Truman Game Notes (.PDF)
Missouri S&T Preview
Tournament Bracket
Tournament Central
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman men's basketball team is getting set to host a GLVC Tournament first-round game for the fourth season in a row. The Bulldogs have won the last two of those over the likes of Quincy in 2015 (84-64) and Missouri-St. Louis in 2016 (90-84). This season, the good guys will host Missouri S&T, their fourth different opponent in those circumstances. When it comes to the 2016-17 campaign, it will be the fourth-consecutive rematch for Truman including William Jewell on Feb. 16 (92-86), Rockhurst on Feb. 18 (95-84) and Quincy this past Thursday (92-97). The first time the Bulldogs and Miners met, it was inside Pershing Arena with S&T coming out on top, 96-91.
Going back to the regular-season finale, Quincy's offense was just too much for Truman to handle. The Bulldogs shot well from the field at 54.5 percent, but that was still over 10 percent less than the Hawks' absurd 64.8 percent from the floor. All eight of Truman's players who saw the court found the scoring column while six of them reached double-figures. Leading the way was Kyle Kanskie with 19, 16 of which came in the second half, on 6-of-7 shooting, 5-for-6 (tied career high for three-pointers made) from behind the arc and two makes in two attempts at the free throw line. Also scoring 10+ were
Connor Erickson (15),
Zach Fischer (15),
Cory Myers (13),
Jake Velky (13), and
Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. (10).
Fischer poured in 12 of his 15 in the second half and didn't miss a single field goal attempt during those 20 minutes going 5-of-5 in 17 minutes. After scoring in double-figures just four times in his first 20 games of the year, Fischer has seen an expanded role with the injury to
Nathan Messer and more than taken advantage of it. In his last six contests, the St. Louis native has averaged 10.8 points and four boards per game.
Scouting the Miners
The Missouri S&T Miners have hovered right around the .500 mark all season and right now, they're one game below it at 12-13. In fact, their five-point win over Truman in January is part of a stretch in which they finished the regular season with a record of 4-4. Missouri S&T is now making its first GLVC Tournament appearance since 2014 and is looking to reach the conference quarterfinals for the first time since becoming a member of the GLVC prior to the 2005-06 season. The Miners boast a quartet of players averaging at least 10 points per game including Jalen Myers (14.7), Randy Holmes (12.8), Telloy Simon (11.7), and Juwan Miller (10.8). Myers is a serious threat from behind the arc and has connected on 70 three-pointers, the most by a Miner in over a decade, while Miller ranks among the GLVC leaders in steals and assists. He ranks third in the conference in assists with 136 and in steals with 52. His assist total this season is the second-best mark in school history. When Truman and Missouri S&T last met, The Miners had five players in double-figures led by Simon's 22 points.
Last Time Out
Much like the game against then-No. 9 Bellarmine on Jan. 13, the Truman men's basketball team faced a 19-point deficit against Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon inside Pershing Arena. Trailing the Miners 60-41 with just over 15 minutes to play in the game, the Bulldogs rattled off a 25-6 run to knot it up at 66-66, but it was too little, too late as the home team was never able to take the lead and fell by five, 96-91.
Jake Velky led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-17 (tied career high for field goal attempts/three-pointers attempted) shooting from the field including seven three-pointers to go with five rebounds and two steals.
Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. was next with 19 points (Truman high), 17 of which came in the second half, on a perfect nine makes (tied personal best) in nine attempts from the floor. Sistrunk Jr. was one assist shy of a double-double with four boards and three swipes. The Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the year when Sistrunk Jr. and
Cory Myers combine for nine or more dimes (9-1).
Deja Vu
As mentioned above, Truman is no stranger to playing in the first round of the GLVC Tournament having hosted that game every year since joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season. The first time the Bulldogs were in that game, they lost to Illinois Springfield on March 2, 2014 by a score of 78-72. Since then, though, Truman has won two straight against Quincy on March 1, 2015 (84-64) and Missouri-St. Louis on Feb. 28, 2016 (90-84). This year during the regular season, the Bulldogs were 9-4 inside the friendly confines, but one of those four losses was at the hands of Missouri S&T on Jan. 28. Prior to that contest, Truman had won three in a row to improve to 16-4 overall and 8-2 in the GLVC. Many consider that an upset win for the Miners and the Bulldogs will be looking for revenge come Sunday.
Leading the Pack
The Bulldogs continue to be led by
Jake Velky's 16.3 points per game, but that average has dropped considerably over the past couple months. The Waverly, Iowa native's average was as high as 19.4 after the first Quincy game and was even at 18.4 after playing against Southern Indiana on Jan. 12. Velky's average has dropped more than two points per game, but that's because teams have really started to key in on him when preparing for Truman. Aside from the injured
Nathan Messer averaging 12.6 points per game,
Cory Myers and
Connor Erickson are also putting up double-figures with 13.9 and 12.6 per contest, respectively. Erickson, the defending GLVC Player of the Week, is averaging 19.4 points per game during the month of February (seven games). In fact, the last time Erickson didn't score at least 10 points in a game was against Missouri S&T when he had just four on 2-of-5 shooting.
Tale of Two Ends
Missouri S&T presents one of the best scoring offenses in the GLVC with 83.4 points per game, which is good for fifth in the league. Truman is three spots up in that category with 87.6 points per contest, so like these two teams' first meeting, expect a high-scoring affair on Sunday to begin the postseason. With that being said, the Miners are in the bottom half of the conference when it comes to scoring defense. They give up, on average, 81.8 points per night, and that mark is good for third-to-last in the GLVC. As much as Missouri S&T likes to fill it up and get up and down, Truman can do some scoring of its own. If the season ended right now, the Bulldogs' average of 87.6 would be first in program history by more than a point (86.4/1978-79).
Next Up
If Truman can win this game, it will advance to the quarterfinals, which are set to begin on March 2 in Evansville, Ind. at the Ford Center. The four teams that win in the first round will be reseeded prior to play in the field of eight. The four squads that already bought their ticket to the quarterfinals are No. 4 Bellarmine (one seed), Quincy (two seed), No. 10 Southern Indiana (three seed), and Wisconsin-Parkside (four seed).
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