Men's Basketball | 12/17/2015 9:25:00 AM
Game #11: Truman (7-3, 1-1 GLVC) vs. Ohio Valley (2-8, 0-0 GMAC)
When: Saturday, December 19, 2015 || 1 p.m. (CST)
Where: Quincy, Ill. || Pepsi Arena
Audio: 104.7 FM KRES (Brad Boyer, Play-by- Play; Hank Janssen, Analyst) || Online Feed
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video
Series Record: First Meeting
Game #12: Truman vs. Southern Arkansas (4-4, 1-3 GAC)
When: Sunday, December 20, 2015 || 1 p.m. (CST)
Where: Quincy, Ill. || Pepsi Arena
Audio: 104.7 FM KRES (Brad Boyer, Play-by- Play; Hank Janssen, Analyst) || Online Feed
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video
Series Record: First Meeting
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - - Currently in possession of its longest winning streak so far during the 2015-16 season, the Truman men's basketball team looks to close out the calendar year by adding two more wins to the ledger at the Quincy Holiday Tournament on Saturday and Sunday.
The Bulldogs, who sit with a Great Lakes Valley Conference West division-best seven victories to just three losses, will play two countable regional contests at Pepsi Arena as part of the four-team, two-day tournament. Truman will face true in-region foe Ohio Valley, a member of the Midwest region's Great Midwest Athletic Conference, at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 19) before battling Southern Arkansas, a member of the Great American Conference (and a Missouri-bordering state), at 1 p.m. on Sunday (Dec. 20). The host QU Hawks, whom Truman defeated for the seventh straight time on Tuesday (Dec.15) night by a 91-76 score in Kirksville, will play both OVU and SAU at 3:15 p.m. each day.
Truman will meet both the Fighting Scots of OVU and the Muleriders of SAU for the first times in program history at the event.
Chris Foster is in his second season as the head coach of the Bulldogs and is in his third season with the program overall. He has a career record of 26-13 (.667) and was a former standout guard at the University of Northern Iowa, where he ranks among the program's top-10 in games played, assists, and three-pointers. Foster was a member of the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Div. I tournament squads. He is assisted by Mike Annese, who returned to the program this season after a one-year stint at Minnesota-Crookston, and graduate assistant Nik Koprivica.
About the Bulldogs:
The Bulldogs have won three straight after see-sawing their way to a 4-3 start to the 2015-16 campaign, picking up GLVC wins against William Jewell and Quincy sandwiched around a non-conference win against Grace (Neb.). Truman has averaged more than 85 points per game during the current win streak, while holding opponents to 72 points per game on the defensive end of the court. Five players are currently averaging double-figures offensively for the 'Dogs, including four regular starters.
Redshirt-junior guard Cory Myers is leading the way at 13.4 points per game, while the Ankeny, Iowa-native also paces the Bulldogs in rebounding (5.4 per game), assists (3.4 per game), and steals (21), having also started all 10 contests. Two more junior starters – guard Kyle Kanaskie (12.5 ppg) and forward Connor Erickson (12.2 ppg) – are right behind Myers, while twin brother Cole Myers and junior transfer Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. – who made his Bulldog debut on Tuesday night – are each at the 10.0 ppg mark on the dot.
Truman sits in the GLVC's top 25% as a team in four categories, most notably as leaders in turnover margin at +5.7 per game. The Bulldogs are second in both three-point defense (30.1% allowed) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.41), and third in steals per game (8.3).
Cory Myers is second in the conference in steals per game (2.10), with Cole Myers right behind him in sixth (1.80). Kanaskie is ninth in free throw percentage at 88.9%.
Bulldog Tweet-ables (140 characters or less):- #MBBHistory: This weekend will mark the 2,216th and 2,217th all-time games. TSU has 1,137-1,078 overall record (.513) in 96th season.
- #80IsGravy: 'Dogs have won last 21 games when scoring at least 80 points (6-0 in 2015-16).
- #UniWatch: Say hello to new purple uni's this year; 'Dogs are 5-2 in white's and 2-1 in purple's this yr. No gray sighting yet.
- #GottaGetUp: Under HC Foster, Truman is 25-2 when leading at the half. Team just 2-11 when tied/trailing at break.
- #WinTheGlass: The Bulldogs are 3-0 this year (14-0 in last two seasons combined) when they out-rebound opponents.
Scouting the Ohio Valley "Fighting Scots":- OVU is a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, one of three conferences (GLVC, GLIAC) to comprise the Midwest region.
- The Fighting Scots are off to a 2-8 start this season, with both wins coming against non-D2 member Penn State Beaver. OVU has two losses to GLVC programs this year, including an 85-65 loss at Southern Indiana and an 84-66 neutral-site loss to Bellarmine.
