Game 11
Cleveland State (6-4) at Syracuse (9-0)
Date: Monday, December 15, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Site: Carrier Dome (33,633), Syracuse, NY
TV: Time Warner Cable (Syracuse) & SportsTime Ohio
(Mark Larson & Dan Liedke)
(Highlights available on The Viking Basketball Report, which airs weekly on SportsTime Ohio.)
Radio: WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland), WHKZ, 1440 AM (Warren) (Al Pawlowski)
Series: First Meeting
Tickets: Available At Site
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State completes its abbreviated tour of the State of New York when the Vikings stop in Syracuse, NY to face Syracuse (13th AP/16th USA Today) on Monday, Dec. 15 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome on the Syracuse campus. The Syracuse Time Warner Cable production of the game will be televised live throughout Ohio on SportsTime Ohio with Mark Larkson and Dan Liedke providing the commentary. CSU is 6-4 on the year after routing Marist, 66-47, on Saturday in Poughkeepsie. Syracuse is off to a perfect 9-0 start after defeating Long Beach State, 79-55 on Saturday. The Orange are 7-0 at home this season.
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 have many of the pieces to the puzzle for success in 2008-09 already in place but a few questions that need to be answered. 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 (13.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and point guard Cedric Jackson (9.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 5.1 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 (11.4, 2.6) and small forward D'Aundray Brown (8.9, 6.0). Senior Chris Moore (5.1, 3.6) has started each game at center with seniors George Tandy (4.0, 4.5) and Renard Fields (1.2, 0.8) each factoring significantly into the playing rotation. The final three spots in the rotation come from the group consisting of sophomore guard Eric Schiele (3.6, 1.5) and freshmen guards Josh McCoy (0.8, 1.1) and Jeremey Montgomery (3.0, 1.6 assists).
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 208-173 record in 13 seasons as a head coach and a 37-38 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.
CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: Senior Cedric Jackson, the Horizon League leader in both assists (5.4) and steals (3.0), ranks 12th nationally in steals and 50th in assists in the latest NCAA statistics, which were released on Monday (Dec. 7). In addition, sophomore D'Aundray Brown is 99th in steals (2.0). As a team, CSU ranks in the top 40 nationally in five defensive categories, ranking 22nd in three-point defense (.271), 29th in scoring defense (58.1), 33rd in steals (9.6), 35th in turnover margin (+4.2) and 36th in field goal defense (.378).
VIKINGS DROP TO 15TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: Back-to-back losses to Butler and West Virginia last week dropped the Vikings from ninth to 15th in the most recent Mid-Major Basketball Poll, which was released on Dec. 9. The Vikings, who ended the 2007-08 season unranked, received 249 votes to be one of two Horizon League teams to make the poll (Butler 5th). Gonzaga continues to receive all 31 first place votes for first place, outdistancing Davidson (744), who received all 31 second place votes. The poll, which is sponsored by CollegeInsider.com, is released each Tuesday throughout the season.
IT HAS BEEN ALMOST 23 YEARS: Monday night's game at Syracuse will be Cleveland State's first appearance in the Carrier Dome since the Vikings won NCAA Tournament games over Indiana (83-79) and St. Joseph's (75-69) in the first two rounds of the 1986 NCAA Championship. The Indiana victory was the first time in tournament history that a No. 14 seed defeated a No. 3 seed and it was the first time that legendary Hoosier head coach Bobby Knight lost in the first round of the tournament. Led by head coach Kevin Mackey, the Run-N-Stun Vikings went 29-4 that year, eventually falling to David Robinson and Navy, 71-70, in a Sweet 16 game at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ. The 1985-86 season remains the only NCAA Tournament appearance by CSU.
THE "D" IN CLEVELAND: A good example of how well CSU has played defensively this year is that the Vikings have held each of their last six opponents to less than 60 points, the first time that they have accomplished this since a six-game streak that bridged the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. Over those six games, CSU limited its opponents to .352 shooting (103-293), including just .269 from three-point (29-108), allowing 51.0 points and 18.2 turnovers a game.
. . . AND NOT A BAD STRETCH: Cleveland State has indeed turned up the defensive pressure of late, holding five straight opponents (and six of 10 this season) to less than 40-percent shooting from the field to lower the season field goal defense figure to .375 (192-512), tops in the Horizon League. It has never better than over the last four games when the Vikings held its opponent to a combined .331 shooting from the field (67-203). The stretch started when Valpo shot .313 (15-48) and Butler followed that up by making 17 of its 54 attempts (.315). West Virginia shot .346 (18-52) on Dec. 6 and Marist closed the stretch by going 176-for-49 (.347) on Saturday.
