Truman Game Notes (PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After its longest break between games of the season, 11 days, the Truman State University men's basketball team will play its final contest of 2018, just four days before the New Year. The Bulldogs will host the defending NAIA Division I National Champions, Graceland, inside Pershing Arena for a 3:00 start on Saturday. This game also marks just the second outing for the Purple and White in the last three weeks.
Entering this contest, Truman is riding a four-game home winning streak and has won six of its last seven since an 0-4 skid to start the year. This is the last game the Bulldogs will play outside of the GLVC for the regular season and it comes before a grueling 16-game stretch against league foes prior to the conference tournament on March 7.
Most recently, the Bulldogs picked up a massive in-region victory over visiting Grand Valley State back on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Truman was led by a quartet of scorers in double-figures including
Nathan Messer (17),
Cade McKnight (17),
Brodric Thomas (13), and
Turner Scott (11). The difference was behind the arc where Truman (15-of-31) outscored Grand Valley State (4-for-11) by 33, 45-12.
Scouting Graceland
Graceland is coming off a historic 29-10 season and the first NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in school history. The Yellowjackets went 19-2 from Jan. 17 through the end of the season and became the first team from the state of Iowa to win the national championship in the event's history when Justin Harley hit a three-pointer at the overtime buzzer. The head coach of that squad, Craig Doty, has since taken over as the head coach at Division II Emporia State of the MIAA.
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Fast forward to 2018 and Graceland is off to a 7-5 start under first-year head coach, Cory Hoff. Hoff spent the past two seasons at Graceland including 2017-18 as the associate head coach under Doty. All in all, the Deckerville, Mich. native has made the postseason in all six of years as a coach, five of which included 20-win teams, and was at Mesa Community College prior to arriving in Lamoni.
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This season, Graceland has been led by a pair of scorers averaging double-figures, one of which didn't make a single start last season and the other was a redshirt. Senior forward, Alec Pena, who appeared in 34 of the team's 39 games last year, is first on the squad in points per game with 15.2. Next up is senior guard, Mo Jackson, at 14.9 points per outing. The Yellowjackets feature three players averaging at least five rebounds per game including Harley (7.5), Will Nelson (7.4) and Pena (5.1).
Cardiac Kids
As cliche as that moniker is, "Cardiac Kids", Truman has lived up to such name so far in 2018-19. Five of the Bulldogs' six wins have come by five points or less. In fact, five of the Purple and White's six victories were by four points or less and a trio of them were decided by just one possession (three points or fewer). The 82-78 victory over Grand Valley State also marked Truman's first win when the opponent shoots 50 percent or better as the Bulldogs were 0-4 in those games previously.
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Long Time Coming
Located just over 100 miles from each other, the border war between Graceland and Truman has featured just seven all-time matchups. The Bulldogs lead that all-time series by five, 7-2, and have won five-straight meetings, but the two teams haven't faced each other in over 20 years since November of 1998. The Purple and White's two losses to Graceland came during the 1935-36 and 1936-37 seasons.
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The Man in the Middle
Redshirt-freshman forward,
Cade McKnight, has begun to come into his own over his last five games. In that span, McKnight is averaging 17.2 points per game, which is first on the team, while shooting a blistering 64.7 percent (33-of-51) from the field to go with 4.4 rebounds per outing. Through his first five games, McKnight was averaging 8.6 points per game, but missed the Sioux Falls game and has been on a tear ever since.
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On The Verge
Truman is led by a trio of scorers averaging at least 10 points per game including
Brodric Thomas (15.0),
Turner Scott (13.8) and McKnight (12.9). With that being said, seniors,
Taurin Hughes and
Nathan Messer, are both on the verge of reaching that mark. Both Hughes and Messer are putting up 9.6 points per game and Messer is coming off his first 10+ point game (17) since Sioux Falls (four games ago).
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Up Next
Truman will get four days to prepare for Lewis and the re-entry into GLVC play when it travels to Romeoville, Ill. on Jan. 3 for a 7:30 start time. That contest will signal the beginning of a four-game road trip against some of the league's best including the Flyers, Indianapolis, Southern Indiana, and Bellarmine.
#BewareOfDog
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