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Men's Basketball 12/17/2014 10:07:00 AM Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

MBB Notes: Truman vs. Iowa Wesleyan (Friday; 5:30 p.m.; Kirksville)

Truman Men's Basketball Game Notes (December 19, 2014)
PDF Notes | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics

Game #10: Truman (7-2) vs. Iowa Wesleyan (4-3)

Date: Friday, December 19, 2014 (5:30 p.m.)
Location: Kirksville, Mo. || Pershing Arena

Series Record: Truman leads, 14-1.
Series Record in Kirksville: Truman leads, 12-0.
Last Meeting: Dec. 16, 2014 || Truman won, 95-48 in Kirksville.
Series Streak: Truman, W-13

Media Links: Live Stats || Live Audio || Live Video
Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || @TSUBulldogHoops || #TSUGameDay

Probable Starters

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG	Extra
G	#2	Seth Jackson	6'4"	210	SR	23.7	3.6	1.1	GLVC leading scorer
G	#4	Reed Mells	5'11"	160	SR	13.5	3.8	3.6	27.8 min/gm; 15 stls
G	#22	Kyle Kanaskie	5'11"	180	SO	8.3	3.2	2.9	69% FG; 62% 3FG
C	#35	Patrick Burmester	6'9"	220	SR	4.7	3.9	0.4	21.4 min/gm; 4 blocks
F	#40	Billy Daniel	6'6"	200	SO	4.3	2.8	1.5	58% FG; 9 O-Reb; 6 blk

Off the Bench

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG	Extra
G	#3	Isaac Gardner	6'4"	195	r-SR	9.2	1.9	1.1	21 3FG (49%); 14 m/g
G	#10	Hank Mathews	6'2"	190	r-FR	5.3	1.3	2.0	4 GP; 50% FG, 8:1 A/T
G	#11	Cole Myers	6'3"	200	JR	7.0	3.5	2.1	11 steals; 68% FG
G	#12	Cory Myers	6'3"	195	r-SO	6.8	1.8	2.9	57% FG; 100% FT; 7 stl
G	#13	Zach Fischer	6'4"	180	r-FR	5.0	2.0	0.0	4 GP; 7-10 FG; 1 block
C	#24	Kiefer Starbird	6'10"	210	SO	3.3	1.3	1.3	4 GP; 6-9 FG: 1 steal
F	#25	Connor Lusso	6'6"	220	r-FR	3.5	2.8	0.8	4 GP; 7-14 FG; 3 steals
G	#30	Andrew Vander Zwaag	6'3"	200	JR	6.9	3.0	1.4	13 3FG; 13 A/2 TO
F	#32	Connor Erickson	6'8"	200	SO	4.9	2.8	0.3	10 O-Reb; 55% FG
G/F	#1	Nikola Pesic	6'5"	190	FR	-	-	-	Probable redshirt
G	#5	Taurin Hughes	5'11"	185	FR	-	-	-	Probable redshirt
G	#20	Jack Green	6'3"	170	FR	-	-	-	Probable redshirt

Staff

Head Coach: Chris Foster
Career Record: 7-2 || .778 || 1^st season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 1-0 || 1.000 || 1^st season

Assistant Coach: Joe Barrer (1^st season)
Graduate Assistant Coach: Nik Koprivica (1^st season)
Athletic Trainer: Morgan Locher (1^st season)

Opening Tip:
The Truman men's basketball team will take the floor for the final time before the Christmas holiday this Friday evening, as the Bulldogs (7-2) host Iowa Wesleyan (4-3) at 5:30 p.m. in Pershing Arena.

The Bulldogs have won six in a row – excluding Tuesday night's 10-point exhibition loss at Indiana State – dating back to Nov. 23, and have done so with gusto – winning by an average of 35 points per game in the six-game stretch. December alone has been a prolific month for the Bulldog offense, as in the month's four games, Truman has averaged just shy of 102 points per game and has hit 51 three-pointers.

Truman has been a dynamic bunch across the board on offense this season, as only two players – senior guards Seth Jackson and Reed Mells – are averaging double-figures in points, with Jackson topping the entire Great Lakes Valley Conference roster at 23.7 points per game. The St. Louis-native has held that spot the past week due to his own inactivity, as the purple and white will look to have their leading scorer back on Friday night after a bout with the flu sidelined him the past two games.