BULLOCK BREAKS INTO SCORING TOP 10: A 16-point effort against Florida International on Nov. 26 allowed J'Nathan Bullock to break into the CSU career scoring top 10. With 1,373 points during his career, Bullock ranks 10th all-time. He passed both Jamaal Harris (1998-2002) and Dave Youdath (1980-84), who were 11th and 10th, respectively with 1,304 and 1,306 points. Bullock has a little more work to do to catch ninth place Eric Mudd, whose 1,402 points puts him 30 points ahead of Bullock.
THE SOPHOMORES HAVE IT: After weeks and weeks of talk about how the Vikings were going to be led by the senior duo of J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson, another less-heralded duo -- sophomores D'Aundray Brown and Norris Cole -- have emerged as two of CSU's biggest offensive weapons during the first month of the season. Cole, who averaged 10.0 points over the final six games last season, is second on the team with a 11.4 scoring average, including a career-high 20 points at Washington and 17 points in the loss to Kansas State. Brown has set his career-high with 15 points against both Oakland and Florida International and is second on the team and ninth in the league averaging 6.0 rebounds a game while ranking fourth on the squad with an 8.9 scoring average.
MOORE, MOORE, MOORE: After dropping 25 pounds during the off-season, senior Chris Moore is beginning to see the results of that hard work. He has found his shooting touch over the last eight games, making 23 of his last 39 field goal attempts (.590) to break out of a mini-scoring slump that saw him go scoreless in the first two games of the year. For the year, Moore is averaging 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds a game, shooting .489 from the field (23-47).
MONTGOMERY STEPS UP: The trip to Florida proved to be beneficial for freshman guard Jeremy Montgomery. After going scoreless with one assist while playing just 11 combined minutes in the first three games, the freshman from Chicago emerged as a reliable member of the playing rotation, averaging 6.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 15.0 minutes in the three games. His breakout game came against Toledo when he set career highs for points (10), assists (4), steals (4) and minutes played (20), going four-for-six from the field. More importantly, he was three-for-nine from three-point in the tourney, helping CSU to improve its outside shooting effort.
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 2-2 home mark this year (1-1 in league play), CSU is now 14-4 on campus over the last two seasons, a considerable improvement over the 25-42 over the previous five seasons.
BULLOCK EXTENDS STARTING STREAK: With starts in every game this season, senior J'Nathan Bullock extended his starting streak to 79 consecutive games, passing Weldon Kytle (1961-65) to take over the fourth-longest streak in school history. He needs four more starts to catch Darren Tillis (1978-82), who is in third place with 83 consecutive starts, and if he stays healthy, he could catch record-holder Ken McFadden (1985-89), who started 86 straight games, in January.
. . . AND GAME 104 IS NEXT FOR BULLOCK: When J'Nathan Bullock takes the court for the Syracuse game, it will be the 104th game of his CSU career. With at least 21 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 consecutive games played 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 10 games this year, senior Cedric Jackson has defensively been in perfect form, making 29 steals to lead the Horizon League (and rank 12th nationally) with 2.9 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 one game this year, including a season-high five against both Washington and Toledo, giving him 35 multiple steal games in his CSU career (44 games).
1,000 POINTS & 500 BOARDS FOR BULLOCK: Senior J'Nathan Bullock began the 2008-09 season as one of 10 players in CSU history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds during a career. Bullock, who enters Monday's game against Syracuse with 1,373 points and 624 rebounds, is striving to become the only player in Viking annals with 1,500 points and 750 rebounds.
. . . AND ANOTHER 1,000 & 500 MILESTONE IS REACHED: A perfect five-for-five effort from the line against Kansas State on Nov. 22 allowed J'Nathan Bullock to become the fifth player in school history to attempt 1,000 field goals and 500 free throws in a career. Bullock enters the Syracuse game with 1,090 field goal attempts and 533 free throw attempts. He joins Ken McFadden (1,639 field goals, 761 free throws), Clinton Ransey (1,511, 604), Franklin Edwards (1,807, 520) and Theo Dixon (1,291, 504) as the only Vikings with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
BOARD WORK REQUIRED: One thing that is obvious from watching the Vikings during their first 10 games is that rebounding is going to be a factor in every game this year. Last year, CSU became the first team in Horizon League history to win the conference rebounding title (+3.1 rpg) after finishing last in rebounding the year before (-3.5). But that accomplishment has meant nothing to date as the Vikings have been out-rebounded in seven of the first 10 games, owning a -1.7 rebounding margin to rank fifth in the league this campaign. Last year's rebounding total was CSU's first positive rebounding margin since 2000-01.
