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Vikings Continue Homestand vs. UIC
Jan. 9, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
• 2008-09 Men's Basketball Promotions Complete Release in PDF Format
Game 18 SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State closes a brief two-game home stand when the Vikings host to UIC on Saturday, Jan. 10 beginning at 7:30 p.m. The game is a doubleheader with the CSU women's team hosting Milwaukee beginning at 5:00 p.m. Fans attending the game can take advantage of this week's Alley-Oop Online Special and purchase $8 seats for $5 by using a form available online at CSUVikings.com. Cleveland State enters the weekend with a 12-5 record and is in fourth place in the league with a 3-2 record, including a 76-50 win over Loyola on Thursday night. UIC (8-6, 1-3) has been up and down this season, owning non-conference wins over both Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, but comes into the game having lost successive league games to Milwaukee, Green Bay and Youngstown State. PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: After last year becoming one of at least 16 teams in NCAA history to go from losing 20 games in one season to winning 20 the next, the Vikings are quickly returning to the form that earned them their first post-season bid in 20 years. The lineup is centered around the group of seven returning players who keyed the success last year, including the duo of forward J'Nathan Bullock (15.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and point guard Cedric Jackson (8.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.2 apg), both of whom were named to the five-player Preseason All-Horizon League first team this year. Earning spots in the starting lineup are the sophomore duo of off-guard Norris Cole (11.6, 2.7, 2.3) and small forward D'Aundray Brown (7.8, 5.2). Senior Chris Moore (4.6, 3.1) has started each game at center with seniors George Tandy (5.4, 5.5) and Renard Fields (1.0, 0.9) each factoring significantly into the playing rotation. The final three spots in the rotation come from the group consisting of freshmen guards Jeremey Montgomery (3.5, 1.5 assists), Trevon Harmon (9.0, 2.3), who became eligible at the semester, and Josh McCoy (0.9, 1.2). TIME CHANGE FOR GREEN BAY GAME: Cleveland State's game at Green Bay on Thursday, Jan. 15 has been moved to a 7:30 p.m. CST (8:30 p.m. EST) tip-off to accomodate a SportsTime Ohio broadcast that evening. With the Green Bay women playing at 5:00 p.m. CST that evening, it was not possible to guarantee a hard tip time for the men's game at 7:00 p.m. so the start was pushed back. HEAD COACH Gary Waters: The reigning Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year, Gary Waters has needed just three seasons to convert Cleveland State into one of the top programs in the Horizon League. A 34-year collegiate coaching veteran, he owns a 214-174 record in 13 seasons as a head coach and a 42-39 mark in his third season at CSU, taking seven of his first 12 squads to post-season play. He posted a 92-60 record in five seasons at Kent State, making NCAA appearances in both 1998-99 and 2000-01 and becoming the third coach in Mid-American Conference history to be named league coach of the year in successive years. Waters moved to Rutgers in 2001-02, compiling a 79-75 mark in five seasons, including three trips to the NIT. Waters, who led the Vikings to a 21-13 mark last year, earned his 200th career win on Feb. 23, 2008 when the Vikings defeated Marist. . . . AND HE IS FINALLY BACK ABOVE .500: Wins in six of his last seven games has pushed Gary Waters' record at CSU to 43-39, giving him a winning record for the first time since he was 5-3 early in his inaugural season at CSU. His overall record dipped to 12 games below .500 (11-23) after back-to-back losses to George Mason and Florida Atlantic but the Vikings started a gradual climb back up to .500, going over the mark for the first time on Dec. 20. Of the 14 head coaches in CSU history, the only other coach above .500 is Kevin Mackey (142-69, .673). BROWN OUT: Sophomore forward D'Aundray Brown, who had his streak of 25 consecutive starts snapped when he was unable to play at Detroit on Saturday, will miss the next 2-3 weeks with a stress fracture in his rib cage. The injury was originally suffered during the win over Kent State on Dec. 23 and then flared