Men's Basketball Notes: Iowa Wesleyan (January 3)

Truman Men's Basketball Notes (January 3, 2016)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TSUBulldogHoops || #BewareofDog
Printable Game Notes (PDF)

Game #13: Truman (9-3, 2-1 GLVC) vs. Iowa Wesleyan (6-3, 2-1 SLIAC – NCAA Div. 3)

When: Sunday, January 3, 2016 || 1 p.m. (CST)
Where: Kirksville, Mo. || Pershing Arena
Audio: 104.7 FM KRES (Adam Hildebrandt, Play-by- Play; Hank Janssen, Analyst) || Online Feed
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video

Series Record: Truman leads, 15-1.
Series Streak: Truman- W14
Series Record in Kirksville: Truman leads, 13-0.

Last Meeting: December 19, 2014 – Truman won, 75-57 in Kirksville
Last IWU Win vs. TSU: January 1, 1942 – IWU won, 43-37 in Keokuk, Iowa

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - - The Truman men's basketball team will look to build off its 2015 calendar year-ending five-game winning streak on Sunday, Jan. 3, when the Bulldogs play host to Iowa Wesleyan in the team's final non-conference game of the 2015-16 season.

Truman (9-3) carries a season-best five-game win streak into Sunday's contest, as the Bulldogs last played on Dec. 19-20 at the Quincy University Holiday Classic, in which the purple and white earned co-champion status after defeating both Ohio Valley and Southern Arkansas at the two-day event. Those games capped a perfect 3-0 week, as Truman picked up its second Great Lakes Valley Conference win of the season on Dec. 15 with a 91-76 home win against Quincy .

Sunday afternoon gives the Bulldogs a chance to bounce back from a 13-day holiday layoff, however the opponent will provide a strong test for Truman, as IWU checks into the new year at 6-3 overall. The Bulldogs will be the third NCAA Div. II opponent of the year for the Tigers, who fell 99-85 to Wayne (Neb.) State on Nov. 20 before edging one of Truman's fellow GLVC friends, Maryville, by an 88-87 score in overtime in St. Louis on Nov. 23. IWU will be playing its second game in as many days when it visits Kirksville on Sunday, after facing fellow SLIAC member Principia on Jan. 2 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

The Bulldogs hold a dominating 15-1 lead in the all-time series, including 14 victories in a row dating back to January 1, 1942 – the last Tiger victory against Truman. The Bulldogs defeated IWU by a 75-57 score last season and were led by 18 points from former senior guard Reed Mells. Current juniors Cory Myers and Connor Erickson each scored 10 points off the bench for the 'Dogs, who led by just one at the half before pulling away in the final 20 minutes.

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 29-13 (.690) 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:
Truman comes into Sunday's game as winners of five straight, as the Bulldogs enter 2016 with the most wins – nine – of any GLVC West division member squad. During the team's five-game win streak, Truman has averaged 86.2 points per game from the floor and has shot better than 50% overall as a team. The Bulldogs have also made 50 three-pointers (10.0 per game) and hit at a nearly 40% clip from beyond the three-point stripe during the stretch.

Overall this year, the Bulldogs are shooting 47.7% from the floor overall, which includes a 34.3% mark from three-point range. Truman is shooting 70.9% from the foul line and has forced 199 turnovers while committing just 125 of its own.

Redshirt-junior guard Cory Myers is leading the way at 12.7 points per game, while the Ankeny, Iowa-native also paces the Bulldogs in rebounding (4.8 per game), assists (3.5 per game), and steals (26. Two more junior starters – forward Connor Erickson (12.5 ppg) and guard Kyle Kanaskie (11.9 ppg) – are right behind Myers, while the team's two senior starters – Cole Myers (10.8 ppg) and Andrew Vander Zwaag (9.7 ppg) check in right behind the trio.

The Bulldogs sit in the GLVC's top-25% as a team in four categories, most notably as leaders in turnover margin at +6.2 per game. The Bulldogs are second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38), third in steals per game (8.8), and fourth in overall scoring (82.6).

