Still Hanging with the Hoyas: Part 8

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel has spent the past few months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. You can find Parts 1-7 at:

https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/09/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-1
https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/20/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-2
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/15/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/20/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-4
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/29/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-5
https://hoopshd.com/2020/01/09/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-6
https://hoopshd.com/2020/01/17/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-7

He concludes his series with Part 8 featuring the Hoyas’ matchup last Saturday afternoon against Marquette:

Pregame meal was perfectly average: sandwiches/pasta salad/cookies. There were so many things going on besides the game itself that it was hard to keep up. Georgetown hosted a “gray out” so my blue shirt was easily visible in a sea of gray (for those of you wondering whether I actually attend these games!):

 (photo credit: Peter Rhoads)

In honor of Martin Luther King Day both teams wore “We Cannot Walk Alone” warmup shirts:

As if that was not enough, the Hoyas wore pink sneakers in support of Men Against Breast Cancer:

Let’s tip things off:

Speaking of clothing, I have heard that horizontal stripes are not very slimming…but when Marquette breaks out its gorgeous powder-blue uniforms they are quite a sight to behold:

The Golden Eagles emulate the personality of their coach (Steve Wojciechowski) so you know that they will play hard for 40 minutes. Sacar Anim made a trio of threes in the 1st half but showed his strength on a tough layup: after getting bumped in the air and falling to the ground he skidded for a few feet and ended up knocking part of the baseline signage loose!  It is always a newsworthy event when the nation’s leading scorer visits the nation’s capital. In November of 2018 Campbell’s Chris Clemons exploded for 45 PTS/9-19 3PM in this very arena so the crowd was intrigued to see if Markus Howard could match that effort. He may not be efficient but he does not disappoint: he took 12 shots in the 1st 12 minutes but after making 4 shots from behind the arc he got some well-deserved rest with 14 PTS in 14 minutes of action:

Georgetown’s Mac McClung did not make a single 3 of his own in the opening stanza but did a little of everything from 2-PT range: a pull-up jumper, a layup, a runner in the lane after splitting 2 defenders, and even a floater off the glass to finish the half with 9 PTS.

The surprise 3-PT shooter for the Hoyas was 7-footer Omer Yurtseven. Despite entering the game with only a single made 3 all season, he opened the game with a bomb from the top of the circle, then made a couple of dunks before nailing another 3 to prove that his 1st 1 was not a fluke. The Golden Eagles double-teamed him on several possessions after he received entry passes into the post but he still made the most of his opportunities with 14 PTS/5-6 FG despite battling opposing big man Theo John all day:

Marquette did not attempt a single FT in the 1st half but made a sufficient # of shots from the field to take a 42-36 halftime lead. The biggest ovation of the 2nd half was for the Georgetown men’s soccer team, who won their 1st national championship last month and enjoyed some VIP-quality seats in return:

After a turnover just 3 minutes into the 2nd half Howard noticed a wet spot on the floor, grabbed a towel from the bench, and then started drying off the floor…for 60 seconds! It appeared that the Golden Eagles might choke the game away by converting only 1-5 FTs through the 1st 30 minutes of the game but then they got their act together and drained 8 FTs in a row over the following 5 minutes.  Yurtseven kept dominating in the paint and on the baseline, finishing with his 10th double-double of the season (22 PTS/11 REB/0 TO).  Marquette had the lead for most of the half thanks to, of course, their superstar. Coach Ewing kept yelling out instructions but most of them failed to work:

Howard is not just a long-range gunner: he made jump shots, runners/floaters in the lane, and time and again would split a Georgetown double-team to either give himself a good look at the basket or find a teammate for an open shot.

