Truman Game Notes (PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - With three games left in the 2018-19 regular season, the Truman State University men's basketball team is holding on to the eighth-place spot in the GLVC Point Rating System. The top eight teams in that PRS will qualify for the league tournament, which begins on Thursday, March 7 in Edwardsville, IL on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. As of right now, the Bulldogs would face top-seeded Lewis in the quarterfinal round.
This past week, Truman split two road matchups with a 98-83 win at William Jewell before falling at Rockhurst two days later, 75-69. In that win over the Cardinals, the Bulldogs scored their second-most points of the season and did it while shooting over 60 percent from the field with just one made free throw in two attempts. However, the Purple and White were then held to just 69 points and 37.5 percent shooting in the loss against the Hawks.
With one road contest and two home dates remaining, Truman is 8-4 inside the friendly confines of Pershing Arena and 5-8 away from them including a mark of just 4-8 in true road games. The Bulldogs will head to Quincy this week before hosting Indianapolis and Lewis the next.
Scouting Quincy
Quincy has won just nine games this season, but seven of those nine have come on its home court inside Pepsi Arena. There, the Hawks are above the .500 mark at 7-6 as opposed to just 2-10 away from home. With that being said, Quincy has dropped seven of its last eight games including three straight at home. The Hawks will end their season with three-straight contests inside Pepsi Arena beginning with the season's rematch with Truman on Saturday.
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Quincy continues to be led by senior guard, Demetrius Houston, and redshirt junior guard, Jah-Kobe Womack. Houston is first on the team in points per game with 12.8 and Womack is third with 11.6. Redshirt senior forward, Marcus Hinton, is second on the squad in that category with 12.5 per contest, but hasn't played in a game since Feb. 2. Hinton is still the Hawks' leading rebounder with 6.9 per game and redshirt sophomore guard, Ryan Briscoe leads the way in assists per game with 3.0.
Last Time Out
Two weeks ago Saturday, Truman welcomed in Quincy to Pershing Arena for the two teams' first meeting of the season. The Bulldogs blew by the Hawks by 28, 85-57, the fourth-largest margin of victory in the all-time series and largest since 1956 when it was decided by 35, 77-42.
Brodric Thomas finished one rebound and one assist shy of a triple-double to go with 20 points while
Taurin Hughes and
Cade McKnight also scored in double-figures with 16 and 15, respectively. Quincy made just one three-pointer (1-for-15) and that 6.7 percent was the lowest mark by a Truman opponent in 28 years.
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Crunch Time
In order for Truman to move up in the GLVC Point Rating System, it would need some help from William Jewell and Missouri S&T. The Cardinals face Rockhurst, who is seventh in the PRS and one spot ahead of Truman, while the Miners battle the Tritons, who are currently sixth in the PRS. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs will look to take care of business against Quincy (14th in PRS), Indianapolis (fourth in PRS) and Lewis (first in PRS) in the regular season finale next Saturday.
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Next Up
As mentioned above, Truman will come home for its final two games of the regular season next Thursday and Saturday. The Bulldogs will host Indianapolis on Feb. 28 before welcoming in Lewis for Senior Day on March 2.
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