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Vikings Start Three-Game Homestand Against Chicago State
Dec. 18, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann Complete Release in PDF Format
GAME 13 SETTING THE SCENE: After playing eight of its first 12 games on the road, the Vikings return home to begin a three game homestand when CSU hosts Chicago State on Tuesday, Dec. 19 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The game is the first of six doubleheaders this year, with the Viking women's basketball team hosting IUPUI beginning at 5:00 p.m. The home games couldn't come at a better time for Cleveland State, which has dropped four straight games â€" all on the road -- to fall to 5-7 on the season. Chicago State brings a 4-9 record into the game, including a 1-8 mark in road games that has featured games at Texas, Wichita State, Indiana, DePaul, California and Michigan State. This is the first meeting between the two CSUs. PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: After using the same starting lineup and player rotation in the first 11 games, the Vikings made some changes at Central Michigan on Sunday to help offset the loss of senior Victor Morris (9/7 ppg, 2.5 apg) to a foot injury. The starting unit is dominated by the quartet of senior guards Carlos English (7.4 ppg, 3.7 apg) and Raheem Moss (9.3 ppg), senior forward Patrick Tatham (5.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and sophomore forward J'Nathan Bullock (15.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg) with freshman guard Joe Davis (9.1 ppg) filling Morris' spot. Junior Breyohn Watson (2.4 ppg) and sophomores Tristan Crawford (2.4 ppg) and Bahaadar Russell are the first three reserves at guard with junior Kevin Francis (6.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.2 bpg) and sophomore Renard Fields (2.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg) providing depth inside. HEAD COACH Gary Waters: A 32-year collegiate coaching veteran, Gary Waters took over as the head coach of the Vikings in the spring of 2006, bringing with him to Cleveland a head coaching history that included six trips to the postseason in his first 10 years as a head coach. 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. DOUBLE THE PLEASURE FOR CSU FANS: Tuesday's game is the first of six home doubleheaders this year, three of which will come on Saturdays. OVERTIME: The double overtime loss to Central Michigan on Sunday dropped CSU's all-time record in overtime games to 36-32, including a 13-16 record in road games. The game marked the first time since an 87-85 win over Florida State that CSU played a game to multiple overtime periods and it was only the second multi-overtime game since 1993-94. The Vikings are now 7-6 in multi-overtime contests. CSU was 2-1 in overtime games last season. THE FORTY-MINUTE FOUR: One peculiar statistic that came out of the Central Michigan game was minutes played. The Vikings entered the game without a player ranked among the top 15 in the Horizon League in minutes played (UW-Milwaukee's Paige Paulsen is 15th at 30.0), but four players played more than 40 of the game's 50 minutes. Raheem Moss led the way with 47 minutes, the fifth-highest single game total in CSU history while J''Nathan Bullock (45), Carlos English (45) and Joe Davis (41) each set career highs. Bullock now leads the team in minutes played (29.9). Interestingly enough, Victor Morris, who did not play in the game, set his career high when he played all 40 minutes against Butler in 2003-04. A STEADY STARTING FIVE: After the Vikings had 13 different starting combinations in 27 games last year, Gary Waters has found some consistency this season in his starting five. He used the same starting five in each of the first 11 games, going with guards Carlos English, Victor Morris and Raheem Moss along with forwards J'Nathan Bullock and Patrick Tatham. The lineup changed at Central Michigan on Sunday when Morris was unable to play because of a foot injury and freshman Joe Davis starting for the first time. The 11 straight games is the longest stretch with the same group of starters in the last four seasons, surpassing the nine straight games started by a combination last year. Over the previous three years, CSU used 36 different starting combinations in 83 games. GETTING BETTER WITH TIME: Consider the play of Tristan Crawford last week to be a birthday present as the sophomore turned in two of his most impressive efforts. Crawford, who turned 20 on Dec. 10 (the day after the OSU game), scored a career-high eight points at Kansas State and came back on Dec. 9 to add three points and grab a career-high six rebounds vs. Ohio State. The performances showed that Crawford, the Pennsylvania Class AAAA Player of the Year in 2004-05, was getting