Men's Hoops Travels to West Coast for Clash with Long Beach State

Men's Basketball at Long Beach State
Date	Saturday, Dec. 16 \| 4 p.m. PT
Venue	Long Beach, Calif. \| Walter Pyramid (4,200)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	BigWest.TV
Listen	WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) \| TuneIn Radio
Twitter	@EMUHoops \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team heads west for its furthest trip from home this season, taking on Long Beach State, Dec. 16 for a 4 p.m. PT battle.
   Saturday's matchup is the first in a three-game road swing for EMU, who will also play at nearby Oakland (Dec. 22), and at Syracuse (Dec. 27). The Eagles will wrap up the 2017 portion of their schedule with a home game against Rochester, Dec. 29.
   Fans can listen in to the Long Beach State game on WEMU 89.1 with Chad Bush on the play-by-play and Kyler Ludlow as analyst.

LAST TIME OUT: Eastern remained perfect at the Convocation Center on the season with an 80-65 victory over Central State, led by another eye-popping performance from James Thompson IV.
   The junior scored a team-high 19 points while pulling down a season-best 18 rebounds. Thompson was 9-of-10 from the floor, snapping a streak of 18 straight baskets made that spanned the last three games.
   Joining Thompson in double-digit scoring was redshirt junior Elijah Minnie, who also scored 19. Minnie has now scored double figures in seven of the Eagles' nine games. Fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson tossed in 14 points and had a team-high five assists, and senior Tim Bond scored 13 points while posting a second-straight game of six steals.

AMONG THE LEADING LEADERS: Eastern Michigan leads the Mid-American Conference in steals per game (11.1), blocked shots (6.1), rebound margin (+4.6), and team field goal percentage (.483). The Eagles are also in the top three in scoring margin (2nd - +11.0), defensive field goal percentage (2nd - .412), turnover margin (2nd - +3.22), scoring offense (3rd - 81.0), and scoring defense (3rd - 70.0).
   On the individual side, James Thompson IV leads the MAC in three categories (defensive rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game, and total rebounds per game), while Tim Bond (steals) and Elijah Minnie (free throw percentage) each lead in one.

RARE AIR: Junior center James Thompson IV is among the upper-echelon of big men in all of college basketball. Not only does he rank third in the country in rebounds per game (12.9), he's also third in double-doubles (8), and is eighth in field goal percentage (69.2 percent).
   The Baton Rouge, La. native is the national leader in rebound average for a career (11.2 rebounds per game), and is fifth in NCAA Division I in career rebounds (826), trailing four seniors.
   Thompson is also one of just six players in the country averaging over 16 points per game, 10 rebounds per game, and owns a shooting percentage above 60 percent. The others are Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Marvin Bagley (Duke), Devontae Cacok (UNC-Wilmington), Jessie Govan (Georgetown), and Brandon McCoy (UNLV). In addition, just three of those players (Cacok, Govan, and Thompson) are averaging more than 12 rebounds.

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 11.1 steals per game through its first nine contests. The Eagles also rank fifth in NCAA Division I in steals per game. Led by Tim Bond's 3.4 steals per game, the Eagles have four players ranked within the conference's top-10 in average steals per game, totaling 100 thefts thus far.

ALL-TIME VS LONG BEACH STATE: Saturday marks the third time in program history that Eastern Michigan has played Long Beach State, last taking on the 49ers Dec. 29, 2016. EMU emerged with a 98-72 victory thanks to a career performance from then-redshirt sophomore Jordan Nobles, as the lefty poured in a career-high 15 points and also grabbed eight rebounds. James Thompson IV scored 12 and Tim Bond added 10 in the win.
   Long Beach State was victorious, 99-63, in the only other meeting between the two teams back on January 5, 1971.

SLICE AND DICE: Redshirt junior Paul Jackson has been one of the top offensive threats for the Eagles all season long, averaging 16.0 points per game and leading the team in assists per game with a 4.4 mark. The Stone Mountain, Ga. native is currently second in the Mid-American Conference in assists per game, fourth in steals per game (1.8), and 16th in scoring average.
   Jackson has done most of his damage inside the three-point line, shooting an impressive 53.3 percent on two-point field goals. The point guard has scored in double-digits in eight of nine games on the season, reaching the 20-point plateau twice.

MINNIE STAYS HOT: With his 24-point performance against Oakland Dec. 6, redshirt junior Elijah Minnie has scored 20-or-more points in five of the Eagles' first nine games.
   The redshirt junior scored 22 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists, had three blocks, and swiped three steals in his EMU debut against Spring Arbor, and has averaged 17.9 points per game since. The 22 points were the most scored in a debut-game since Willie Mangum IV scored 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 also put on a show at Indiana, Nov. 24, scoring 20 points and burying a career-high five triples in the EMU loss. Minnie was named to the Hoosier Tip-off Classic All-Tournament team, averaging 13 points, six rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal per game. He also logged his first double-double of the season against North Florida, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 boards.

YOU DON'T SEE THAT EVERY DAY: With three Eagles (Jackson, Minnie, and Thompson) scoring 24 points against Oakland, Dec. 6, it marked the first time since 1985 that Eastern had three players score 20-or-more points in a single game against a Division I opponent.
   Jan. 30, 1985 saw Eastern travel to Toledo and come away with an 84-78 victory. In that game, Percy Cooper, Vince Giles, and Fred Cofield scored 26, 22, and 20 points, respectively.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan still has two games on its road swing after its trip to California, as it completes its rare non-conference home-and-home series with Oakland, Dec. 22, and then travels to Syracuse to finish the road venture, Dec. 27.

Men's Hoops Travels to West Coast for Clash with Long Beach State

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Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Elijah Minnie

Jordan Nobles

James Thompson IV

Eastern Michigan Athletics