Eastern Returns to Athens for Match-Up with Bobcats

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -Coming off of its first road win of the 2012-13 campaign, a 56-50 win at Ball State University, Feb. 16, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will travel to Athens, Ohio for the second time in less than a month for a cross-divisional Mid-American Conference tilt Wednesday, Feb. 20, with reigning FirstEnergy MAC Tournament Champion, Ohio University. Tip at Ohio's Convocation Center is set for 7 p.m.
     Eastern is now 12-13 on the 2012-13 campaign and 5-6 in conference play, holding down the number three spot in the West Division. Redshirt junior Glenn Bryant is leading the offensive charge for the Green and White, posting 10.6 points per game, while senior Derek Thompson is putting up 10.3. Daylen Harrison is averaging 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds, while fellow transfer Da'Shonte Riley has led Eastern on the glass, hauling in 6.2 rebounds a game this season. Freshman Jalen Ross has dished out 70 assists, good for 2.8 per game, which tops EMU.
    The Bobcats come into the contest the second-best record (19-6, 10-1 MAC) in the conference. D.J. Cooper leads the Bobcats, scoring 13.6 points while distributing 7.7 assists per game. Ivo Baltic leads OU on the glass pulling down 5.2 boards and Walter Offutt and Reggie Keely are each averaging 11.6 points a game for the Bobcats.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eagles' contest with the Bobcats will be broadcast on WEMU (89.1 FM). Veteran play-by-play voice Chad Bush will be on the call from the Ohio Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio. Pre-game coverage of the matchup will begin at 6:50 p.m.

ALL-TIME VERSUS OHIO: Wednesday evening's contest will mark the 67th all-time meeting between the Bobcats and Eagles. Ohio holds the all-time series edge, 43-23. EMU and Ohio first met during the 1972-73 campaign when Allan Freund was serving his first year as the team's head coach. The then-Hurons dropped a road contest against Ohio, 89-73, Jan. 16, 1973.
     Last season, Eastern and Ohio had just one meeting. The Eagles handed Ohio one of its five conference losses last season. Eastern held the lead throughout the entire game as they won, 68-55, at the EMU Convocation Center. Derek Thompson scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Eagles while senior guard Antonio Green added 13 and junior forward Jamell Harris chipped in 12 to go along with a team-best seven rebounds. Following their loss to the Eagles, the Bobcats dropped just one game throughout the rest of the season before falling, 73-65, to the University of North Carolina, March 23, 2012, in overtime of a Sweet 16 game during the 2012 NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Mo.

EAGLES GRAB FIRST ROAD WIN OF 2012-13: After going 0-10 in its first 10 games on the road, EMU was able to knock-off Ball State, 56-50, at James E. Worthen Arena, Feb. 16. Eastern shot 22-of-39 (56.4 percent) from the floor, while hitting 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from three-point land en route to its first win away from the Convocation Center since Feb. 29, 2012, when the Eagles topped Western Michigan, 54-53, at University Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.

EMU ANNOUNCES TIME CHANGE FOR FEB. 23: The Eastern Michigan University Department of Athletics has announced a change to the game times for the Saturday, Feb. 23, basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center. The men's team will tipoff the doubleheader at noon against Missouri State University followed by the women's team playing Western Michigan University at 2:30 p.m.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Fort Wayne, Ind. native, J.R. Sims, showed why he likes the one trip yearly to his home state with a career game against Ball State, Feb. 16. Sims posted career-highs in points (18), field goals made (7) and three-point shots made (4), while tying his career-high in rebounds (4).

FIRST TIME TO 20: Despite scoring in double-figures on 15 different occasions prior to Saturday's contest at Ball State, first-year Eagle, Glenn Bryant, had not hit the 20-point mark in a single game yet. That changed against the Cardinals as Bryant dropped 20 points on 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) shooting from the floor.

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	5-6	12-13	3rd-West

EMU ATHLETICS AND LAFONTAINE PREPARE TO GIVE AWAY CAR: On Feb. 23, one lucky fan will win a GMC Terrain compliments of Eastern Michigan University, LaFontaine Buick GMC of Ann Arbor and Pakmode Media + Marketing. The promotion, “Win This Car” kicked off during football season when fans were given the chance to purchase discounted $5 tickets online at EMUTix.com by using promo code: WINCAR. On top of getting half off tickets, fans are automatically entered to win the Terrain by using the promo code. There is no maximum on the number of tickets each fan can purchase. The winner will win the Terrain with approximately 11,000 miles on it without the current promotional green car wrap on it.
    Fans will have until Feb. 21, to purchase tickets to win the GMC Terrain. Finalists will be contacted Friday, Feb. 22 and will be encouraged to attend the game on Feb. 23 (but are not required to be in attendance).

NEXT ON THE DOCKET, MISSOURI STATE: After traveling to Athens, Ohio, Eastern will head back to Ypsilanti, Mich. to take on Missouri State as part of the 2013 Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters event, Feb. 23. Tip at the Convocation Center is scheduled for noon, and it will be the first meeting between the two teams.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO CLEVELAND: With the 2013 FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament approaching, teams are jockeying for position, trying to get the best seed possible in Cleveland, Ohio. Currently, Eastern Michigan would be the No. 5-seed at Quicken Loans Arena. Despite having the sixth-best record in conference play this season, the Eagles would earn the fifth seed because Toledo is ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions.

HARRISON NAMED MAC SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Daylen Harrison was named the Mid-American Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Week by the league office today, Feb. 14, for the week, Feb. 4-10. The award is the first weekly conference award of Harrison's career.
     Harrison led the Eagles to a 1-1 split last week in MAC play. The Akron, Ohio native posted 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while picking up his first career double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) in a 60-52 loss to Toledo, Feb. 9. The redshirt junior's 19 points were a career-high and he shot 6-of-15 (40 percent) from the floor, while registering three steals, a pair of blocks and two assists at Savage Arena. Harrison averaged 31 minutes per game while shooting 10-for-27 (37 percent) from the field and hit 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line this week. EMU used nine points and five rebounds from Harrison to defeat Buffalo, 65-46, Feb. 6, including four field goals from the Akron, Ohio native.
    Harrison boasts a 3.53 grade point average as a Chemistry major. The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week award is given to MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better and performs well during the week's competition.

IT COULD STILL BE IN THE CARDS: If the EMU men's hoops squad can complete the rest of the 2012-13 campaign without losing a single game, it will end up with a 10-6 record which could prove to be enough to defend its 2011-12 MAC West Division Championship, where they won the division with a 9-7 conference record.

STRICK SHINES BRIGHT: Redshirt junior Anthony Strickland posted a season-best game in EMU's 70-62 loss to Akron. “Strick” posted 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. His four assists were a career-best, while he also went a 8-for-8 from the free throw line, which marks his best performance from the charity stripe.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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