Cory Myers is second in the conference in steals per game (2.17), with twin brother, Cole, right behind him in sixth (1.83). Freshman Jake Velky is eighth in the league in three-point percentage (50.0%; 21-for-42).

Bulldog Tweet-ables (140 characters or less):

#MBBHistory: Sunday's game will mark the 2,218^th in program history. TSU has 1,139-1,078 overall record (.514) in 96^th season.
#80IsGravy: 'Dogs have won all 23 games under HC Foster when scoring at least 80 points (8-0 in 2015-16).
#UniWatch: Say hello to new purple uni's this year; 'Dogs are 7-2 in white's and 2-1 in purple's this yr. No gray sighting yet.
#GottaGetUp: Under HC Foster, Truman is 27-2 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 Iowa Wesleyan "Tigers":

IWU is a member of the NCAA Div. III's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC), where it was picked to finish seventh in the 10-team league. Last year, the Tigers went 12-13 overall.
This season, IWU is off to a 6-3 start and average a high number of possessions each game. The Tigers are averaging 85.3 ppg offensively but are giving up 84.7 ppg on the defensive end.
The team has three members averaging double-figures offensively, led by 5-foot-10 SR G (#3) Chris Fowler's 19.7 ppg. He is also the team-leader in rebounding (5.7 per game), assists (9.0 per game), steals (3.3 per game), and blocks (4).
5-foot-11 SO G (#5) Brock Butler (15.6 ppg) is the team's leading deep threat (24 3FG), while 6-foot-2 SO G (#24) CJ Singletary (10.1 ppg) is third on the team in scoring.
The Tigers are getting out-rebounded by eight per game and have just 55 offensive rebounds in nine games so far this season.
Alex Huisman, the 2015 SLIAC Co-Coach of the Year, is in his second season at the helm of the IWU 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 9^th in three-pointers attempted (417) and trails Boyd Printy's eighth-most total of 447 (1989-92) as the next-in-line. He recently passed Mike Peterson's 10^th-most total of 385, set from 1997-2001.

Vander Zwaag also needs just two more three-pointers made (currently: 159) to tie Mike Peterson (1997-2001) for 10^th on the all-time triples made chart. A hot game could also shoot him past Jason Ramthun's total of 164 (1996-2000) into ninth-place.

Myers, meanwhile, just passed recent team-member Reed Mells for ninth on the all-time steals chart, as his 118 puts him just eight back of Gary Bussard's 1980-83 total of 126. His brother, Cory, is just outside of the top-ten, sitting at 109 in his third full season.

Hank's History Book – January 3:

Truman is 9-14 all-time in games played on January 3. The Bulldogs' last win on Jan. 3 came in the 2012-13 season when Truman defeated Lincoln by an 84-64 score in Kirksville.
January 3, 1926 – The first Jan. 3 game in school history came in the first game under Don Faurot's head coaching tenure, as the Bulldogs defeated the Alumni Stars, 23-19. Faurot was both a football and basketball coach at Truman (then Kirksville State Teachers College) from 1926-1934 before returning to his alma mater – the University of Missouri – in 1935. The playing surface at MU's Memorial Stadium was named for Faurot in 1972.

"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 347 consecutive games.

What's in a Name:
If you think you've seen a game between the Bulldogs and Tigers before, you probably have. According to USA Today's most recent research, the nicknames of "Tigers" (46) and "Bulldogs" (39) rank 2^nd and 3^rd amongst most-used names of four-year college mascots.

Also, in unofficial Truman Sports Information office research, approximately 97% of all high schools in the northeast Missouri area also use one of those two nicknames.

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:
The Bulldogs will return to GLVC action for the rest of the season, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. when Truman hosts McKendree in Pershing Arena.

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Players Mentioned

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

#32 Connor Erickson: F; 6' 8"; Redshirt Junior

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

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

#12 Cory Myers: G; 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior

#30 Andrew Vander Zwaag: G; 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior

#24 Jake Velky: G; 6' 1"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

#32 Connor Erickson
: 6' 8"; Redshirt Junior
: F

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

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

#12 Cory Myers
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#30 Andrew Vander Zwaag
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior
: G

#24 Jake Velky
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: G