Feb. 23, 2010

Contact: Brian McCann

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Game 30
Detroit (16-13, 7-9) at Cleveland State (14-15, 9-7)
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Location: Goodman Arena (8,500), Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Radio: WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland) & WHKZ, 1440 AM (Warren) (Al Pawlowski)
TV: None Live, Streaming available on the internet via Horizon League Network.
Promo: Harvest For Hunger Night Bring five food items and get $15 ticket for $5.
Indoor Tailgate Opens At 4:30 p.m. (Dollar dogs, $2 drafts, cornhole and other games & more)
Series: Detroit Leads, 33-14
Last Meeting: @Detroit 69, CSU 62 (12/5/09)
Tickets: $8, $15 & $25

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State is at home this week for the final two games of the 2009-10 regular season, a pair of contests that will go a long way in determining the seeding for next week's Horizon League Championship. The Vikings will host Detroit on Thursday, Feb. 25 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The game is a doubleheader with the CSU women facing Detroit at 5:00 p.m. The Vikings (14-15, 9-7) enter the contest having lost three straight league games to slip into fifth place in the Horizon League standings. CSU can finish as high as a second place tie and as low as seventh depending on the outcome of the schedule this week, but CSU can do no higher than the No. 3 seed in the championship. More importantly, the Vikings need at least one win to assure itself of a first round home game on March 2.

PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: Gary Waters finds himself in a bit of a rebuilding season for the Vikings after posting the first back-to-back 20 win seasons since the late 1980's. With just two starters and four players back who saw significant action last year, Waters has had to incorporate eight new players into the lineup this season. The starting lineup is built around guard Norris Cole (16.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.1 apg), a first team preseason all-league choice this year who ranks fourth in the league in scoring, and small forward D'Aundray Brown (8.4, 5.8), the lone returning starters from a season ago. The strength of the returners is at guard where sophomores Jeremy Montgomery (12.7, 2.0 apg) and Trevon Harmon (11.0, 1.8) are back with each landing a spot in the starting lineup. Injuries to sophomore Josh McCoy (0.8, 1.0) and JC transfer Lance James (2.6, 0.9 apg) have hurt the depth at guard, allowing freshman Anthony Wells (1.3, 1.1) to see his first playing time. Brown is firmly entrenched at small forward with redshirt freshman Charlie Woods (2.0, 0.9) and redshirt freshman Tim Kamczyc (2.7, 2.2 rpg) also capable of seeing time at the position. Sophomore Joe Latas is the lone returner inside and he, along with JC transfers Jared Cunningham (5.7, 2.8) and junior Kevin Anderson (1.4, 0.7) spell sophomore Aaron Pogue (6.3, 5.6) at center.

CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: Cleveland State received several mentions in the most recent NCAA men's basketball statistics, which were released on Monday (Feb. 22). As a team, the Vikings are 12th nationally in free throw percentage (.749), 13th in steals (9.0 spg), 16th in turnover margin (+3.9) and 54th in turnovers per game (12.3). Individually, D'Aundray Brown ranks 11th nationally in steals (2.6 spg).

BROWN STARTS CLIMB UP STEALS LIST: With five steals last week, junior D'Aundray Brown increased his league-leading season total to 75. In the process, he moved past Eddie Bryant (71 in 1986-87) and into eighth on the single season steals chart. With at least three games to go, Brown could do some additional damage on the CSU chart. At his current rate of 2.6 steals a game, he could challenge Kenny Robertson for third place on the chart (90 steals). In fact, Brown can impact the league marks as well. Cedric Jackson holds the top two efforts in Horizon League history, a record 112 last year and 88 in 2007-08.

COLE REACHES 100TH CONSECUTIVE GAME: The Toledo game on Saturday marked the 100th consecutive game played by junior Norris Cole, the ninth-longest streak in school history. The streak covers his entire career has he played in 33 games off the bench as a freshman and has started all 67 games the last two seasons.

