Feb. 11, 2005

Contact: Brian McCann

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GAME 21
Illinois-Chicago (11-10, 6-5) at Cleveland State (9-11, 6-6)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005
Time: 5:30 p.m. EST
Site: Goodman Arena (8,500), The Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Promo: Hall of Fame Night
TV: None
Radio: WKNR, 850 AM (Frank DeMarco)
Series: UIC Leads, 27-26
Last Mtg.: UIC 74, CSU 57, Jan. 15, 2005, Chicago, Ill.

SETTING THE SCENE: It will be a battle for third place in the Horizon League when the Vikings return home to play their fifth game in the Wolstein Center in the last three weeks, squaring off with Illinois-Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 12 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The game is a doubleheader, with the Viking women's basketball team facing UW-Milwaukee at 3:00 p.m. The contest also serves as the annual Hall of Fame night with the 30th class being inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame earlier in the day and honored during a pre-game ceremony. The Vikings (9-11, 6-6) have won five of their last six games, entering the contest in fourth place in the Horizon League, one half game behind UIC (11-10, 6-5). CSU is coming off a 65-56 win at Butler on Thursday night, giving the Vikings their first win ever in Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse. UIC is 11-10 overall and in third place with a 6-5 record after earning a 71-65 win over Youngstown State on Thursday. The Flames claimed the first meeting, a 74-57 decision in Chicago on Jan. 15.

PREVIEWING UIC: The Flames may have one of the most-talented starting lineup in the Horizon League this year, but depth has been the problem for UIC. The Flames have gotten just 42 points from their bench in the last seven games (6.0 ppg), including none in the first meeting with CSU. The Flames, who have made three NCAA appearances in the last six years, are 11-10 overall and 6-5 in conference play this year, including a 71-65 win on Thursday night against Youngstown State. Senior Cedrick Banks (16.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg), a first team all-league choice last year, leads the team in scoring. Senior forward Armond Williams (10.9, 6.4), a first team preseason all-league choice this year, has worked his way back after missing the first five games of the year for academic reasons. The rest of the starting unit features forwards Jovan Stefanov (10.1, 5.3) and Elliott Poole (9.8, 5.5) and guard Rocky Collum (9.5, 3.4 apg).

Mike Garland SHOW: The weekly Mike Garland Radio Show is held from 7:00-8:00 p.m. every Monday night through the end of the regular season. The one-hour call-in show airs on WKNR, 850-AM with Jason Gibbs serving as the host for the second straight year.

THE CONVO UNDERGOES A NAME CHANGE: The CSU Convocation Center officially became the Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Center on Jan. 21 when the CSU Board of Trustees approved the name change to honor the couple for their $6.25 million commitment to CSU Foundation. Bert Wolstein, who passed away last May, was a graduate of the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law. He was a fixture in the professional sports scene in Cleveland, serving as the founder and owner of the Cleveland Force indoor soccer team, which will continue to play all of its home games in the Wolstein Center.

FOUR VIKINGS NAMED TO DEAN'S LIST: Evidence of the emphasis that head coach Mike Garland has placed on performing both on and off the court can be found in the academic showing of CSU during the recently completed fall semester. Four players, Mike Redell, Justin Henderson, Doug Barber and Greg Vlosich were named to the Dean's List after recording grade point averages above 3.25. As a team, CSU sported a 2.70 grade point average for the fall semester.

CSU DRAWS CENTRAL MICHIGAN AS PART OF BRACKET BUSTER POOL: The Vikings have drawn Central Michigan as their opponent for the Feb. 19 game scheduled as part of the third annual Bracket Buster Saturday pool matchups which were announced on Monday (Jan. 31). The game will tipoff at 2:00 p.m. in CMU's Rose Arena. In all 64, teams from 13 Division I conferences are participating in the one-day event. CSU hosted Eastern Michigan in last year's event. As part of the agreement, Central Michigan will also play a non-conference game at Cleveland State next season. The Chippewas have won two of the three games in the series with the Vikings but the two teams have not met since the 1987-88 season.