up at Wright State on Dec. 30. SCHIELE LEAVES PROGRAM: Viking head coach Gary Waters announced after the Loyola game on Thursday that sophomore guard Eric Schiele has left the team and will transfer to a non-Division I team in the area. Schiele, a walk-on, averaged 3.9 points and 10.0 minutes while coming off the bench in 14 games this season. "Eric indicated that his decision was based upon being able to go to a school where he would get more playing time and a scholarship. He is a great kid who did nothing but work hard in his two years here. We wish him luck," Waters said. CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: Senior Cedric Jackson, the Horizon League leader in both assists (5.1) and steals (2.8), ranks 13th nationally in steals and 60th in assists in the latest NCAA statistics, which were released on Monday (Jan. 5). As a team, CSU ranks in the top 50 nationally in seventh categories, ranking 2nd in scoring defense (55.1), 21st in both turnover margin (+4.7) and three-point field goal defense (.289), 24th in steals (9.4), 34th in field goal defense (.384), 41st in assist-turnover-ratio (1.19) and 48th in turnovers (12.6). CSU DROPS TO 9TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: The Vikings fell one place, from 8th to 9th, in the most recent Mid-Major Basketball Poll, which was released on Jan. 5. CSU, which ended the 2007-08 season unranked, received 523 points to be one of four Horizon League teams to make the poll (Butler 3rd, Green Bay 18th & Milwaukee 25th). Illinois State takes over the top spot this week with Gonzaga ranking second and Butler third. VIKINGS FINALLY PASS THEIR BOARDS: After a very auspicious start to the season, the Vikings have finally found the form that made them the top rebounding team in the Horizon League a year ago (+3.1 rpg). CSU opened the year by losing the battle of the boards in five of the first six games, being out-rebounded by an average of 4.0 rebounds a game (including a disastrous -26 margin in the loss at Washington). It was a slow road back, but CSU finally moved the rebounding margin back into positive territory by out-rebounding its opponent in six of the last 11 contests. For the year, CSU owns a 614 to 611 rebounding edge (+0.2). . . . AND BY GEORGE, TANDY'S BEEN THE KEY: No player seems to be as responsible for the turnaround in CSU's rebounding fortunes than senior George Tandy. Over the last 11 games, Tandy has averaged 7.5 rebounds a game, a considerable improvement over the 2.0 boards that he averaged in the first six games or the 3.9 rebounds over his first 39 games as a Viking. Tandy has had no less than six rebounds in any game during his current streak, including a career-high matching 13 vs. Kent State and 10 vs. Valparaiso. HARMON MAKES A BIG DEBUT: In the six games since becoming eligible at the semester break, freshman guard Trevon Harmon has averaged 9.0 points and 2.3 rebounds a game and supplied CSU with a much-needed scorer off the bench. His contributions were never more important than in the last two games. On Thursday vs. Loyola, he celebrated his first career start by scoring a career-high 17 points, 14 coming in the first half to help break open the game. On Jan. 3 at Detroit, he scored eight of his 10 points during a decisive 9-1 Viking run in the final five minutes that held off a late Detroit rally. Harmon, a 6-0 guard from Pasadena, Calif., was named the All-CIF Division II Player of the Year as a senior after averaging 28.0 points and 8.0 assists per game. 10 WINS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR: The victory over Notre Dame College on Dec. 27 allowed the Vikings to accomplish another program first, that is, win 10 games before New Year's Day. In fact, with a 10-5 record heading into the new year, CSU easily bested the old record for wins in the months of November and December, which was eight accomplished three times (1985-86, 1986-87 & 2007-08). EVERYTHING STARTS WITH THE D: Keeping to his word, Gary Waters has built the 2008-09 Vikings around defense and the results of late have really been spectacular. CSU has held 11 of its 17 opponents to under 40-percent shooting from the field, including in 10 of the last 12 games. During that stretch, CSU opponents are 219 for 595 from the field (.368). In 17 games, only Syracuse & Wright State shot better than 44-percent from the field. CSU was 34th in the nation in field goal