Game 28 Notes - New Orleans

Setting the scene
Date: Feb. 25, 2010
Location: Jonesboro, Ark.
Tipoff: 7:05  p.m. (CST)
Arena: Convocation Center
Arena Capacity: 10,038
Webcast: AStateRedWolves.com

TIPPING IT OFF
The Red Wolves enter the final week of regular-season action playing New Orleans Thursday at the ASU Convocation Center. ASU has their final two regular-season games of the season at the Convocation Center before heading off to Hot Springs for the Sun Belt tournament. The Red Wolves will square off against UNO at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday.

THE OPPONENT
UNO sits at 8-19 overall this season with a 3-13 record in league action, which places them in sixth place in the SBC West Division. Billy Humphrey leads UNO with a 17.2 ppg average, although only playing in 14 games and starting in 11. Charles Carmouche has played in 26 games starting in 25 and leads UNO with 328 points scoring 12.6 ppg. Carmouche also leads the Privateers with 127 rebounds averaging 4.9 boards per game. Humphrey and Carmouche are the only Privateers averaging in double-digits. Carmouche also leads the team in steals (38) while Carl Blair leads the squad with 94 assists. Joe Pasternack is in his third year at the helm of the UNO Privateers owning a career mark of 38-51.

SERIES VERSUS NEW ORLEANS
ASU owns a 17-26 mark against the Privateers in the two squads' all-time series which dates back to the 1987-88 season. The Red Wolves split the series against UNO last season winning at the Convo 71-56 on Jan. 3, 2009 but dropped the game at the Lakefront Arena 63-73 on Feb. 19, 2009. ASU has won four of the last six games in the series, including taking a 66-52 win over the Privateers on Feb. 6 of this year.

LAST TIME VERSUS UNO
Freshman forward Brandon Peterson was perfect from the floor for the Arkansas State basketball team going 8-8 for 16 points. Peterson led the Red Wolves in their 66-52 Sun Belt Conference win over New Orleans Feb. 6 at the Lakefront Arena.
    The win pushed ASU to 14-9 and 9-3 in Sun Belt. The win was the first for the Red Wolves in New Orleans since the 1999 season. The Privateers dropped to 7-17 with a 2-11 league mark.
    Sophomore forward Martavius Adams recorded his second-straight and third-career double-double scoring 13 points with 13 rebounds, leading ASU on the boards. Rashad Allison matched Adams output from the field with 13, while recording 13 assists. Allison also had six assists.
    A dunk by Peterson at the 16:49 mark of the game put ASU on top 6-5, giving the Red Wolves their first lead of the contest. In the first half the lead changed 11 times.
    Adams put ASU up 22-21 on a layup with 4:33 remaining in the first half, giving The Red Wolves a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.
    The Red Wolves stretched their first half lead out to eight when Adams connected on a jumper with 12 seconds remaining in the half, going into the locker room up 36-28.
    ASU stretched their lead out to 11 when Adams hit a jumper from the baseline at 16:31 of the second half. Freshman guard Trey Finn put ASU up by 11 again on the Red Wolves next possession hitting a three.
    UNO managed to cut ASU's lead to three when Johann Mpondo layed the ball in with about 10-minutes remaining in the contest. Carl Blair got it back to a three-point ASU lead when he hit a pair of free-throws less than a minute later. ASU held the Privateers to just seven points in the final 10-minutes of action getting back to double-digits when Finn converted a fast break dunk off a Brandon Reed steal. Jeremy Thomas and Allison hit free throws down the stretch in the final minute to give ASU its final 14 point lead.
    Reed recorded only three points but had six assists and a team-high three steals.
    Blair led all players with 23 points and was the only Privateer player in double-digits.
    ASU shot 53.3% from the floor on 24-45 shooting and held UNO to just 32% (18-56). The Red Wolves outscored UNO 27-20 in the paint with each team pulling down 34 rebounds.

YOUNG PACK
With Arkansas State starting three freshman, a sophomore and a junior college transfer and some of the first reserves coming off the bench being a freshman and sophomore, ASU is one of the youngest teams in the NCAA. In fact, ASU is the third least experienced team in the nation according to KenPom.com.