Hoyas G Jahvon Blair did not make a single FG all afternoon but his 1st/only PTS of the game was a timely trio of FTs to tie the game at 76 with 1:34 left:

Coach Wojo called a TO as the crowd erupted with the loudest “Hoya/Saxa” chant I have heard all year:

McClung had a huge 2nd half with 15 PTS/0 TO and was fouled with 10.3 seconds left and his team trailing 80-78. He started the season simply perfect by making all 17 of his FT attempts during his 1st 4 games so I assumed we were headed for overtime…until he missed his 1st FT, and that was all she wrote:

Howard scored 28 PTS in the final 20 minutes and ended up with exactly ½ of his team’s total scoring output in an 84-80 win as Marquette improved to 13-5. At the postgame press conference I asked Coach Ewing if he feared that his team might be running out of steam due its short rotation. He said that while he is always worried about having a short rotation, there is not much he can do because “the cavalry is not coming over the hill”.  He liked that his team played hard but they were just not good enough to get the job done:

Rather than wait for his coach to join him, Howard came to the microphone by himself. I know that wins are the most important thing but I wondered what it would mean to him to be the best player in the US. He answered that it would not mean that much to him because he just wants to be known as a winner. He plays his game and appreciates the fact that his coaches/teammates have confidence in him:

Coach Wojciechowski responded to someone else’s inquiry by stating that the Big East is “the best conference in the country, period”. I followed that up with “Is Markus the best player in the country, period?” He smiled and said that he knows that he is biased but he thinks Markus is the best:

That’s a wrap, I might make it back to Capital 1 Arena later this season but if not then feel free to check back in March.

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Memories of Morgan: HoopsHD interviews Morgan Wootten’s former assistant coach Terry Truax

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Jon Teitel

It was very sad to hear the news this morning of last night’s passing of Hall of Fame basketball coach Morgan Wootten, considered one of the best coaches in the history of the sport. Coach Wootten spent 46 years as coach at DeMatha Catholic High School, where he won 5 national championships and 1200+ games en route to being inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2000. 1 of his former assistants was Terry Truax, who later won more than 200 games of his own after becoming head coach at Towson. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Terry several years ago before he passed away in 2015 and is proud to present this never-before-published interview where he shared some very kind words about his former boss. We extend our condolences to the families of Terry/Morgan on their respective losses.

In the late 1960s you played for Bud Millikan at Maryland, where 1 of your teammates was future Terps coach Gary Williams: how good a player was Williams back in the day, and did you ever think he would go into coaching? In our day the PG position was diametrically opposite to now. He was not a scorer but he tried to make everyone better. He was tremendously intense and was a good leader who hated to lose. It did not surprise me that he went into coaching: he had played catcher for his high school baseball team and a lot of catchers make good managers. Some people think that he is aloof but he has a tremendous heart and is a good guy. I was a little surprised that he quit coaching when he did: I thought that he had 3-4 more years left in him. We had another teammate named Joe Harrington who also became a head coach.

After graduation you became JV coach at DeMatha High School, where you won 50 straight games led by future Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley (who later became your assistant at Towson): did it reach a point where you just expected to win every time you walked onto the court, and could you tell back then that Dantley was going to become a superstar? Adrian never played on the JV: he went right from 8th grade at the same high school that James Brown went to (James recommended him to us). When Adrian was in the 9th grade I told a reporter that he was an NBA prospect. We had 15 players on the roster because varsity coach Morgan Wootten wanted to give everyone an opportunity to play…and I had at least 5-6 guys who could dunk as 10th graders. We only had 1 close game during that time. I am a little embarrassed about the record. The 3 keys to success are coaching, recruiting, and scheduling. We were just trying to develop kids who could go on to make the varsity. We only had 250 kids at the school…and 80 of them tried out for the basketball team! Dantley’s decision came down to Notre Dame vs. Maryland after he decided not to go to UNC.

Take me through the magical 1971 NIT:
You were a grad assistant to Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith at UNC: what made him such a great coach, and what the most important thing that you ever learned from him? What made Wootten a great coach was his organization and how he managed his players. Coach Smith was very bright, not unlike Bob Knight: he was very into theology. He would remind the players that we are all equal in God’s eyes, whether you were a star like Charlie Scott or someone farther down the line. Everything is about family/loyalty/integrity. He liked to integrate different sports into basketball and kept everything in perspective. I was almost the same age as our players so he would occasionally send a zinger my way or give me “the look”.

