Game 28 ► Toledo (5-21, 3-9 MAC) at Indiana State (8-19, 6-10 MVC)

February 21, 2009  ►  2:05 p.m. EST  ►  Terre Haute, Ind. ►  Hulman Center (10,200)

Game Day Central

Series:             First Meeting

Radio:              ESPN Radio 1130/1300 AM

Play-By-Play:  Brian Fritz

Analyst:           Matt Renn

Internet:           GoSycamores.com

Storylines     

            Indiana State (7-19, 5-10 MVC) will look to win its fifth game in a row when team squares off against Mid-American Conference foe Toledo (5-21, 3-9 MAC) on Saturday as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters series. Tip off is set for 2:05 p.m. EST on Nellie & John Wooden Court at Hulman Center.

            The contest between the Sycamores and the Rockets will be the first between the two schools in the history of both programs.  ISU is 2-2 all-time in the BracketBusters series, with victories over Western Michigan in 2006 (59-57) and Murray State in 2008 (79-62).

            The Sycamores extended their winning streak to four games with a 78-72 win at Southern Illinois on Wednesday.  The win was the third straight on the road for ISU in league play and gave the Sycamores four road wins in MVC play this season, their most since the 1999-2000 season.

            Senior Jay Tunnell led a quartet of Sycamores in double figures with 20 points, including a 4-for-7 effort from three point range.  The 20 point effort was Tunnell's third in his last four games.  Junior Rashad Reed finished with 15 points, including a 7-for-8 effort from the free throw line, and junior Harry Marshall finished with 14 points and six assists.  Redshirt freshman Jordan Printy rounded out the balanced scoring effort with 13 points, while shooting 4-for-5 from three point range.

            Toledo outfought MAC West Division leader Ball State in the final minutes on Wednesday night to post a 71-67 triumph over the Cardinals at Savage Arena.

            The victory snapped the Rockets' seven-game losing streak and was UT's seventh straight over win over BSU at home.  The win also snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rockets.

            Senior guard Tyrone Kent led all scorers with 26 points, 22 of which were scored in the second half, and was one of four Rockets to score in double figures. Senior guard Jonathan Amos added 14 points as well, while sophomore forward Justin Anyijong chipped in with 12 points.  Sophomore forward Mohamed Lo rounded out the balanced scoring effort for the Rockets with 10 points in the victory over the Cardinals.

About The Coaches

Kevin McKenna (Creighton ?93) is in his second season as the head coach at Indiana State (23-35).  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.  McKenna came to Indiana State after spending nine seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton under head coach Dana Altman, 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. 

Gene Cross (Illinois ?94) is in his first season as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Toledo (5-21).  Cross spent the last two seasons at Notre Dame as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator under head coach Mike Brey. The Fighting Irish qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each season, going 24-8 in 2006-07 and 25-8 in 2007-08, as Brey was named Big East Coach of the Year both seasons.  Prior to his stint with the Fighting Irish, Cross served as an assistant at Virginia and DePaul under head coach Dave Leitao and at Illinois-Chicago under head coach Jimmy Collins.

Scouting The Rockets

►        The University of Toledo is located in Toledo, Ohio, and has an enrollment of 20,715 students.  The Rockets are members of the Mid-American Conference (West Division) and play their home games at John F. Savage Hall (7,300).

►        The Rockets finished with an overall record of 11-19 during the 2007-08 season.  In conference play, Toledo posted a 7-8 record which placed the Rockets fourth in the West Division standings.  Their season ended with a 77-57 loss to Kent State in the quarterfinals of the 2008 MAC Tournament in Cleveland.

►        The Rockets feature a dynamic duo of scorers in seniors Tyrone Kent and Jonathan Amos.  Kent leads the way with 14.5 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per contest.  Amos is right behind with 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, but leads the team with 77 assists and 44 steals.

►        Toledo outfought MAC West Division leader Ball State in the final minutes on Wednesday night to post a 71-67 triumph over the Cardinals at Savage Arena. The victory snapped the Rockets' seven-game losing streak and was UT's seventh straight victory over BSU.  Tyrone Kent led all scorers with 26 points (22 in the second half) and was one of four Rockets to score in double figures.

