Game 10 - at Mississippi Valley State
SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Dec. 22, 2009
Location: Greenville, Miss.
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. (CST)
Arena: Washington County Convention Center
TIPPING IT OFF
The Red Wolves hit the road for their final contest before the Christmas Holiday break, traveling to Greenville, Miss. to face Mississippi Valley State at the Washington County Convention Center, Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.
THE OPPONENT
Mississippi Valley State is an NCAA Division I opponent that competem s in the SWAC. The Delta Devils hold a 1-10 record with their only win coming over Champion Baptist College, 102-56. In their most recent action MVSU lost at Oregon (51-79) and Oregon State (62-76). Their win over Champions Baptist was their only previous home game of the season. Senior guard Julius Cheeks is the only player averaging in double-digit scoring for the Delta Devils scoring 10.3 ppg. Junior forward Shannon Behling leads the team pulling down 5.0 rebounds per contest.
SERIES VERSUS MVSU
ASU holds a 10-4 series record over the Delta Devils in the two teams all-time series, including winning a 75-58 win over MVSU last season at the Convocation Center. Then-junior Mike Lance scored 18 points against the Delta Devils last season, to lead the Red Wolves in the contest.
BRYANT / REED BREAK 100 PTS
ASU has had two players already break 100 points through nine games this season. Sophomore guard Daniel Bryant has provided a spark off the bench for the Red Wolves and through nine games has nearly recorded half of his total points from a year ago. Bryant already has 126 points, a team high. Reed is just behind Bryant with 113 points already this season. Both Bryant and Reed are averaging in double-digits. Both players broke the 100 point plateau against Missouri State, each scoring 16 pts.
CONFERENCE OPENER
ASU downed UALR in its conference opener Sunday at the Convocation Center. It was the first win for ASU head coach John Brady past the instate rival UALR. ASU had four players score in double-digits led by Bryant (17), Brown (11), Adams (11) and Reed (10). ASU is 10-8 in Sun Belt Conference openers dating back to when the Red Wolves joined the league during the 1991-92 season. ASU is 4-1 in league openers over the past five years.
BRADY APPROACHES 300th CAREER WIN
ASU head coach John Brady currently owns a 298-240 record just two wins shy of his 300th career win. Brady is 17-22 at the helm of the Red Wolves program.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
ASU is ranked nationally in the top 50 in three-point field goal percentage defense and blocked shots per game. ASU sits 41st in three-point field goal percentage (28.8) and 47th in blocked shots per game (5.0). Brandon Peterson is ranked 32nd in the nation in blocks per game 2.5 while Trey Finn ranks 54th in steals per game (2.3).
ADAMS DOUBLE-DOUBLE SHINES VERSUS MEMPHIS
Sophomore forward Martavius Adams recorded his first double-double at Memphis last Saturday scoring 11 points and pulling down a career-high 12 rebounds. It was the third time an ASU player has recorded a double-double, with Brown notching one at SEMO and Peterson recording one against MacMurray College. On the season, Adams is averaging 9.6 ppg and pulling down 5.3 rebounds per contest.
BROWN POSTS CAREER HIGH
ASU's JeJuan Brown posted a career-high 17 points at Memphis last Saturday leading the squad in scoring in 28 minutes of action. This marked the second time this season Brown has reached double-digits in scoring.
FINN UTILITY MAN
ASU freshman Trey Finn is one of the most versatile players on the floor for ASU, Finn leads the team (as a guard) in rebounding average (6.5), leads the conference in steals (19), ranks second in assists (20) and is scoring 6.5 ppg. Finn also has the best assist/turnover ratio on the team at 1.7.
DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING
ASU has two players averaging in double-digit scoring and neither of those players is a junior or older. Sophomore guard Daniel Bryant leads the team averaging 14.0 ppg followed by freshman guard Brandon Reed who is averaging 12.6 ppg. Bryant ranks 12th in the conference in scoring average while Reed ranks 17th. Last season, ASU had one player averaging in double-figures (Boone, 13.6).
BACK TO BACK CAREER NIGHTS
ASU sophomore Daniel Bryant has provided a spark off the bench for the Red Wolves, leading the team in scoring averaging 16.4 points per appearance. Bryant had a pair of career games last week when he broke the 20 point barrier for the first time against UTM and set a new career high of 23 points against Indiana State during the next game.
BENCH PRODUCTION
ASU has gotten lots of production from its reserves this season, especially from sophomore Daniel Bryant who leads the team in scoring. Freshman Brandon Peterson also leads the team in blocked shots (22). ASU's bench has scored in double-digits each game, except Memphis, highlighted by 62 and 33 point performances against MacMurray and Indiana State, respectively.
