EMU Men's Basketball Opens Road Slate at Indiana Friday

Men's Basketball at Indiana
Date	Friday, Nov. 24
Venue	Bloomington, Ind. - Assembly Hall (17,222)
Preview Info	EMU Notes \| IU Notes
Live Stats	Live Stats vs. IU
Watch	BIG 10 Network
Listen	WEMU
Twitter	@EMUMBB \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team continues play in the 2017 Hoosier Tipoff Classic Friday, Nov. 24 as it travels to Bloomington, Ind. to take on tournament host Indiana University at 4:30 p.m. in Assembly Hall.
The Eagles conclude the Hoosier Classic by traveling to the Sunshine State and Tampa, Fla. to take on South Florida, Sunday, Nov. 26 at 4 p.m.

Fans can catch Friday's game on the Big Ten Network with Greg Amsinger providing play-by-play and Shon Morris serving as the analyst. The game can also be heard on WEMU 89.1 with Chad Bush on the play-by-play and Kyler Ludlow as analyst.

LAST TIME OUT: In its most recent game, Nov. 18, EMU remained perfect on the season with a 76-66 victory over Howard. The Eagles gained the lead early and never looked back, and were able to keep the Bison winless on the season.

Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) once again led the scoring for EMU, dropping in 21 points. It marked the third game this season that the Pittsburgh, Pa. native led the team in scoring with a 20+ point performance. Junior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) continued his dominance under the basket, notching his fourth double-double of the season with a 18 point, 14 rebound effort. Redshirt junior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr.(Eastern Kentucky)) put together another solid all-around performance for the Eagles, scoring 16 points while dishing out six assists and adding both a steal and a block.

AROUND THE TOURNAMENT: EMU's 76-66 win over Howard served as the Eagles' second game of the 2017 Indiana Hoosier Tipoff Classic, as the Green and White opened the classic with a 76-59 win over Arkansas State at the Convocation Center. Tournament-host Indiana (2-2) opened the classic with an 86-77 win over Howard (0-5), Nov. 12 and added a win over South Florida (2-2) Nov. 19. The tournament is comprised of five programs including, EMU (4-0), Arkansas State (2-2), Howard, South Florida, and Indiana.

REVERSING THE CURSE: The Green and White has struggled through in-season tournaments as of late. Over the last 10 years, EMU has notched a 16-21 record in such contests, most recently encountering problems in the 2016 2K Classic, going 1-3 against Pittsburgh, SMU, and IUPUI, with the team's lone win coming against Gardner-Webb.

ALL-TIME VS INDIANA: Eastern Michigan has played Indiana three times in its history, coming up short on all three occassions. The last time the Eagles played the Hoosiers, No. 16/17 IU came away with a 79-63 victory in Assembly Hall, Dec. 18, 2005. The other two meetings in the programs' history were Dec. 10, 1982 (IU 85, EMU 48), and Dec. 1, 1970 (IU 99, EMU 82).

ALL-TIME VS THE BIG TEN: EMU has taken on a B1G opponent in five of the last six years, with its most recent win coming in the 2014-15 season in a 45-42 victory over Michigan. Eastern has an all-time record of 13-76 against the conference, is 7-56 against Michigan and Michigan State, and is 6-20 against everyone else.

FAMILIAR SIDELINE FOE: Even though Friday's game is the first meeting between Eastern Michigan and Indiana during the Rob Murphy era of Eagles basketball, its not the first time Murphy has manned the sideline against Indiana head coach Archie Miller. Miller's University of Dayton squad handed Murphy's undefeated EMU team its first loss of the 2014-15 season Dec. 6, 2014.

1,000-POINT CLUB: With his 23-point performance against Arkansas State, Nov. 16, junior James Thompson IV eclipsed the career 1,000-point mark, becoming the 30th EMU student-athlete to reach the milestone in program history. Additionally, the 11 boards he pulled down in the same game moved him up to eighth all-time in career rebounds with 748, surpassing Kory Hallas (743, 1988-92) who played in 54 more games than Thompson . The junior is now just 18 rebounds behind Vince Giles (788, 1981-85) for seventh all-time, and is just the 13th player in EMU history to have both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their career.

WHO'S THE NEW GUY?: Elijah Minnie has put together a tremendous first four games as a member of the Green and White. The redshirt junior scored 22 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists, had three blocks, and swiped three steals in his debut against Spring Arbor, and has averaged 16.6 points per game since. The 22 points were the most scored in a debut-game since Willie Mangum IV score 18 in 2015, and the 49 combined points is the most by a new player in the modern statistical era (1998-present). The Pittsburgh, Pa. native is second on the team in rebounding and blocks, third on the team in steals, and leads the Eagles with a 95.2 free throw percentage.

I'LL TAKE THAT: After leading the Mid-American Conference in steals per game (9.6) last year, Eastern has continued that trend, currently averaging a conference-high 12.0 steals per game through its first four contests. Led by Tim Bond's MAC-best 13 steals, the Eagles have three players ranked within the conference's top-seven in average steals per game, totaling 48 thefts thus far.

OFF TO THE RACES: The four straight wins is the best start to a season since the 2014-15 campaign, which saw the Eagles win seven games before being handed their first loss. Additionally, the Green and White have only been able to start out 3-0 two other times since the turn of the century (2013-14, 2014-15), both of which fell under the tutelage of Head Coach Rob Murphy.

THE EDGE OF A REVOLUTION: The Eagles' high octane offense has been one of the best offensive displays by EMU through the first three games of a season in more than two decades. In fact, the Eagles have scored at least 76 points in each of the four games they have played thus far, marking the first time in over 20 years the team has accomplished such a start. The last time the team posted 76-or-more points in each of the first three contests to start the season came back in the 1996-97 campaign, which was just one year after Head Coach Rob Murphy graduated from college.

#DEFENDTHENEST: Eastern Michigan's defense has been one of the keys to its success to start the 2017-18 season, with the Eagles swiping 48 steals and blocking 22 shots (first and third in the MAC, respecitvely) in the first four games. EMU leads the conference with a +5.50 turnover margin early in the season, and also ranks fourth in the league with a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: Eastern Michigan has won 82 of its 106 home games during the Rob Murphy era of Eagles basketball. The Eagles have racked up a solid home-court advantage inside the friendly confines of the Convocation Center since the doors opened during the 1998-99 campaign. The Green and White have won 60 percent of the contests played in the building, piling up a 174-115 all-time mark.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern finishes the Hoosier Tipoff Classic with a trip to the Sunshine State and Tampa, Fla. to take on the University of South Florida, Sunday, Nov. 26. The Eagles complete the three-game road trip with a game at the University of North Florida, Wednesday, Nov. 29. EMU returns to the friendly confines of the Convocation Center for a short two-game home stretch against Oakland, Dec. 6, and Central State, Dec. 9.

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Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Eastern Michigan Athletics