9 advantage against the Panthers in games played in Terre Haute. ISU has won each of the last six meetings in the series, as well as 15 of the last 16 contests.
On The Air ? Friday night's contest can be heard live on WSDM 92.7 FM in the Wabash Valley. Brent Holl calls the action while Vaso Michaels provides color commentary. The game can also be heard live via the internet at crock927.com and GoSycamores.com. The Jim Wiedie Coaches' Show airs on Thursday nights during the non-conference portion of the schedule, with the next broadcast coming on December 18 live on ESPN Radio 1300 AM at 6:00 p.m. The Jim Wiedie Coaches' Show will move to Tuesday nights beginning December 30 and will begin at 6:30 p.m.
About The Indiana State Coach ? Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie is in his ninth year at the helm of the Sycamore women's basketball program. The 2003 and 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Wiedie led the Sycamores to the conference's outright regular season championship in 2006 and has guided ISU into the postseason in three of the last five years. He is 143-98 at Indiana State, and is a perfect 6-0 all-time against Eastern Illinois. Wiedie owns an 11-1 mark against members of the Ohio Valley Conference.
About The Eastern Illinois Coach ? In his fifth season at the helm of the Eastern Illinois women's basketball program is Brady Sallee. Sallee is 57-71 as head coach of the Panthers. He is 0-3 against the Sycamores.
Wiedie In Non-Conference Games ? The Sycamores have compiled a 49-29 record in regular season non-conference games under Jim Wiedie, including a 23-6 mark in regular season non-conference games played at Hulman Center.
Wiedie In Conference Games ? 2008-09 will mark the ninth conference season for Jim Wiedie at the helm of the Sycamores. In The Valley, Wiedie is 86-58, highlighted by his 16-2 championship season in 2005-06 as well as a pair of 13-5 finishes in 2002-03 (shared regular season title) and 2004-05. At Hulman Center, Wiedie is nearly unstoppable, boasting a 54-17 mark in regular season home MVC games, including three 8-1 seasons. In two of the past three seasons, Wiedie led the Sycamores to back-to-back eight win conference home records. Wiedie's 86 Missouri Valley Conference victories are the most conference triumphs by a Sycamore head coach, and are also the most by any active coach in the league. His 86 career MVC victories rank eighth all-time in Valley history. He needs two more Valley victories to tie Eastern Illinois' Barbara Hilke for seventh.
Sycamores Getting National Attention Against Eastern Illinois ? Friday night's game against Eastern Illinois kicks off the NCAA Double A Zone's Indiana Extravaganza, where NCAA staff members Howard Smith and Ryan Powell will attend and cover 11 different basketball games in the state of Indiana between Friday and Monday. The duo will cover the battle between the Sycamores and Panthers on their live blog located at:
www.doubleazone.com/2008/12/indiana_college_basketball_extravaganza_11_games_four_days_ncaa.php
Following the four-day tour, Smith and Powell will create a video journal of their adventures on NCAA.org and there will be a feature article published about their trip in an upcoming edition of the NCAA News.
The Sycamore Holiday Showcase ? Friday night's game against Eastern Illinois kicks off a two-day, three-game basketball adventure at Hulman Center called The Sycamore Holiday Showcase. The weekend will feature a women's game against Eastern Illinois, a men's contest on Saturday versus Depauw followed by a women's game versus nationally-ranked Kansas State.
Jarrett Is Jarring ? Freshman Bianca Jarrett posted a career-high 15 points off the bench as the Sycamores battled Ball State last week. Jarrett hit 5-of-12 shots from the field, including one 3-pointer and was 4-of-6 from the free throw line. She also dished out an assist in 22 minutes of action against the Cardinals. With the Sycamores trailing by three points on two separate occasions with six minutes left in the game, Jarrett hit running jumpers twice to pull Indiana State within a point twice.
Starting Five Leading The Way ? Throughout the first eight games of the season, Indiana State has used the same starting five in each contest; Kelsey Luna, Leah Phillips, Kelsie Cooley, Deja Mattox and Kara Schilli. Those are five of the top eight scorers on the team so far. In fact, the ISU starting five has scored all but 115 of the Sycamores points this season. In the Sycamores' two victories, the starting five has connected on 54 percent of their shots (40-of-74) while those same five have shot just 36.5 percent from the field (95-of-260) in six defeats. From 3-point range in the two victories, the Sycamores are 41 percent (16-of-39) while they are just 30.0 percent in the five defeats (33-of-110).
Break The Streak ? Indiana State has dropped each of their last four contests, tying the longest losing skid for the Sycamores under head coach Jim Wiedie. ISU has dropped four in a row for just the fifth time under Wiedie, but has never lost five in a row. ISU will look to improve to a perfect 5-0 under Wiedie when falling in the four previous contests on Friday night against Eastern Illinois.
The Fresh Faces Making An Impact! ? Indiana State's roster features seven freshmen this season and they are making an immediate impact on the Sycamore women's basketball program. Paced by Deja Mattox, who is averaging 8.3 points as well as 4.5 rebounds per game, the freshmen have accounted for 155 of ISU's 502 total points scored, or 30.9 percent.
Kelsey Is Tops Twice ? Junior Kelsey Luna tops the Missouri Valley Conference statistical rankings in a pair of categories. She is connected on 3.3 3-point field goals per game, which is the best in the league and ranks seventh nationally while her 2.6 steals per game as also a MVC standard and rank 61st in the nation. She also appears in two other statistical rankings in the Valley as her 15.4 ppg average is fifth while her blazing 39.4 percent clip from 3-point range is 10th. That 39.4 shooting percentage from long range ranks 70th-best in the NCAA.
