Men's Basketball Notes: William Jewell at Truman (Feb. 18, 2016 || 7:30 p.m.)

By: Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

Sonam Wangyal, TSU Athletics

Men's Basketball | 2/16/2016 1:35:00 PM

Truman Men's Basketball Notes (February 18, 2016)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TSUBulldogHoops || #BewareofDog
Printable/Media Game Notes (PDF)

Game #26: Truman (17-8, 9-6 GLVC) vs. William Jewell (8-15, 3-12 GLVC)

When: Thursday, February 18, 2016 || 7:30 p.m.
Where: Kirksville, Mo. || General John J. Pershing Arena
Audio: 104.7 FM KRES (Brad Boyer, Play-by- Play; Hank Janssen, Analyst) || Online Feed
Live Stats || Live Stats (Mobile) || Live Video

Series Record: Truman leads, 8-4
Series Record in Kirksville: Truman leads, 4-1
Series Record Since Truman Joined GLVC: Truman leads, 3-0

Last Meeting: December 5, 2015 || Truman won, 76-75 (Liberty, Mo.)
Last WJC Win vs. Truman: December 21, 1971 || WJC won, 74-64 (Kirksville, Mo.)
Series Streak: Truman – W3

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - - The Truman State University men's basketball team will look to pick itself up off the mat and snap a three-game losing streak this week, as the Bulldogs play the final regular season home game of the 2015-16 season on Thursday night against William Jewell at 7:30 p.m. in General John J. Pershing Arena.

The Bulldogs, who now sit at 17-8 overall and 9-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, will go for the season sweep of William Jewell, who checks into Thursday night at 8-15 overall (3-12 GLVC). Earlier this season, Truman picked up a 76-75 road win against the Cardinals in Liberty, Mo., as the Bulldogs built an 11-point halftime lead and held on – watching a buzzer-beating attempt by Darius Tomlin clank off – to win by one and move to, at the time, 1-1 in GLVC play. Four Bulldogs scored in double-figures on the day, led by 16 points from junior Kyle Kanaskie, while senior Andrew Vander Zwaag added 10 points and five assists. Darius Tomlin scored 24 points to lead all players for William Jewell, while Austin Regier picked up a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double in the loss.

Thursday night marks the 13^th all-time meeting between the two in-state rivals, with the Bulldogs having won three in a row to take an 8-4 lead in the series. Truman's three most recent wins have each been under the GLVC banner, with the Cardinals last defeating Truman in December of 1971 – a 74-64 William Jewell win in Kirksville. Otherwise, it's been all purple since 2014, including a 67-52 road win on Jan. 25, 2014, and a 93-68 home victory last season.

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 37-18 (.672) 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 UNI's 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 State comes into Thursday evening riding its first ever three-game losing streak under head coach Chris Foster and first since a four-game streak from January 26 – February 9, 2013, in the team's final season of MIAA play under then-head coach Matt Woodley. However, despite the recent stumble, the Bulldogs still rank in the top-half in eight GLVC stat categories.

The Bulldogs hold a +6.8 scoring margin on the season, averaging 82.2 points on the offensive end and allowing 75.4 points defensively. Truman is shooting 47.4% from the field, including an ever-increasing 37.1% mark from three-point range. The Bulldogs are hitting 71.3% of their free throws but continued to get handled on the glass, as the guard-heavy Truman lineup has a -4.9 rebounding margin for the year.

Individually, the Bulldogs have five players averaing double-figures offensively, led by senior guard Cole Myers' 12.5 ppg, who also tops the squad by averaging 4.7 rebounds per game. He posted his first career double-double on Saturday, scoring 15 points and adding 10 rebounds against Lewis.

Checking in right behind him is Kanaskie, who is shooting better than 41% from three-point range en route to a 12.4 ppg average. Redshirt junior Connor Erickson (11.8 ppg), redshirt junior Cory Myers (11.6 ppg), and Vander Zwaag (10.4 ppg) also check in with double-figures.

Truman continues to lead the GLVC in turnover margin (+5.1) and sits fourth nationally in the category. The Bulldogs also rank second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.39-to-1), steals per game (9.1), and three-point field goals per game (9.6).

Opponent Breakdown- William Jewell:

William Jewell enters Thursday still in search of its first road win of the season in what will be its final try during regular season play. The Cardinals are 0-8 away from home this season, including an 0-7 mark in the GLVC. The team has a -10.6 scoring margin in the road jerseys compared to a -0.2 margin in the home apparel.
The Cardinals have the GLVC's No. 11 scoring offense (77.8 ppg), the No. 14 scoring defense (81.6 ppg), and No. 8 rebounding margin (+1.6). The squad ranks last in the GLVC in assists, turnover margin, and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Senior Darius Tomlin is 10^th in the GLVC in scoring (15.4 ppg), while sophomore Patrick Whelan ranks 20^th in the league offensively (13.9 ppg). Austin Regier is the GLVC's No. 2 rebounder (8.6/game), while both Tomlin and Whelan are top-10 in minutes played.
Larry Holley has been the head coach at William Jewell for now 37 seasons and has a 777-404 record at the school. His overall record in 44 seasons of coaching is 875-531, which ranks him third among all active NCAA Div. II coaches in victories.

Tourney Time:
The Bulldogs (9-6 GLVC) have punched a ticket to the GLVC tournament for the third time in as many seasons, but much remains undecided regarding seeding with three regular season games to play. Entering Thursday night, Truman sits third in the GLVC West, two games behind division-leader Drury at 11-4, and seventh overall in the GLVC from top-to-bottom. The Bulldogs are one game back of both Lewis and Quincy (10-5) for fifth-place and are one game ahead of Southern Indiana (8-7).

