Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
South Carolina
Eagles Set to Close Out Non-Conference at South Carolina
12/28/2022 6:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Eastern looking for another victory before heading into MAC play
| Men's Basketball at South Carolina | |
| Date | Friday, Dec. 30 | 7 p.m. |
| Venue | Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena |
| Preview Info | EMU Notes (PDF) | Media Guide (PDF) | Digital Game Programs |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Watch | SEC Network+ on ESPN+ |
| Listen | WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) | The Varsity Network App | Eastern Insider Podcast |
| @EMU_MBB | @EMUAthletics | |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season when it takes on the Gamecocks of the University of South Carolina Friday, Dec. 30, inside Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. The Eagles (3-9, 0-0 MAC), 79-77 victors over the University of Detroit Mercy in their last outing, Dec. 18, will face a Gamecocks team (6-6, 0-0 SEC) that is 5-0 at home this year.
The game, which is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff, will air on SEC Network+ with Dave Weinstein and John Williams on the call. Tom Helmer, the Voice of the Eagles, will have the radio call on WEMU (89.1 FM) and the Varsity Network app.
OPENING TIPS:
» Eastern's game with South Carolina marks the third time this season the Eagles have faced a school for the first time after having played Winthrop University and Florida Atlantic University already.
» The Eagles are looking to post wins in back-to-back games this season and for the first time since Eastern won three home games in a row last year, Dec. 5-Dec. 11, 2021.
» A win at South Carolina also would give Eastern its 675th all-time win as an NCAA Division I member.
» In the game with Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, the Eagles converted 23-of-26 free throw attempts (88.5 percent), the eighth-best percentage in George Gervin GameAbove Center history.
» Tyson Acuff has been a major catalyst for the Eagles as the sophomore recently scored 19 points against Detroit Mercy while adding career-highs in steals (five) and assists (six) and turning the ball over just twice. His thefts are the most in a game since Yeikson Montero had five against Bowling Green, Feb. 23, 2021.
» Emoni Bates remains in the top 30 nationally in scoring at 19.4 points per game after recording his ninth game with 10+ points this season (in 11 games) after doing so just eight times in 18 games last year.
» Bates connected on four treys against Detroit Mercy to mark the seventh game he has hit at least three triples in a game after doing so just three times last year at Memphis.
» Eastern has recorded at least one made three-point basket in 563 consecutive games.
» Yusuf Jihad had a career day against Detroit Mercy as he more than doubled his career-high for points with 17 while posting five other career highs and three more season highs.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA: First-year head coach Lamont Paris' Gamecocks enter the game with a 6-6 overall record with a 5-0 record at home inside Colonial Life Arena after a 65-58 home win over Western Kentucky University, Dec. 22. Four players are averaging 11.0 points or better this season with Gregory "GG" Jackson II leading the charge with 16.6 points per contest, the fifth-highest in the SEC, and a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game as well. Meechie Johnson, who is averaging 11.1 points per game, leads the team with 3.8 assists per game.
IN THE SERIES WITH SOUTH CAROLINA:
» The Eagles and Gamecocks are meeting for the first time.
AGAINST THE SEC:
» Eastern is 1-7 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference and have lost five in a row.
» The Eagles are 1-6 against teams when they are members of the SEC during that game. When Eastern played at Missouri, Dec. 5, 1987, a 77-75, double overtime loss, the Tigers were then members of the Big 8 (now the Big 12). MU joined the SEC in 2012.
» The lone victory came March 15, 1991, in a 76-56 upset of No. 5-seed Mississippi State in the opening round of the NCAA East Region in Syracuse, N.Y. The No. 12-seed Eagles would end up defeating No. 13 Penn State, 71-68, in overtime, in the next game before falling to No. 1 North Carolina, 93-67, in the Sweet 16.
» Five of the eight games played against the SEC have been at neutral sites. The last meeting, an 81-63 loss at No. 3 Kentucky, Nov. 27, 2013, was the second of back-to-back meetings with UK in Lexington, the second and third non-neutral site games played against SEC foes.
HAVE WE MET BEFORE?: The game with South Carolina marks the third time this season the Eagles will face a foe for the first time in program history. The Eagles are 0-2 in those games having fallen to Winthrop University, 101-87, at the Cancun Challenge, Nov. 22, and at home to Florida Atlantic University, 101-73.
