Setting The Stage:
Indiana State continues year three of the Kevin McKenna era on Tuesday, November 24 when the Sycamores wrap its participation in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tipoff against Western Kentucky University. The game will take place at historic E.A. Diddle Arena. On the radio airwaves, the game will be live on The Crock 92.7 FM as well as online at GoSycamores.com. Brian Fritz will call the action live on the radio broadcast. Due to NIT contractual obligations, no video Web stream will be available.

ABOUT THE COACHES:
Kevin McKenna (Creighton '93) is in his third season as the head coach at Indiana State (29-39). In his first season with the Sycamores, McKenna led the team to its highest win total since the 2000-01 season and an impressive 12-2 record at home in the Hulman Center. Last season, he led the Sycamores to six victories in their final seven regular season games, including three consecutive league road wins in the span of 10 days. McKenna came to Indiana State after spending nine seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton, 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. McKenna is one of just two NCAA Division I head men's basketball coaches who have won an NBA World Championship (with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982). Florida International's Isiah Thomas is the other. He is the only NCAA Division I men's basketball head coach to earn both an NBA and CBA Championship and is the only person in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference to win a MVC Regular Season Title , MVC Tournament Championship, NBA Championship and CBA title. McKenna has never faced Western Kentucky as a head coach. He is 0-3 against the Sun Belt Conference (0-1 vs. Arkansas State & 0-2 vs. North Texas).

Ken McDonald (Providence '92) What Ken McDonald accomplished in his first season as head coach of the Western Kentucky University men's basketball program was simply amazing, even when measured by the Hilltoppers' lofty standards of success. In 2008-09, WKU posted a 25-win season, captured the Sun Belt Conference East Division Championship, entered the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the number one overall seed, proceeded to win the tournament earning the program's 21st NCAA Tournament appearance, knocked off Big Ten power Illinois in the first round, and came within one second of upsetting 10th-ranked Gonzaga and advancing to a second-straight NCAA Sweet 16.

SERIES HISTORY
Western Kentucky leads the all-time series against Indiana State by a 3-1 margin. The Sycamores won the first ever meeting between the two schools in 1941, but dropped the final one in 1942. ISU is 0-2 all time at Western Kentucky.

A Little History:
Indiana State is currently in its 114th season of college basketball at the school. The Sycamores are 1,334-1,134 all-time on the hardwood. The Sycamores are 32 contests away from playing their historic 2,500th game in the history of the program.

Dwayne Lathan Named MVC Newcomer Of The Week:
Indiana State sophomore Dwayne Lathan has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week following his standout performances this past week against LSU and Milwaukee in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tipoff as well a home contest versus Colorado State as part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge. Lathan paced the team by averaging 14.7 ppg and was also the team's leading rebounder with a 5.3 average. Lathan was perfect from the field against LSU and Milwaukee, hitting all 10 of his field goal attempts. He ended the three-game stretch with a blazing 76.2 field goal percentage, hitting 16-of-21 shots. He was 1-for-3 from 3-point range. Lathan also was effective at the free throw line, hitting 11-of-14, for a 78.6 percentage. He added four assists, a blocked shot and a pair of steals. He led ISU to a 65-60 victory over Colorado State by scoring 18 points, including a trio of highlight reel dunks in transition. Lathan posted 14 points against Milwaukee and had 12 points, all in the second half against LSU.

The NIT Continues!:
This year's appearance in the Dick's Sporting Goods Preseason NIT is the first in the history of the program. The Sycamores last appeared in the postseason version of the event following the 1977-78 campaign when they downed Illinois State 73-71 at Hulman Center and lost at Rutgers 57-56 on the road. ISU split with LSU and Milwaukee last week in Baton Rouge, La. The Sycamores travel to Bowling Green, Ky., this week to take on Coastal Carolina and the host Hilltoppers as part of the second week of action.

