Feb. 24, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
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GAME 27
UW-Green Bay (13-15, 7-8) at Cleveland State (10-16, 5-10)
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2006
Time: 5:30 p.m. EST
Site: Goodman Arena (8,500), The Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Sponsor: Mr. Chicken
Promo: Senior Night & Fan Appreciation Night
TV: None. Live video available online through CSTV at CSUVikings.com
Radio: WKNR, 850 AM (Al Pawlowski & Jason Gibbs)
Game is also being aired on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 107)
Series: UWGB Leads, 29-20
Last Meeting: CSU 67, UWGB 63 (1/21/06 at UIC)
Tickets: $8, $10 & $14
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State closes the 2005-06 regular season on Saturday when the Vikings host UW-Green Bay for a 5:30 p.m. game in the Wolstein Center. The game will serve as Senior Day with Viking seniors Justin Henderson, Frashon McGee and Cory Rojeck being honored pre-game. CSU (10-16, 5-10) is coming off a heart-breaking 72-67 overtime loss to UIC, a game which eliminated the Vikings from the potential of hosting a first round game in next week's Horizon League Championship. UW-Green Bay (13-15, 7-8) has not played since dropping a 68-64 decision to Fairleigh-Dickinson in the BracketBusters last Saturday (Feb. 18). CSU claimed the first meeting between the two teams, a 66-63 win in Green Bay on Jan. 21.
PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: After using the same starting lineup for nine straight games, Mike Garland has shaken things up a bit, using six different lineups in the last seven games in attempt to find the right combination of players to get CSU back on track. Purdue transfer Ije Nwankwo (11.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg) has averaged 13.4 points over the last 12 games to take over the scoring lead. Junior guard Raheem Moss (10.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and freshman forward J'Nathan Bullock (11.0, 4.4) have provided steady scoring while junior Carlos English (8.0 ppg, 4.6 apg) has given the Vikings steady play at point guard. Veterans Patrick Tatham (7.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Frashon McGee (4.6, 5.4) and Victor Morris (6.3, 2.7 apg) have proven to be the backbone of the squad, each averaging more than 20 minutes a game. The unusual depth of the Vikings -- CSU plays as many as 12 players every game -- allows Garland to run his high-intensity schemes while giving him additional substitutions for most situations.
SIRIUS-LY: Saturday's game is the last of three CSU games to be broadcast nationally via Sirius Satellite Radio as part of the Horizon League package. The game will air on Sirius Channel 107. Sirius has previously broadcast the games against Michigan State (Dec. 16) and UW-Milwaukee (Feb 11). In addition, Sirius will air the final five games of the Horizon League Championship. This is the second year that the Horizon League has had a contract with Sirius to broadcast league games.
TRACKING THE BRACKET: With Saturday's game marking the end of the regular season, it is still anybody's guess as to who CSU will be playing in the opening round of the league tournament next week. What we do know is that CSU will be either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed and have to travel for a first round game on Tuesday night (Feb. 28). The uncertainty exists because four teams (UW-Green Bay, Loyola, Detroit & UIC) enter the final day of the league schedule tied for fourth place with 7-8 records and none of the four play each other on Saturday. Add to the mix Wright State, which is in third place with an 8-7 record, and the possibility of a five way tie for fourth exists.
. . . WHAT WE KNOW: It's not much, but some things are clear:
• CSU will be either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed and travel for a first round game.
• UW-Milwaukee and Butler have locked up the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds with Butler having the ability to claim the top seed (and host the second and third rounds) if it wins at Detroit on Saturday.
• UWM can only be the top seed if Butler loses or Butler wins and UIC, UW-Green Bay and Youngstown State lose.
• Wright State can lock up the No. 3 seed with a win at UIC.
• CSU cannot play UW-Milwaukee, Butler or Youngstown State in the first round.
. . . IF CSU WINS: A Viking win over UW-Green Bay on Saturday assures CSU of the No. 8 seed. In the eight possible scenarios that exist based on the results of the other three games, CSU would play at both Detroit and Wright State three times and at UW-Green Bay and Loyola once. CSU cannot play UIC if it wins.