REED - ONE OF TOP FRESHMAN IN SCHOOL HISTORY
Not only has Arkansas State freshman guard Brandon Reed been one of the keys to the Red Wolves success this season and one of the most productive freshman in the Sun Belt this season, but he is the third-most productive freshman in ASU's school history. With 411 points, Reed ranks behind only Jerry Rook for most productive freshman in school history.  Rook had 416 points as a freshman (1961-62). Reed is averaging 15.2 points per game in all-games and is scoring 17.5 in Sun Belt only games. Reed also ranks second on the team with 62 assists and second with 20 steals. Reed scored 30 points against WKU, becoming the only player in the SBC this season to score 30 or more in multiple league games.
RECORD WATCH
Freshman forward Brandon Peterson recorded a career-high five blocks against WKU, recoding his 53rd block which moved him into seventh place on the single-season chart. Peterson needs five more blocks to move into a tie for sixth on the chart with Eric McKinney who had 58 last season. . Jason Jennings set the single-season block record during the 2000-01 season with 102 swats.

PULLING IT DOWN
Sophomore forward Martavius Adams continues to be one of the most dominant big men in the league, which he showcased at ULL on Thursday recording a career-high 16 rebounds and leading the team with nine points. Adams leads the team on the season with 190 rebounds and ranks second with 290 points. Adams ranks fifth in the league averaging 7.3 rebounds per game.

FINISHING AT HOME
ASU is in the final weekend of their regular season with two games remaining on the schedule. ASU hosts  UNO and Troy at the Convocation Center. ASU holds a 18-30 combined record against those two schools in the teams' all-time series. ASU has yet to play Troy but beat UNO 66-52 earlier this season.

SEASON HIGH CROWD
ASU had a season-high crowd of 6,059 fans in attendance at their game versus WKU at the Convo last Saturday. The game was the first overtime contest of the season for ASU.

TOURNAMENT PICTURE
Things are still very much up in the air as the Sun Belt Conference enters its final week of action before the SBC tournament descends on Hot Springs, Ark. March 6-9. Three teams are tied at the top of the league with Troy and MTSU atop the East Division at 11-5 and N. Texas atop the West Division at 11-5. Four teams own 10-6 conference marks including ASU and ULL on the West side and WKU and FAU on the East side. If action started today, MTSU, Troy and UNT will be the top three seeds while ULL, ASU, FAU and WKU will be seeded 4-7, depending on how the tiebreakers fall.

ADAMS RECORDS BACK TO BACK DOUBLE-DOUBLES
ASU had four players score in double figures, led by sophomore forward Martavius Adams at UALR who posted 17 points and 11 rebounds for his second career double-double. Adams is the only player for ASU this season to record more than one double-double. Reed also had 17 at UALR followed by Rashad Allison who had 14 and JeJuan Brown who had 12 points. Allison also recorded a career-high 8 rebounds. Adams followed up his performance with a 13 point and 13 rebound contest at New Orleans on Saturday, recording his third double-double.

REED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brandon Reed was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week after his performance against Denver and ULL last week. Reed scored a career-high 34 points in ASU's win over Denver Saturday night. Reed, who scored at least 20 points in a game for the fourth time this season against Denver, was responsible for the most points by an ASU player since Tevoris Thompson dropped in 41 against Lyon College on Dec. 7, 2002. Against Denver, Reed was 12-23 connecting on 52-percent of his shots from field, was 4-9 from three-point range and 6-7 from the charity stripe. Earlier in the week, Reed led ASU with 19 points past Louisiana-Lafayette. Reed has led ASU in scoring a team-high nine times this season, including breaking double-digits on 16 occasions. Over the two-game stretch Reed led ASU averaging 26.5 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game and broke the 300-point barrier against Denver.

WIN TOTAL
At 15-12 the Red Wolves have already passed their total win output from last season.  ASU's best season in Sun Belt action was the 1997-98 season when they went 14-4 and captured a co-regular season SBC Championship.

DEFENDING THE HOME FLOOR
ASU is 9-4 at home this season and 6-1 in conference games at the Convocation Center. The Red Wolves have always had a strong history of defending their home floor. Over the 22 years that ASU has competed in the ASU Convocation Center, the Red Wolves have compiled a 222-87 record (.720). 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.