back into form after sitting out the 2005-06 season. BULLOCK TAKES OVER SCORING ROLE: Forward J'Nathan Bullock has lived up to the preseason billing that made him a preseason second team All-Horizon League choice. He leads the Vikings and ranks eighth in the Horizon League in scoring (15.4), shooting an .488 from the field (62-127) and .709 from the line (56-79). He has played especially well of late, scoring 23 points (on 8-for-11 shooting) at Central Michigan and 21 points at Ohio State, going three-for-six from three-point. Earlier in the year, he scored 22 points -- on 10-for-14 shooting -- in the Nov. 11 opener against George Mason and added 24 points against Buffalo on Nov. 17. . . . BULLOCK FINDS HIS MARK IN OTHER WAYS: One of the most impressive statistics about J'Nathan Bullock this year has nothing to do with shooting the basketball. In 12 games this year, Bullock has handed out 12 assists, including a career high three assists against both Notre Dame College and Miami (Fla.), to surpass the assist total that he compiled during his entire freshman season. Last year, Bullock had only nine assists in 28 games (and 707 minutes). A FREE THROW REVERSAL: Through the first 11 games of the season, Cleveland State has displayed a total reversal of fortunes at the free throw line. Last year, CSU was last in the Horizon League in free throw percentage, making just 355-of-547 attempts (.649). In the first month this year, CSU ranks fifth in the league, shooting .699 from the line (167-239). Included in that total was a 16-for-17 (.941) effort in the win over Delaware on Nov. 26 and a 23-for-28 afternoon (.821) in the win over Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 19. The Vikings have also been good when the game is on the line, making 45-of-60 free throws (.750) in the final five minutes of a game, including a 14-for-16 effort against Miami (.875) and a seven-for-seven showing vs. Delaware. . . . AND BULLOCK LEADS THE CHARGE: J'Nathan Bullock is one of the main reasons for CSU's improvement at the foul line as the sophomore has exhibited a dramatic improvement at the line since a year ago. Bullock shot just .597 from the line as a freshman (83-139), including a dismal .511 in the first 22 games (47-92). He finished the year strong, shooting .766 over the last six games (36-47) and then carried that improvement over to this season as he has made 56 of his 79 attempts this year (.709) to rank 12th in the league. Bullock was 10-for-12 from the line against Miami (Fla.), including a five-for-six effort in the final four minutes. A BUSY NOVEMBER: Despite playing the busiest November schedule in program history, the Vikings thrived, owning a 5-3 record in the month and setting a school record for wins in the month. The eight games played was the most ever in the month of November, a staggering total considering that they were played over a 19-day period. The total shattered the previous school standard of five games in November set in both 2000-01 and 2002-03. By comparison, CSU will play eight games during the 31 days in January and seven in December. . . . AND A BUSY YEAR: The Vikings are assured of playing at least 31 games this year, a figure surpassed just three times in CSU basketball history. The school record for games played in a season is 33, which was set in both 1985-86 and 1986-87. Most recently, the Vikings played 32 games in 2000-01. CSU will play 30 regular season contests this year and at least one game in the Horizon League Championship. . . . 13 BEFORE THE BREAK IS A RECORD: The Chicago State game will close a stretch that has seen the Vikings play a record 13 games from the start of the year until the break for the holiday season. The previous high was 11 games, which was set in the 2000-01 campaign. The toughest part of the schedule has been that eight of the 13 contests have been played on the road. VIKINGS NEARLY SET OFFENSIVE REBOUND MARK: The 26 offensive rebounds in the loss to Kansas State on Dec. 5 was the fifth-highest single game total in school history. It was just one rebound short of the school record of 27 accomplished four times (most recently vs. UW-Green Bay on Jan. 28, 1999). STREAKING: With consecutive wins over Miami (Fla.) (78-67), John Carroll (84-65), Delaware (59-53) and Kent State (66-59) earlier this season, the Vikings had their longest win streak since CSU won seven straight early in the 2000-01 season. Last year, the Vikings had five two-game win streaks on their way to a 10-18 season and CSU won three games in a row twice in 2004-05 and once in 2001-02. EASY AS A-C-C: Cleveland State's 78-67 win over Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 19 marked only the second time in nine games that the Vikings won against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. CSU's only