SWEENEY TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE CSU HALL OF FAME: Saturday's game against UIC game will be a little more special as Mike Sweeney, who starred for the Vikings from 1979-82, will be inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame that day. Sweeney, who will become the 28th basketball player in the hall, will be inducted with Matt Dulka (wrestling), Beth Eggleston (women's fencing & track), Dana Labrie (women's swimming), James Paynter (men's soccer) and Robin Sobolewski (women's basketball and softball).

WESTLEY TRIES FOR A RARE DOUBLE: Senior Omari Westley continues his quest this week to become only the second player in Horizon League history to lead the conference in both scoring and rebounding. Westley, who is averaging 17.5 points and 8.6 rebounds, has a comfortable lead on the rebounding chart but is narrowly ahead of UW-Milwaukee's Ed McCants (17.2) in the scoring race. Evansville's Parrish Casebier is the only player in the 26-year history of the league to accomplish the feat, averaging 25.4 points and 9.5 rebounds in 1991-92. Westley would also be only the fourth player to lead the league in rebounding in consecutive seasons and first since Northern Illinois' T.J. Lux accomplish it in 1995-96 and 1996-97.

RECORD-SETTING COMEBACK VS. DETROIT: The win over Detroit on Feb. 5 set a couple of Cleveland State records for largest deficits overcome. The 24-point comeback -- CSU trailed 47-23 -- was the largest deficit overcome in school history, topping the rallies from 19 points down to defeat UW-Milwaukee (1/29/00) and Middle Tennessee State (12/21/93). CSU also set the record for the largest halftime deficit overcome. The Vikings trailed the Titans, 44-23 at the half, breaking the old school record of 15 points set when CSU rallied for a 71-55 win at Northern Illinois on Feb. 1, 1992.

. . . MORE ON THE COMEBACK: The two halves in the win over Detroit proved to be as different as night and day for the Vikings. CSU managed just .333 shooting in the first half (7-21), including a one-for-nine effort from three-point (.111) in falling behind 44-23. Everything changed after the break as CSU shot .632 in the second stanza (12-19), including .889 from three-point (8-9). Detroit tore it up from the field in the first half, making 18-of-28 field goal attempts (.643), but went ice-cold after the break, shooting .286 (8-28) in the second half.

SNAPPING THE STREAKS: The 2004-05 season has seen the end of several significant losing streaks for the Viking basketball program. The streaks include:

Opponent: Losing Streak Snapped
Hillsdale (Nov. 20): 23-games vs. all opp. (longest in the nation)
Youngstown St. (Jan. 8): 25-games vs. league opponents
@ Youngstown St. (Jan. 22): 24 road games vs. league opponents, 22 road games vs. all opponents
Butler (Jan. 27): 9 straight losses to Butler
Detroit (Feb. 5): 10 straight losses to Detroit
@ Butler (Feb. 10): 10 straight losses at Butler (0-10 all-time)

WELCOME BACK PATRICK: Sophomore center Patrick Tatham returned to the starting lineup at Butler for the first time since spraining his right ankle on Jan. 3. Tatham celebrated the start, scoring a career-high 20 points, going nine-of-14 from the field with a carer-best two three-pointers.

10 DIMES MAKE A DOLLAR FOR REDELL: Freshman point guard Mike Redell set a career high for assists on Feb. 3 when he handed out 10 of them in the loss to UW-Green Bay. The 10 assists was the most by a CSU freshman since the 1983-84 season when Shawn Hood had 10 against Maryland-Eastern Shore (1/7/84). Redell, whose previous best was an eight-assist effort at Youngstown State on Jan. 22, is now averaging 3.5 assists a game, including 4.2 in league games. With 64 assists and 36 turnovers this year, Redell ranks fourth in the Horizon League with a 1.76 assist-to-turnover ratio.

VIKINGS DEVELOP AN INSIDE PRESENCE: An area where the Vikings have been more efficient this year has been in the paint. Five CSU players have seen time in the post this season (Westley, Tatham, McGee, Henderson & Koundoul), combining to average 33.3 points and shoot .519 from the field (240-462). Last year, Viking post players averaged 29.0 points but managed just .440 shooting (305-693).