defense (.384) in the latest NCAA stats. KEEPING IT IN THE 40'S: A better example of how strong the Viking defense has been this year is that CSU has held six opponents to under 50 points in a game this season, the most since the then Fenn Foxes accomplished it eight times during the 1946-47 season, 63 seasons ago. The 40 points scored by Notre Dame College on Dec. 27 was the fewest allowed by CSU since Milwaukee scored just 34 points on Jan. 27, 2001. You'd have to go back to Jan. 11, 1967 (42 seasons) to see another game in which the Vikings allowed fewer points (24-22 win over Walsh). CSU's 55.1 scoring defense (since lowered to 54.8) was second in the nation in the latest NCAA stats, trailing only Washington State (50.8). . . . AND KEEPING IT UNDER 20: Further proof of the success of the CSU defense is that the Vikings have held seven opponents to 20 points or less in the first half of games this season. Toledo was the first team kept under the mark when it scored just 16 points. Valparaiso scored a season-low 14 points on Dec. 2 with Butler tallying just 20 two days later. It has also happened in four of the last five games, La Roche (19), Notre Dame College (17), Kent State (17) and Detroit (20) have each been kept under the mark. CSU is 11-2 in games in which it has either led or been tied at half and is outscoring its opponents by 6.4 points in the first half (31.1-24.7). HANDING OUT ASSISTS AT A RECORD PACE: The Vikings enter the UIC game challenging the school record for assist percentage in a season. Through 17 games, CSU has an assist on 257 of its 416 baskets (61.779%), slightly ahead of the record of 61.639 set in 2004-05 (376 assists on 610 baskets). GOING FOR A RARE DOUBLE: Senior Cedric Jackson, who is the Horizon League leader in both assists (5.2) and steals (2.7), is attempting to become just the fifth player in league history to accomplish the feat. Jackson's 2.8 steals per game ranks 13th in the nation and is significantly ahead of Loyola's Justin Cerasoli (2.2) in the league race while his 5.2 assists per contest, good for 60th in the nation, is slightly ahead of UIC's Spencer Stewart (4.7). Jackson is attempting to join Loyola's Darius Clemens (1980-81) and Earl Brown (1997-98), Detroit's Roy Simms (1982-83) and LaSalle's Paul Burke (1993-94). J'NATHAN IS ON A ROLL: Senior J'Nathan Bullock is playing some of the best basketball of his Viking career of late. After averaging 12.5 points in the first 10 games, the senior has turned up his game, tossing in an average of 17.7 points over the last seven contests to raise his season average to 15.2 ppg. Named the Horizon League Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Dec. 1 after averaging 16.0 points in three wins in Florida, he received it again on Dec. 22 after scoring 18 points in wins over both Syracuse and La Roche. He came back on Dec. 23 to tally 24 points in the win over Kent State. A TURNOVER TALE: One area of continued improvement for the Vikings this year has been turnover margin where CSU leads the Horizon League with +4.8 turnovers a game. The improvement has come at both ends of the court. After averaging 14.0 turnovers a season ago, the Vikings have done a better job taking care of the ball, turning it over just 12.6 times a game, including 10 or fewer turnovers five times this year. Defensively, CSU has turned up the heat, forcing 17.4 turnovers a game, 2.5 more than last year's 14.9 turnovers a game. CSU is ranked 21st nationally in the latest NCAA stats. BUILDING A HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: When Gary Waters took over as head coach in the spring of 2006, he made note of the team's 5-10 home record the year before and indicated that for the program to succeed, the Wolstein Center would have to become a much more difficult place to play. The Vikings accomplished that goal in 2007-08 when CSU set a school record for wins in a season by going 12-2 in games played in the Wolstein Center. CSU was also 8-1 in league games, falling just short of the perfect 9-0 home league record in 1992-93. With a 6-2 home mark this year (1-1 in league play), CSU is now 18-4 on campus over the last two seasons, a considerable improvement over the 25-42 over the previous five seasons. BULLOCK TO BREAK STARTING STREAK MARK: When J'Nathan Bullock takes the court at the start of Saturday's UIC game, he will break the school record with his 87th