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Vikings Host Kent State
Dec. 22, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
• 2008-09 Men's Basketball Promotions Complete Release in PDF Format
Game 13 SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State closes its pre-holiday schedule when it hosts Kent State on Tuesday, Dec. 23 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The first 3,000 fans in attendance will receive a free CSU Basketball Yearbook. The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. so that fans can take part in the Great Indoor Tailgate Party in the area behind the curtain. The party will feature a $1 menu along with games, prizes and giveaways. Cleveland State enters the week having won three straight games to improve to 8-4 on the season. Kent State is 5-5 after sweeping games from Youngstown State and UNC Greensboro last week. 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 (14.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and point guard Cedric Jackson (9.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 5.0 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, 2.9, 2.5) and small forward D'Aundray Brown (8.7, 5.7). Senior Chris Moore (5.1, 3.4) has started each game at center with seniors George Tandy (4.3, 5.0) and Renard Fields (1.0, 0.7) 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 (0.7, 1.0), Jeremey Montgomery (3.5, 1.6 assists) and Trevon Harmon (7.0, 4.0), who became eligible at the semester. 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 210-173 record in 13 seasons as a head coach and a 39-38 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. . . . AND HE IS FINALLY BACK ABOVE .500: The win over La Roche on Saturday pushed Gary Waters' record at CSU to 39-38, 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. WATERS FACES OLD PROGRAM: Forgive Viking head coach Gary Waters if Tuesday's game against Kent State means a little more than the other 29 regular season games this year. After all, Waters will be facing the program that he helped bring to national basketball prominence as head coach of the Golden Flashes from 1996-2001. He compiled a 92-60 record (.605) in five seasons as head coach, including back-to-back-to-back records of 23-7 (1998-99), 23-8 (1999-00) and 24-10 (2000-01), taking the squad to the NCAA Tournament twice and the NIT once and starting the streak of eight straight 20-win seasons that is still active. He is one of three coaches in Mid-American Conference history to earn Coach of the Year honors in successive seasons (1999 & 2000). . . . BUT THIS WON'T BE THE FIRST TIME FOR WATERS: Tuesday's game will be the fourth time that Gary Waters has faced his old program. As head coach at Rutgers in 2005-06, Waters claimed a 55-52 win over the Golden Flashes at the South Padre Island Invite. Since taking over at CSU, he has split a pair of games, winning at home, 66-59, in 2006-07, and losing in Kent, 84-69, last year. CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: Senior Cedric Jackson, the Horizon League leader in both assists (5.0) and steals (2.8), ranks 16th nationally in steals and 65th in assists in the latest NCAA statistics, which were released on Monday (Dec. 22). In addition, sophomore D'Aundray Brown is 100th in steals (1.9). As a team, CSU ranks in the top 50 nationally in six categories, ranking 15th in scoring defense (57.1), 20th in turnover margin (+5.1), 23rd in steals (9.6), 40th in three-point field goal defense (.292), 47th in field goal defense (.388) and 48th in assist-turnover-ratio (1.17). VIKINGS STAY AT 15TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: With wins over Marist and Syracuse last week, the Vikings remained at 15th in the most recent Mid-Major Basketball Poll, which was released on Dec. 16. The Vikings, who ended the 2007-08 season unranked, received 290 votes (41 more than last week) to be one of three Horizon League teams to make the poll (Butler 5th, UIC 16th). Gonzaga continues to be ranked first with Davidson being second. The poll, which is sponsored by CollegeInsider.com, is released each Tuesday throughout the season. 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 having 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. . . . AND THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE DOME: There was a comfortable feel to the Carrier Dome when CSU knocked off 12th-ranked Syracuse on Monday. After all, in their only previous visit to the dome, the Vikings had defeated 14th-ranked Indiana and St. Joseph's in the first two rounds of the 1986 NCAA Tournament to become the first true Cinderella story of the NCAA Championship. With the win, CSU is now 3-0 in the building, including two of the three wins over a ranked opponent in program history. HARMON MAKES HIS DEBUT A GOOD ONE: Freshman guard Trevon Harmon was finally able to make his Viking debut in the win over La Roche, scoring seven points with four rebounds in 18 minutes. Harmon, a 6-0 guard from Passadena, Calif., became eligible at the semester break. He 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. COLE LIKES THE BCS: There is something about playing a big game that gets sophomore Norris Cole to elevate his game to a higher level. After all, in the four games this season against the high major -- or BCS schools -- Cole is averaging 16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.5 steals, shooting .458 from the field (27-59). He scored a career high 20 points with nine rebounds vs. Washington, tallied 17 points vs. Kansas State, 16 at Syracuse and 12 against West Virginia, giving him four of his top five scoring efforts against BCS schools. BULLOCK MOVES UP TO SEVENTH IN SCORING: An 18-point effort against La Roche on Dec. 20 allowed J'Nathan Bullock to move from 10th to seventh on the CSU career scoring list. With 1,409 points during his career, Bullock passed Eric Mudd, who was 9th with 1,402 points, along with Jermaine Robinson (2000-04) and Weldon Kytle (1961-65), who were tied for seventh with 1,408 points. He needs 15 points to pass Darren Tillis (1978-82), who is sixth with 1,422 points. BACK & FORTH ACTION: The best example of how close the Syracuse game was is that in the 40 minutes of action, the game was tied 16 times and there were 15 lead changes. That is quite a contrast to the rest of the season as heading into the contest, the first 10 games combined produced only 14 ties and 20 lead changes. 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 10 games, making 28 of his last 50 field goal attempts (.560) 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 3.4 rebounds a game, shooting .483 from the field (28-58). 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. . . . AND SHOWS IT AGAIN AT SYRACUSE: Montgomery was one of just two reserves used by Gary Waters against Syracuse and the move paid off as he made three-of-his four field goal attempts, including an important three-pointer that put CSU ahead, 50-48, with 8:24 left. He finished with seven points with one assist and one steal in 16 minutes of action. 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 3-2 home mark this year (1-1 in league play), CSU is now 15-4 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 81 consecutive games, passing Weldon Kytle (1961-65) to take over the fourth-longest streak in school history. He needs two 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 105 IS NEXT FOR BULLOCK: When J'Nathan Bullock takes the court for the Kent State game, it will be the 105th game of his CSU career. With at least 19 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 12 games this year, senior Cedric Jackson has defensively been in perfect form, making 34 steals to lead the Horizon League (and rank 16th nationally) with 2.8 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 37 multiple steal games in his CSU career (46 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 Tuesday's game with 1,409 points and 637 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 Kent State game with 1,120 field goal attempts and 536 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. 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 12 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. 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 close the holiday home stand against Notre Dame College on Saturday, Dec. 27 at 1:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
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