Truman needs just one more win and one Rockhurst loss to clinch – at minimum – a first-round home game on Sunday, Feb. 28, as seeds 5-8 play host to seeds 9-12 on campus sites in opening round action. The top-four seeds – likely to be three from the East and the West champion – will get a first-round bye straight to the quarterfinals, which begin on Friday, March 4, in St. Charles, Mo., at Family Arena.

If the tournament started before Thursday night, Truman would be the No. 7 seed, hosting No. 10 seed McKendree in the opening round on Sunday, Feb. 28.

February Blues:
The Bulldogs will look to turn around their recent slumps in the month of February on Thursday night, as Truman is just 1-3 this year in the second month and 4-7 during the last two years in the regular season's final month. Truman went 4-2 in November, 5-1 in December, and 7-2 in January this season.

Super Cole:
Were it not for the heroics of Wisconsin-Parkside's Andy Mazurczak last week (40 pts vs. TSU; game-winning OT buzzer-beat at QU), Bulldog senior Cole Myers would have had a good shot at earning the conference's Player of the Week honors. In addition to playing in his 100^th and 101^st career contests, the Ankeny, Iowa-native averaged 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, shot 55% from the field (61%; 11-for-18 from three-point range), and handed out seven assists during the team's two games against UWP and Lewis.

He logged a team-high 80 of a possible 85 minutes and picked up his first collegiate double-double with a 15-point, 10-rebound outing against the Flyers. He opened the weekend with a 34-point performance against UWP, which gave him the 14^th-highest single-game total in program history. As part of that outing, he went 8-of-9 from three-point range, giving him the fourth-best single-game three-point percentage (88.9%), with the best all-time percentage with at least eight makes in a game (the program minimum for the category is six makes).

Pick Your Poison:
As balanced as the Bulldogs have been all season long in scoring with five players in double-figures, a second glance is typically needed when looking at the Truman scoring lineup in conference-only games. Truman has six players in double-figures through 15 league games, but it's how tight the numbers are that show the balance of the Bulldog offense.

14.4 / 12.3 / 11.3 / 11.2 / 11.1 / 10.2

That sextet consists of – in scoring order – Cole Myers, Kyle Kanaskie, Connor Erickson, Andrew Vander Zwaag, Cory Myers, and Dwight Sistrunk Jr.

Bulldog Tweet-ables (140 characters or less):

#MBBHistory: Thursday's game will mark the 2,231^st in program history. TSU has a 1,147-1,083 overall record (.514) in 96^th season.
#NoLeadTooBig: The Bulldogs have come from 10 points down to win twice this season (CU, 11/28; UMSL, 1/21).
#UniWatch: 'Dogs have three uni combos this season – 12-4 in whites, 3-3 in purples, and 2-1 in anthracite greys.
#ForceTheMistakes: In 25 games this season, Truman has had equal/fewer turnovers than opponents 22 times (17-5 in those games).

Mr. 300, and Mr. 300:
With redshirt junior guard Cory Myers topping the 300-career assist mark last week, becoming just the eighth Bulldog to do so all-time, he joined new teammate Dwight Sistrunk, Jr., above the milestone plateau. Sistrunk, who recorded 278 assists during his first two collegiate seasons at William Jewell, has handed out 65 in 16 games this season at Truman for a career total of 343.

Truman is one of just three NCAA Div. II programs to feature two active players with more than 300 career assists, joining Merrimack and Wheeling Jesuit in that club. There are only 37 active players in NCAA Div. II that have surpassed the 300-assist mark.

"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 360 consecutive games.

Checking the Career Charts:
Four Bulldog regulars are creeping up on a handful of career individual charts, as senior Andrew Vander Zwaag, senior Cole Myers, junior Cory Myers, and junior Kyle Kanaskie have each seen their all-time numbers climb in recent outings.

Vander Zwaag passed Andy Guethle for seventh all-time in career three-pointers last week and now sits with 192 for his career. Austin Kirby (2003-07) is next up in sixth-place with 199 career makes from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, the Myers twins continue to race each other up the career steals chart, as Cole holds a three-steal lead on Cory at 130-127. The elder (by athletic year) is now eighth all-time, with the younger (again, by athletic year) in ninth all-time. Jason Reinberg (1996-2000) is seventh on the all-time list with 136.

Cory (a redshirt junior) has also moved past Ethan Freeman into eighth all-time on the career assist chart with 311, leaving him next behind Banks Estridge's mark of 319 (2005-09) for 7^th place.

Kanaskie, meanwhile, penciled his name onto the program's all-time free throw percentage list last Saturday, as he reached the 100-minimum makes requirement and is now 102-for-114 in his career at the stripe (89.5%). He is currently first overall, leading Tom Norton (2009-13) – the current leader – at 85.8% (211-for-246).

Up Next:
The Bulldogs head to Kansas City this Saturday for a 3 p.m. tipoff on the Rockhurst University campus against the Hawks (12-11, 7-8 GLVC). Truman will be in search of a season split with the Hawks, after RU defeated Truman 78-72 in Kirksville on Dec. 3, 2015, to open GLVC play.

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Players Mentioned

#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

#45 Dwight Sistrunk, Jr.: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior

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

Players Mentioned

#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

#45 Dwight Sistrunk, Jr.
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior
: G

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