- OVU has given up nearly 89 ppg defensively and is letting opponents shoot almost 40% from the three-point line. The team is 1-5 away from home this year.
- 6-foot-3 senior guard Darryl Walker (#1) is the team's top producer in the three big categories, averaging 18.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 3.1 apg. Two other guards, 5-foot-11 senior Kelvin Toma (#11) and 6-foot-4 senior David Sinickas (#3), also are above the 10-ppg game mark at 11.5 and 11.3, respectively.
- Mike Snell is in his eighth season at the helm of the OVU program.
Scouting the Southern Arkansas "Fighting Scots":- SAU is a member of the Great American Conference, one of three conferences (MIAA, NSIC) to comprise the Central region. They are a countable in-region opponent for Truman due to the "contiguous states" clause in the NCAA Div. II regionalization guidelines.
- The Muleriders are off to a 4-4 start this season and will play Quincy on Saturday prior to their game against Truman on Sunday. SAU has lost two straight and three of four in GAC play this year and is 2-4 against NCAA Div. II competition this season.
- Four players average double-figures offensively for the Muleriders, led by 5-foot-10 senior guard (#23) Jaron Davis' 17.5 ppg. He is also the team-leader in assists at 5.4 per game.
- 6-foot-2 senior guard Deon Andrews (#20) and 6-foot-3 redshirt-freshman guard CJ Elkins (#2) check in next at 13.8 and 11.5 ppg each, while 6-foot-5 senior forward Alvin Braddock (#32) is averaging 10.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
- SAU is shooting 45% from the floor as a team but connects at just a 64% clip from the foul line.
- Andy Sharpe is in his fourth season at the helm of the SAU program.
Among the Career Charts:
Both senior guard Andrew Vander Zwaag and senior guard Cole Myers have made their ways onto a pair of Truman's career individual charts.
Vander Zwaag ranks 9th in three-pointers attempted (403) and trails Boyd Printy's eighth-most total of 447 (1989-92) as the next-in-line. He recently passed Mike Peterson's 10th-most total of 385, set from 1997-2001.
Myers, meanwhile, just passed recent team-member Reed Mells for ninth on the all-time steals chart, as his 114 puts him just 12 back of Gary Bussard's 1980-83 total of 126. His brother, Cory, is just outside of the top-ten, sitting at 104 in his third full season.
"Three"sy-Peesy:
Truman has seen sustained success from distance throughout program history, with the Bulldogs having made at least one three-pointer in every game since Feb. 12, 2003 – a stretch of 345 consecutive games.
Four Peas in a GLVC Pod:
For the 2015-16 season, the GLVC will again be invoking a "pod" system for basketball scheduling, resulting in 18 league matches for all 16 of the conference's schools. While all 16 teams will fall under the East and West divisional standings with no delineation between pods, Truman will play Quincy, Rockhurst, and William Jewell twice each as part of one four-team grouping.
Drury, Missouri S&T, Maryville, and Missouri-St. Louis will link together as the second West division pod, while the quartets of Bellarmine—Illinois Springfield—McKendree—Southern Indiana and Indianapolis—Lewis—Saint Joseph's—Wisconsin-Parkside will comprise the two East division groupings.
At the end of the season, the top 12 teams will compete for the GLVC men's basketball championship. First-round games between seeds 5-12 will be played on Sunday, February 28, with the top-4 seed and first-round winners advancing once again to Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., for the remainder of the tournament the next weekend.
New Men's Basketball Rules:
The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee made more than 25 rules changes, most of which increase the pace of play, reduce the number of stoppages, and provide better balance between offense and defense.
Notable key rule changes for the 2015-16 season include:- Shot clock time reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
- Timeouts:
- Reduction of 30-second timeouts from four to three, only two of which carry over to the second half.
- A 3-0 second timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout will become the media timeout.
- Coaches can only call timeouts during a dead ball situation.
- The 10-second backcourt count resets except when:
- Defender causes the ball to go out of bounds;
- Offense retains possession on a held ball; or,
- A technical foul is called on the offensive team.
- Note: A charged timeout by the offensive team results in a new 10-second count.
- Removed the five-second closely guarded count on a dribble.
- Guarding in the post: Arm bar allowed in post area when offense has back to basket (with or without ball).
- Airborne shooter charge plays – cannot score basket on a player-control foul.
- Removed the prohibition against dunking the ball while the ball is dead; teams will be allowed to dunk during pre-game and halftime.
- Reduced time to 15-seconds for replacing disqualified players.
Up Next:
Truman will get a full week off to celebrate the holiday season before returning to practice on Monday, December 28. From there, the Bulldogs will next compete on Sunday, January 3 at home against Iowa Wesleyan. Tipoff in Pershing Arena is set for 1 p.m.