previous win was an 87-85 overtime decision over Florida State on Dec. 19, 2000 in the Wolstein Center. CSU is now 1-0 vs. Miami (Fla.), 1-2 vs. Florida State, 0-1 against both Clemson and Maryland and 0-3 vs. North Carolina. THE MICROWAVE: It took freshman guard Joe Davis less than two weeks to pick up his first collegiate nickname as his explosiveness and ability to score quickly have earned him the moniker "Microwave." Originally given to Detroit Pistons standout Vinnie Johnson because of his ability to "heat things up quickly," Davis has similarly earned it because of his penchant for scoring points in bunches. So far this season, he has connected on back-to-back treys 40 seconds apart in a first half scoring run against George Mason, scored six straight points -- four coming on free throws -- during a second half comeback against Buffalo and tallied five of CSU's first seven points of the game against both Evansville and Miami (Fla.). MOSS MOVES UP THREE-POINT CHART: Moss continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific three-point shooters in Viking history. He enters the week ranking sixth on the CSU charts in three-point field goals attempted (374), eighth in three-pointers made (138) and seventh in three-point percentage (.369). Moss needs two treys to catch Greg Allen (1988-93) for seventh place in three-pointers made and 14 attempts to reach fifth-place Anthony Reed (1990-93). THE VIKING BASKETBALL REPORT: A new addition to the television lineup this year is The Viking Basketball Report, a weekly half-hour show that includes game recaps, highlights and features on players and other elements featuring information about the CSU program. The show, which is hosted by Mike Cairns with commentary from head coach Gary Waters, airs several times each week on SportsTime Ohio. (A complete schedule is available online at www.sportstimeohio.com). TEACHING SUCCESS: Gary Waters taught the Vikings what it takes to achieve success by turning professor for a weekly "Success" class during the summer and preseason. The class, which uses legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden's book which outlined the Pyramid of Success, was held twice each week during the first summer school session and every Wednesday afternoon once school resumed in late August. The class has been a success as the Viking players have used Wooden's pyramid principles to define the items that they need for success, using them to build their own pyramid. MENTORING PROGRAM BENEFITS VIKINGS: As part of Gary Waters' emphasis on education, the Viking coaching staff has organized a mentoring program that pairs each of the 16 players with a professional from the Cleveland area who is working within each players' field of study. For example, Munch Bishop, who does the morning sports reports on WMMS, is mentoring George Tandy, a junior communication major. WAITING IN THE WINGS: CSU fans may have to wait until next fall to see the true strength of the Viking recruiting class as three of the seven newcomers are transfers from other Division I schools and will have to sit out the 2006-07 season to meet NCAA transfer guidelines. The trio -- each of whom are juniors and will have two years of eligibility remaining -- includes guard Cedric Jackson and forwards Chris Moore and George Tandy. Jackson is the most experienced of the group, starting 35 games the last two years at Big East Conference member St. John's, while Tandy, a native of Indianapolis who played his senior year of high school at Cleveland's Lincoln West High, was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2004-05 while playing at Eastern Illinois. Moore, who lives in Cleveland suburb of Lakewood and attended St. Edward High, returns home after playing two seasons at UC Santa Barbara. . . . AND CSU ADDS THREE DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD: Keeping a promise that he made at his introductory press conference, head coach Gary Waters stayed local, signing three players from northeast Ohio, including two from the greater Cleveland area, during the early signing period. The signees included: D'Aundray Brown (Youngstown, OH/Ursuline) Daitwan Eppinger (Garfield Heights, OH) Joe Latas (North Olmsted, OH/St. Peter Chanel) BULLOCK NAMED TO ALL-TOURNEY TEAM: After averaging 17.7 points in three tourney games, sophomore forward J'Nathan Bullock was named to the all-tournament team at the America's Youth Classic (Nov. 17-19). Bullock was joined on the all-tourney team by Matt Webster (MVP) and Kyle Anslinger of Evansville, Yassin Idbihi from Buffalo and Miamiâ€TMs Jack McClinton. NEXT UP: CSU takes a short break for the Christmas holiday before opening its Horizon League home schedule at 7:00 p.m. against UIC on Wednesday (Dec. 27).
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