Meanwhile, a quartet of Bulldogs have been blazing from long-range and have upped their season offensive numbers, as senior Isaac Gardner has hit 21 triples on the season and is averaging 9.2 points per game, while fellow guards Kyle Kanaskie, Cole Myers, and Andrew Vander Zwaag are each averaging between seven and 8.5 points per contest. Those four, on the season, have hit 59 three-pointers at a rate of 48.3%.

On the year, the Bulldogs are shooting 53.3% from the floor, including 42.1% from long-range. The squad has also helped itself at the free throw line, converting a GLVC-fourth-best rate of 73.6%. Truman ranks third in the GLVC in three-point percentage, fourth in field-goal percentage and fifth in overall scoring.

Defensively, Truman sits in the GLVC's top-half in both scoring defense and field-goal percentage, while also holding the league's No. 2 spot and the nation's No. 5 spot in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Chris Foster is in his first season along the Bulldog sideline as the program's head coach, having moved over one seat this season after serving as the team's associate head coach a year ago. This is Foster's first season as a collegiate head coach, and he is the 13^th head coach in program history.

Bulldog Tweetables (140 characters or less):

Friday will be the 2,185^th game in program history, with the team holding a 1,117-1,067 all-time record in now 95 seasons of basketball.
Already 4-0 this year, Truman looks to build on last year's 12-2 home mark, in which they won by an average of 9.1 ppg in GLVC games (7-2).
The Bulldogs are shooting 53.3% from the floor, inc. 42.1% from 3-point distance this year. Opponents are at 40.9%/34.4% respectively.
Truman is connecting at 73.6% (142-of-193) from the foul line, while opponents are shooting 68.3% (95-of-139) at the stripe.
The Bulldogs have been out-rebounded in six of nine games so far; however they have a +0.2 margin on the glass
Truman has been careful with the ball this year, posting equal/fewer turnovers than their opponents in each game.
Truman has a turnover margin of +6.8 on the season, while forcing 61 more turnovers than they've committed in 2014-15.
Nine different Bulldogs have hit multiple three-pointers this season, led by 21 from senior guard Isaac Gardner.
11 players are averaging at least 11 minutes per game, with Mells' 27.8 per game serving as the team-high.

Scouting the IWC Tigers:
Counting Friday night's game as an exhibition, Iowa Wesleyan comes to Pershing Arena with a 4-3 overall mark on the season, having won their first conference game last Saturday by a 71-65 score at Fontbonne (Mo.). The squad had opened SLIAC action with a 67-61 home loss to Eureka College on Dec. 3 before falling by a 57-56 score at Blackburn College on Dec. 6.

On the year, IWC is averaging 73.7 points per game and is shooting 43.8% from the floor. Junior guard Chris Fowler is the team's leader at 11.6 points per game and has chipped in 3.7 assists per game, with junior forward Will Stephenson averaging 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest. The squad averages just five made three-pointers per game but is shooting 81% from the free throw line.

Alex Huisman is in his first season at IWC after spending the last six seasons at Upper Iowa University as a two-year assistant and four-year player.

Scratching Records:
The Bulldogs have used the month of December to re-write a handful of single-game team record columns – most notably on Monday (Dec. 15) night when the team drained a program-high 18 three-pointers in the win against Faith Baptist. Truman broke a nearly 13-year old record that had been previously set on Feb. 7, 2002 at Central Missouri, when the Bulldogs hit 16 three-pointers in a loss at then-CMSU.

This year's squad also now holds the Nos. 2 and 4 spots on the field goal percentage charts, with the squad's 63.6% night against Lincoln Christian and 61.1% night against Faith Baptist knocking a February 1992 night against Washburn (63.0%) down one spot to No. 3. The program's all-time record of 64.1% against Northwest Missouri (March 1975) still stands despite the team's 66.7% night against Central Christian this year since the minimum 60 field goal attempts required was not reached against the CCCB Saints (36-for-54).

Truman also currently holds the GLVC's top scoring margin by any team this season, with the team's 65-point win against Lincoln Christian holding the No. 1 slot. The Bulldogs also have two wins ranked No. 6 in that category, with 56-point wins against both Central Christian and Faith Baptist.

On the Mend:
The Bulldogs have been running with a reduced roster for practices and games throughout the past week and a half, as multiple players have felt the effects the flu bug. Seth Jackson, Cole Myers, Connor Erickson, and redshirt Jack Green have each missed time in recent days. Erickson returned in the team's exhibition game at Indiana State on Tuesday night, while Jackson and Myers hope to be back in action on Friday night.