BIG BLOCKS
As a team ASU has averaged 5.0 blocks per game. Freshman Brandon Peterson ranks second in the league with 22 blocks through nine games, collecting five against MacMurray. Peterson has had multiple blocks all but one game, including four against UTM.
SHOOTING LIGHTS OUT
Sophomore forward Martavius Adams leads the team shooting 51.4-percent from the field connecting on 36-70 shots. Junior guard Rashad Allison is shooting nearly 80-percent from the charity stripe (.793) connecting on 23-29 free throws.
BROWN DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior forward JeJuan Brown had one of the best performances he has turned in since coming to ASU against SEMO. Brown recorded the first double-double of his career with 11 pts and 13 rebounds, a career-high.
TOUGH DEFENSE
The Red Wolves have continued its reputation for strong defense holding its first six opponents so shooting just 42-percent from the floor and leading the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense (30%) ASU has also forced opponents into 129 turnovers and recorded 64 steals. Against SEMO, ASU held the Redhawks to 14% from the three-point line and allowed only one of the opponents players to score in double-figures (10). Versus Tennessee-Martin The Red Wolves held the Skyhawks to shooting only 8.3-percent from the three-point line (1-12). ASU held arguably its toughest competition of the year to its lowest shooting percentage, 7.7% from beyond the three-point arc for Memphis.
FINN TOUGH IN DEBUT
Arkansas State redshirt freshman Trey Finn had to miss his first collegiate game due to an injury, but that didn't stop him from coming out strong in his first career start at SEMO. Finn nearly recorded a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, while recording four steals and a block.
ALLISON AT THE LINE
Junior point guard Rashad Allison posted a career-high nine points against SEMO, all of which came from the free throw line. Allison went to the line a game-high 12 times, connecting on nine of those shots from the charity stripe.
STEALING THE ROCK
Arkansas State continued its trend from last season for picking the opponents pockets. ASU has already recorded 54 steals through seven games. Finn leads the team with 19 while Bryant has 13, ranking second.
NEWCOMERS SHINE
In their opening game of the season the Red Wolves got great performances from their newcomers especially freshman forward Brandon Peterson. Peterson came off the bench to notch the first double-double for the Red Wolves this season (13 pts., 12 reb.) while he also blocked five shots. Freshman Brandon Reed also came off the bench to score 12 pts., leading all players with 31 minutes played. Freshman Adam Sterrenberg added 11 points while Martavius Adams had eight points and five rebounds.
ASU AT THE CONVOCATION CENTER
Over the 22 years that ASU has competed in the ASU Convocation Center, the Red Wolves have compiled a 214-87 record (.711). Arkansas State has gone undefeated twice during a single season at the Convocation Center; they were a perfect 14-0 in 1988-89 and went 13-0 in 1990-91.
NEW LOOK RED WOLVES
With eight new players on their roster from a year ago, ASU will look quite a bit different in their opening contest against MacMurray Monday. Returning for ASU are seniors - Donald Boone, JeJuan Brown and Mike Lance. Junior - Jeremy Thomas and sophomore - Daniel Bryant. Also back for ASU will be two players that did not play last season freshman Trey Finn and sophomore-transfer Martavius Adams.
PRESEASON HONORS/COACHES POLL
Arkansas State senior guard Donald Boone was named to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference third team. Also released at media day was the preseason coaches' poll where the Red Wolves were tabbed to finish sixth in the west division.
The poll and preseason teams were released in conjunction with the start of the Sun Belt Conference men's basketball media days which kicked off Tuesday with the west division coaches participating in video conferences throughout the day. The east division coaches are slated to participate in media day on Wednesday.
The preseason team and poll were nominated and voted on by the 13 league coaches. ASU received 36 points in the voting.
ASU's top returning scorer from last season, Boone posted 13.6 points per game in 2008-09 and led the team with 54 steals which ranked second in the Sun Belt. Boone appeared in all 30 games a year ago, drawing 24 starts while pacing the squad in minutes played, averaging 30.4 per contest.
WKU's AJ Slaughter was tabbed the preseason SBC player of the year and was joined on the first team by Denver's Nate Rohnert, MTSU's Desmond Yates, Eric Tramiel from North Texas and Brandon Hazzard of Troy.
McRoy Named Top-25 Mid-Major Assistant
Arkansas State assistant coach Elwyn McRoy garnered the no. 23 spot on the recent collegeinsider.com listing of the top-25 mid-major assistant coaches in the country.