DOUBLING UP: With five games remaining in the regular season, the Vikings have already more than doubled their win total from the entire 2003-04 season. The win over Butler gave CSU a 9-11 record, which is quite an improvement on the 4-25 mark of a year ago.

WINNING BIG: The 20-point victory margin against Butler on Jan. 27 was the largest margin of victory for the Vikings against a conference opponent since an 81-60 win over Loyola on Jan. 31, 2002.

VIKINGS BACK AT FULL STRENGTH: Head coach Mike Garland has enjoyed the benefit of a healthy roster the last five games as Patrick Tatham and Victor Morris returned to the lineup after missing games. Garland has had a full compliment of players available only six times this year with CSU owning a 5-1 record in those games. Every CSU player was available for season opener against Hillsdale but Mike Redell missed the next two games with back spasms. Since that time, Raheem Moss (2 games), Tatham (7), Morris (1), Amadou Koundoul (2) and Frashon McGee (4) have each missed games because of injury.

. . . BUT CSU IS WAY AHEAD OF LAST YEAR: Although injuries have hurt CSU this year, it was decimated by them last year. The Vikings had a full compliment of players in only four of their 29 games, with players missing a total of 43 games.

STARTING EARLY: Since the spring semester at Cleveland State started on Jan. 17, Mike Garland has changed the practice schedule of the Vikings around a bit, electing to hold practices at 6:30 a.m. early in the week. This is not the first time that CSU has practiced early in the morning. The Vikings routinely held weight room sessions during the preseason and off-season individual workouts before 8:00 a.m. so as not to conflict with class schedules.

WARMING UP FROM THE FIELD: One statistic that has stood out in the Vikings' recent success has been field goal shooting. In winning five of its last six games, CSU has shot .513 (123-240) from the field in the wins and a season-low .339 (20-59) in the loss. The Vikings are 8-1 in games in which they shoot better than their opponents this year, including a 5-1 mark when shooting over 50-percent.

TURNOVERS HAVE BEEN A TELL-TALE STAT: The other statistical trend that has been a constant this season has been turnover margin. The Vikings are 7-2 in games in which they commit the same number or fewer turnovers and just 1-9 when making more turnovers. CSU averages 12.9 turnovers in its nine wins and 19.5 miscues in its 11 losses.

WESTLEY LEADS McCANTS IN SCORING RACE: The battle for the Horizon League scoring title has heated up over the last two weeks as Omari Westley and UW-Milwaukee's Ed McCants have been playing a pretty good game of `Can You Top This.' Westley held the scoring lead last week until McCants scored 24 points at Wright State on Wednesday. Westley countered with a 24-point effort against UW-Green Bay on Thursday to regain the lead. On Saturday, McCants tallied 22 points early in the day to take back the scoring lead again with a 17.2 average only to have Westley reclaim it with a 20-point effort against Detroit. Westley maintained his lead on Thursday, scoring 21 points to raise his average to 17.5 points a game while McCants held at 17.2 with an 18-point showing vs. Loyola. Westley was not ranked in the top 10 in the league in scoring until early January. His 38-point game at UW-Green Bay on Jan. 11 propelled him from sixth to first on the league scoring chart.

OH MY!, OMARI: Omari Westley has never been better than when he poured in a career-high 38 points at UW-Green Bay on Jan. 11 to shatter his personal scoring best. He was 14-of-20 from the field and nine-of-11 from the line against the Phoenix, scoring 19 points in both the first and second halves. The scoring total was the sixth-highest single game total in CSU history and the most since Damon Stringer tallied 47 points at UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 29, 2000. Westley is tied with UW-Milwaukee's Ed McCants for the highest single game total in the Horizon League this year (McCants scored 38 points against Detroit on Jan. 3).

CHAVIS PASSES REED, HOOD NEXT: A six assist performance against Wright State on Jan. 29 allowed senior Walt Chavis to move past current CSU athletic director Lee Reed and into an eighth place on the CSU career assist chart. Reed accumulated 339 assists when he played for the Vikings from 1979-83. Chavis, who now has 352 assists, needs 44 assists to catch Shawn Hood (1983-87), who is seventh with 395 assists.

