GAME #16
Cleveland State (5-10, 0-2) at Milwaukee (5-9, 0-1)
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 | 8:00 p.m. ET
Milwaukee, Wis. | UWM Panther Arena
Live Stats | Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 1420 AM
GAME #17
Cleveland State (5-10, 0-2) at Green Bay (7-7, 1-0)
Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 | 1:00 p.m. ET
Green Bay, Wis. | Resch Center
Live Stats | Watch: ESPN3 | Listen: 1420 AM
PDF Game Notes
Cleveland State at Milwaukee/Green Bay
GAME PREVIEW:
• Cleveland State opens Horizon League road action by traveling to Milwaukee and Green Bay Thursday, Jan. 3, and Saturday, Jan. 5.
• The Vikings opened Horizon League play with a pair of 12-point setbacks to Oakland (77-89) and Detroit Mercy (61-73).
• Milwaukee dropped its HL opener last weekend to Green Bay, which snapped a three-game winning streak by the Panthers.
• Green Bay is 7-7 overall after topping Milwaukee to open HL play. That win snapped a four-game losing streak vs. DI foes by GB.
• Both games will be broadcast live on AM 1420 with Al Pawlowski calling the action.
• The Milwaukee game will be streamed on ESPN+ with the Green Bay game airing on ESPN3 while both games will be on the ESPN app.
THE MILWAUKEE SERIES:
• This will be the 51st all-time meeting between these teams.
• Milwaukee swept the regular-season series last season and has won six of the past seven meetings.
• CSU has not won at Milwaukee since the 2013-14 season and has just seven wins on the road in the all-time series.
THE GREEN BAY SERIES:
• This will be the 78th all-time meeting between these teams.
• The Phoenix have won six of the past seven after the teams split their two meetings last year, each team winning at home.
• Kenny Carpenter hit a pair of shots in the final two minutes to break a 76-76 tie and help CSU hold on for an 80-79 win when the teams met in early January last year.
GAME 15: UDM 73, CSU 61 (12/30/18):
• Detroit Mercy used a strong start to the second half to build a cushion to withstand a late CSU push and move to 2-0 in the HL.
• CSU trailed by 18 points with eight minutes to play but managed to cut its deficit to six points in the final 90 seconds.
• The teams' shooting numbers from the floor were similar, but the Titans made 16-of-17 at the line and tallied seven more steals.
• Four Vikings finished in double figures, led by Jaalam Hill's 13.
• Seth Millner had a team-high seven boards.
COOLING DOWN ROCKETS...
• Toledo is shooting 47.4% from the field in all other games, but the Vikings held the Rockets to a 38.7% mark from the floor.
• At the time, it marked the lowest field goal percentage by a CSU opponent in the Vikings' last 35 regular-season games vs. DI foes.
...AND THEN FOLLOWING IT UP VS. FALCONS...
• CSU then bettered that effort in its next game, holding Bowling Green to 32.9% shooting from the floor.
• The Vikings held Bowling Green to 64 points and 23 field goals.
...AND EAGLES:
• In its final non-conference game, the Vikings held Niagara to 60 points, a season low for the Purple Eagles.
• CSU held NU to 32.4% shooting and 22 field goals, both lows for CSU opponents this season.
• The Vikings also held Niagara to 18.5% shooting from distance, the lowest figure by a CSU foe since the 2016-17 regular-season finale.
IN SUMMARY:
• CSU held five of its seven opponents in December to under 41% shooting from the field and held four of seven below 39%.
HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES
• Tyree Appleby has reached double figures in scoring in nine straight games entering the weekend, a career long streak.
• Appleby had 15+ points in seven of the final nine games in 2018 and has nine such efforts on the season entering 2019.
• Appleby had a career-high 37 points Dec. 5 vs. Bowling Green.
• Appleby combined for 31 points on the opening weekend of Horizon League play.
