Eagles Flock South to Take on ULM in First Round of CBI

MONROE, La. (EMUEagles.com) -- For the second-straight season the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball program will be playing in a postseason tournament. EMU has accepted a bid to play in the 2015 College Basketball Invitational. First round play will begin March 17-18 and the Eagles (21-13) will travel to the University of Louisiana at Monroe, March 18, at 7 p.m. The Green and White is coming off of a 78-67 setback in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, March 12, while the Warhawks (21-12) fell in the semifinal round of the 2015 Sun Belt Confernce Men's Basketball Championship, March 14. ULM fell, 44-43, at the hands of the eventual Georgia Southern University. Tickets are available by contacting the Louisiana Monroe Ticket Office.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: The Eastern Michigan versus Louisiana Monroe contest can be found on 89.1 FM WEMU and Warhawks All-Access. 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 of the game on 89.1 will begin at 6:50 p.m.
For those who prefer to watch the game, it will be broadcast on Louisiana Monroe's live webstreaming service Warhawks All-Access. Subscriptions for Warhawks All-Access start at just $9.95 and can be purchased at ULMWarhawks.com.

ALL-TIME VERSUS LOUISIANA MONROE: Eastern Michigan has only squared off with the institution now known as the University of Louisiana at Monroe once in the two team's series history. The then-Hurons and then-Northeast Louisiana University squared off on Dec. 20, 1972. In that contest, Eastern dropped a 70-67 decision at venerable Bowen Field House.

LIKELY LOOK FOR THE WARHAWKS...

#	Name	Pos.	Cl.	Ht.	Wt.	ppg	rpg	apg	Hometown-Previous School
5	Jamaal Samuel	F	Jr.	6-9	205	6.5	3.5	0.5	New Orleans, La.-Illinois State
11	Nick Coppola	G	So.	5-11	190	9.6	3.0	3.8	Richmond, Va.-Benedictine Prep
12	Tylor Ongwae	F	Sr.	6-7	205	13.5	6.8	2.8	Eldoret, Kenya-Ranger College
13	Majok Deng	F	Sr.	6-10	190	10.0	7.2	1.2	Adelaide, Australia-Indian Hills CC
32	Justin Roberson	G	Jr.	6-1	185	9.2	4.0	2.6	Natchitoches, La.-Western Texas

MURPHY IN THE POSTSEASON: EMU Head Men's Basketball Coach Rob Murphy has taken the Eagles to the postseason on one other occasion when qualifying for the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament last year. In the CIT, the Green and White went 1-1, first defeating Norfolk State at home, 58-54, March 18, 2014 at the Convocation Center. Following the win at home, the Eagles took off to the Big Apple to square off with Columbia, March 22. In that second round contest, Eastern suffered a 69-59 setback. The appearance in the 2014 CIT was the first time the Eagles went to the postseason since their NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998.

LEE GETS HOT IN THE TOURNAMENT: Eastern's Raven Lee shone on the biggest stage for the Eagles as they tried for a MAC Tournament Championship. The redshirt-sophomore first thrived under pressure in EMU's hard-fought 62-61 win over Miami in the first round of the tournament, March 9. In that game, the 6-foot-3 guard knocked down a shot from long range with 14 seconds on the clock to force the game to go to overtime, where the Eagles came away with a win. In the second round, Lee put up 27 points against Bowling Green as EMU defeated the Falcons to move on to the quarterfinals for the third-straight season. Although they were eliminated from tournament play, the Detroit, Mich. native led the Eagles in scoring in their 78-67 quarterfinal setback to Toledo. Overall in the tournament, Lee posted 20.7 points per game to go along with an 84.2 mark from the charity stripe.

ANOTHER RUN FALLS SHY: Despite making another run in the MAC Tournament, making it to the quarterfinals for the third-straight season, the Eagles fell short of their goal in earning a bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament after falling to Toledo, March 12.

EMU IN THE POSTSEASON: Eastern Michigan has made its way into postseason tournaments on seven different occasions, four of which were trips to the "Big Dance". Overall, the Green and White is 4-6 in postseason play. In NCAA Tournament games, EMU sports a record of 3-4. Eastern is 0-1 in the NIT and 1-1 in the CIT. The 2014-15 season marks the first time that the Eagles will appear in the College Basketball Invitational.

FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME: Twenty win seasons have become the benchmark of a NCAA basketball team's success. This season, both the Eastern Michigan men's and women's basketball teams recorded 20-or-more wins. This is the first time in EMU history that this has occurred.

BACK-TO-BACK POSTSEASON APPEARANCES: Entering the College Basketball Invitational marks the second-straight season that the Green and White will be playing postseason basketball. Last year, Eastern went 1-1 in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, marking EMU's first trip to a postseason tournament since the 1997-98 campaign when Earl Boykins and Derrick Dial led Eastern Michigan to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In the season prior, Boykins and Dial made it to the "Big Dance" as well, marking the only other time an EMU squad has made postseason play in the institution's history.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Redshirt-sophomore guard Raven Lee has shown his dynamic scoring ability throughout his career but the Detroit, Mich. native has turned it on during the 2014-15 campaign, averaging 16.7 points per game. Currently, Lee has scored 993 career points, needing just seven more to get to 1,000. Currently, Lee is 29th on the EMU all-time scoring list.

1,000 IN FIRST TWO: Detroit, Mich. native Raven Lee needs seven points to grab 1,000 for his career. If he can pull off that feat, he would be the first EMU men's basketball player to complete that accomplishment in their first two seasons at EMU since Bryant Kennedy did during his first two seasons (1990-91 & 1991-92). Lee's numbers do include his "true" freshman season when he was sidelined after eight games with a foot injury. He scored 44 points in that eight-game span.

THE KING OF THIEVES: Senior point guard Mike Talley took the floor versus Ball State with a defensive mentality and it showed in his performance. The Detroit, Mich. native forced multiple BSU turnovers, while picking the Cardinals' pockets on six different occasions. Those six steals tied the fourth-most in a single game by an Eagle, dating back to the 1998-99 campaign. In fact, Talley currently has 55 steals to his credit this year, ranking tied for the ninth-most in a single season.

DUAL THREAT: Senior forward Karrington Ward has entered the top-50 all-time in EMU laurels in both scoring and rebounding. The Lockport, Ill. native has scored 891 points in his career, making him tied for 36th all-time, while he has pulled down 456 rebounds while donning the Green and White. That number puts him tied at 30th on the EMU all-time rebounding list with Theron Wilson and he is just 1-of-31 members in both the top-50 scoring and rebounding lists.

TAKE ME DOWNTOWN: For those who like skyscrapers and busy streets, they'd like to watch the Eastern Michigan men's basketball team. The Eagles have already amassed 223 three-point field goal makes this season. That number marks the third-most in a single season by an EMU hoops squad.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CHARITY: This EMU squad really likes stepping to the charity stripe. In fact, Eastern has already made 573 free throws this season, while knocking down 71.4 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe. The 573 free throw makes is the second-most in a single season, while their 71.4 clip ranks tied for the No. 4 spot in the EMU record books.

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Players Mentioned

Ray Lee

Mike Talley

Karrington Ward

Eastern Michigan Athletics