Eagles Head to Omaha for Non-Conference Road Tilt

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- For the first time during the 2015-16 campaign, the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will travel outside the state of Michigan for a midweek matchup with the University of Nebraska Omaha Tuesday, Dec. 1. The Eagles' (4-2) contest with the Summit League opponent is slated for 7 p.m. at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb.

Eastern Michigan is coming off of a 79-63 victory over Madonna University and is looking for its first road win early on this season. The Green and White has yet to win a game away from the Convocation Center after falling to both Oakland University (Nov. 18) and No. 3/4 Michigan State (Nov. 23).

The Mavericks (3-3) come into the Tuesday evening contest after dropping two of its previous three games, all of which were on the road. Most recently, the Mavericks fell by a close three-point, 93-90, margin at the University of Minnesota Friday, Nov. 27.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eastern Michigan versus Nebraska Omaha 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. Coverage on 89.1 FM will begin 10 minutes prior to tipoff.

For those who prefer to watch the game, it will be broadcast on Nebraska Omaha's live webstreaming service. Eagle fans wishing to watch the stream can navigate through the Bears' website, www.OMavs.com to access the stream

ALL-TIME VERSUS THE MAVERICKS: Tuesday's 7 p.m. CT contest will be the first time that EMU and UNO will meet on the hardwood.

LIKELY LOOK FOR THE MAVERICKS...

#	Name	Pos.	Cl.	Ht.	Wt.	ppg	rpg	apg	Hometown-Previous School
3	Devin Patterson	G	Sr.-Sr.	5-11	160	12.7	1.0	2.5	Portsmouth, Va.-New Mexico JC
15	Tre'Shawn Thurman	F	So.-So.	6-7	230	14.8	7.5	1.0	Omaha, Neb.-Omaha Central
21	Zach Jackson	G	Fr.-Fr.	6-5	180	6.3	2.8	1.7	Wichita, Kan.-Wichita East
24	Tra-Deon Hollins	G	Jr.-Jr.	6-2	190	9.2	5.0	5.8	Omaha, Neb.-Chipola College
43	Jake White	F	Sr.-Sr.	6-8	235	16.3	4.2	0.2	Chaska, Minn.-Wichita State

MURPHY VERSUS THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: EMU Head Coach Rob Murphy owns a perfect 2-0 record against teams who compete in the Summit League. Murphy first led the Eagles to a 66-64 victory against IUPUI, Nov. 20, 2011, in his first season before handling IPFW, 60-47, the following year, Nov. 17, 2012, as part of the 2012 Ice Man Classic.

ROAD WARRIORS: The EMU men's basketball team is hitting the road for just the third time this season, but the first time exiting the state of Michigan. In fact, the Eagles will be flying across the country over the next three weeks, playing four of its next five games away from Ypsilanti. In total, the Green and White will travel 3,930 miles between Monday, Nov. 30 and Monday, Dec. 21, going as far west as Omaha, Neb. and traveling to the east coast to Baltimore, Md.

THOMPSON, ON A TEAR: True freshman center James Thompson IV just needed a few games to get his bearings at the NCAA Division I level. The Baton Rouge, La. native put together back-to-back double-double performances, first going for a career-best 32 points and 13 rebounds versus Marygrove, Nov. 25. Following that performance, the 6-foot-10 center notched 23 points and another career-high 15 rebounds. Overall, the last two games Thompson is averaging 27.5 points and 14 rebounds per contest. For the season, Thompson is averaging 14 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, while knocking down 64.8 percent of his field goal attempts. His 10.8 rebounds per game are good for 15th in the nation, while his shooting percentage ranks 20th.

CAUSING HAVOC IN THE ZONE: EMU Head Coach Rob Murphy preaches defense, defense, defense and its evident in the exceptional 2-3 zone run by Eastern. The Eagles have forced each of its 2015-16 opponents into double-digit turnover numbers. In fact, No. 3/4 Michigan State and Oakland are the only two squads to keep that number underneath 15. On the year, EMU is forcing 19.7 turnovers per game, ranking 10th in the NCAA in turnover margin and forcing 6.3 more turnovers per game than its opposition. In addition, the Green and White rank fourth in the country in steals per game, picking the opponents' pocket 11.7 times per game. They trail the NCAA's leader, West Virginia, by just 0.6 steals per contest.