Sycamores To Host Toledo In ESPU BracketBusters

Indiana State will face Mid-American Conference opponent Toledo today as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters event.  The contest between the Sycamores and the Rockets will be the first between the two schools in the history of both programs.  ISU is 2-2 all-time in the BracketBusters series, with victories over Western Michigan in 2006 (59-57) and Murray State in 2008 (79-62).  As part of the BracketBusters series agreement, the Sycamores will travel to Toledo for a return game next season.  The Sycamores are 1-3 in return games brought about by the series, including a 67-61 loss to Murray State at Hulman Center this season. Below is a list of ISU's results in BracketBuster games:

2004 - Buffalo at Indiana State (L, 64-51)

2006 - Indiana State at Western Michigan (W, 59-57)

2007 - Miami (Ohio) at Indiana State (L, 70-57)

2008 - Indiana State at Murray State (W, 79-62)

Who Should We Guard?

Opposing defenses have had a hard time defending the Sycamores' balanced scoring attack during the Sycamores' recent winning streak.  Over the last three games, the quartet of Jay Tunnell (25-13-20), Harry Marshall (10-19-14), Rashad Reed (15-14-15)and Jordan Printy (11-10-13) have all scored in double figures.  ISU has now had at least four players score in double figures 10 times this season and currently have averaging in double figures in scoring.

The Road Warriors

Normally, playing on the road in Missouri Valley Conference play has not been kind to Indiana State, which won no more than one MVC road game in each of its last five seasons.  However, in a year when road wins are up throughout the league, ISU earned its fourth win on the road in league play and its third in the span of 10 days on Wednesday with its 78-72 win at Southern Illinois.  The Sycamores won their first conference game of the season on the road at UNI (85-84 OT) and also picked up an overtime win against Illinois State at Redbird Arena (75-73 OT) before defeating Missouri State at the new JQH Arena (76-71) last Saturday.

20 Point Games Piling Up For Tunnell

Through 97 career games, senior forward Jay Tunnell scored 20 points or more in a game just once.  However, that number has gone up significantly in his last four games, as he has topped the 20 point plateau three times.  The scoring barrage began with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-9 shooting from three point range in the overtime win at Illinois State on Feb. 8.  He followed that up by scoring 25 points in a win at home against Drake on Feb. 11 and then tallied 20 points in Wednesday's win on the road at Indiana State.  Tunnell has scored in double figures in five on his last six games and has raised his scoring average from 9.9 points per game to 11.5 points per contest during that stretch.

Converting From The Charity Stripe

The Sycamores start and finish each practice by shooting free throws and it looks like that effort is paying off.  In the team's last four games, the Sycamores are shooting 84.6 percent (55-of-65) from the charity stripe including an astounding season high 21-of-22 from the free throw line in the team's 76-71 win at Missouri State last Saturday.  ISU shot 6-of-9 from the line in a win against Drake and started the recent streak by shooting 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the line at Illinois State on Feb. 8 at Redbird Arena.

Movin' On Up

With his 20 point effort on Wednesday at Southern Illinois, senior Jay Tunnell moved into 29th place on the Indiana State all-time scoring list with 1,078 career points in his four-year career.  With 13 points, Tunnell can tie Travis Inman (1988-92) in 28th place with 1,091 and with 17 points he can tie John Robbins (1960-63) for 27th place with 1,095.  If Tunnell scores his average of 12 points per game, he will finish the regular season with 1,114 points which would him in 25th place on the all-time list.

JP Can Do It All

Redshirt freshman Jordan Printy has continued to improve throughout his first season on the court for the Sycamores and capped off last week with the best all-around game of his career last Saturday at Missouri State.  The Marion, Iowa, native set new career highs with seven rebounds and five assists and added 10 points for ISU as the team picked up its third consecutive win.  It marked the eighth time in the last 12 games in which Printy scored in double figures, a major improvement from just one double-digit effort in the first 15 games to start his freshman season.

It's Finally Over

If there was one road trip on the schedule that the Sycamores did not look forward to each season, it had to be to Springfield, Mo., to take on Missouri State.  The Sycamores had not won in Springfield since Jan. 6, 1976, when the Sycamores picked up a 60-59 win over the Bears.  However, after 18 straight losses at Missouri State and no wins since the Bears joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1992, the Sycamores changed their fate in their maiden visit to JQH Arena and picked up a 76-71 victory on Saturday.  The Sycamores shot 50 percent from the field in the game and finished the game 21-for-22 from the free throw line to propel them to the victory.