A December Exhibition:
Truman had only one exhibition game on this year's slate, with Tuesday night's trip to Indiana State serving as the Bulldogs' lone Div. I opponent of the season. With no stats counting officially at the end of the game for the Bulldogs, Isaac Gardner led all players with 20 points, while Reed Mells added 11 points and eight assists. Truman shot 36% from the floor against the Sycamores and committed just seven turnovers.

#UniWatch:
The Bulldogs added a third jersey to their uniform arsenal this season, picking up an anthracite-gray to go along with the team's traditional purple and white choices. The full game notes will be tracking the team's record in each color this year, with only the white kit (5-0) and gray kit (2-2) seeing action so far.

Jackson Pacing the GLVC:
Thanks to five 20+ point performances through the team's first seven games of the season – six coming against NCAA Div. II opposition – senior guard Seth Jackson is leading the Great Lakes Valley Conference at 23.7 points per game. He is one of just three players currently averaging at least 20 points per game, with the St. Louis-native currently edging out both Cameron Vines from Saint Joseph's College (20.8 ppg) and Gavin Schumann from Southern Indiana (20.0 ppg).

Jackson also ranks 15^th in the league in field goal percentage.

Hands Off!:
The Bulldogs have posted three of the GLVC's five-lowest single-game foul totals this season, with the team committing just three against Central Christian, six against Faith Baptist, and nine against Lincoln Christian. The team had a stretch of 24-minutes and 24-seconds of not committing a single foul, including the entire second half against CCCB.

A Whole New Venue:
The Great Lakes Valley Conference's 20 league championships sites have been determined for the 2014-15 season, with the most notable change to the GLVC Championship schedule coming in basketball.

The 2015 GLVC Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Tournament will enter into its first of a two-year agreement with the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., just minutes outside St. Louis. The league's premiere event had been held the past two years at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, but a two-year schedule conflict with the venue required the GLVC to relocate. The 2015 event will begin with first-round competition on campus sites on March 1, with eight quarterfinalists on both the men's and women's side advancing to Family Arena for tournament action, March 5-8. Tickets for the 2015 GLVC Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Tournament are expected to go on sale in late November.

Found: 20 Wins!:
Last year's Bulldog team became the first to win 20 games since the 2005-06 team capped its season with a 20-9 record. Only five previous Bulldog teams – 1946-47 (30-2), 1947-48 (29-2), 1978-79 (20-9), 1998-99 (26-7), 2005-06 (20-9) – reached the 20-win mark in a season.

In addition, the Bulldogs' 13 conference wins last season set a new program record, as only two other Bulldog teams reached the dozen win mark during their respective conference slates.

Letting It Fly:
Last year's Bulldog team made 233 three-pointers through 27 games, marking the second-most all-time on the single season chart. That number has topped 200 each of the last three seasons, beginning with 205 in 2011-12 and 201 in 2012-13.

The Bulldogs have also made at least one three-pointer in every game since Feb. 12, 2003, a stretch of 315 consecutive games.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will take the next 12 days off to celebrate the holiday season before returning to the court on Dec. 31 at 12 p.m. with the team's final non-conference tilt of the season. Truman will host Hannibal-LaGrange in Pershing Arena to kick off a stretch of three games in five days, culminating on Fri., Jan. 2 and Sun., Jan. 4 at home against both Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis in GLVC action.

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Players Mentioned

#35 Patrick Burmester: C; 6' 9"; Senior

#40 Billy Daniel: F; 6' 6"; Sophomore

#32 Connor Erickson: F; 6' 8"; Sophomore

#03 Isaac Gardner: G; 6' 4"; Redshirt Senior

#02 Seth Jackson: G; 6' 4"; Senior

#22 Kyle Kanaskie: G; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#25 Connor Lusso: F; 6' 6"; Redshirt Freshman

#10 Hank Mathews: G; 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman

#04 Reed Mells: G; 5' 11"; Senior

#11 Cole Myers: G; 6' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#35 Patrick Burmester
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C

#40 Billy Daniel
: 6' 6"; Sophomore
: F

#32 Connor Erickson
: 6' 8"; Sophomore
: F

#03 Isaac Gardner
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Senior
: G

#02 Seth Jackson
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G

#22 Kyle Kanaskie
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: G

#25 Connor Lusso
: 6' 6"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

#10 Hank Mathews
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman
: G

#04 Reed Mells
: 5' 11"; Senior
: G

#11 Cole Myers
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G