. . . AND IS APPROACHING 1,000 MINUTE MARK: At some point during the second half of Thursday's game against Detroit, junior Norris Cole will become only the third player in school history to record multiple seasons playing 1,000 minutes or more. Cole, whose 1,213 minutes played last season was the second highest single season total in CSU history, has played 975 minutes in 29 games this year. With 25 more minutes played, Cole will join Cedric Jackson and J'Nathan Bullock, both of whom accomplished the feat in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

GET THE BROOM OUT, WE'RE PLAYING TWO: Thursday's game against Detroit will be the second traditional doubleheader of the year (third overall) and the Vikings love playing doubleheaders. After all, over the last three seasons, the Vikings have played 13 doubleheaders with the women's basketball team with the men owning a 11-2 record in those games with nine doubleheader sweeps. The only men's losses in a doubleheader came last year when the Vikings dropped a 55-49 decision to Wright State on Feb. 7, 2008 and earlier this year when CSU fell to No. 8 West Virginia. The women are equally as impressive, owning a 11-2 record with the lone losses coming in each of the last two years to Green Bay.

SOMETHING ABOUT MILWAUKEE: Although the Vikings have done a great job of taking care of the basketball this season, ranking 54th nationally in the latest NCAA stats by committing just 12.3 turnovers a game, there is something about Milwaukee that makes them do an even better job. In the two games against the Panthers this year, CSU has tied the school record for fewest turnovers in a game in both contests, committing just five each night. The total equals the previous mark set against both Utica (1/5/85) and Brooklyn (12/30/82).

JAMES IS BACK: The Vikings got a little good news on the medical front on Saturday when junior guard Lance James returned after missing the last 21 games following surgery to repair a broken foot. He suffered a Jones fracture of the left foot in practice on Dec. 2 and had surgery on Dec. 11. His return was a strong one as he scored seven points in 11 minutes, going two-for-three from the field, making his only trey and both free throw attempts.

WOODS FINDS THE RANGE: Cleveland State has received a big offensive boost off the bench recently from redshirt freshman Charlie Woods. Woods, who scored just 10 points in the first 24 games of the season, has erupted for 28 points over the last five games (5.6 ppg). Included in the total was a career-high 15 points against Toledo on Saturday, a game in which Woods connected on all five three-point attempts he made. During his current hot streak, Woods has made eight of his 11 three-point attempts (including seven straight), to improve to .526 (10-19) for the season.

NOTES FROM SCOTT: CSU athletic historian Scott Yaeger provides these notes of interest for this week: • With his five-for-five effort from three-point against Toledo, Charlie Woods set the school record for three-point percentage. Jamaal Harris held the old record of .875, making seven of his eight attempts against Green Bay (1/25/01). • Woods also became the 12th CSU freshman to make five treys in a game. The last freshman to accomplish it was Jeremy Montgomery at UIC, 2/5/09. • When Lance James made a trey against Toledo, he became the 10th different Viking to make one this year, tying the school record set in both 2004-05 and 2006-07. • CSU's average of 12.28 turnovers a game this year barely trailsthe school record of 12.27 set last year. • The Vikings have eight games with single digit turnovers this season, the most in school history. It tops the old high of seven set in 2008-09.

COLE PICKS UP 61ST WIN AS A VIKING: The win over Toledo on Feb. 20 marked the 61st time (in 100 career games) that Norris Cole has emerged victorious as a Viking. Just a junior, Cole is six wins away from breaking into the career top 10 list in the category and 31 wins shy of Ken McFadden's school record of 91 from 1985-89.

FOR BETTER OR WORSE: Although coaches always claim that turnovers are a key to winning and losing, a look at the trends that have developed this year show that turnovers have no role in a games outcome. The two items that have played a role in determining wins and losses this year for CSU is halftime score and shooting percentage. The Vikings are 12-3 in games it led at halftime, losing leads to Virginia, at Butler and at Green Bay, and 1-12 in games it trailed at halftime, coming back from a 39-30 deficit to defeat Milwaukee in Cleveland. The shooting stats have a similar outcome as CSU is 11-1 in games it has shot a higher percentage than its opponent, losing only to Virginia. The Vikings are also 3-13 in games in which was out-shot, claiming both wins over Loyola and the home victory over Milwaukee.

HARMON NAMED HORIZON LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After averaging 15.5 points in the Viking wins over UIC and Loyola, sophomore guard Trey Harmon was named the Horizon League Player of the Week on Feb. 8. In the two games, Harmon shot .500 from the field (11-22), .273 from three-point (3-11) and a perfect six-for-six from the line, adding eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. He scored 17 points with five assists in the win over UIC and then came back to tally 14 points with a career high six rebounds as CSU rallied to edge Loyola. Harmon is the second Viking to earn the honor this year, joining Norris Cole (Jan. 25).

