Men's Basketball | 12/4/2015 10:15:00 AM
Game #8: Truman (4-3, 0-1 GLVC West) at William Jewell (2-3, 0-1 GLVC West)
When: Saturday, December 5, 2015 || 4 p.m. (CST)
Where: Liberty, Mo. || Mabee Center
Audio: 104.7 FM KRES (Brad Boyer, Play-by- Play) || Online Feed
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video
Series Record: Truman leads, 7-4.
Series Record in Liberty: William Jewell leads, 3-1 || Last TSU win: 1965
Series Record since Truman Joined the GLVC: Truman leads, 2-0.
Last Meeting: Truman won, 93-68, on Jan. 22, 2015 in Kirksville.
Last William Jewell Win vs. TSU: WJC won, 74-64, on Dec. 21, 1971 in Kirksville.
Series Streak: Truman- W2
Probable Starters
Off the Bench
Redshirting
Staff
Head Coach: Chris Foster
Career Record: 24-13 || .649 || 2nd season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 11-8 || .579 || 2nd season
Assistant Coach: Mike Annese (1st season)
Graduate Assistant Coach: Nik Koprivica (2nd season)
Athletic Trainer: Morgan Locher (2nd season)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - - The Truman State University men's basketball team will look to bounce back from a conference-opening home loss on Thursday night with a visit to William Jewell College on Saturday afternoon in Liberty, Mo. Tipoff time between the Bulldogs and Cardinals is set for 4 p.m. inside the WJC Mabee Center.
Both Truman (4-3, 0-1 GLVC) and William Jewell (2-3, 0-1 GLVC) stumbled out of the starting blocks on Thursday night, with the Bulldogs falling at home 78-72 against Rockhurst and the Cardinals dropping an 89-60 decision at Quincy. In addition, both teams will be looking for their first lead in GLVC play this year, as Rockhurst ran out to a 9-1 lead on the Bulldogs, while Quincy jumped out to a 7-2 lead against the Cardinals and never looked back.
Saturday afternoon marks just the 12th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Cardinals (who spent many years as members of the NAIA), with Truman holding a 7-4 edge. The Cardinals hold a 3-1 lead in games played in Liberty, with Truman's last win coming 50 years ago in the 1965-66 season (Dec. 21; 72-69). Last season, Truman defeated William Jewell 93-68 on Jan. 22, 2015, in the teams' only meeting in Kirksville.
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 24-13 (.649) 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.
About the Bulldogs:
Truman's 4-3 start this season has been backed by one of the stronger non-conference slates played by most NCAA Div. II teams, as six of the team's seven contests have been against regional Div. II opposition. The Bulldogs currently hold the GLVC's top turnover margin at +6.0, while also ranking in the top-three league-wide in three-pointers made per game (8.6), three-point defense (30.3%), steals per game (8.3), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31).
The Bulldogs are averaging 80.0 points per game while giving up just 72.7, for a scoring margin of +7.3. Truman is shooting 45.9% from the floor and 73.1% from the foul line but continue to look to bring up its three-point shooting, which checks into Saturday afternoon at a league-worst 31.1%.
Four players – including three starters – are averaging double-figures on the offensive end, led by a trio of juniors – Cory Myers (14.7 ppg), Connor Erickson (12.3 ppg), and Kyle Kanaskie (11.3 ppg). Freshman Jake Velky has come off the bench to average 10.6 ppg, while the Bulldogs' two senior starters – Cole Myers and Andrew Vander Zwaag – are hovering near that 10 ppg mark at 9.6 and 7.3, respectively.
Bulldog Tweet-ables (140 characters or less):- #MBBHistory: Saturday marks the 2,213th all-time game. TSU has 1,134-1,078 record (.513) in 96th season.
- #80IsGravy: 'Dogs have won last 19 games when scoring at least 80 points (4-0 in 2015-16).
- #UniWatch: Say hello to new purple uni's this year; 'Dogs are 3-1 in white's and 1-1 in purple's this yr. No gray sighting yet.
- #GottaGetUp: Under HC Foster, Truman is 22-2 when leading at the half. Team just 2-11 when tied/trailing at break.
- #WinTheGlass: The Bulldogs are 2-0 this year (13-0 in last two seasons combined) when they out-rebound opponents.
Hank's History Book – December 5:- Truman is 12-7 all-time in games played on December 5.
- December 5, 2012 – The Bulldogs won their final league-opener as members of the MIAA with a 71-69 victory at Missouri Western. Mike Carlson scored 19 points, while Cory Myers added 10 points and six assists.
- December 5, 1988 – The Bulldogs capped a four-game, five-day trip through Alaska with a 106-70 loss at Alaska-Anchorage.
- December 5, 1959 – Truman took Western Illinois to double overtime but fell 73-72. It was only the second recorded 2OT game in program history (first: Dec. 11, 1940 vs. Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine … lost 42-41).
Scouting the Cardinals (2-3, 0-1 GLVC):- The Cardinals are coming off a 13-14 season in 2014-15, finishing fourth in the GLVC West with a conference mark of 9-9. They lost 80-68 at UMSL in the opening-round of the GLVC tournament.
- This year, William Jewell was picked to finish sixth in the GLVC West and has wins against Baker (Iowa) (88-75) and Wayne (Neb.) State (90-87). The Cardinals have lost to Pittsburg State (100-97), Missouri Southern (80-73) and Quincy (89-60).
- The Cardinals had the No. 6 scoring offense in the GLVC (81.6) but are 15th in scoring defense (86.2). They are second in three-pointers made (9.2/game) but are last in rebounding offense, blocks, assists, and defensive rebounds.
- 5-foot-10 senior guard Darius Tomlin (17.4 ppg) and 6-foot-5 junior guard Matt Lassen (17.2 ppg) rank 6th and 7th in the GLVC in scoring. 6-foot-6 forward Austin Regier is fifth in the league in rebounding at 8.2 per game.
- Larry Holley has been the head coach at WJC for 36 seasons and has 772 victories at Jewell. His overall record in 43 years of coaching is 870-519, which ranks him third among all active NCAA Div. II coaches in victories.
"Three"sy-Peesy:
After last season's record-breaking three-point barrage setting a new single-season program standard at 288, this year's team is off to a strong start again, with 60 triples made through the first seven contests. At this pace, the 2015-16 edition of Bulldog basketball would finish with 253 through the 28 regular season contests.
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 342 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:
The Bulldogs will take a week off for finals before hosting Grace (Neb.) at 6 p.m. on Dec. 12 in a nonconference tilt.
