Eastern Invades Manhattan for CIT Matchup

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - After knocking off Norfolk State University, 58-54, in the first round of the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), the Eastern Michigan men's basketball team will find itself traveling to New York, N.Y. to square off with Columbia University to take on the Lions in a second round contest Saturday, March 22, at 7 p.m. inside Levien Gymnasium.

The win over Norfolk State marks the first postseason victory in program history since the 1995-96 campaign when the Eagles knocked off Duke University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, Eastern currently maintains a 22-14 record which is the most wins in a single season for the EMU basketball program since the 1996-97 team that also won 22. With a second round CIT victory, the Green and White will have the fourth-most victories in EMU's 117-year basketball history and the most since the Green and White totaled 25 wins in 1995-96.

Columbia is currently 20-12 and finished tied for third in their conference with an 8-6 mark in Ivy League contests. Columbia knocked off Valparaiso University, 58-56, in the first round of the CIT Tuesday, March 18, on a buzzer beater, advancing the Lions into the second round.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eagles' contest with the Lions will hit the airwaves of 89.1 FM (WEMU). In addition to the WEMU broadcast, fans can watch the game live on a live streaming service provided by CollegeInsider.com.

Veteran "Voice of the Eagles" Chad Bush will serve as EMU's play-by-play announcer for the WEMU broadcast, while Sean Hostetter will join the broadcast as the analyst.

RILEY NAMED MAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Da'Shonte Riley was named the 2013-14 MAC Defensive Player of the Year as announced by the league office, March 11. The senior center earned the honor after the 12 head coaches of the conference voted on the award.

Riley finished the regular season with 87 blocks, while averaging 2.8 rejections per contest, which is the best in the MAC. The senior rejected five-or-more blocks in seven games, and four-or more in10. The Detroit, Mich. native has been an important piece of the 2-3 zone defense, which ranked as the top field goal defense in the country.

The seven-footer's ability to block shots has earned him a spot in the Eastern Michigan record books as well. Currently, he has the second-most rejections in a single season with 88, just eight behind Theron Wilson. He also trails Wilson in career blocks with 188 over the course of two and a half seasons.

WARD EARNS ALL-MAC THIRD TEAM HONORS: Junior forward Karrington Ward earned All-MAC Third Team honors the league office announced, March 10. Ward is the first EMU student-athlete to be named to the All-MAC Third Team since 2012 senior Darrell Lampley earned the honor.

The 6-foot-7 forward led the Eagles in scoring (12.5 ppg) which ranked as the 15th most in the MAC. In addition to his stellar scoring effort, the Lockport, Ill. native also led the Green and White in rebounding (6.4 rpg) which is the 12th best in the league, while also tying as the seventh best defensive rebounder with five per contest. Ward also ranks 12th in both steals (1.5 spg) and three point field goal percentage (36.2 percent).

BUILDING A LEGACY: EMU Head Coach Rob Murphy broke the 50 win plateau during just his third season at the helm of the program. At a career record of 52-50, he is the first EMU head man to post higher than a .500 record and he is averaging just a touch over 17 wins per season. Following the Ben Braun era, the next three head coaches combined for 178 wins in 15 seasons, good for just under 12 contests. In fact, in his 10.5 years at the head of the program Braun averaged just over 17 wins per year as well. Under Braun, the Eagles won 185 games, along with three MAC Tournament titles and had four postseason appearances.

THE BEST IN THE FIELD: According to the NCAA.com Daily RPI Rankings, Eastern Michigan has the best RPI of the teams competing in the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament at 86. There are just six other teams with RPI's under 100.

A LOOK INSIDE THE RPI: Eastern Michigan has the best RPI rating of any team playing in the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament according to NCAA.com's RPI update as of March 17. The Eagles rank 86th, while EMU's opponent, Columbia, holds the 130-overall RPI in the country, coming in as the sixth-lowest RPI of any team in the CIT.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Eastern Michigan has had its issues on the road. In non-conference play, the Green and White won just one road game. That was an overtime victory over Oakland, 81-79, in Rochester, Mich. Eastern also lost to Kentucky, Purdue, Duke and Syracuse in non-conference play. The Eagles' last road win came Feb. 12, 2014 when they downed Ball State, 73-62.