HE PASSES, THEY SCORE
• Tyree Appleby had a career-high 10 assists Dec. 9 to notch his first double-double as a collegian as he finished with 12 points.
• He has at least six assists in eight of the past 13 games.
• Appleby is averaging 5.2 assists, second in the Horizon League, after averaging 4.0 over the course of his freshman season.
• His career-long streak of 13 straight games with a steal was broken Dec. 30 vs. Detroit Mercy.
SEVENTH HEAVEN:
• Rashad Williams had a breakout performance Dec. 16 at Illinois State, scoring a season-high 25 points.
• He was 8-of-12 from the floor and 7-of-11 from three, with his seven made three-pointers breaking the CSU freshman record.
• Williams had 20 points on the opening weekend of HL play.
• He hit double figures in four of his final five games of 2018
THAT'S FOUL:
• Oakland became just the second opponent this season to commit fewer fouls than Cleveland State as the Golden Grizzlies were only called for 12 infractions.
• A player on the opposing team has fouled out in five games while a Viking has yet to foul out in 2018-19.
VIKINGS FOR THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE:
• Cleveland State set a single-game school record with 15 made three-pointers Dec. 5 vs. Bowling Green.
• The Vikings had tied the previous record of 14 in four games last season but surpassed that standard against the Falcons.
• The large magnitude of three's did not come at the expense of efficiency as CSU shot 50% from distance in the game (15-for-30).
• Six Vikings contributed to the record with Tyree Appleby's seven treys and Stefan Kenic's four triples leading the way.
• CSU followed up the record-breaking effort with 13 threes and hit 10+ threes in five of the final eight games in 2018.
NOT OVER THE HILL:
• Junior college transfer Jaalam Hill is shooting 55.6% from the floor (60-for-108).
• Hill had 13 points in each of the first two HL games and just missed a double-double against Oakland by adding nine rebounds.
• Hill tied his season high of 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting at DePaul, including hitting a pair of threes, when he made his first start of the season (11/28).
• Hill had a team season-high 12 rebounds Dec. 16 at Illinois State, two games after he collected 11 boards vs. Bowling Green (12/5).
• He is averaging 7.7 rebounds over his past nine games and 8.3 over the past seven.
• Hill is averaging 9.1 points and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds for the season.
• Hill has eight double-figuring scoring games this season.
KASH IS MONEY:
• Kasheem Thomas has shown improvement in a number of areas in his third season.
• Thomas entered the season shooting 28% from three in his career but shot 47.5% from distance over the first 15 games of this season.
• He tied his career high of six made field goals Dec. 19 vs. Niagara.
• He tied his career high of three triples Dec. 9 vs. Notre Dame (Ohio).
• Thomas is also averaging career bests in rebounds (3.6) & assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).
• Thomas hit double figures in scoring in four of the final eight games of 2018, including a 10-point, five-rebound, five-assist effort vs. Detroit Mercy (12/30).
LOCKING DOWN THE PERIMETER:
• Cleveland State held Toledo to an 8-for-34 mark on three-pointers in its Dec. 1 game.
• The Rockets' 23.5% mark from deep is their lowest in their past 41 regular-season games.
• That effort against the Rockets was part of a stretch that saw CSU hold its final seven non-conference opponents below 30% shooting from three-point range.
• CSU's first six non-conference opponents shot a combined 34% from beyond the arc while the last seven combined to shoot 24% from distance.
• Oakland broke CSU's stretch of holding foes below 30% from deep, but the Vikings rebounded by holding Detroit Mercy to 28% from distance.
• CSU has hit 10+ threes eight times this season while its opponents have done it twice.
• CSU is among the top 30 in DI in three-point field goal percentage defense (.292).
WE'LL TAKE 'EM, THEY'RE FREE:
• Cleveland State took 319 free throws through 15 games, a mark that ranks among the top 40 in Division I.
• Tyree Appleby leads the team with 80 attempts, having taken 25.1% of CSU's attempts.