In the semifinals George Karl scored 21 PTS in a 6-PT win over Duke (the only time the 2 schools have played each other in the postseason): was there a huge media frenzy leading up to the game, and how big a deal was it to beat your archrival? I remember that we beat UMass (featuring Julius Erving) in the 1st round and Providence (featuring Ernie DiGregorio) in the 2nd round. It was not the same magnitude that it is today with Roy and Coach K. I respect Coach K because he is intense and does not back down. I think that each team had a spy at Raleigh-Durham airport to keep track of which private planes were flying into town!

In the title game NIT MVP Bill Chamberlain scored a career-high 34 PTS to clinch the win over Georgia Tech: what did it mean to you to win the title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? I do not remember that much about it but I was very happy for Chamberlain because he was 1 of the 1st African-American basketball players at UNC. Bill was a very intelligent young man who could have gone to Harvard. He gave me a better perspective on interracial relations.

You later became friends with legendary UCLA coach John Wooden: how did you 1st meet Coach Wooden, and what was he like off the court? It was very unique how I met him. In the summer of 1970 there was a publishing company who wanted Morgan to write a book and he said that if I co-authored it he would split the royalties with me. I wrote to Coach Wooden to get permission to use his “Pyramid of success” in the book and he said yes without demanding a penny. In September of 1974 I spent a week with him. His philosophy was that you get the respect that you earn. He used the example of some guys on his team whom he would love to date his daughter Nan even though they would rarely get to play for him. He shared everything with me: he was telling me which of his players did marijuana and were into transcendental meditation! 1 night Coach Wooden recommended that I go to a place called the Bat Rack where a lot of the pro athletes in LA hung out.  When I dropped Coach Wooden’s name on the maitre’d he said, “What a shame that he lost to NC State last spring”. After that I stopped caring about the expectations that other people or the media put on me. The only thing I had in common with Coach Wooden was that we each had 203 losses! Kareem Abdul-Jabbar never had a scholarship: he got more money working part-time for MGM.

In the 1990 NCAA tourney as head coach at Towson, Kurk Lee scored 30 PTS in a 9-PT loss to Oklahoma: how close did you come to upsetting the #1-seed Sooners? Our preparation was good, particularly mentally. We had a tough non-conference schedule on the road that year (UNC, Syracuse, New Mexico, etc.) and playing such teams who were athletic/well-coached also helped prepare us. Oklahoma did not have a bunch of big men so we were not intimidated by their size and matched up pretty well with them. We were playing in Texas and all of the Longhorn fans started cheering for us after a call went against us in the 1st half. When I was writing the match-ups on the board in the locker room I did something corny: instead of writing my own player’s names I wrote “Buster” because Buster Douglas had just upset Mike Tyson 1 month earlier. We were down by 2 PTS with 90 seconds left and I called a timeout to draw up a play, but they called our big man for a moving screen.

What are your memories of the 1991 NCAA tourney (Jimmy Jackson scored 24 PTS in a win by #1-seed Ohio State)? We fell behind by a considerable margin but were able to make a run in the 2nd half. Everyone on the Buckeyes looked like a house with socks: they all spent time in the weight room. If you have good guard play then you will always have a chance. Coach Randy Ayers said that he had 6 starters so we practiced 6-on-5!

After retiring you conducted basketball camps during the summer: what made your camp different from other camps? I am not critical of other coaches’ camps but I try to emulate the UNC camps because they do a good job of teaching different skills at different stations. The kids just want to play games (which is what a lot of camps do) but I took a page out of Bob Knight’s book by teaching people HOW to play. 90% of the AAU programs do not focus on teaching, which I find annoying. We tried to give each kid a profile by telling them what their strengths/weaknesses are. I think it was appealing to the parents. I tried to keep the drills under 15 minutes before the kids stopped paying attention.