THE FIRST TIME SINCE: Eastern Michigan won its first postseason contest since the Eagles defeated Duke University by a decisive 75-60 margin in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. The 1995-96 season was one that saw the Eagles win not only the MAC regular season championship, but the Green and White cruised to a MAC Tournament title as well. Eastern won the second most games in the history of the program with 25 that season.

HEADING TO THE EMPIRE STATE: The Eagles are making their second trip of the season to the Empire State. The Green and White traveled to Syracuse for a contest with the Orange, Dec. 31, coming up short, 70-48, inside the Carrier Dome.

In total, since Rob Murphy took over at EMU, the Eagles have played in seven games with teams from the state of New York. In those contests, Eastern Michigan holds just a 2-5 record. Both wins have come against Mid-American Conference foe, Buffalo.

ONE OF THREE: Eastern Michigan was not the only Mid-American Conference member to play in the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Eagles were joined by Akron and Ohio in the tournament as each of these members post records with 20-or-more wins. The Bobcats are still alive, while the Zips bowed out in a first round loss to Cleveland State.

THE SIXTH POSTSEASON APPEARANCE: In 117 years of varsity men's basketball at EMU, the Green and White has made its way into the postseason on five occasions. When the Eagles took the floor versus Norfolk State, March 18, in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, it marked the sixth time that the Green and White has made a postseason appearance.

OTHER THAN THE NCAA: Eastern is not a stranger to postseason tournaments outside of the NCAA. The Eagles played in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) following the 1994-95 regular season. The Green and White traveled to Bradley for a first round game in which EMU fell, 85-86, in a double overtime thriller.

JUST ONE SHY: Da'Shonte Riley has become one of the most illustrious shot blockers in EMU history, deflecting 191 shots in his career, including 95 in the 2013-14 season alone. Riley's 95 rejections this season rank as the second-most in a single season, while he trails Theron Wilson's 96 from the 1992-93 campaign.

GETTING DEFENSIVE IN THE TOURNAMENT: The Eagles' defense showed up in the MAC Tournament, holding teams to less than 60 points (57.8 ppg) in the four games. Glenn Bryant and Da'Shonte Riley led that charge, notching a combined 19 blocks. Bryant posted 11 of those, averaging 2.75 blocks per contest in the tournament.

THEN THERE WERE FIVE: The Mid-American Conference placed a conference record five teams in postseason play this year. Other than the Eagles, Western Michigan will appear in the NCAA Tournament, Toledo will play in the NIT, while Akron and Ohio join EMU in the CIT.

HOW DOES THAT WORK?: In their run to the semifinal round of the 2014 MAC Tournament, the Eagles won three-straight tournament contest. That number marks the most by any team that participated in the tournament, but how did EMU not win the tournament you ask? The current tournament format sees that the top two seeds start in the semifinals, while the third and fourth seeded teams start their run in the quarterfinal round. The number five through 12 seed must win five games in six days, while the top-four seeds only have two and three games to win to be crowned the MAC Tournament champion.

EASTERN IN THE POSTSEASON: Eastern Michigan has seen the postseason in five years prior to 2014. The Eagles have competed in the NCAA Tournament on four separate occasions and boast a record of 3-4. In addition, the Green and White is just 0-1 in its only NIT appearance back in 1995. After the win versus Norfolk State, EMU moved to 4-5 all-time in postseason play.

THE COMEBACK KIDS: Eastern Michigan trailed by double-digits in its first two games played at Quicken Loans Arena in the 2014 MAC Tournament presented by Barbasol. In EMU's 53-48 victory over Northern Illinois, Eastern trailed NIU by 11 at the half, but the Eagles' stifling defense held the Huskies to just three field goals and 13 total points in the second half to comeback and take the victory that sent them into the quarterfinal round.

Again, the Eagles trailed Buffalo in their third round game by as many as 10. EMU rallied a second time after holding Javon McCrea, the 2014 MAC Player of the Year, to a season-low seven points, regaining the lead late in the game, securing Eastern's trip to the semifinals.

DOUBLE DIGIT AFFAIRS: Karrington Ward has proven to be one of the most consistent scorers since putting on the EMU jersey. In 35 games played for the Eagles, the Lockport, Ill. native has scored in double figures on 24 different nights, including four games where he has scored 20-or-more points. The junior set a career-high versus Cleveland State, Nov. 18, 2013, with a 28 point outburst.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Related News

Next Event

Related Videos