ON THE ROAD
During their last four-game SBC roadtrip the Red Wolves won three-straight conference games for the first time since the 1997-98 season. ASU is 4-5 on the road this season and holds a 3-2 SBC record in games on the road.

ALLISON DEALING THE ROCK
ASU junior Rashad Allison has an assist/turnover ratio of 1.8 in all games this season ranking fourth in the SBC. In conference only games Allison has a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio, ranking sixth. Allison also ranks fifth in the conference and leads ASU with 112 assists. Allison recorded 11 assists versus ULM tying his career high.

BRYANT BACK WITH FIRE
After sitting out four games with an injury, ASU's sophomore guard Daniel Bryant came back with a vengeance hitting back-to-back three-pointers in his first minute of action at North Texas. Bryant finished the game 4-5 from the floor and 3-3 from three-point range, including knocking down 2-2 from the charity stripe for 13 points.

SEASON SWEEP
With their 83-70 win at North Texas, the Red Wolves swept the single-season series from North Texas for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

ALLISON BUZZER BEATER BESTS MTSU
Junior Rashad Allison hit four free-throws in the final 42-seconds of action against Middle Tennessee and hit the game winning shot on a jumper in the paint with 0.7 seconds on the clock to give ASU the 69-67 advantage. Allison led the team in scoring with 15 points on the night.

ALL SCORED
ASU had eight players play against MTSU with all eight of them getting in the scoring column, Allison led the team in scoring with 15 while Reed and Peterson had 13, Adams had nine, Finn had eight, Thomas had six, Sterrenberg had four and Butler sank a free throw.

PETERSON HAS CAREER GAME AT LAMAR
Freshman Brandon Peterson had his best game in an ASU uniform at Lamar scoring 21 points in his second start for the Red Wolves. He also had eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Peterson is averaging 7.1 ppg and 4.9 rebounds per game this season. Peterson ranks second in the league in blocks per game averaging 2.2 per contest.

ADAMS=EFFICIENT
Sophomore forward Martavius Adams has been extremely efficient for ASU this season ranking sixth in the league in field goal percentage and leading ASU with a .563 mark. Adams scored 12 points in just 12 minutes of action against Central Baptist and was perfect from the floor at MVSU going 6-6. Adams has scored in double-digits 11 times this season.

STRONG DEFENSE AT DENVER
ASU held the hot-shooting Denver Pioneers to shooting just 21.4-percent from the three-point arc in their last contest and held the Pioneers scoreless from three in the second half. Denver was averaging 43.6-percent from three entering the contest.

FINN DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Freshman guard Trey Finn was the fourth player to record a double-double when he scored 13 points and led ASU on the boards with 13 rebounds. Finn is one of the most versatile players on ASU's roster, averaging 7.5 ppg and leading the team in rebounding (7.2) and steals (21).

SIX IN DOUBLE-DIGITS PAST CBC
ASU had six players record double-digit scoring performances against Central Baptist College with freshman Brandon Reed leading the way scoring 14. Brandon Peterson, Trey Finn and Jeremy Thomas had 13 each while Martavius Adams and Adam Sterrenberg had 12.

THOMAS SHOWS UP BIG
Over the last two games junior reserve forward Jeremy Thomas has shown up for the Red Wolves. Against MVSU Thomas recorded a season-high 10 points against all of which were dunks. Thomas then scored another season high in points with 13 against Central Baptist.

BRADY WINS 300th GAME
ASU head coach John Brady picked up his 300th career win when the Red Wolves downed Central Baptist, 98-60 Tuesday at the Convocation Center. Brady currently owns a 300-238 (.558) career mark and a 19-22 record over the last two seasons at the helm of the ASU program.

HOT SHOOTING
Against MVSU the Red Wolves had three players that shot perfect from the field and two that were perfect from the line. Adams (6-6), Thomas (5-5) and Allison (4-4) were perfect from the floor while Finn (8-8) and Adams (2-2) were perfect form the charity stripe. As a team, ASU had its best shooting game of the season, connecting on 55.1-percent of its shots (27-49).

ADAMS DOUBLE-DOUBLE SHINES VERSUS MEMPHIS
Sophomore forward Martavius Adams recorded his first double-double at Memphis 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.

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. On the season Allison is 63-81 from the charity stripe (.778) which ranks 10th in the SBC rankings.

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.