HARMON FROM THE STRIPE: Sophomore Trey Harmon has developed into one of the top free throw shooters in the league, making 61 of his 72 attempts to rank fourth shooting .847. After starting the year making 22 of his 32 attempts in the first 16 games (.688), he has come back to make 39 of his 40 attempts over the last 11 games (.975), including 23 straight.

. . . AND COLE WARMS UP AS WELL: After going just two-for-six at the foul line in the win at Loyola on Feb. 6, junior Norris Cole regrouped to find the shooting form that made him one of the most accurate shooters in the Horizon League. Over his last four games, Cole has made 27 of his 28 free throw attempts (.964), including 18 straight. Cole has raised his season percentage to .801 (113-141), good for ninth in the Horizon League.

COLE MOVES INTO 14TH PLACE ON SCORING CHART: An 18-point effort against Toledo on Saturday has moved junior Norris Cole past both Anthony Reed (1,123 points) and Andre Battle (1,129) and into 14th on the CSU career scoring list. Cole enters the Detroit game with 1,136 points, 32 points short of catching 13th place Dave Kyle (1,168 points from 1974-77). Cole, the 18th player in CSU history to score 1,000 points in a career, reached the milestone in the Jan. 24 win over Milwaukee. He is only the eighth player to accomplish it as a junior. In 29 games, he leads the team and ranks second in the league, averaging 16.4 points a game (477 total).

CA TOUGH SCHEDULE: The 2-8 record that CSU put up against non-conference Division I teams this year is a little misleading. After all, not only were four of the teams ranked in the top 15 at the time CSU played them (Kentucky No. 5, West Virginia No. 6, Ohio State No. 12 & Kansas State No. 12), but the 10 opponents have combined to post a 94-37 (.718) record in non-conference games. The College Basketball RPI ranks CSU's non-conference schedule the third-toughest in the nation, trailing only California (1) and Long Beach State (2).

CHARITY STRIPE HAS BEEN KIND: One strength of the Vikings this year has come at the foul line where CSU is on pace to challenge the school record for free throw percentage. Through 29 games, the Vikings have gone 415-for-554 from the line (.749), which is ahead of the record .724 set in 1979-80. Trey Harmon (61-72, .847), Jeremy Montgomery (70-83, .843), and Norris Cole (113-141, .801), rank third, fourh and eighth in the league, respectively, in free throw percentage. D'Aundray Brown (38-48, .792), Jared Cunningham (24-32, .750) and Tim Kamczyc (23-32, .719) are each above 70-percent but have not taken enough free throws to qualify for the league stats. CSU ranks 12th in the nation in free throw percentage in the latest NCAA stats.

. . . BUT THEN WHAT DO YOU EXPECT: It is no concincidence that the Vikings are shooting at a record pace from the foul line this year, especially when you consider the track record of teams coached by Gary Waters. A quick check of the CSU record book shows that CSU entered the year with just five seasons of shooting .700 from the line or better. The school record of .724 came in 1979-80 with the next three efforts all coming during Waters first three years at CSU. CSU shot .713 in Waters first season in 2006-07 to rank second all-time. In 2007-08, CSU was .702 to rank third and then followed that up with a .701 effort last year to rank fourth.

. . . AND THE VIKINGS HAVE FARED WELL DURING CRUNCH TIME: Although the Vikings have performed well from the foul line this season, it is when the game is on the line when they have really stepped up their play. In 29 games this season, CSU has made 135 of its 161 free throws attempted in the final five minutes of games (.839). Kevin Anderson has been a perfect six-for-six to lead the team, but the lion's share of the work has been done by Norris Cole and Jeremy Montgomery, who have combined to take 80 of the 161 attempts. Cole is connecting on .895 of his shots (51-57) while Montgomery is 20-for-23 (.870). Cole is a .842 shooter for his career (85-101), improving each season. He was 11-for-15 as a freshman (.733) and 23-for-29 as a sophomore (.793). Montgomery's improvement is significant after he made just seven of his 15 attempts in crunch time last year (.467). Last year, CSU shot just .695 from the line during this period (130-187).

GETTING THE JUMP: One of the lesser appreciated statistics in CSU's favor this year comes on the jump ball where sophomore center Aaron Pogue has managed to gain the Vikings the first possession of the game in 22 of the 29 games this season, including a 12-4 mark in Horizon League games. The only games that Pogue lost the jump have been on the road for games vs. St. Bonaventure, Kentucky, Ohio State and Milwaukee and at home against Youngstown State and Valparaiso.