Tunnell Vision

Coming off a career performance on Feb. 8 against Illinois State, many would not have expected senior Jay Tunnell to rival it in the following game against Drake.  However, that's exactly what the Topeka, Kan., native did as he scored 25 points and shot 10-for-11 from the field, including a 5-for-6 effort from three point range.  After scoring a career-high 28 points on Sunday at Illinois State, it marked the first time that Tunnell had scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games.  In that two-game stretch, Tunnell shot 19-for-23 from the field (.826), 13-for-15 from three point range (.867) and scored 53 points.

Protecting The Rock

Turnovers have plagued Indiana State all season, but the team protected the basketball extremely well in last week's win against Drake.  The Sycamores turned the ball over just six times to the Bulldogs, which tied a season low for the team.  That previous mark was set in a loss to Arkansas State on Dec. 1.  The Sycamores have started a new trend in limiting turnovers during their current four-game winning streak, averaging just over 11 turnovers per game which is down from the team's season average of 15 per game.

No, You Take It!

Four players finished Wednesday's game in double figures against Drake, thanks to a season-best night distributing the ball around by the Sycamores.  ISU recorded a season-high 17 assists against the Bulldogs, topping the previous mark of 16 set a game earlier at Illinois State.  Junior Harry Marshall led the way with six assists, while junior Rashad Reed chipped in with five and freshman Carl Richard tied his career high with three dimes.  Since dishing out just eight assists on Jan. 21 against Southern Illinois, the Sycamores have posted double-digit assist efforts in eight straight games.

Extra Time Pays Dividends

Indiana State is no stranger to winning games in overtime, as seen in the team's thrilling 75-73 win over Illinois State on Sunday on ESPNU.  In fact, the Sycamores have won all three of their overtime games this season and their last five games in a row when needing extra time.  Head coach Kevin McKenna is now 5-0 in games decided in overtime in his time at Indiana State.  All five of those wins have come against Valley opponents as well, with wins over Southern Illinois (2 OT) and Wichita State last year and a win at UNI (2 OT) and in both games against Illinois State this season.  That last time ISU lost in overtime was on Dec. 2, 2006, when ISU dropped a 73-70 decision to in-state rival Ball State under head coach Royce Waltman. 

An Instant Classic on ESPNU

Indiana State's game against Illinois State was its first game ever televised on ESPNU and some were tabbing it as an instant classic following the game.  The Sycamores trailed by 12 points with 2:38 remaining in the game and came back to send the game to overtime and to an eventual 75-73 win on a buzzer beater by junior Harry Marshall.  Marshall finished with a career-high 24 points with that last second shot and senior Jay Tunnell chipped in with a career-high 28 points on 8-for-9 shooting from three point range to fuel the comeback for the Sycamores.

A Milestone Game For Tunnell

Heading into Sunday's game at Illinois State, senior forward Jay Tunnell needed just eight points to become just the 31st player in school history to score 1,000 points.  The Topeka, Kan., native scored those eight points plus 20, as he finished with a career-high 28 points to give him 1,020 in his four seasons at ISU. In addition, he connected on a career-high eight three-pointers and finished 8-for-9 overall in the game from long distance.  Tunnell also recorded the fifth double-double of his career, as he pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the overtime win of the Redbirds as well. 

The Marshall Plan

When the game was on the line on Sunday at Illinois State in overtime, most knew that junior guard Harry Marshall would make something happen.  He did just that, as he rose up from just inside the three point line and hit the game winning shot at the buzzer to give the Sycamores a 75-73 win over the Redbirds.  With that bucket, Marshall achieved a new career high with 24 points to go along with his career high nine assists in the game.  Man of those assists went to teammate Jay Tunnell, who tallied a career-high 28 points against the Redbirds. 

The Dynamic Duo

Senior Jay Tunnell and junior Harry Marshall became the second pair of Sycamores to each score 20 points in a game this season with their career performances at Illinois State on Sunday.  Tunnell scored a career-high 28 points while Marshall finished with a career-high 24 points.  Tunnel and sophomore Aaron Carter were the other duo to achieve the feat, as each scored 20 points against Ohio on Dec. 8 in Louisville, Ky.

Sharing The Wealth

People know about sophomore guard Harry Marshall's ability to score on the court, but he shares the wealth with his teammates as well.  In just 17 games played for the Sycamores, Marshall leads the team with 72 assists and is second in the conference with 4.4 assists per Valley game.  Marshall set a new career high with nine assists at Illinois State, topping his previous career mark of seven set at Creighton earlier this season.  The nine assists are the most in a game by a Sycamore player this season.