FEED THE FRESHMAN: EMU freshman center James Thompson IV has already shown himself to be one of the more dominant freshman in the Mid-American Conference early on in the 2015-16 campaign. In fact, Thompson's 14 points per game lead all freshmen in the MAC. The next closest to Thompson is Northern Illinois' Marshawn Wilson who is notching 10.8 points per contest. In addition, Thompson is not only outrebounding every other freshman in the MAC with 10.8 board per game, but he leads the conference and is the only freshman in the top-20. The Baton Rouge, La. native also leads the MAC in blocks per game at 2.5.

NEW CREW: Despite the absence of EMU's top leading scorer from a season ago through the first six games of the season, Eastern has found some scoring in new places. Of the 482 points scored this season, 270 have been scored by student-athletes who are new to the EMU men's basketball program. That number is 56 percent of the scoring by the 2015-16 Eagles. Leading the charge for the newcomers are junior college transfer guards Willie Mangum IV (17.3 ppg) and Ty Toney (12.3 ppg). In addition, freshman center James Thompson IV is adding 14 points per contest for the Green and White.

QUARTERBACKING THE OFFENSE: To most EMU fans, Tim Bond was known more for his high flying abilities but the Eagles have called upon Bond for another form of offense. It looks as though the sophomore guard will be taking over the point guard role in Rob Murphy's offense. It has been evident that since Bond took on that role prior to the Eagles' game with Marygrove, he has flourished as the point man. In his first two games at the helm of the offense, Bond has accumulated 14 assists, good for seven per game.

A LOOK AHEAD: Following the midweek contest with the Mavericks, Dec. 1, the Eagles will board a plane yet again to head east. Saturday, Dec. 5, the Green and White will square off with its second Big Ten opponent of the season when EMU hits the court at the Bryce Jordan Center to take on Penn State at noon. That game will air live on the Big Ten Network.

A LOOK AT THE CONFERENCE LEADERS: Eastern Michigan has positioned itself near the top of multiple statistical categories in the Mid-American Conference as of Nov. 29. Let's take a look...

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE RANKINGS as of Nov. 29
Player	Category	Rank	Number
Eastern Michigan	Steals per game	1st	11.7 (fourth nationally)
Eastern Michigan	Turnover Margin	1st	+6.3 (ninh nationally)
Eastern Michigan	Blocks per game	1st	5.0 (57th nationally)
Eastern Michigan	Field goal percentage defense	2nd	36.7 (27th nationally)
Eastern Michigan	Scoring Margin	3rd	+15.2 (43rd nationally)
James Thompson IV	Blocks per game	1st	2.5 (28th nationally)
James Thompson IV	Rebounds per game	1st	10.8 (15th nationally)
James Thompson IV	Field goal percentage	2nd	64.8 (20th nationally)

THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: Head Coach Rob Murphy is in his fifth season at the helm of the Eastern Michigan men's basketball program. Since taking over prior to the 2011-12 season, Murphy has amassed 77 wins which is good for the fifth-most by an EMU coach. Ben Braun set the mark in his 10-plus years, recording 185 as EMU's head man.

ALL-TIME COACHING RECORDS

Rank	Coach	Years	Wins/yr.	Record
1.	Ben Braun	1986-96	16.8/yr	185-132 (.570)
2.	Elton J. Rynearson	1917-21; 1925-32 1935-40; 1944-46	8.8/yr	160-129 (.554)
3.	James D. Dutcher	1966-72	21.2.yr	127-49 (.770)
4.	Jim Boyce	1979-86	14/yr	84-96 (.467)
5.	Rob Murphy	2011-Present	18.3/yr (Four-year total)	77-67 (.535)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Willie Mangum IV

James Thompson IV

Ty Toney

Eastern Michigan Athletics