Truman Game Notes (.PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After playing eight of its last 10 games on the road, a stretch in which it went 7-3, the Truman State University men's basketball team gets to come home for its final four games of the regular season. The first two of those will be against Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and No. 7 Bellarmine on Saturday at 3 p.m. Entering those contests, the Bulldogs are tied with Southern Indiana for third in the GLVC Point Rating System.
This past week, the Purple and White went 2-0 with a pair of road victories over William Jewell (81-80) on Thursday and rival Quincy on Saturday (86-72). That makes three wins in a row for Truman and four of its last five. In those last two wins, four of the nine players that saw time averaged double-figure scoring including Velky (16.5), Thomas (16), Fischer (12.5), and Scott (12.5).
Overall, Truman continues to boast five players putting up at least 10 points per game including Fischer (17.1), Velky (16.7), Thomas (16.3), Messer (10.3), and Green (10.1). Also, Fischer is still holding on to that double-double average with 10 boards per contest.
Last Time Out: Wisconsin-Parkside
Truman handed Wisconsin-Parkside its only home loss of the season (13-1) by taking down the Rangers inside DeSimone Gymnasium, 64-61. Coming into that game, Wisconsin-Parkside was 19-4 overall and 11-3 in the GLVC.
Connor Erickson finished with 20 points (9-of-13 FG, 2-for-2 FT), seven rebounds, six blocks, and two steals.
Cory Myers was the other Bulldog in double-figures with 14 points to go with six assists, three boards, two steals, and a block. That victory also marked
Chris Foster's first over the Rangers.
Last Time Out: Bellarmine
Trailing No. 9 Bellarmine by as many as 19 points in the first half, Truman outscored the Knights 51-29 in the second half, including 20-6 in the final six minutes. That was the Purple and White's first win over a ranked opponent since 2014, first against a top-10 opponent since 2013 and first for
Chris Foster over Bellarmine. Offensively, Truman was led by Dwight Sistrunk Jr. (18 points),
Billy Daniel (16) and
Jake Velky (12).
Scouting Wisconsin-Parkside
After a 20-win campaign in 2016-17 (22-8, 13-5 GLVC), Wisconsin-Parkside has had a bit of an up and down year No. 15 under head coach, Luke Reigel. The Rangers head into the second-to-last week of the regular season with an overall record of 9-15, 7-7 in league play and have lost four of their last six games. Since Reigel took over prior to the 2003-04 season, Wisconsin-Parkside has a record of 227-198 (.534 winning percentage).
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Scouting No. 7 Bellarmine
Bellarmine has been the class of the Great Lakes Valley Conference for a long time and this season is no exception. Entering this week, the Knights are 22-2 overall and 13-2 in the GLVC with a national rank of No. 7 by the NABC. 2017-18 marks year No. 13 under head coach, Scott Davenport. During his time in Louisville, Bellarmine has accumulated an overall record of 309-95 (.765).
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Friendly Confines
Both of these teams have quite the home-court advantage. Bellarmine has won 56-straight games inside Knights Hall and Wisconsin-Parkside has lost more than three games inside DeSimone Gymnasium for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Luckily, they have to come to Pershing Arena this weekend. No. 7 Bellarmine's two losses have come in true road affairs while seven of Wisconsin-Parkside's nine victories this year have been at home. Not to mention the fact that the Rangers knocked off then-No. 1 Bellarmine at home on Jan. 13, 80-68.
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One-Sided Affair
Offensively, Wisconsin-Parkside has had trouble scoring the ball this season as its scoring offense of 68 points per game is last in the GLVC. However, that hasn't stopped the Rangers from defending. They are fourth in the league in scoring defense (70.4) and that number is just 2.1 points per game behind Missouri-St. Louis in second place.
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Defensive Dominance
No GLVC team gives up fewer points per game than Bellarmine and it isn't even close. The Knights' top-ranked scoring defense is allowing 60.7 points per contest and the second place average is 68.3 from Missouri-St. Louis. Nationally, only defending National Champion and sixth-ranked Northwest Missouri State has a better scoring average at 58.2. When Bellarmine gives up at least 76 points, it only beat Indiana Southeast by two (84-82), lost at Wisconsin-Parkside (68-80) and fell at Indianapolis (68-76).
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Balanced Scoring
When looking at the individual statistics for these two teams, neither of them is really top heavy when it comes to scoring. Wisconsin-Parkside has just three scorers averaging double-figures, but seven with five or more, while Bellarmine has two at 10+ and eight with at least five per outing. The Rangers are led by Jameel Moore (14.5 PPG), Goran Zagorac (12.4) and Adam Bonk (11.2). For the Knights, it's Brent Bach (15.6) and Adam Eberhard (14.0) leading the way.
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Taking His Turn(er)
Through his first 18 games of the season,
Turner Scott was averaging 4.6 points per contest. In the last game of that stretch, he came off the bench for the first time in nearly two months and that sparked the redshirt-freshman point guard. In his three outings since then, Scott is averaging 14 points per game including 17 against both Rockhurst on Feb. 3 and Quincy this past Saturday.
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Up Next
Up next, Truman will round out its 2017-18 regular-season schedule with a rematch against William Jewell on Thursday, Feb. 22 (7:30 p.m.) followed by the first meeting of the year with Illinois Springfield for Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 24 (3 p.m.).
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