. . . IF CSU LOSES: If the Viking lose on Saturday, they would still get the No. 8 seed if Youngstown State loses at home against Loyola. If that happens, CSU could play at either Loyola, UIC or Detroit. If YSU wins, the Vikings fall to the No. 9 seed and would play UW-Green Bay in the first round. CSU cannot play Wright State if it loses.
SOME HOME COURT EDGE: The homecourt advantage doesn't seem to apply this year in Horizon League play if the Vikings were one of the two teams involved in a game. In the 15 league games involving CSU, the home team has gone just 5-10 with CSU winning four of its eight games on the road and dropping five of the six at home. In the league games that haven't involved CSU, the home team is 39-14. CSU (6-9) and Youngstown State (5-6) are the only Horizon League teams to have a losing home record.
SENIORS TO BE HONORED: Saturday's game will be the final home appearance in the Viking careers of seniors Justin Henderson, Frashon McGee and Cory Rojeck, and the trio will be honored in a pre-game ceremony. Henderson and McGee played two seasons of junior college basketball before joining the team last season, playing in 51 and 47 games, respectively. Rojeck made the team as a walk-on this season after playing on the Viking baseball team for the last three years.
. . . AND THE SAME FOR THE VIKING ALUMNI: With Saturday's game serving as the culmination of the celebration of the 75th season of basketball at Cleveland State, over 60 former Viking basketball players and coaches are slated to return for the game. Many will take part in an Alumni Game beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The list of alumni returning include former head coaches Jim Rodriguez (1959-66), Ray Dieringer (1969-83) and Kevin Mackey (1983-90) and CSU Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Dan Avis, Shawn Hood, Dave Kyle, Ken McFadden, Eric Mudd and Mike Sweeney.
NWANKWO HAS AN IMPACT AT THE LINE: Junior center Ije Nwankwo has been one of of the big reasons why the Vikings have had an edge at the foul line in league play. In the 18 games since becoming eligible, Nwankwo has made 68 of his 98 free throw attempts (.694). He has gone to the line at least four times in a game 13 times, including 12 free throw attempts against UIC, 10 against both Akron and Loyola and nine at UW-Green Bay.
. . . NWANKWO's CLUTCH FREE THROW SHOOTING STREAK ENDS: Ije Nwankwo saw his streak of 17 straight free throws made in the final five minutes of a game and overtime come to an end against UIC on Wednesday when he missed the first of two fouls shots with 1:27 left in OT. He is now 18-for-19 for the year (.947), which is a stern contrast to the rest of the Vikings, who are shooting just .637 during that time, making 65 of 102 free throws.
. . . AND THE VIKINGS ACCURACY IS GETTING MUCH BETTER: Free throw shooting wasn't one of the Viking strengths during the early part of the season. In fact, in the first 14 games, CSU was just 28-for-55 (.509) from the stripe in the final five minutes and overtime of games. The Vikings have turned that performance around, making 55 of their 66 free throws (.833) over the last 12 games to raise their season shooting to .686 (83-121).
MAKING THE GRADE: The Vikings turned in one of their best performances in the classroom in recent memory during the just completed fall semester. The 17 players on the roster combined to post a 2.82 GPA for the semester with Vikings Robert Clark, Steve Kallman, Cory Rojeck and Greg Vlosich each earning a spot on the Dean's List with Clark overcoming knee surgery during the week before finals to record a perfect 4.0 GPA.
MORRIS CLOSES IN ON 2,000 MINUTES: Junior guard Victor Morris enters the regular season finale game needing just 15 minutes played to become the 30th player in school history to play 2,000 career minutes. Morris has totalled 1,985 minutes in the 79 games that he has played in, starting 42 times.
PETTY THEFT: The emphasis on defense is illustrated well by the steal totals of the Vikings players. Not only is CSU leading the league averaging 8.5 steals a game, but four CSU players are averaging at least one steal a game. Carlos English leads the way ranking second in the league with 46 steals. Patrick Tatham has 32, Raheem Moss 28 and J'Nathan Bullock 27. A fifth Viking -- Frashon McGee -- is just off the one steal a game pace, having 22 steals in 25 games.
