Truman Game Notes (.PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After another long break away from games for the Truman State University men's basketball team, this time nine days, the Bulldogs will get back into it with a pair of non-conference games at the QU Subway Holiday Classic. The Purple and White will face Ohio Valley of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference on Saturday at 1 p.m. followed by Missouri Southern State of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association on Sunday at the same time.
Truman was last in action on Dec. 7 with a Great Lakes Valley Conference road test at McKendree. The Bulldogs cranked things up defensively and it paid off as they defeated the Bearcats by 10, 80-70. The Purple and White's nine blocks are tied for the second-most in program history (11 vs. Missouri S&T on Feb. 9, 1994) and are the most since nine vs. Missouri Southern on Jan. 14, 1995. Truman locked down McKendree's Nolan Gerling, the defending GLVC Player of the Week, to just six points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. the Bearcats shot just 38.6 percent from the floor including only 35.5 percent in the first half. The Purple and White had a trio of players with at least 10 points including
Zach Fischer (22 points, 10 rebounds),
Brodric Thomas (19 points, 11 rebounds) and
Jack Green (12 points).
Scouting Ohio Valley
Ohio Valley is in year No. 10 under head coach, Mike Snell. After winning their season opener over Wright State-Lake by 15, 100-85, the Fighting Scots have dropped five in a row and have lost those five contests by an average of 23.2 points per game. Ohio Valley has a quartet of players putting up at least 10 points per game including Aleksandar Djordjevic (16.0), Kyle Davis (11.4), David Adeyemo (10.7), and Christian Alley (10.5). A pair of those scorers are close to averaging a double double as Adeyemo averages 9.3 boards per contest and Djordjevic is bringing down 8.4 a game.
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Scouting Missouri Southern State
Truman's old MIAA foe, Missouri Southern State, is coached by former Kansas Jayhawk standout, Jeff Boschee. In his fourth season with the Lions, Boschee and his squad have a record of 4-5, but have won two in a row over the likes of Lincoln and Lindenwood. Those are just two of the three common opponents that Truman and Missouri Southern have shared. The Lions beat Missouri-St. Louis (74-58), Lincoln (80-76) and Lindenwood (97-71). MSSU is led by Elyjah Clark (16.0 PPG), CJ Carr (13.4), Kinzer Lambert (12.9), and Enis Memic (11.1). Clark is also the team's leading rebounder with 6.2 boards per game.
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"Rock Chalk"
MSSU head coach, Jeff Boschee, was a four-year starter at Kansas under former KU head coach, Roy Williams from 1998-2002. Boschee was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 1999-2000 and was a third team All-Big 12 pick his senior season. He helped lead the Jayhawks to a Final Four appearance in 2002 and previously held the conference record for three pointers made in a career with 338. He still holds the Kansas record for three's made in a career and is second all-time in games started.
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Double Trouble
In Truman's Dec. 7 win at McKendree, the Bulldogs were paced by double-doubles from both
Zach Fischer and
Brodric Thomas. Fischer and Thomas became the first Purple and White pair with double-doubles since
Mike Carlson and Reed Mells did it vs. Missouri-St. Louis on Jan. 16, 2014. Thomas secured the third double-double of his career (first at Truman) with a stat-sheet stuffing 19 points, 11 rebounds (personal best), seven assists (personal best), and three blocks in 37 minutes of action. Fischer's sixth career double-double and fifth in eight outings consisted of 22 points, 10 boards, four blocks (personal best), one dime, and one steal in 33 minutes on the court. Those two combined to shoot 17-of-28 from the field or a red-hot 60.7 percent.
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Here Comes B.T.
Redshirt sophomore,
Brodric Thomas, officially signed to play at Truman for the first time back in June of 2015. Thomas would go on to redshirt for the 2015-16 season before transferring to Southwestern Community College for the 2016-17 campaign. While with the Spartans, Thomas helped them to an NJCAA National Championship with a record of 36-1 and he was named MVP of the National Tournament. Fast forward to this season and after sitting out the Bulldogs' first five games, Thomas has finally gotten to rock the Purple and White for the last three. The 6-5 guard has provided quite the spark with 15.3 points per game during that span.
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Chasing History
After a Second-Team All-GLVC nod last season, junior sharp shooter,
Jake Velky, has begun to make some serious noise in Truman's record book. Before we get into that, Velky is already 179 points away from the 1,000-career point plateau with a career average of 12.3 points per game. For the program's career record book, the Waverly, Iowa native is second in free throw percentage (.867) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.439).
Up Next
After these two non-conference games, Truman will have a nice long Christmas Break of 13 days before facing Iowa Wesleyan inside Pershing Arena on Saturday, Dec. 30 with tip set for 1 p.m. That contest represents the final game out of GLVC play for the Bulldogs before 16 league affairs in a row to finish up the 2017-18 regular season.
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