Game 29 Notes - At Troy

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Feb. 19, 2011
Location: Troy, Ala.
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. (CST)
Arena: Sartain Hall
Arena Capacity: 4,000
Webcast: AStateRedWolves.com

TIPPING IT OFF
Arkansas State will play its final road conference game of the season heading to Troy Saturday night. The Red Wolves will be looking for its first win at Troy in the two squads' all-time series.

THE OPPONENT
Troy is 8-17 after picking up an overtime conference win over Middle Tennessee (69-65) Thursday and stands at 6-7 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Trojans have won three-straight league games and four out of its last five. Troy has three starters averaging in double-digit scoring led by senior guard Vernon Taylor who is averaging 15.4 points per game and ranks second on the squad pulling down 5.0 rebounds per contest. Will Weathers ranks second on the team averaging 12.6 points per game overall but leads the team in conference only games averaging 15.4 points per game against Sun Belt opponents and leads the team with 148 assists. Senior center Bernard Toombs, who will be the tallest player on the floor against the Red Wolves standing at 6-10, ranks third on the team averaging 10.2 points per game and leads the squad with 9.3 rebounds per game and 39 blocked shots. Don Maestri is in his 30th year as head coach at Troy owning a 485-353 career mark. 

THE SERIES
ASU captured its first meeting against Troy 91-68 during the 2005-06 season. Since that time ASU has gone 0-5 in the series for a 1-5 all-time series mark against the Trojans.

ALLISON CAREER NIGHT AT ULL
Senior guard Rashad Allison had the best game of his career Thursday night at ULL. The starting point guard led all players with 26 points while also notching six rebounds and was by far the most dominant player on the floor. Allison was 8-11 from the floor and 2-3 from three-point range. He also went 8-11 from the free throw line playing a season-high 33 minutes.

ALL SCORE VERSUS ULM
All 11 Red Wolves players scored for the first time this season at ULM last Thursday led by senior guard Donald Boone who had 20 total points including scoring 11 of ASU's first 13 points and finished the first half with 16 points. Sophomores Brandon Peterson and Trey Finn rounded out the double-figure scorers for  the Red Wolves with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

NATIONAL RANKING SUMMARY
Along with leading the conference, the Red Wolves also rank 53rd in the country with a +3.9 rebounding margin. Senior point guard Rashad Allison ranks in the top 100 in the nation in assist/turnover ratio. He ranks 39th with a 2.34 assist/turnover ratio and 113th with a 81.9% free throw percentage.

BALANCED ATTACK SETS RECORDS VS DENVER
ASU used a balanced scoring attack and set two Convocation Center records when they avenged an earlier loss to Denver, handing them their worst loss of the season. ASU held Denver to 13 first half points and 35 total points, both of which were season-lows. Every player that logged significant minutes for the Red Wolves scored four or more points and seven scored over five. Donald Boone led the Red Wolves with 10 points.

KIRKLAND DEFENDS THE RIM
Junior forward Malcoln Kirkland recorded a career-high five blocked shots against Denver. Kirkland leads the team with 29 blocks and is averaging 4.8 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game.

ADAMS DOUBLE-DOUBLE AT SAVANNAH STATE
Junior forward Martavius Adams recorded his eighth double-double of his career and fourth of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds at Savannah State. Trey Finn missed a double-double by just one board notching 12 points and nine rebounds, seven of which were offensive.

THE UALR GAME 
ASU picked up one of its biggest wins of the year and only second on the road at instate rival UALR 75-64. The Red Wolves never trailed as Donald Boone led the Red Wolves with 22 points, a season-high while Rashad Allison ranked second with 19-points which was also a season-high. ASU dominated around the rim outrebounding UALR 41-23 sparked by Adams who had 10 boards. ASU held the then-no. 2 shooting three-point team in the nation, the Trojans to just 35.7% in the contest including holding them to 20% during the first half.

LEADING THE PACK
Junior forward Martavius Adams Leads the Red Wolves averaging 11.6 points per game and 6.9  rebounds per game. Adams has scored in double figures 17 times. In conference-only games, Adams ranks seventh in rebounding averaging 7.2 per game. Against ULM, Adams recorded a career-high 21 points to lead ASU to its 10th home win of the season. Adams ranks 8th in the conference with a .504 field goal percentage. Senior Donald Boone ranks second on the team averaging 10.9 points per game and leads the team in conference only games averaging 12.9 points per game. Boone leads the team with 44 steals and ranks second with 50 assists. Boone has scored in double-figures 18 which is a team-high.

PETERSON DOUBLES UP
Sophomore forward Brandon Peterson recorded his first double-double of the season and third of his career putting up 14 points with 11 rebounds against Lamar in the Red Wolves last home contest. Peterson is averaging 8.8 points per game 6.3 points per game while leading the team with 21 blocks.