Stepping Up To The Challenge:
Indiana State did its part for its league in the inaugural Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge as the Sycamores downed Colorado State 65-60 at Hulman Center. All nine of the Mountain West Conference schools will face off against a predetermined member of the MVC with the exception of Evansville. So far "The Challenge" is tied at one with ISU's victory and Bradley's 70-60 defeat at the hands of BYU. Southern Illinois is slated to travel to UNLV this weekend.

First Loss Against The Big South:
Indiana State hasn't faced a member of the Big South Conference very often, but have been extremely successful when doing so. The Sycamores entered the Coastal Carolina contest 5-0 against the league, including a 1-0 mark against Coastal Carolina. In addition to the perfect mark versus the Chanticleers, the Sycamores are unblemished against Gardner-Webb (1-0); Liberty (1-0); and VMI (2-0).

Defense Impressive Through Four Games:
The Indiana State team defensive effort has impressive and consistent for the Sycamores through the first four games of the 2009-10 campaign. ISU has held all four opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field, with Colorado State's 39.6 percent being the highest shooting performance of the four so far. The Rams were held to a paltry 28.6 percent mark in the second half by the Sycamores as ISU kept its strong defensive streak alive. The Sycamores are allowing just 59.2 ppg this season which is currently fourth in the league. ISU is allowing opponents to hit just 36.5 percent of their shots, which is second in the league.

Lathan In Double Figures Four Consecutive Contests:
Indiana State sophomore Dwayne Lathan has come off the bench for the Sycamores over the last four games and has reached double figures scoring in each of them. Lathan was perfect from the field against LSU and Milwaukee, hitting all 10 of his field goal attempts. He ended the three-game stretch with a blazing 76.2 field goal percentage, hitting 16-of-21 shots. He was 1-for-3 from 3-point range. Lathan also was effective at the free throw line, hitting 11-of-14, for a 78.6 percentage. He added four assists, a blocked shot and a pair of steals. Lathan led ISU to a 65-60 victory over Colorado State by scoring 18 points, including a trio of highlight reel dunks in transition. Lathan posted 14 points against Milwaukee and had 12 points, all in the second half against LSU. Lathan's 14.7 ppg average is 10th-best in the MVC so far this season. He leads the league in field goal percentage with a 76.2 percent mark. Lathan led the team with 14 points aginst Coastal Carolina.

Best Shooting Performance In Five Seasons:
Indiana State connected on 30-of-52 field goals in the 76-63 victory against Milwaukee. That performance equates to a 57.7 percent mark. The 57.7 percent showing is the best by an Indiana State state team since they hit 59.6 percent from the field in January of 2004 against Drake.

No Place Like Home To Open The Season:
Indiana State won its season opener for the eighth time in the last ten seasons by taking an 88-58 victory over Nebraska-Kearney at Hulman Center. When the Sycamores have opened the season at home, the Sycamores have been victorious in each of its last 18 attempts. The Sycamores have won each of their season openers which have occured at Hulman Center since falling by the score of 66-63 to Armstrong State to open the 1979-80 campaign.

Local Flavor Of Team To Get Some Seasoning:
All four of Indiana State's incoming freshmen are expected to redshirt this season. Jake Odum, a native of Terre Haute, along with RJ Mahurin (Rockville, Ind.,) and Logan & Lucas Eitel (nearby Marshall, Ill.) will all sit out their initial seasons in the program and take a redshirt season. Subject to change as the season progresses, the four local student-athletes will push the total to of six freshmen to redshirt in head coach Kevin McKenna's three seasons. Jordan Printy redshirted during the 2007-08 campaign while Koang Doluony took a redshirt season last year and made his Sycamore debut on Friday against Nebraska-Kearney.

Sycamore Signees:
Indiana State inked three student-athletes to national letters of intent as part of the NCAA Early Signing Period. Steve McWhorter, Myles Walker and Jake Kitchell comprised the Sycamores' 2009 Signing Class.