DETERMINED ON DEFENSE:
• In their first 30 games under head coach Dennis Felton, the Vikings allowed their opponent to shoot 45% or higher on 17 occasions, including 50% or higher on 12 occasions.
• In the last 20 games dating back to last season, CSU has held 14 opponents under 45% from the field and 16 of 20 foes under 50% from the floor.
• CSU's opponents have shot a combined 41.9% in this stretch (539-for-1,285).
STEF STEPPING UP:
• After scoring a combined six points in the first two games, Stefan Kenic stepped up his scoring output.
• Kenic scored 10+ in 11 of the final 13 games of 2018.
• Kenic made a career-high four three's twice in the month of December, scoring 15 points vs. BG (12/5) and 18 vs. NDC (12/9).
• He tied his career high with 19 points against SCSU (11/16).
• He added 15 points and six rebounds vs. Samford, including making a career-high eight free throws (11/18).
• Kenic had a team-high 13 points at Ohio State (11/23) and then had 11 points & a career-high tying eight rebounds at DePaul (11/28).
• Kenic has taken 124 field goal attempts in the last 12 games after having only 11 in the opening three games.
FOR THREE:
• CSU enters the 2019 calendar year with a school record streak of 647 straight games with a three-pointer.
• The Vikings have hit at least three three's in 196 straight games.
• The last time CSU failed to make a three-pointer was Feb. 21, 1998, when the Vikings were 0-for-8 in a 60-57 win over Detroit.
FOR THREE, PART TWO
• The Vikings set a single-season school record for three-pointers made (294) and threes attempted (863) in 2017-18, breaking the old records of 247 makes and 709 attempts.
• CSU tied the previous single-game school record of 14 three pointers made in four different games last year.
FOR THREE, PART THREE
• CSU is on pace to finish the regular season with 300 three's, which would break last season's school record.
• CSU is among the top 15 in Division I with its 145 made three-pointers this season.
TOUGH OPPOSITION
• The non-conference teams CSU lost to were a combined 80-29 as of Jan. 1.
• Two CSU opponents had just one loss and another opponent had only two losses entering the New Year.
• Five of CSU's non-conference opponents are ranked among the top 105 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
BETTER ON THE (DEFENSIVE) BOARDS:
• CSU did not get more than 70% of potential defensive rebounds in any of its first four games, twice falling short of the 60% mark.
• The Vikings have grabbed at least 75% of potential defensive rebounds in seven of the past 11 games.
• CSU got a season-high 82.4% of potential defensive rebounds Dec. 16 at Illinois State, holding ISU to just six offensive boards.
BOOST OFF THE BENCH:
• CSU's bench has outscored its opponents in 12 of 15 games.
• CSU has a 365-241 advantage in bench points on the year, an average of 8.3 points better per game.
• Rashad Williams leads the team with 136 bench points while Jaalam Hill has 71.
• CSU's bench outscored its foes in just 14 of 35 games last season.
UPPING THE WORKLOAD:
• Through the first six games of the season, no Viking had played more than 30 minutes in a game and no player had reached 30 minutes more than once.
• Tyree Appleby played over 30 minutes in six of the final nine games of 2018, hitting 35 minutes three times, including a career-high 38 at Illinois State.
• Stefan Kenic played 30+ minutes in four of the final seven non-conference games, playing a career-high 37 at Illinois State.
• Five Vikings played 28+ minutes vs. Detroit Mercy, marking the first regulation game this season that five players all played 28+ minutes in a game.
• Six Vikings played 25+ minutes in the overtime loss at Illinois State Dec. 16.
ODDS & ENDS:
• CSU is 5-0 this season when leading at the half.
• CSU is 5-0 when holding their opponent under 70 points.
UP NEXT:
• CSU concludes this season-long four-game road trip by visiting IUPUI and UIC Thursday, Jan. 10, and Saturday, Jan. 12.