McRoy was described by collegeinsider as “arguably the best junior college recruiter in all of college basketball, much less the Mid-Major level, there is no coincidence that on-court success has followed McRoy throughout his entire career. During a span of five seasons in junior college, McRoy coached 28 players who went on to play Division I basketball.”
This marks the second year in-a-row that one of Arkansas State's assistant coaches have been recognized as tops in the nation. Associate head coach Chad Dollar was ranked one of the top-10 assistant coaches by Fox Sports in 2008.
McRoy was the only assistant coach in the Sun Belt Conference named to the list.
Head Coach John Brady
With a Final Four appearance and 281 career victories already to his credit, John Brady was announced as Arkansas State's 15th head men's basketball coach by Director of Athletics Dr. Dean Lee at a Wednesday morning press conference held in ASU's Convocation Center on March 19, 2008.
During his first season with the Red Wolves, Brady helped lead ASU to one of the best starts in program history and achieved the No. 22 ranking on Collegeinsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. As a team ASU improved greatly its defending and rebounding finishing near the top of the conference in several statistical categories.
Brady spent the last 10-plus seasons serving as LSU's head coach, leading the Tigers to six postseason berths, two SEC championships and three SEC Western Division titles. Twice named the SEC Coach of the Year, Brady is a proven winner who brings a well-documented record of success and a long list of accomplishments with him to Arkansas State.
Chancellor Robert Potts said that he is very pleased with the selection of Coach Brady as Arkansas State's new head basketball coach.
Brady's 16-year tenure as a head coach at both LSU and Samford in Birmingham, Alabama, has been decorated with achievements. He has coached a combined 25 All-TAAC and SEC selections, 48 academic all-conference choices, posted 11 winning seasons and collected five division championships. Brady piled up the third most wins in LSU history with 192 and left Samford after the 1996-97 season as the Bulldog's all-time leader in coaching victories (89) as well.
He quickly turned around an LSU's men's basketball program that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival, leading the Tigers to a 28-6 record, an SEC championship and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in just his third season (1999-00) at the helm. Under Brady's direction, the Tigers recorded six consecutive winning seasons from 2001-02 to 2006-07 while making three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two more to the NIT. The 2005-06 campaign saw LSU post a 27-9 record and advance to the Final Four for the first time in 20 years.
Not only did Brady coach the Tigers to 23 wins versus ranked opponents, he also led them to victories over two teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll (Arizona in 2002-03 and Duke in 2005-06). Additionally, he orchestrated a 19-game home winning streak over SEC opponents, the third longest stretch in LSU history.
While at LSU, Brady coached two NBA Lottery picks and six current NBA players. The Tigers signed nine Parade All-Americans and four McDonald All-Americans under Brady, who also coached three SEC Players of the Year, four players named SEC Freshman of the Year, one SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and 17 All-SEC selections.
Prior to taking over the reigns at LSU, Brady served as Samford's head coach from 1991-92 through 1996-97. It didn't take long for him to turn around a Samford program coming off six straight losing seasons, either, guiding the Bulldogs to a 17-10 record in his second season. He led Samford to three straight winning seasons (1995-97) for the first time since 1982-84, all leading up to a 19-9 record and division title in 1997. Samford won the TAAC West Division each of Brady's final two seasons at the school for the first time in school history.
His four winning campaigns at Samford were the first for any coach at the school, and he led the Bulldogs to an 89-77 record after they went 27-83 the four seasons prior to his initial year. He coached eight All-TAAC and 14 Academic All-TAAC players over six seasons.
The McComb, Miss., native earned his bachelor's degree in 1976 from Belhaven College, where he was three-year starter and scored over 1,000 points during his college playing career. Brady was a two-time All-Southern States Conference selection and was later inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Fame.
He got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with the Mississippi State men's basketball program while earning his master's degree from 1976-77. Brady took his first head coaching position in Louisiana at Crowley High School in 1977 and led the basketball squad to a 129-49 (.725) record in five seasons. He was named the 1981 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 3-A Coach of the Year.
Brady returned to the college coaching ranks in 1982 as an assistant coach at Mississippi State. He spent the next eight years with the Bulldogs, the first four seasons under coach Bob Hoyt and the next four as a chief recruiter for coach Richard Williams. Following his tenure in Starkville, Brady returned to Louisiana for the second time, this time to serve as an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans. Brady helped lead UNO to the NCAA Tournament during his only season with the Privateers.