TRENDING WITH THE RED WOLVES
ASU has developed some trends throughout the season holding an 11-0 record at home and own a 13-2 record when leading at the half. ASU is also 9-4 when scoring first and 10-3 when shooting more free throws then its opposition. The Red Wolves are also 12-4 when its starters outscore opponents and 11-5 when outrebounding their opponents.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
Senior guard Rashad Allison posted a season-high of nine assists against Lamar and only turned the ball over once. Allison leads the team and the league with a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio and ranks third in the conference with 111 assists (4.0/game). As a team, ASU has a 0.9 assist/turnover ratio and has forced opponents into 13.2 turnovers a game.

FINN DOUBLE DOUBLE
Sophomore guard Trey Finn posted his second double-double of the season and third of his career scoring 14 points while pulling down a season-high 11 rebounds against Middle Tennessee.

ADAMS CAREER NIGHT
At FIU, junior forward Martavius Adams put in one of his most dominating performances of the season scoring a career-high 20 points and pulling down 14 rebounds which was a season-high to record his seventh career double-double. Adams has scored in double-digits all but twice this season and has led the Red Wolves a team-high five times.

FINN NAMED SUN BELT PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Arkansas State sophomore guard Trey Finn was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for the competition weeks of Dec. 22-Jan. 3 announced the league office Tuesday. It marked the first time this season that an ASU player had been named SBC Player of the Week. Finn led the Red Wolves to a 3-1 record over the holiday break, including a 2-0 start in conference play with wins over South Alabama and preseason favorite Western Kentucky. Finn averaged 15.3 points per game over those four contests while grabbing 6.0 rebounds per game. Finn put up the most dominant performance by an ASU player this season against WKU by scoring a career-high 30 points to lead ASU to an 81-73 victory. Finn also had 10 rebounds, posting the second double-double of his career. During the game against WKU, Finn went 10-16 from the field and 7-9 from three-point range. His 30 points more than doubled his previous career-high in points scored. Finn posted double-digit scoring performances in all four games played during the break, after only breaking double-digits twice previously this season.


RECORD SETTING NIGHT
With their 120-39 win over Central Baptist the Red Wolves tied the school record for points scored in a game and set a school record for margin of victory by beating the Mustangs by 81. ASU also had four players record career scoring performances and had six players in double-digit scoring.

SIX IN DOUBLE-DIGITS AGAINST CBC
Their game against CBC saw six ASU players score in double-digits and four players record career-high scoring performances. Redshirt freshman guard Kinley Ogbonnaya-Branch scored 19 to lead the Red Wolves and set a personal best, Matavius Adams ranked second with 18, followed by Peterson and Sterrenberg who had 14, Townsel with 13 and Finn with 11. Sterrenberg, Townsel and Rashiduddin (4 pts) also set career scoring highs.

FIVE IN DOUBLE-DIGITS VERSUS MO. STATE
ASU had five players score in double-digits against Missouri State in their second meeting of the year last Wednesday in Springfield, Mo. Junior forward Martavius Adams led the squad with 19 points and 9 rebounds coming just shy of picking up his third double-double of the year. Peterson, Finn, Allison and Kirkland each tossed in 10 points for the Red Wolves. Kirkland was perfect from the floor connecting on all five attempts and had three blocked shots. It was the second-straight game that ASU's starting forwards (Adams & Peterson) recorded double-digit efforts.

ASU TAKES NO. 14/15 MEMPHIS TO OT
The Red Wolves rose to the occasion against Memphis, taking the No. 14/15th ranked squad to overtime after tying the contest with only 34.1 seconds remaining. ASU trailed by 18 points in the first half but Bryant hit a free-throw with 34-seconds on the clock to tie the game. ASU defended well on the ensuing possession forcing the overtime.

NEW LOOK BENCH
ASU also got a new look on the end of the bench as two new coaches will be alongside Brady for the season after joining the program earlier this summer. “New” may be a misleading term as both these coaches bring a wealth of knowledge to the program. Isaac Brown begins his tenure as associate head coach and comes to ASU after serving as an assistant coach at Arkansas for the past three seasons. Prior to his time at Arkansas; Brown was an assistant coach at South Alabama. Richard Williams joined the coaching staff late in the summer and will serve as an assistant coach. Williams is well known as the former head coach at Mississippi State. While with the Bulldogs, Williams led the squad to the NCAA Final Four in 1996. During his time at MSU, Williams led his team to five postseason appearances and was named the SEC coach of the year twice.

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 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 greatly improved its defending and rebounding, finishing near the top of the conference in several statistical categories.
    Brady took a step further in his second season with The Red Wolves, improving their record to 17-14 and the team advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament finishing second in the west. Brady was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year and the District VII Coach of the Year by the USBWA. ASU led the league in three-point FG defense, rebounding offense and defensive rebounding.
    ASU also posted an 11-7 SBC record this season which was its best league mark since the 2006-07 season when ASU achieved the same record. Its 11-wins was the seventh-time since ASU joined the Sun Belt that they have posted double-digit league wins.
    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 has a well-documented record of success and a long list of accomplishments.
    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.