Truman Game Notes (.PDF)
Kirksville, Mo. - Following a 13-day Christmas break, the Truman men's basketball team will get back on the court for a New Year's Eve affair with Central Christian College of the Bible and tip is set for 11:30 a.m. inside Pershing Arena. After winning eight of their first nine games to begin the season, the Bulldogs have dropped two of their last three. With that being said, both of those losses came by one point and were against teams that are a combined 21-3 (.875 winning percentage) in Quincy and Kentucky Wesleyan. In fact, including the loss at Lindenwood, the opponents' record in Truman's three defeats is 30-8 (.789).
The Purple and White continue to be led by a trio of scorers averaging at least 10 points per game including
Jake Velky (17.5),
Nathan Messer (15) and
Cory Myers (14.6). Among the top scorers in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, those marks are good for sixth, 19th and 21st, respectively. Among the league's top 21 in points per game, Truman and McKendree are the only programs with at least three of those 21 players.
Scouting Central Christian
Central Christian College of the Bible enters its 11th all-time meeting against Truman with a record of 3-5, but is currently on a three-game losing streak. The Saints three victories came against the likes of St. Louis College of Pharmacy (100-59), Calvary (80-69) and Saint Louis Christian College (89-70). CCCB is in year No. six under head coach, Jack Defreitas, who has a trio of scorers averaging at least 10 points per game including DuJuan Henderson (19.1), Anthony Santiago (12.4) and Victor Dean (11.3).
History in the Making
Twelve games into his redshirt-senior season,
Cory Myers finds himself 78 points away from reaching the illustrious 1,000-point plateau. As mentioned above, the Ankeny, Iowa native is third on the team in points per game with 14.6 and his average has climbed every year since he stepped onto campus prior to the 2012-13 campaign. In order, Cory's averages have gone like this over his career: 6.0, 6.3, 7.4, 11.3, and 14.6 The 6-3 guard has been able to do it all though and is stuffing that stat sheet right now. During his final go-around in 2016-17, Myers has paced the team in points five times, rebounds three times, assists five times, and steals six times. Coming into this season in the career record books, Myers was fifth in assists, tied for ninth in assists per game, tied for eighth in steals, and tied for fifth in steals per contest.
"In the Gym" Range
Not only is
Nathan Messer one of the best long-range shooters in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the Midwest region, but in the nation as well. Among the best that Division II has to offer, Messer is eighth in three-point field goal attempts (108), fifth in total three-pointers made (47), ninth in three-point field goals per game (3.92), and 75th in three-point field goal percentage (43.5). The Navy transfer has splashed at least five three-pointers in a game five times including seven against both William Jewell on Dec. 3 and Kentucky Wesleyan on Dec. 17. This season, when the 6-0 assassin attempts at least 10 looks from behind the arc, his shooting percentage is .468Â (37-of-79) as opposed to .345 (10-for-29) when he attempts less than 10 shots from range.
Coming Up
Saturday's game against Central Christian represents the final nonconference affair for Truman in the 2016-17 season aside from the showdown at No. 9/10 Creighton on Saturday, Jan. 14, which doesn't count towards the Bulldogs' record. To begin the new year, Truman will travel to Illinois Springfield (5-6, 0-2 GLVC) and McKendree (5-4, 0-2 GLVC) on Jan. 5 and 7, respectively. Currently, the Purple and White are one of six teams in the GLVC with at least nine wins including Quincy (12-1) and No. 9 Drury (9-1) in the West and No. 24 Southern Indiana (11-0), No. 6 Bellarmine (10-1) and Wisconsin-Parkside (10-1) from the East. All five of those squads are on the schedule for Truman who has already played Quincy the first of two times on Dec. 10 (90-91).