. . . BUT NOT THE FINISH: It is no secret that Gary Waters is trying to find a way to keep sophomore center Aaron Pogue out of foul trouble. After all, in 29 games, he leads CSU with a school-record tying 111 fouls and seven disqualifications. It is even worse in league games where he has been whistled for 60 fouls in 16 games, fouling out four times. As a point of comparison, heading into this season, CSU players had only fouled out 10 times over the last two years combined.

DEGREE WORK: Sophomore center Joe Latas began the spring semester on Jan. 18 needing just 24 hours to graduate and when he finishes his coursework at the end of summer, he will have done so in just three years. Latas, who is taking 16 hours this semester, will take the final eight during the summer to earn his degree in both communications and religious studies.

COLE KEEPS STARTING STREAK GOING: When Norris Cole takes to the court against Detroit on Thursday, he will be starting his 67th consecutive game at CSU, which is good for seventh place on consecutive starts list. Cole became the 14th player in Viking history to start 50 straight games when he started the Dec. 22 game at Ohio State. One of three players to start a school-record 37 games last year, Cole is the only player to go from playing in every game as a reserve in one season (34 games as a freshman in 2007-08) to starting every game the next in school history. Cole has played in all 100 games in his career (9th in school history).

COLE NAMED ATHLETE OF THE MONTH FOR JANUARY: Junior guard Norris Cole has been named the CSU Male Athlete of the Month for January. A Dayton, Ohio native, he averaged 17.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists, helping CSU to a 6-2 month. He shot 45-percent from the field, 44-percent from three-point and 73-percent at the free throw line. He scored 22 points in wins over Green Bay and Milwaukee, earning Horizon League Player of the Week honors on Jan. 25. In the win over Milwaukee, Cole surpassed the 1,000 point mark for his career.

. . . AND MONTGOMERY CLAIMS IT FOR DECEMBER: December was a good month for Jeremy Montgomery as the sophomore was selected as the CSU Male Athlete of the Month. In seven games in December, the sophomore from Chicago, Ill. averaged 14.0 points, shooting .508 (32-63) from the field, .439 (18-39) from three-point and .889 (24-27) from the line. He scored in double figures in six of the seven games, including back-to-back games of 25 points at Ohio State and 20 points at Kansas State.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU? Junior forward D'Aundray Brown has returned to the floor this season, showing no ill effects from the two injuries that sidelined him for 13 games last season, including the final five games of the postseason. In the 29 games since coming back, Brown is averaging 8.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. He leads the team and ranks seventh in the league in rebounding and is ninth in minutes played (32.5). More importantly, he keys the Vikings' pressure defense, leading the league with 75 steals.

"PROTECT THIS HOUSE": Gary Waters believes that in order to have a championship program, the team first needs to be successful at home. With that in mind, he has chosen, "Protect This House" as the team motto for the 2009-10 season. With a 17-game home schedule, the second highest season total in school history and the most since 1983-84, CSU can go a long way in achieving another successful campaign by winning at home first. The Vikings have heeded Waters' advice in the past, going 35-8 in the Wolstein Center over the last three years, a significant improvement from the 25-42 record in the Wolstein Center over the previous five seasons. The success started in 2007-08 when CSU tied the Wolstein Center record for wins in a season with a 12-2 mark. The Vikings did that mark one better, going 13-2 at home last season. CSU is 11-4 this season at home, including 10-4 in the Wolstein Center.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL: Another area in which the Vikings have excelled this season is in turnovers where CSU ranks second in the Horizon League (and 16th nationally) with a +3.8 turnover margin. In 29 games, the Vikings have committed 356 turnovers (12.3 tpg), including 15 games of 12 or fewer. The Vikings tied the school record with just five turnovers in the win over Milwaukee (Jan. 24) and then again at Milwaukee on Feb. 18, had seven vs. Loyola on Feb. 6 and against Butler on Feb. 13 and also made just eight miscues against Wichita State on Nov. 28 and vs. Loyola on Jan. 7. At the other end of the spectrum, CSU has forced 466 miscues (16.1 tpg), including 17 or more 13 times.

NEXT UP: The Vikings remain at home to close out the 2009-10 regular season on Saturday (Feb. 27) with a 2:00 p.m. meeting with Wright State. The game is a doubleheader with the CSU women's basketball team facing Wright State at 4:30 p.m.