WESTLEY IS ON A ROLL: Omari Westley has been a dominant player at both ends of the court since Horizon League play began, averaging 20.1 points and 8.3 rebounds a game and shooting .566 from the field (81-143) in the 12 league contests. He has shot better than 55-percent seven times, including a 14-for-20 performance at UW-Green Bay on Jan. 11. He has raised his field goal percentage from .406 (41-101) after nine games to .509 (119-234) overall, ranking him eighth in the league this year.

. . . MORE ON THE ROLL: After leading the team in scoring in just one of the first six games (16 at Utah Valley State), the Dec. 29 game at North Carolina turned out to be an awakening for Omari Westley as he scored a then-season high 18 points against the fourth-ranked Tar Heels. In the 13 games since (counting UNC), he has averaged 19.9 points, leading the team in scoring in all but two games. He went from averaging 14.0 points after seven games to 17.5 points heading into this week.

WESTLEY PASSES HIS BOARDS: Omari Westley is well on his way to claiming his second straight Horizon League rebounding title as the senior is almost two rebounds a game ahead of his closest competitor. Westley, who has grabbed 10 or more rebounds seven times this season, is averaging 8.6 rebounds a game, putting him well ahead of second place Adrian Tigert from UW-Milwaukee, who is averaging 7.2 rebounds a game. To put the the margin into better perspective, Westley has grabbed seven more rebounds than Tigert despite playing three less games. Westley also leads the league with 3.8 offensive rebounds a game. He led the league in both offensive (3.1) and total rebounds (8.6) a year ago.

. . . WESTLEY LOVES THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Omari Westley has made a habit of turning in double-double performances -- double figure totals in points and rebounds -- during his career. He has seven of them in 20 games this year, to easily lead the Horizon League. In fact, only UW-Green Bay's Javier Mendiburu (5) and UW-Milwaukee's Adrian Tigert (4) have more than two double-doubles. In 48 career games, Westley has 15 double-doubles.

WESTLEY FROM THE LINE: Omari Westley continues to lead all Horizon League players in free throw attempts, going to the line 161 times in 20 games (8.1 per game). Westley, who ranked third with 175 attempted free throws last year, has attempted eight or more free throws in seven straight games, including a season-high 16 free throw attempts against Detroit on Saturday. He and Wright State's DaShaun Wood (123 attempts) are the only players to attempt more than 100 free throws this season. Westley has attempted 10 or more free throws in a game nine times during his career, including five this season.

THE STARTING LINEUP SHUFFLE: In an effort to find a combination that will get the Vikings started quickly, CSU head coach Mike Garland has used 10 different starting lineups in the 20 games this year. The Vikings used the same starting combo in three of the first four games (Chavis, Morris, Moss, Westley & Tatham) with the lone change coming in the Norfolk State game when Raheem Moss came off the bench after being sick for several days before the game. The lineup changed seven times over the next 10 games as Moss, Patrick Tatham and Frashon McGee each missed time with injuries. The 10th lineup came on Thursday at Butler as Tatham returned to the lineup for the first time in 12 games after spraining his ankle in early January. Ten of the 11 Vikings regulars have started a game this year with Amadou Koundoul the lone player kept out of the starting lineup. Last year, CSU used 10 different starting lineups in 29 games.

A TURNAROUND FROM THE LINE: The last 17 games have seen the Vikings correct one of its Achilles Heels from a year ago. . . free throw shooting. Cleveland State, which ranked last in the Horizon League a year ago with a .646 team free throw percentage (411-636), started off the year shooting .609 from the stripe in its first three games (42-69). The Vikings have found their range since then, going 250-of-348 (.718) to move from ninth to third in the league standings with a .700 mark (292-419). CSU set season highs for free throws made (24) and free throw percentage (.857) against Youngstown State on Jan. 8. No player has exemplified the improvement better than Justin Henderson, who was three-of-nine in the first three games but has gone 19 of 24 since (.792). Mike Redell leads the team and ranks sixth in the Horizon League with an .800 percentage (36-45). As a team, seven of the 11 players who have attempted free throws this year are shooting .700 or better.

