Eagles Head to Kent for East-West Battle

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- After having its game with Ohio University cancelled and rescheduled, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team heads to Kent, Ohio to take on Mid-American Conference East Division opponent Kent State University Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.
    Eastern is now 10-10 on the 2012-13 campaign and 3-3 in conference play after picking up the 42-25 win at home against NIU. Senior guard Derek Thompson is leading the way offensively, posting 11.2 points per game. Leading the Eagles in rebounding is junior center Da'Shonte Riley who is pulling down 6.1 rebounds per game. Other notables this season have been transfers Glenn Bryant and Daylen Harrison. Bryant is posting 10 points per contest, while Harrison has been averaging 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in his first season competing for EMU. Freshman Jalen Ross is dishing out a team-high 3.2 assists per game.
    The Golden Flashes come into the contest tied for fourth place in the MAC East Division with a 2-5 conference record. KSU is 11-10 overall and have seen significant production from senior forward Chris Evans who is posting 16.6 points and 7.0 assists per game which leads Kent. Also posting big numbers for KSU has been Randal Holt, notching 13.7 points per game.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eagles' contest with the Golden Flashes will be broadcast on WEMU (89.1 FM). Veteran play-by-play voice Chad Bush will be on the call from the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.
    In addition to the WEMU broadcast, the game can be found on SportsTime Ohio, Comcast Cable's Channel 900 and ESPN3. Michael Reghi will serve as the play-by-play announcer with his broadcast partner David Cecutti serving as analyst.

ALL-TIME VERSUS KENT STATE: Saturday evening's contest will mark the 69th all-time meeting between the Golden Flashes and Eagles. Kent State holds the all-time series edge, 38-30. EMU and KSU first met during the 1973-74 campaign when Allan Freund was serving his second year as the team's head coach. The then-Hurons dropped a road contest against Kent, 60-56, Jan. 2, 1974. Later that season, EMU avenged its loss with a 60-54 home win, Feb. 13, 2012.
    Last season, Eastern saw Kent State just once during the campaign. The Eagles hosted Kent State, Feb. 8, 2012. EMU dropped a 62-58 decision as it had three players in double figures with Darrell Lampley leading the way with 18 points, while senior guard Antonio Green added 12 and junior forward Jamell Harris chipped in 10.

OHIO x2: Eastern's originally scheduled game with Ohio University was cancelled due to an incident that happened near the Ohio University campus in the morning, Feb. 30. Due to the campus being closed, it is Ohio University policy that all events on campus shall be cancelled as well.
The Eastern Michigan at Ohio game has officially been rescheduled and will be played on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. The Eagles will have to make the 263 mile trip from Ypsilanti, Mich. to Athens, Ohio for a second time this year.

CURSED BY KENT: The EMU men's hoops squad has not beat Kent State in its last 16 times squaring off with the Golden Flashes. The last time EMU defeated Kent was during the 1997-98 season when Derrick Dial and Jon Zajac led Eastern to its second NCAA Tournament in three years. The Eagles topped Kent on the road, 79-74, Feb. 7, 1998.

A HALF FOR THE AGES: Eastern showed just how dominant it can be defensively against Northern Illinois University, Jan. 26. EMU held the Huskies to just one field goal and a pair of free throws in the opening half for a total of four points. That four-point output broke their own record-low of five first-half points from Dec. 1, 2012. It also tied the 2008 Savannah State University Tigers for the fewest points scored in any half during the modern era.
    The one NIU basket also tied the NCAA record with Savannah State for fewest field goals made in one half. NIU also shot just 1-of-31 in the first half for a 3.2 percent conversion rate. That mark broke the record previously held by Savannah State, who went 1-of-23 en route to their four-point second half, Jan. 7, 2008.

EMU'S CAREER DIVISIONAL RECORD: The Mid-American Conference has had West-East Divisional competition since 1997-98. A complete list of divisional play is listed below.

EMU IN MAC DIVISIONAL PLAY

Year	MAC Record	Overall Record	Divisional Place
1997-98	13-5	20-10	3rd-West
1998-99	5-13	5-20	5th-West
1999-00	9-9	15-13	3rd-West
2000-01	1-17	3-25	6th-West
2001-02	2-16	6-24	6th-West
2002-03	8-10	14-14	T-4th-West
2003-04	7-11	13-15	5th-West
2004-05	5-13	12-18	6th-West
2005-06	3-15	7-21	5th-West
2006-07	6-10	13-19	4th-West
2007-08	8-8	14-17	T-2nd-West
2008-09	6-10	8-24	4th-West
2009-10	8-8	17-15	T-2nd-West
2010-11	5-11	9-22	T-4th-West
2011-12	9-7	14-18	1st-West
2012-13	3-3	10-10	T-2nd-West

MAKING MORE HISTORY IN YPSI: The first half with NIU was not the only thing which left the Huskies feeling blue. The Eagles forced NIU to shoot 8-of-61 from the field in the game including 1-of-33 from beyond the arc for a 13.1 shooting percentage making it the lowest field goal percentage in NCAA history since the beginning of the shot clock era in 1986. The previous record occurred, Dec. 29, 2001, when Miami University shot 13.3 percent from the floor, making 8-of-60 shots against University of Dayton.

NO NEED TO SCORE 44: The Eagles defeated Northern Illinois, 42-25, scoring less than 45 points, which was the first time EMU had completed that feat since Jan. 21, 2012, when it topped Toledo, 41-38. Eastern won, 41-38, when hosting Central Michigan, Jan. 21, 2011.

NEXT ON THE DOCKET, BUFFALO: After traveling to Kent, Ohio for a MAC tilt with the Kent State Golden Flashes, the Green and White will return home Wednesday, Feb. 6, for a regionally televised contest with the University at Buffalo on SportsTime Ohio and ESPN3. The Eagles will square off with the Bulls at 7 p.m. inside the Convocation Center.
Last season the Eagles saw Buffalo one time in a 65-47 loss on the road at Alumni Arena, Jan. 24, 2012, Darrell Lampley was the high-scorer for EMU after dropping 14. Quintin Dailey added 10 while Antonio Green chipped-in with seven points of his own. Da'Shonte Riley was a defensive standout with a career-high seven blocks, while adding eight rebounds in the Eagles' loss. Riley's seven blocks also tied him for second-most by an EMU player in a single game.

RILEY MAKING HISTORY: After 20 games this season Da'Shonte Riley has posted 46 blocked shots, which rank as the eighth most in a single season at Eastern Michigan. He is averaging 2.3 blocks per game and is on pace to stuff 71 shots this season which would be the fifth-most blocks in a single season at EMU. Theron Wilson (1992-93) holds the record for the most blocks in a single season with 96.

BLOCKING HIS WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOKS: Eastern Michigan senior forward, Jamell Harris, posted 40 blocks last season which ranks as the 10th-most in EMU laurels and his 72 blocks in 2009-10 ranks as fourth in the record book. The Euclid, Ohio native trails former EMU defensive great Theron Wilson (1992-96) by 97 blocks. Harris sits second in the record books with 158 career blocks.
Harris not only has been a force blocking shots, but he has made a name for himself on the glass as well. With 487 career rebounds, he is 24th all-time. Kennedy McIntosh (1967-71) has the most with 1,426.

IN THE NATIONAL RANKS: As of the last NCAA statistical update (Jan. 27), EMU ranks 19th in the NCAA in blocked shots per game (5.4).
Da'Shonte Riley is tied for 43rd in the nation for blocked shots per game (2.16).

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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