consecutive start. He currently shares the mark with Ken McFadden, who started 86 consecutive games from 1985-89. . . . AND GAME 111 IS NEXT FOR BULLOCK: When J'Nathan Bullock takes the court for the UIC game, it will be the 111th game of his CSU career. With at least 14 games left in the season (counting at least one game in the Horizon League Championship), Bullock has a chance to at least tie the school record for games played in a career (and games started in a career) which is currently being held by both Eddie Bryant and Clinton Ransey with 125 games played from 1983-87. JACKSON IS A STEAL: With 88 steals during the 2007-08 season, Cedric Jackson not only ran away with the Horizon League steal title, but he also posted the third-highest single season steal total in school history. Jackson's 2.59 steals per game easily topped Green Bay's Terry Evans, who was second with 1.97 steals a contest. The 88 steals trailed only Kenny Robertson, who set the school record with 111 thefts in 1988-89 and had 90 steals in 1987-88. On a national basis, Jackson ranked ninth among Division I players in steals last year. . . . AND THIS YEAR HAS BEEN NO DIFFERENT: Although Cleveland State has played just 17 games this year, senior Cedric Jackson has defensively been in perfect form, making 46 steals to lead the Horizon League (and rank 13th nationally) with 2.7 steals a game and putting himself ahead of last year's 2.6 steals a game pace. Jackson has had multiple steals in all but two games this year, including a season-high five against both Washington and Toledo, giving him 41 multiple steal games in his CSU career (51 games). THE HEAVENLY HEAVE: When Cedric Jackson tossed in a 60-footer at the buzzer to give Cleveland State a 72-69 win at Syracuse on Dec. 15, it gave CSU its third ever win against a ranked opponent (3-27 overall). After snapping a 19-game losing streak to ranked opponents against Butler last year, the Vikings have now won two of their last three meetings against ranked teams. The victory also came against CSU's highest ranked opponent ever. Syracuse was ranked 11th with the previous wins coming over 14th-ranked Indiana in 1986 and 12th-ranked Butler last year. BULLOCK GOING FOR A 4TH SCORING CROWN: It took him six games, but senior J'Nathan Bullock is finally in a familiar position, taking over the team lead in scoring (he is averaging 15.2 ppg entering the UIC game). Bullock is attempting to become only the third player in CSU history to lead the team in scoring in four straight seasons. He started the streak as a freshman in 2005-06 when he was one of three Vikings in double figures for the year, averaging 11.3 points a game, the lowest average ever by a player who led the team. Bullock improved his average to 13.5 points in 2006-07 and trailed Cedric Jackson for most of last season until exploding for 39 points against Green Bay to take over the scoring lead for good. Bullock would join Franklin Edwards (1977-81) and Weldon Kytle (1961-65) as the only four-time scoring leaders. JACKSON MAKES A KING-LY FIGURE: As part of the pre-season opening Viking Madness event, Viking senior Cedric Jackson and women's basketball junior Angel Roque were selected CSU's 2008 Homecoming King and Queen, respectively. WATERS ON THE RADIO: CSU fans will be able to get the inside scoop on the Vikings this year by listening to The Gary Waters Show each week on WTAM, 1100 AM. The one-hour call-in show, which is hosted by Andre Knott, will air weekly through the end of the regular season. At least 14 episodes of the show are planned, most coming on Monday night's. The show will air every Monday night in January and February, moving to a 7:00 p.m. start. A complete schedule is available on CSUVikings.com. . . . AND ON TELEVISION: The Viking Basketball Report, with Head Coach Gary Waters returns for a third season on SportsTime Ohio. The half-hour weekly show includes game recaps, highlights and features on players and other elements of the program. The show will be hosted by Mike Cairns with commentary from Waters. It will air multiple times every week, usually debuting on Tuesday evening. NEXT UP: The Vikings will head to the State of Wisconsin for a pair of games next week, playing at Green Bay on Thursday (Jan. 15) and at Milwaukee on Saturday (Jan. 17). Both games will be televised live on SportsTime Ohio.
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