. . . BUT THE VIKES COULD USE BETTER FREE THROW DEFENSE: Viking opponents have set a blistering pace from the free throw line this year, making almost 72 percent of their charity tosses, slightly behind the school season record. In 20 games, CSU opponents have made 295 of 411 free throws (.7178) with 11 opponents shooting better than .750. CSU's opponents have cooled off recently, making 110-of-163 (.675) over the last nine games. Eastern Michigan was the best foul-shooting team against CSU this year, making 33-of-38 (.868) on Dec. 23. The Viking school record for best free throw percentage by opponents during a season is .7180 (443-617), set in 1989-90.

. . . ESPECIALLY DOWN THE STRETCH: Viking opponents have been even better from the foul line late in games, making 89 of their 113 free throw attempts (.788) in the last six minutes of games. The breakdown is an interesting one as CSU opponents are just 16-of-25 (.640) in the nine Viking wins and 73-88 (.830) in the 11 losses. Loyola (13-14, .929) was the best from the foul line in the final five minutes with Wright State (7-8, .875), Utah Valley State (7-8, .875) and Eastern Michigan (12-14, .857) also turning in strong efforts. UIC, which was just 7-17 (.412) from the stripe in the first 35 minutes, made seven-of-eight in the final five minutes. After shooting just .606 (20-33) from the line in the final five minutes of the first eight games, the Vikings have warmed up, going 48-of-58 (.828) from the line over the last 12 games.

REDELL WARMS TO THE STARTING ROLE: Since being inserted into the starting lineup against North Carolina on Dec. 30, freshman guard Mike Redell has really excelled in his 11 starts. He has averaged 6.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, scoring in double figures three times. His first start came in front of 18,537 fans against the fourth-ranked Tar Heels and he responded by setting then-career highs for assists (4), rebounds (5) and minutes played (24). In his second start at Wright State on Jan. 6, he made five-of-nine three-pointers to score a career-high 15 points and then followed that up with 10 points, six assists and five rebounds against Youngstown State on Jan. 8.

VIKINGS INK ONE ON SIGNING DAY: The Vikings received an added bonus on Nov. 11 when Flint (Mich.) Northern High standout J'Nathan Bullock signed a national letter of intent to attend CSU and play basketball beginning next fall. Bullock, a 6-4 forward, averaged 17.3 points and 10.1 rebounds a game as a junior last year, shooting .545 from the field to earn first team all-city and all-region honors. He also received first team all-city accolades as a freshman and sophomore along with being a second team all-region choice as a sophomore. A nominee for the 2005 McDonald's All-America team, he is ranked as the 28th best player in the state of Michigan by PrepSpotlight.com and was voted the league MVP and All-Star Game Runnerup MVP at the 2004 Cage Scope/Blue-Chip Basketball Camp in Georgetown, KY.

. . . AND VIKINGS ADD TWO AT THE BREAK: The start of classes for the spring semester at CSU led to the addition of two players to the roster, both of whom will not compete until next year. They are:

Ije Nwankwo (6-7, 260, Jr., F, Ann Arbor, MI):
A transfer from Purdue, he was ranked as the 65th best player in the nation by PrepStars.com as a senior at Detroit Country Day High School. He played in 25 games last year as a freshman at Purdue, averaging 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds a game. He also saw action in two games for the Boilermakers this year before leaving the team in late November.

Jason Holder (6-4, 165, Fr., F, Saginaw, MI):
Averaged 11.4 points and 9.3 rebounds as a senior in 2003-04 at Arthur Hill High to earn all-league honors. He was a three-year starter, playing out of position as a power forward.

. . . AND BARBER RETURNS TO THE LINKS: The season for freshman guard Doug Barber is over as he has returned to practice with the men's golf team in preparation for the 2005 spring season. Barber, a walk-on from Willoughby who came to CSU on a golf scholarship, played in just two games for the Vikings this year. On the golf course, he played in all 15 rounds during the fall, posting a 76.2 stroke average.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Vikings head back out onto the road for the final regular season road contests, playing at Detroit (Feb. 16) and Central Michigan (Feb. 19) next week.