Cool Runnings ? Sophomore Kelsie Cooley has proven to be one of the most accurate shooters in the Missouri Valley Conference this season both from the field and from the free throw line. Cooley has posted a 50.9 shooting percentage which is eighth-best in the Valley and her sparkling 88.9 percent mark from the charity stripe ranks third.
TAG! You're It, No, You're It! ? Senior Leah Phillips and junior Kelsey Luna are both climbing the Sycamore record book in career 3-point field goals made. Luna holds a slight lead over Leah Phillips after connecting on three triples in the Sycamores' last contest against Ball State. Luna now has 167 career 3-pointers and stands in fourth place while Phillips is now in sixth with 161. Phillips is chasing April Kirby for fifth place (166) and Luna (167) for fourth, while Luna's next record book target is Hazel Olden, who hit 180 3-pointers during her career.
14 And Counting ? Ninth-year Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie enters Friday night's contest against Eastern Illinois with 143 career victories, needing just 14 more to catch Edith Godleski for the school record to become the school's all-time winningest coach by both total wins and percentage. Catching Godleski would be no small feat, as she will be inducted into the Indiana State Athletics Hall of Fame this winter. Godleski coaches the Sycamores for the first 11 seasons of the program from 1971-82.
Leah Phillips Named MVC Player of the Week ? Indiana State senior guard Leah Phillips was named the Missouri Valley Conference's Player of the Week for the first time in her career for efforts in road victories over Detroit and Southeast Missouri State. Phillips scored a career-high 27 points, hitting 9-of-12 shots from the field, including a sparking 6-of-8 mark from behind the 3-point line to lead ISU to a thrilling 75-72 victory over SEMO. Phillips added a pair of steals in 37 minutes of action. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first half to help ISU erase an early 10-point deficit and another triple with under four minutes left in the game which knotted the score. Against Detroit, she hit three 3-point field goals en route to 15 points in the ISU win. Phillips was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line and pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded a steal against Detroit, which had just beaten No. 23 Georgia only four days earlier. For the week, Phillips hit 13-of-22 shots from the field (59.1 percent) and connected on 9-of-17 shots from long range (52.9 percent). She was 7-of-8 from the free throw line (87.5 percent) and pulled down 2.5 rebounds, dished out 2.0 assists and recorded 1.5 steals per game. The honor for Phillips is the first weekly plaudit in her Sycamore career. She is the first Sycamore to earn Valley Player of the Week honors since Kelsey Luna did so following the ISU victory over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt last year.
Academic Run Continues ? For the seventh consecutive season, the Indiana State women's basketball program was noted for its high academic achievements under head coach Jim Wiedie. The Sycamore women's basketball team finished ranked third in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I in team grade point average with a stellar mark of 3.59.
The Last Time Out ? Indiana State battled on the road at Ball State, playing a nip-tuck affair with the Cardinals in front of 895 fans at Worthen Arena, but the Sycamores went cold over the final five minutes of the game and allowed Ball State to grab an 82-63 decision.
Indiana State freshman Bianca Jarrett pulled ISU within a point of Ball State with 5:42 left in the game, 60-59, on a wide-open lay-up which brought the Sycamores back from trailing by as many as seven points in the first half. After Ball State's Porchia Green answered with a lay-up on the other end to extend the Cardinal advantage out to 62-59, Jarrett continued her offensive tear with another running jumper in the paint that rattled home which whittled the BSU advantage down to 62-61.
With 5:11 showing on the clock, it would be the final field goal for the Sycamores in the game. Ball State used an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to stake themselves to a 73-61 lead with 2:49 left; capped on a 3-pointer by Emily Maggert.
Freshman Deja Mattox broke the scoreless string with a free throw at the 2:21 mark, but that only cut the Cardinal advantage down to 74-62. Ball State scored the game's next seven points at the foul line before Jarrett capped off a career-high 15 point effort with a charity toss of her own in the game's final minute to make it 80-63. Danielle Gratton's lay-up with three seconds left and the shot clock ready to expire made it 82-63.
Jarrett led the way for ISU by hitting 5-of-12 shots from the field, including a 3-pointer plus four free throws to score 15. She was joined in double figures by Leah Phillips who scored 12 points and Kelsey Luna with 11. Luna hit 3-of-8 shots from 3-point range to give her 167 career triples, which is now fourth-best in the history of the program.
The story of the game came down the battle of the boards. Ball State, which entered the game being out-rebounded by opponents by nearly 10 a game, used a 48-28 advantage off the glass to score 18 second chance points, including a pair of crucial points late in the game which extended a Cardinal possession and gave them a four-point trip on their end of the floor.
After shooting at a 41.7 percent clip in the opening half, the Sycamores cooled to a 30.8 percent mark after intermission and finished with a 23-of-62 field goal shooting, a 37.1 percent effort. BSU hit 31-of-63 shots from the field, which was a 49.2 percent clip.
The Cardinals put four scorers in double figures, led by 19 points from Kiley Jarrett and Maggert. Gratton posted 17 and Porchia Green scored 12 points in the second half to finish with 14.
The loss extended the current Sycamore losing streak to four games and gave Ball State its first victory over Indiana State since the 2003 campaign. ISU had downed the Cardinals in each of the last three meetings. The two teams met in Muncie, Ind., for the first time since 1995.
Of note in the game were the first career points for freshmen Amanda Pedro (five points) as well as Kayla Mullins (2 points). Each posted their first collegiate buckets in the first half.
Up Next ? The Sycamore Holiday Showcase continues tomorrow, December 20 when Indiana State hosts nationally-ranked and undefeated Kansas State at Hulman Center. Tip-off is slated for 5:35 p.m. (EDT).