When people look back on your career, how do you want to be remembered the most? I hope they say that every kid I coached got better and most of our players were able to earn their degrees. I always loved what I did because coaching is based on relationships.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Jan 22nd

Posted on January 22, 2020 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between the rivals UC Irvine and Long Beach State – CLICK HERE

-On the court it was a pretty chalky night.  Maryland trailed Northwestern at the half, but came back to win and picked up their first road win, Illinois got a nice road win at Purdue and continues to look more and more impressive, TCU upset Texas Tech, but the Horned Frogs were at home and had been playing well so it wasn’t that surprising, and Butler lost their third straight game, but it was on the road to Villanova.

-LSU barely held on to beat Florida after blowing what appeared to be a safe lead in the final minute of the game.  It was a big home win for LSU, and another missed opportunity for the Gators to add a big win to their resume and get things turned around.

-If you’re reading this then you’re a big enough hoops fan to know what happened at the end of the Kansas v Kansas State game.  I didn’t see it live.  I had changed the channel because the game was over.  I really don’t want to say much about it or get into what I think the consequences should be.  On the court, it’s an issue for Kansas going forward because they will likely be without some key players for several games, and perhaps for the entire rest of the season.  What I will say that while I think it was stupid, and while I think consequences are definitely warranted, I’m not a fan of the way things like this are typically digested by both the professional media and social media.  Instinctively, everyone seems to think of what the maximum penalties should be, and is immediately all for dishing those out.  Secondly, I don’t like that whenever something like this happens, we make it very difficult for the people who are involved to move on as time goes by.  It was bad.  But I think a lot of us have done things that if we had done them on television the after effects would have been a lot worse than what they probably were.  The next time these two teams play each other, you’ll see this again.  When they play each other next year and the year after that, the same media outlets who are out yelling for blood now will be showing these highlights to promote the games in the future.  Several 20-ish year olds were playing a game and things got heated.  It was definitely wrong.  But, had this happened in a bar (which is also wrong, but also happens on a nightly basis in some college bar every night) they would have been kicked out, everyone would have gone home, and that would have probably been it.  But because it was a basketball game, it will linger for years.  And maybe even longer.  That just doesn’t taste very good to me.  And, I’m glad that someone grabbed the stool and that we didn’t witness a felonious act.

Anyway…

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-GEORGETOWN AT XAVIER.  This is a desperation game for both teams.  Both still have a path to the NCAA Tournament, but both need to string together some wins in order to get there, especially Xavier who has lost four of their last five.

-GEORGIA TECH AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  Louisville is coming off a humongous win at Duke and should be able to hold serve tonight against Georgia Tech.  Louisville is suddenly looking like a solid protected seed that could challenge for a first place finish in the ACC.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton just keeps winning.  Saint Bona had been on a roll winning 11 out of 12, but was blown off the court by VCU in their last game and has a tougher challenge tonight against Dayton.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT AUBURN (SEC).  Auburn has lost two straight and needs to bounce back tonight in what should be a winnable home game.

-PENN STATE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  Both teams are having good years, but both are also sliding backwards a little bit.  Neither are in any real trouble yet, but both have lost lost three out of their last four, and Penn State has just one true road win.

-ARKANSAS AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC).  Arkansas dropped a tough on at Kentucky over the weekend, but it’s certainly something they can bounce back from.  This is a winnable road game tonight for the Razorbacks and they want to make sure they take care of business.

-DUQUESNE AT RHODE ISLAND (Atlnatic Ten).  Duquesne has been living at the bakery all year long, and this is their first semblance of any sort of a test.  If they can win this game, then I’ll start to believe in them a little more.  If not, then I’m still impressed with how they’ve progressed as a program, but I won’t be able to think of them as an NCAA Tournament team.

-SYRACUSE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  Syracuse still has a lot of work to do, but they’ve quietly been building up their resume with three straight wins, two of which were on the road.  A win tonight would be another step forward.

-SAMFORD AT FURMAN (SoCon).  If Furman wants any shot at all at being considered, then they pretty much need to win out.

-SAINT LOUIS AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten).  Saint Louis is hovering around our bubble, and has a very small margin for error if they want to make the field.  Saying they need a win tonight…well…goes without saying.