ANOTHER LINEUP SHUFFLE: After using the same starting group in a personal high nine straight games, Mike Garland has used six different lineups in the last seven games, giving CSU 12 different starting lineups in 26 games this year. The season started with the Vikings employing a different starting unit in each of the first six games. Things settled down after that as Garland used two different groups over the next 14 games before shaking things up last week. Garland went back to the lineup for the UW-Milwaukee game that he used for most of the league schedule nine games (Carlos English and Raheem Moss at guard, J'Nathan Bullock and Patrick Tatham at forward and Ije Nwankwo at center) but an illness to Raheem Moss two weeks ago has led to game-by-game changes since.
NWANKWO SETTLES IN: It took junior center Ije Nwankwo a couple of games to get settled, but his play of late has ignited the Vikings at both ends of the court. Over the last 12 games, Nwankwo has averaged 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, shooting .505 from the field (52-103) and .687 from the line (57-83).
. . . AND RANKING IJE: Junior Ije Nwankwo will not qualify for the Horizon League statistical rankings this year because, by missing eight games early in the year, he will not be able to play in the required 75 percent of CSU's games. Nwankwo, who has played in 18 of the 26 games (69.2 percent), would currently rank eighth in blocks (0.8), 14th in rebounding (5.3) and 15th in both field goal percentage (.465) and scoring (11.8).
TATHAM GETS NEW STARTING ROLE: After starting at center in 39 games during his first three seasons at CSU, junior Patrick Tatham has played a different role since the Horizon League schedule started, moving to small forward. The change came when Mike Garland inserted Ije Nwankwo into the starting lineup at center, allowing Tatham to move to his more natural position. Small forward is nothing new to Tatham, who has seen time at the spot this year when Justin Henderson or Renard Fields were in the game.
THE BABY BULL-OCK: Freshman forward J'Nathan Bullock is living up to the expectations that has made him one of the top newcomers on the team this year. Bullock is second on the team in scoring (11.0), posting double-figure scoring efforts 15 times this year. Although he has started 20 games, he has had some of his best efforts off the bench. He matched his career high with 21 points at Detroit on Feb. 2, going seven-for-11 from the field and seven-for-10 from the line. He came back on Feb. 4 at Loyola to make seven of his nine field goals en route to a 17 point game. Earlier this year, he led CSU with 15 points, six rebounds and three steals at North Carolina (Nov. 22). As a starter, he originally set his career high with 21 points at Kent State on Dec. 3 and later posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Utah Valley State on Dec. 20.
. . . AND BULLOCK WAS NEVER BETTER THAN ON WEDNESDAY: J'Nathan Bullock made the start of the final week of his freshman season a memorable one, setting his career scoring high when he totalled 25 points against UIC on Wednesday. The total, which topped his previous best of 21 points set vs. both Kent State and Detroit, was the highest single game scoring total this season. He scored 10 of CSU's first 13 points in the game and came back later to tally nine of the 10 Viking points in overtime.
THE PROOF IS IN THE MINUTES: The depth of the Vikings this year is evident in the playing rotation. CSU currently has 10 players averaging 8.4 minutes or more a game with all except Ije Nwankwo -- who was not eligible for the first seven games -- having seen action in at least all but three games this year. Victor Morris (25.0 mpg) and Frashon McGee (21.2), who have been used mostly off the bench this season, are two of the seven players averaging more than 20 minutes a game.
GOING OVERTIME: After not playing an overtime game during the first two seasons under head coach Mike Garland, the Vikings have played three this year, winning twice. All three games have come at home, the most recent being the 72-67 loss to UIC on Wednesday. The Vikings also went to OT against Detroit on Jan. 12 when CSU rallied from 12 points down in the second half. The Dec. 20 win over Utah Valley State was similar as the Vikings trailed by 13 with 12:11 left. The overtime periods have been a different story as CSU has trailed for just 17 seconds in the two wins and never led in the loss. Cleveland State is now 36-31 all-time in games extended to overtime, including 22-15 in home games.
NEXT UP: The Vikings open Horizon League Championship play on Tuesday night (Feb. 28) on the road against an opponent to be determined following Saturday's game.
