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Men's Basketball Opens League Championship Against Green Bay on Saturday

Men's Basketball Opens League Championship Against Green Bay on Saturday
Posted: Mar 03, 2016

GAME #32
LITTLE CAESARS HORIZON LEAGUE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
#9 CLEVELAND STATE (9-22) vs. #4 GREEN BAY (19-12)
Saturday, March 5, 2016 | 12:00 pm ET | Joe Louis Arena | Detroit, Mich.
Live Stats | ESPN3

RADIO
1220 AM - WHKW

PDF GAME NOTES
vs. Green Bay

GAME PREVIEW:
    •    Ninth-seeded Cleveland State opens play in the Little Caesars Horizon League Championship with a first round game against fourth-seeded Green Bay on Saturday (March 5) at 12:00 pm.
    •    The League tournament will be played at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich., the first time since 2002 that the tournament will be contested at a neutral site.
    •    CSU concluded the regular season at 9-22 overall and 4-14 in the Horizon League.
    •    Green Bay went 19-12 overall and 11-7 in the League.
    •    Saturday's game will be broadcast live on AM 1220-WHKW with Al Pawlowski providing the play-by-play.
    •    The game will be live on ESPN3 with Will Haskett providing the play-by-play and David Kaplan serving as the analyst.

THE GREEN BAY SERIES:
    •    Green Bay leads the all-time series with CSU, 43-29.
    •    The Phoenix won both meetings this year, 87-67, on Jan. 7 in the Wolstein Center and 78-61 on Feb. 22 in Green Bay.
    • CSU is 1-1 against Green Bay in the Horizon League tournament.
    •    CSU lost in the first round at Green Bay in the 2007 tournament and defeated the Phoenix in the 2009 semfinals at Butler.

FOR THREE:
    •    CSU has hit a three-pointer in a school-record 565 consecutive games, spanning 18 seasons.
    •    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.
    •    The Vikings have hit at least three three's in 114 straight games.
    •    A total of 13 CSU players have hit a three-pointer this year, the single season record for most players with at least one three-pointer in program history.

CSU IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT:
    •    The Vikings are 9-13 all-time in the Horizon League tournament and 23-26 all-time in conference tournaments.
    •    CSU is 9-8 in the HL tournament under Gary Waters.
    •    CSU won the 2009 tournament title, winning four games, including a 57-54 win at Butler in the championship game.

EDWARDS NAMED TO ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM:
    •    Rob Edwards was named to the five-member Horizon League All-Freshman team that was announced on Tuesday.
    •    He leads the team and ranks 16th in the League in scoring (12.5 ppg), 10th in steals (1.1) and 11th in free throw percenage (.752), while adding 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
    •    Edwards was a three-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week (Nov. 30, Dec. 21 & Feb. 29).
    •    Edwards has four 20-point games this year, including a career-high 26 points at Detroit in January.
    •    In a win over Cedarville in December, Edwards hit all five of his three-pointers to become just the second player in school history to be perfect from three-point (minimum of 5 attempts).

EDWARDS AT 29 STARTS:
    •    Rob Edwards has started 29 games this year, tied for the second most by a freshman in CSU history and one shy of moving into a tie for first on the list.
    •    His 959 minutes played this year are the most in a season by a freshman in program history.
    •    Edwards is averaging 30.9 minutes per game. Only two players (Jim Les 32.9 in 1981-82 and James Madison 32.6 in 1996-97) have averaged 30 minutes as freshmen at CSU.
    •    Edwards came off the bench for the first two games before starting at Rhode Island (Nov. 21) where he scored 16 points.
    •    Edwards' 29 starts are the most by a CSU freshman since Shawn Hood started 30 games as a freshman in 1983-84.
    •    The list of most starts by a CSU freshman follows...
            1. Shawn Hood               30 GS    1983-84
            T-2. Clinton Ransey        29 GS    1983-84
            T-2. Rob Edwards           29 GS    2015-16

... AND CHASING 400 POINTS:
    •    Rob Edwards has scored 386 points this year, the sixth highest total for a CSU freshman.
    •    Edwards needs 14 points to become the fifth freshman in program history to score 400 points in a season.
    •    He would join Franklin Edwards (467), Ken McFadden (453), Bryn Forbes (407) and Clinton Ransey (403).

FLANNIGAN DOUBLING UP:
    •    Demonte Flannigan has posted five double-doubles this season.
    •    His first career double-double was a 22 point, 17 rebound effort against Malone (Nov. 17). The 17 boards were the most by a CSU player since Norris Cole had 20 rebounds vs. Youngstown State on Feb. 12, 2011.
    •    Flannigan had 14 points and 10 rebounds against Milwaukee (Jan. 9) for his second double-double of the year.
    •    He had back-to-back double-doubles, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds against Detroit (Feb. 4) and 19 points and 10 boards vs. Oakland (Feb. 6).
    •    Flannigan's fifth double-double of the season was a 14 point, 11 rebound effort at Milwaukee on Feb. 20.
    •    Flannigan is ninth in the League in blocked shots (1.0), 17th in rebounding (5.3) and 21rd in scoring (11.3).
    •    He missed the final two games of the regular season with a concussion.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS:
    •    Vinny Zollo leads the team and ranks 12th in the Horizon League with 5.7 rebounds per game.
    •    Zollo has 10 games with at least eight rebounds this year, including a career-high 11 rebounds against Kent State (Dec. 5) when he also scored 10 points for his first career double-double.
    •    He grabbed 10 rebounds in the regular season finale against Wright State (Feb. 27).

BLOUNT RETURNS FROM INJURY:
    •    Freshman Jibri Blount returned to the lineup on Thursday night against Northern Kentucky.
    •    Blount missed the previous three games with an ankle injury.
    •    He played 20 minutes off the bench against NKYU, tallying eight points, four rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
    •    Blount is averaging 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds this year.

WALK-ON CONTRIBUTIONS:
    •    CSU has received significant contributions from three walk-ons this year.
    •    Nelson Maxwell has played in 15 games, averaging 2.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists.
    •    Tim Hasbargen has appeared in 21 games, averaging 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds. He has two double-digit scoring games, including 11 points against Green Bay (Jan. 9) and a career-best nine rebounds vs. Youngstown State (Jan. 24).
    •    Daniel Levitt was averaging 4.5 points and had made 16 three-pointers through 14 games before injuring his knee late in the second half of the Horizon League opener at Oakland on Jan. 2.

UP NEXT:
    •    The winner of Saturday's first round game advances to the second round to play the winner of Saturday's first round game between No. 5 Milwaukee and No. 8 Northern Kentucky on Sunday (March 6) at 1:00 pm at Joe Louis Arena.