A FOUL CALL: Although Cleveland State committed 679 personal fouls a year ago, the fourth-highest single season total in school history, the Vikings didn't allow the fouls to hurt them, setting a school record by having just three players foul out of games during the season. Cedric Jackson (at Kent State), D'Aundray Brown (Green Bay) and Chris Moore (at Dayton) each fouled out of a game once during the year, allowing the Vikings to break the old record low of five players fouling out, which was set in 1985-86.
. . . AND THE TRADITION CONTINUES: Through 10 games this season, the Vikings have had just one player foul out of a game, that coming when Chris Moore picked up his fifth personal with 1:58 left in the Dec. 6 game at West Virginia.
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 13.5 ppg entering the Syracuse 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.
BULLOCK NAMED HORIZON LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After averaging 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in three games last week in leading Cleveland State to the title at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Miami, Fla., J'Nathan Bullock has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week. It is the first time that the senior has received the award. Bullock started the week out right, scoring 22 points with nine rebounds in the win over Saint Leo, his 14th 20-point game in his CSU career. He followed that up with 10 points and six rebounds in the blowout of Toledo and capped off his week by tallying a game-high 16 points with seven rebounds vs. FIU.
DUO NAMED TO ALL-HORIZON LEAGUE SQUAD: The senior tandem of J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson have each been named to the 2008-09 Horizon League Preseason first team. The selection, which was made in a balloting of the league head coaches, sports information directors and select media, marks the first time in program history that the Vikings put two players on the preseason first team. Bullock, a 6'5" 240-pound forward from Flint, Mich., was a first team all-league choice last year after leading the team in scoring (14.8) and rebounding (6.6). Jackson, a 6'3" guard was second on the team in scoring (13.9) while leading the team in both assists (168) and steals (88).
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.
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER: Instead of spreading to the different parts of the United States to spend the final week before school started in August, the Vikings hopped a plane to Spain as part of an 11-day tour of the country. From Aug. 14-24, CSU soaked in the culture of the Spanish cities of Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Designed as a team-bonding trip, it was just that as the Vikings toured the scenic sites and museums of the three cities while learning something about a country that none of them had ever visited before. The trip did have a basketball purpose as well as the Vikings went 3-1 playing games against two high professional teams and two of the best club programs in the country.
VIKINGS CLAIM A TOURNEY TITLE: The three wins in Florida from Nov. 24-26 allowed the Vikings to win the team title of the Miami Regional of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, giving CSU its third tournament title in school history and the first since winning the Koch Petroleum Islander Classic during the 2000-01 season. Since playing in its first in-season tournament in 1966-67, CSU has played in 26 tournaments all-time with the Vikings also winning team titles at the Cleveland Invitational in 1967-68 and the First Bank Milwaukee Classic in 1987-88.
SUCCESS 301: The third edition of Success Class under Gary Waters is utilizing the book Quiet Strength by Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy as the course text. Instituted at CSU in the summer of 2006, Waters used Success Class to teach the Viking players the finer points of what it takes to succeed. Success Class 101 used John Wooden's book, The Pyramid of Success while last year, Waters relied on John Maxwell's book Talent Is Never Enough to instruct the Vikings. The non-credited class is taught weekly by Waters to the Viking players over the summer and preseason months.
A 20-20 VISION: The 21 wins last season allowed the Vikings to achieve the rare distinction of going from 20 losses in one season to 20 wins in the next. Although the NCAA Basketball record book doesn't track exactly how many times this has been accomplished, it does list 15 teams (each of whom improved by 13 or more wins from one season to the next) with a small window existing for several other teams to accomplish it as well. Xavier is the only Horizon League team to earn the honor, going from 8-20 in 1981-82 to 22-8 the following year.
CSU CLAIMS MOST IMPROVED AWARD: With a 21-13 overall and 12-6 league record last season, Cleveland State broke the school records for the most improvement in wins from one season to the next. The Vikings had 11 more wins overall and nine more league wins then CSU posted during all of 2006-07 when the Vikings were 10-21 overall and 3-13 in the Horizon League a year ago. The 11-win improvement overall surpassed the previous best of eight wins set in 1985-86 when CSU went from 21 wins to 29. In conference play, the improvement of nine wins broke the old mark of eight set in 1992-93 when the Vikings won 15 league games (they won seven in 1991-92).
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 beginning on Nov. 12. At least 14 episodes of the show are planned, most coming on Monday night's. The show will air on Dec. 16 (Tues.) and 22 (Mon.) in December. 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 return home for the holidays, starting a three-game home stand against LaRoche on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 1:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