-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT NORTHWESTERN STATE (Southland).  If SFA wins out, they will be considered.  If not, then they will need the auto-bid.

-EAST CAROLINA AT SMU (American).  SMU’s resume consists of nothing but empty calories, but the opportunity is there for them to impress the committee if they finish strong.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  This is an odd way to write this game up, but VA Tech needs to hold serve at home against a sub-NIT team in order to help them stay inside the bubble.

-PROVIDENCE AT SETON HALL (Big East).  Seton Hall is on an absolute tear and has looked like the strongest team in the Big East since conference play began.  Providence has looked tough as well, but they need to keep winning in order to offset how not-tough they looked out of conference.

-RUTGERS AT IOWA (Big Ten).  This is a match-up between two NCAA Tournament caliber teams, which makes this a resume building opportunity for both of them.  The one box that Rutgers really hasn’t checked is that they have just one road win.  If they can pick this one up, their resume becomes even better and they should shoot into the top 20 of the rankings next week.  It’s one of the most meaningful games that Rutgers has played in in a while.

-MEMPHIS AT TULSA (American).  Memphis could use this road win to help polish up their resume.  Tulsa has won four out of five and has climbed to first place in the American.  One of those wins was against Houston, so Memphis better not just overlook them.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC).  Pitt is still on the outside looking in and needs to string together some wins to get themselves into the conversation.

-ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT (SEC).  Alabama still has a lot of catching up to do, but they’ve won seven of their last ten and they should be in the discussion if they keep winning at that clip.

-CREIGHTON AT DEPAUL (Big East).  A really big game for both of these teams.  DePaul is coming off a big win against Butler and is looking to keep that momentum going.  Creighton is in good shape and is looking to add another road win to an already good resume.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley).  Northern Iowa is inside our bubble, but they won’t be if they don’t win out through the regular season, and given how they’ve played in a lot of their conference games, they need to step it up.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Wednesday, January 22nd

Posted on January 22, 2020 by John Stalica

UC-Irvine (11-8, 3-0) at Long Beach State (6-14, 1-3) – 10:00 PM EST (ESPN3)

Tonight’s late-night edition of the UTR Game of the Day takes us to the West Coast for the first leg of the Black-and-Blue rivalry between the Anteaters of UC-Irvine and the Long Beach State whatever-they’re-called these days (no longer 49ers). UC-Irvine did struggle a bit by their recent standards in the noncon season, although they did manage a couple of noteworthy wins at Boise State and against Kent State in the Sun Bowl Classic played at UTEP. The Anteaters are off to a 3-0 start that includes a 69-53 win in the RiverVine Cup against UC-Riverside in their last outing. Collin Welp leads Irvine with 14.4 points a game and 6.6 rebounds a game.

Long Beach did get one notable nonconference win during the Wooden Legacy – they beat Providence in the 2nd round of that tournament en route to a sixth place finish overall. This season has been a tough one for Dan Monson’s crew – it looked like they were starting decently well in league play with a split in their season-opening roadie with a win against UC-Santa Barbara and a loss against Cal State-Northridge, but they have now lost back-to-back home games against UC-Davis and Cal State-Fullerton. Chance Hunter leads LBSU with 14.7 points a game and also averages 5.2 rebounds a game as well.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Jan 21st

Posted on January 21, 2020 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

CLICK HERE for our latest Hoops HD Report

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Northern Illinois and Kent State – CLICK HERE

-It was a rock fight, but NC State picked up a desperation win at Virginia, which helps out their resume.  It was a desperation game for Virginia as well, and the loss, which is now their fourth in five games, is starting to drag down their resume.

-Some Under the Radar news from last night, and that’s a big win for Winthrop at Radford in the Big South.  The two teams were tied for first place, and it’s a nice road win for Winthrop.  It also plays a role in them getting home court advantage during the conference tournament.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KANSAS STATE AT KANSAS (Big 12).  K State is coming off a rather surprising win against West Virginia so they should have some momentum built up coming into this game, but they’ve struggled most of the season and appear to be way overmatched tonight.  Kansas still looks like a team that can land on the #1 line.

