Men's Hoops Completes Non-Conference Road Slate at Missouri State

MSU Game Notes

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- After falling on the road, 66-46, to No. 25-ranked Michigan State University on Wednesday, Dec. 17, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team returns to action Saturday, Dec. 20, for its final contest of a four-game road trip during the month of December. The Eagles (8-2) will travel to Missouri State University to take on the Bears (5-5) in a rematch of the Green and White's 2013 Ramada Bracketbusters contest with MSU.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eastern Michigan versus Missouri State contest can be found on both 89.1 FM WEMU. Fans can dial into 89.1 FM or listen over the internet to the smooth sounds of veteran play-by-play voice, Chad Bush. Joining Bush on the call will be analyst Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director Sean Hostetter.
For those who prefer to watch the game, it will be broadcast on Missouri State's live webstreaming service. Eagle fans wishing to watch the stream can navigate through the Bears' website, www.MissouriStateBears.com to access the stream.

ALL-TIME VERSUS MISSOURI STATE: Saturday's 2 p.m. (CT) contest will be just the third time that Eastern Michigan and Missouri State have squared off on the hardwood. The Eagles have yet to defeat the Bears, falling both in 2010 and 2013.
The last time these two squads met up, Eastern was on the wrong side of a 57-54 decision. Back in Rob Murphy's second season at the helm of the EMU men's basketball program, the Eagles shot 20-of-44 (40.9 percent) and outrebounded the visiting Bears, 32-29. Derek Thompson led all scorers with 19 points and Austin Harper demonstrated his skills as a playmaker, dishing out six assists in 29 minutes played.

LIKELY LOOK FOR THE BEARS...

#	Name	Pos.	Cl.	Ht.	Wt.	ppg	rpg	apg	Hometown-High School
2	Austin Ruder	G	So.	6-3	190	10.3	2.7	1.8	Nixa, Mo.-Nixa
3	Loomis Gerring	F	Jr.	6-5	205	7.0	3.5	0.8	Grandview, Mo.-Grandview
11	Marcus Marshall	G	Jr.	6-3	190	22.9	2.5	1.4	St. Paul, Minn.-Johnson
23	Dorrian Williams	G	Jr.	6-3	190	8.5	4.9	4.5	Oklahoma City, Okla.-Douglass
30	Camryn Boone	F	Jr.	6-6	240	7.0	5.8	0.5	Seattle, Wash.-Mountain View

A LOOK AT THE BEARS: Missouri State relies heavily on their combination guard Marcus Marshall for the most of their offense. Marshall is averaging 22.9 points per game and ranks in the top-10 of the country in both scoring and three-point field goal percentage. The Bears have a good compliment of guards to play side-by-side with Marshall as sophomore Austin Ruder is posting 10.3 points per contest, while Dorrian Williams posts 4.5 assists per game, good for third in the Missouri Valley Conference.
As a team, the Eagles will have the size advantage. MSU starts players at 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-6 in the post, averaging just 33.2 rebounds per game, while EMU pulls down 41.5.

PUT IT BEHIND YOU: Sometimes there are those performances that need to be forgotten. Eastern struggled on the offensive end versus Michigan State, Dec. 17. The Eagles were held to just 46 points, the second-lowest of the season, while also shooting a season-low 26.6 percent from the floor. In addition, the Green and White went just 4-for-22 from the three-point line, the second-lowest on the year.

MID-MAJOR SUCCESS: In the last two seasons, Rob Murphy's squads are 9-0 in non-conference games versus mid-major programs. Eastern looks to make it a perfect 10-0 vs. MSU.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE POSITIVES: Although the result wasn't what Head Coach Rob Murphy and his squad were hoping for at the end of 40 minutes in East Lansing, the Eagles saw some positives come out of the loss. Eastern held Michigan State to its second-lowest shooting percentage on the season at 37.7 percent, while their 33.3 three-point field goal percentage was the second lowest percentage from downtown. The Spartans' worst shooting performance came against then No. 11-ranked Kansas and their lowest three-point percentage was against No. 4-ranked Duke. In addition, the Eagles recorded eight blocks versus the No. 25-ranked Spartans, which was the third time this season EMU has recorded 8-or-more blocks in a single game.

TIME TO BOUNCE BACK: Eastern Michigan has lost just two games this season and bounced back from its first one quite nicely. After a 73-64 setback at the hands of Dayton, the Eagles came out to top a Big Ten Conference opponent for the first time since Rob Murphy's 2012-13 squad knocked off Purdue. Along with that, it was EMU's first win versus Michigan since the 1997-98 campaign. The last time that the Green and White has lost back-to-back non-conference contests is when Eastern dropped two in a row to NCAA top-10 ranked opponents last year. The Eagles fell 82-59 at No. 9 Duke, Dec. 28 before dropping a 70-48 decision at the hands of No. 2 Syracuse, Dec. 31.

COMPLETING THE GAUNTLET: Eastern Michigan just completed a stretch in which it faced three-straight opponents from the Elite Eight in the prior season. The Eagles came out of the three-game stretch with a 1-2 record, which included a 45-42 victory over Washtenaw County rival Michigan, Dec. 9.

LAST TIME THEY TOOK DOWN THE MVC: Eastern Michigan has not shared recent success versus Missouri Valley Conference opponents. In fact, the last time the Green and White knocked off a team from the MVC was during the 1999-2000 season. The then-Milton Barnes led Eagles dropped newly added to the MVC, Loyola Chicago, 68-64, on Dec. 3, 1999.

TRYING OUT THE TRIFECTA: It seems as though Eastern Michigan has fallen in love with taking the three-ball this season. The Eagles are attempting 21.9 three-point shots per contest this year. Since Rob Murphy took over prior to the 2011-12 campaign, the Green and White hoisted 15.6 triples per game in his first season, 14.7 in his second season and 16.4 last year. Jodan Price and Karrington Ward have raised from beyond the arc the most for EMU, as the duo is accounting for 10.3 three-point attempts per game. That's 47 percent of the team's three-point tries.

FILLING HIS ROLE: Redshirt-sophomore Jodan Price came into the EMU program known for his three-point shooting ability. The Indianapolis, Ind. native has appeared in all 10 games for the Green and White and has converted on at least one triple try in every contest. Price averaged 5.2 triple tries per game in his first season of competition at Eastern Michigan.

MID-MAJOR MADNESS: After starting the season 6-0, the 31-coach panel of mid-major head coaches across the country felt that EMU had earned a spot in the Dec. 1 version of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. The Eagles came in at No. 20, marking the second time Eastern earned a spot in the poll in the history of the mid-major top 25. Not only is it the second year in a row that the Eagles earned a spot in the poll, but their current ranking of 18th is the highest that EMU has ever been voted.

ONE TO REMEMBER: The Dec. 9, 2014 EMU men's basketball contest will go down in history for the men's basketball program. Eastern came away with a 45-42 victory in Ann Arbor, Mich. defeating Michigan, its cross-county rival for just the third time in 31 meetings between to two programs.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Head coach Rob Murphy preaches the importance of defense to his squad on a normal basis. It showed in the Eagles' victory over Michigan, Dec. 9. The Eagles held the Wolverines to just 42 points, their fewest point total since Feb. 9, 2009, when the Maize and Blue fell to then-No. 9 Michigan State University, 54-42.