McWhorter, a 6-2, 185, point guard from Racine, Wis., won a Division 3 state championship last season at Saint Catherines High School as he averaged 10.0 points, 5.0 assists and shot 57.6 percent from the field for coach Bob Letsch. McWhorter took over as the starter at point guard when he was a sophomore. As a junior, he was on a team with nine seniors, and his talent shined in the state tournament. He had 12 points, seven assists and five rebounds in a 48-34 state championship victory against La Crosse Aquinas. In the state semifinals, McWhorter had nine points and nine assists.

"Steve McWhorter is first and foremost a leader," McKenna commented. "He is a very quick, aggressive point guard whose strengths are passing, ability to penetrate and defense. He continues to improve as a shooter and he has experience playing for a quality championship caliber program. He had a great summer and is working hard this fall as well. He will fill a need for us with the graduation of Harry Marshall and Rashad Reed next season. We feel very strong about the abilities he is going to be able to bring right away into the program."

Walker is a 6-8, 250, junior college post player from South Plains Junior College who averaged 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, while shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 38.6 percent (32 for 83) from the free-throw line as a freshman last season for coach Steve Green. Walker's best game was a 24-point, 13-rebound performance on Jan. 1. He averaged 1.0 blocks per game with a season-high of five, and he twice had three steals in a game.

At Antonian College Prep in San Antonio, Texas he played for head coach Andre Walker. Myles was named to the all-state team three times and all-district four times. He was once named to the North-South All-Star tournament. As a middle linebacker for the football team Myles earned all-state recognition three times and played in the Army All-American Bowl. He also ran track, boasting a time of 48.07 seconds in the 400 meter dash.

"Myles Walker is a good post player prospect," McKenna said. "He plays the game with a physical presence especially on defense. Myles is an extremely athletic player who can score around the basket. His physical presence was one of the things that attracted us to Myles because that is something that I feel we need to improve on. He has been very well coached in high school and at the junior college levels and that also was a key factor in his recruitment."
Kitchell is a 6-9, 225, power forward from Union Mills, Ind., and played for coach John Steinhilber at South Central High School. Kitchell averaged 20 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and six blocks per game for a team that finished the 2008-09 season with a record of 17-5. He is expected to be a first team all-state selection later this month in the upcoming edition of the annual Hoosier Basketball Magazine. He was a member of the Indiana Junior All-Stars last spring.

"Jake Kitchell is a inside/outside post player that will remind those that watch our games of Jay Tunnell," McKenna commented. "He is a tough, physical player that can shoot from the perimeter well. He comes from both a winning high school and AAU program (SYF). He has put up some big numbers in several categories and we are looking forward to having him join the program next season."

Preseason Valley Predictions:
The Indiana State basketball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll as announced today by the league office. Additionally, senior Harry Marshall and junior transfer Jake Kelly were named Preseason All-MVC Honorable Mention selections in the annual vote of conference head coaches, media and sports information directors.

The Sycamores' seventh place predicted finish is its highest since the 2001-02 campaign when Indiana State was picked to finish third. Last season, ISU won six of its final seven regular season contests to finish with an 11-21 record, including winning three MVC road contests in the span of ten days. Indiana State captured the league's No. 8 seed at the State Farm MVC Tournament and downed Drake in the opening round before being nipped in the waning moments against eventual league champion Northern Iowa, 71-67, in the tournament quarterfinals.

UNI is picked to repeat as the league's champion with 38 first place votes (389 points) and are followed by the only other team to garner a first place tally, Creighton (336). Picked to finish third is Illinois State (299), followed by Southern Illinois (272), Wichita State (216), Bradley (208), Indiana State (173), Drake (105), Missouri State (92) and Evansville (55).

Marshall was an All-MVC Honorable Mention selection at the end of last season after leading the team with a 13.6 ppg average. Kelly will make his Sycamore debut this season after earning All-Big Ten Honorable Mention status last year before transferring from Iowa.

Up Next:
The Sycamores stay in the Sun Belt Conference when they travel to Arkansas State on Sunday, November 29. Tip-off from Jonesboro, Ark., will be at 3:05 p.m. (ET) and will be broadcast live on The Crock 92.7FM as well as online at www.crock927.com.