-BUTLER AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  Butler has had a great season, but they’ve now suffered two straight losses and have a really tough road assignment tonight against a Villanova team that’s ranked in the top ten and who is unbeaten at home.  Both teams could end up as protected seeds, so this is an opportunity for both of them to get a quality win in a showcase game.

-GEORGIA AT KENTUCKY (SEC).  This is the second meeting between the two.  Kentucky won the first one and is the obvious favorites to win tonight.  Kentucky is coming off a big road win at Arkansas and is still on a path to end up as a protected seed.  Georgia is hovering around the bubble, so if they were to pull off a win tonight it would certainly improve their resume in a big way.

-MARYLAND AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  Maryland, like all Big Ten teams, has struggled on the road.  This is probably their most winnable remaining road game of the season so they need to take care of business tonight.

-ILLINOIS AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  This is a game that both of these teams could really use.  Illinois could definitely benefit from a road win, and Purdue, who’s been kind of schizophrenic this year, could benefit from the quality win at home as they try to establish themselves as being safely inside the bubble.

-WICHITA STATE AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American).  Wichita State has lost two straight, but they’ve still got a good team and should be able to bounce back with a winnable road game tonight.

-FLORIDA AT LSU (SEC).  I keep talking about how Florida has been falling short of expectations, but they have quietly won five of their last six, and if they win tonight then one has to think that they are back on track and on pace to land very safely inside the bubble.  LSU is on a roll as well.  They’ve won six of their last six.

-AKRON AT MIAMI OH (MAC).  Akron may have a path to landing inside the bubble, but they pretty much need to win out in order to do it.

-TEXAS TECH AT TCU (Big 12).  This is an important game because while Texas Tech has some quality stuff on their resume, the majority of it is still empty calories, and a road win against a decent TCU team could really help out with that.  TCU has lost two straight, but they are still positioned to make the NCAA Tournament if they can finish strong.

-MIAMI FL AT DUKE (ACC).  Duke is looking to bounce back from a somewhat surprising two straight losses.  They are still looking like a solid protected seed, and could still even end up on the #1 line, but they have to hold serve in games like this.  Miami FL looks like an NIT team.  Of course if they win tonight, that changes, but that is a very tall order.

-NEBRASKA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Wisky needs to hold serve against non-Tourney teams, and in the case of Nebraska, a non-NIT team.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT MARQUETTE (Big East).  Saint John’s has some big wins this season, but they’ve struggled lately and this is a bit of a desperation game for them.  Marquette has really been playing well and will look to continue to keep that going.

-VCU AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten).  Right now we have VCU right around the bubble.  They are almost out of strikes and basically need to dominate the rest of the their schedule in order to make the field.

-WYOMING AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West).  Technically this is a conference game.  Practically, the committee will give it about as much attention as a buy game.  SDSU can’t lose this (or pretty much any other game) if they want to land on the #1 line.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Tuesday, January 21st

Posted on January 21, 2020 by John Stalica

For last night’s Hoops HD Report podcast – CLICK HERE

Northern Illinois (9-9, 2-3) at Kent State (13-5, 3-2) – 7:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Tuesday night is MACtion night for Under The Radar, and tonight we go to Kent, Ohio where the hometown Golden Flashes host the Northern Illinois Huskies. Conference play got off to a promising start for the Huskies – they upset Buffalo 73-72 thanks to 26 points from Eugene German for NIU’s first victory in Buffalo in 17 seasons. Since that game, the Huskies have only managed one win in their last four games with a home win against Eastern Michigan. German is the only Huskie player (20.2 PPG) to average in double figures thus far.

Kent State got off to a 3-0 start in conference play with decisive wins at Bowling Green and at home against Toledo, and a win against Central Michigan appeared to put the Golden Flashes at the top of the conference. Unfortunately, they fell out of first place with a pair of losses on their most recent road trip at Miami and Western Michigan. Five players average in double figures for Kent State – they are led by Antonio Williams (14.2 PPG).

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