Men's Basketball 2/21/2012 11:04:00 AM Tyler Madsen, Truman Athletics

Men's Basketball Notes: vs. Lincoln

Lincoln (4-20, 4-14 MIAA)
@ TRUMAN (7-19, 4-14 MIAA)

Wednesday, Feb. 22; 7:30 pm
Pershing Arena; Kirksville, Mo.

Audio: 104.7 FM – KRES (Moberly, Mo.); Also streamed online at CentralMOInfo.com
Video: http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=295
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/truman/mbball/scoreboard.aspx

PDF Notes

Game Preview:
The Truman men's basketball team remains alive for a trip to Kansas City and the MIAA tournament, but a win against Lincoln (Mo.) will be necessary as the season's final week gets underway at 7:30 pm on Wednesday night in Pershing Arena.

The Bulldogs (7-19, 4-14 MIAA) and Blue Tigers (4-20, 4-14 MIAA) trail Emporia State (5-13 MIAA) by one game with two to play, with each in different positions depending on how tiebreaker situations play out. The most basic situation for Truman requires two wins this week coupled with two ESU losses to take the No. 8 seed, with all other results – at best – sending the Bulldogs into tie-breaker mode.

Truman will be trying to even up the season series and run its home winning streak against the Blue Tigers to four following a 68-64 loss in Jefferson City on Jan. 14. Lincoln got out to a 37-26 halftime lead and never trailed, as Truman allowed the Blue Tigers to shoot 47% overall and 40% from three-point range. Mike Carlson scored 20 and had seven rebounds, while both Seth Jackson and Isaac Gardner finished in double-figures.

Wednesday night will mark the 75^th all-time meeting between the squads, with Truman holding a 42-32 edge in the series. Truman has a 27-10 lead in games played in Kirksville.

A Fast Check of the Regulars:
·       Junior Tom Norton is the Truman offensive leader, averaging 12.3 points per game with four 20+ point games. He has made 69 three-pointers at a 38% clip and is 81% (66-for-82) from the free throw line.
·       Freshman Seth Jackson – see below.
·       Sophomore Isaac Gardner has made 65 triples, including a 10 three-pointer effort against HLG on Feb. 13 to set a program single-game record. He is averaging 9.5 ppg on the season and entered last week as the nation's 7^th-best three-point shooter.
·       Sophomore Mike Carlson is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He has started 22 games and leads the squad with 23 blocks.
·       Junior transfer EJ Hicks is averaging 8.7 ppg and is the team's assist leader (79) with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.33. He became the first Bulldog since 2007 to hand out 11 assists in a game (HLG; 2/13/12).
·       Freshman Andrew Vander Zwaag has played in all but two games this season, averaging 4.3 points per game. He is third on the squad with 22 triples.
·       Sophomore Marek Bush has started the last 10 games and is the team-leader on the offensive glass (44). He leads the team in rebounds at 4.8 per game.
·       Freshman Tyler Anderson has played in all but one game and is averaging 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
·       Senior Vesko Filchev is averaging 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per game. He is shooting 58% from the floor.

Bulldogs to Honor Filchev:
Wednesday night will mark Senior Night for the Bulldog men, meaning the squad's lone senior – Vesko Filchev – will be honored prior to tipoff.

Filchev will be playing in his 101^st career game on Wednesday night, having earned 66 starts and averaging 17.5 minutes per game throughout his career. He has scored 782 career points and grabbed 484 career rebounds while shooting 52% from the floor. His 78 career blocks ranks him fourth all-time at Truman. He has 36 career games with 10 or more points, including a career-best 21 at Missouri-St. Louis on Nov. 24, 2009.

Jackson Makes Push for MIAA Freshman of the Year:
Guard Seth Jackson continues to make his case to become Truman's first MIAA freshman of the year since Grant Agbo in 2004, as the St. Louis-native is averaging 11.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs this season. He is the team leader in MIAA-only games at 12.1 points per game and has upped his rebounds to 4.7 per game.

Jackson has three 20+ point games this season and has led the Bulldogs in scoring nine times with 15 double-figure outings. He has gotten to the free throw line 145 times – 10^th-most in the Truman single-season modern era – and his 120 FT attempts in MIAA play are the second-most in the league.

Bulldog Tip-Ins:
·       Truman is shooting 41.6% from the field as a team, including a 35.2% mark from three-point range.
·       The 'Dogs are getting to the free throw line nearly 23 times per game but are connecting at just a 65.4% mark on the year.
·       Truman now possesses three of the MIAA's four best single-game three-point shooting performances by an individual, with Gardner's 10 (vs. HLG) and Norton's two different eight triple performances (MSSU; NWMSU) sitting atop the conference list.
·       Against HLG on Feb. 13, EJ Hicks handed out 11 assists, the most since Banks Estridge in 2007. Ethan Freeman was the last Bulldog to reach double-figure assists in a game (Jan. 8, 2011).
·       Against ESU on Jan. 28, the Bulldogs hit 34 free throws (5^th most in school history; most since 1/18/88 vs. QU; 36) and took 48 attempts (4^th most in school history; most since 2/22/97 vs. Lincoln; 49).
·       The Bulldogs have had six different players lead them in scoring this season, led by Jackson's team-high nine times.
·       Truman has had 11 20-point scoring outings this season. Tom Norton and Seth Jackson are the only players to surpass 20 points in a game at least three times.

Norton Career Check:
·       Tom Norton has hit 198 career three-pointers, putting him 5^th all-time. He trails Austin Kirby for 4^th all-time by one (199; 2003-07) and is only three back of Boyd Printy's 3^rd-place mark of 201 (1989-1992). Should he pass those, Brian Basich (238; 1992-96) will be on the list at No. 2 for next season.
·       Norton's career FT percentage of .847 has him amongst the program leaders, as he trails Scott Matthews (1993-94) and Mike Peterson (1987-89) by .001 for the all-time top spot.

Scouting the Blue Tigers:
The Lincoln Blue Tigers come to Pershing Arena on Wednesday night having lost nine of its last 10 ball games, including a split last week against Missouri Western (W 79-67) and Emporia State (L 62-56).

Lincoln's offense centers around Cedric Ridle, who has come on in the second half of the season to average 17.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in more than 36 minutes per contest. As a team, LU is scoring 62 points per game and shooting 40% from the floor but just 32% from three-point range.

The Blue Tigers rank next to last in the MIAA in free throw shooting at 62.8% and have been accustomed to slow starts – getting outscored by nearly ten points on average in first halves.

John Redmond is in his second season as the head coach at LU, having compiled a 7-43 record in Jefferson City. He was the program's assistant for two seasons prior to taking over as the head coach.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will close the 2012 regular season with a contest in Warrensburg on Saturday afternoon, taking on the Central Missouri Mules (17-7, 13-5 MIAA) at 3:30 pm in the UCM Multipurpose Building.

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