GOING FOR TWO: The Eagles are looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season and a win at South Carolina would do just that after Eastern defeated Detroit Mercy, 79-77, Dec. 18. The last time the Eagles recorded multiple wins in a row came last year when Eastern won a trio of games home games in early December, including a 79-75 win over Northwood University, Dec. 5; a 60-58 win over Niagara University, Dec. 8; and a four-overtime win over Florida International University, 92-88, Dec. 11.
QUICK REVIEW • DETROIT MERCY: The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team battled to the end to secure a hard-fought home victory as the Eagles downed the visiting Titans of the University of Detroit Mercy, 79-77, Dec. 18, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. The Eagles (3-9, 0-0 MAC) snapped a three-game losing streak with their second home victory of the season while defeating the Titans (5-7, 1-1 Horizon) for the second game in a row in the series.
Eastern, playing its oldest foe in a series that dates back to 1898, received 24 points from the bench which included a career-high 17 from Yusuf Jihad. Jihad's previous best was eight points that he scored against Detroit Mercy as a member of the Oakland University team, Dec. 26, 2020. Tyson Acuff and Emoni Bates each tallied 19 points in the win for the Eagles while Noah Farrakhan added 11 points. Antoine Davis, the second-ranked scorer in the NCAA this year, scored a game-high 30 points for the Titans.
The Eagles, who scored their most points in the first half this season with 47, surpassing the 45 tallied against then-No. 22 University of Michigan, Nov. 11, made the most of their free throws as the team was 23-of-26 from the charity stripe for an 88.5 percent conversion, the eighth-best performance in facility history. All told, both teams shot over 86 percent from the line as the Titans finished 13-of-15 for an 86.7 percent conversion.
Defensively, Eastern forced 16 Detroit Mercy turnovers while committing 13 itself and turned those takeaways into 17 points on the other end of the floor. Acuff's five steals led the way for an Eastern team that tallied a season-high 12 steals. The Eagles also soared to record four blocks with Jalin Billinglsey leading the way with a career-high-tying three rejections.
QUICK NOTES • DETROIT MERCY GAME:
» Yusuf Jihad's career day saw him tally 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting with a perfect 2-of-2 from three and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. His point total surpassed the eight he scored against Detroit Mercy, Dec. 26, 2020, while playing for Oakland while his six made baskets bettered his four made in that same game.
» Jihad also was strong from three as he went 2-of-2 for the second time in three games. He now has made at least one triple in three consecutive games after having never previously having back-to-back games with at least one trey.
» Emoni Bates finished with 19 points and was 4-of-8 from three, marking his seventh game this year with at least three triples in a game. His 50.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc ties for his single-game high this year after going 3-of-6 against Michigan, Nov. 11.
» For the sixth time this year and second game in a row, Tyson Acuff tallied at least 10 points and posted at least four assists as he finished the game with 19 and six, respectively. His assist total is a career-high after he tallied five in the previous EMU home game, Nov. 27, against UC San Diego. Acuff also posted a career-high five steals, bettering the four he registered at FIU, Nov. 30.
» Jalin Billingsley's three swats ties a career high he set last year at DePaul University, Feb. 24, 2022, while playing for Georgetown University. Billingsley has set season highs for blocks in back-to-back games after tallying two at Niagara University, Dec. 11.
» The Eagles went 23-of-26 from the charity stripe, hitting at 88.5 percent on the day to record the eighth-highest free throw percentage in George Gervin GameAbove Center history (since 1998). To reach that number, three Eagles were perfect from the line, including Bates (5-of-5), Billingsley (4-of-4), and Jihad (3-of-3).
» With the victory, the Eagles improved their all-time record against the Titans to 22-62 and have won two in a row overall. Eastern has won two in a row when hosting the Titans after winning, 55-51, Dec. 7, 2019, at Detroit Mercy.
» The two-point victory is the first for Eastern in the series since its 82-80 overtime win at home, Dec. 30, 1999. The game marked the third in a row in the series that was decided by four points or less.
LOCAL TOUR: The game with Detroit Mercy (38.6 miles between campuses), Dec. 18, marked the fourth game of the season in which the Eagles faced a local foe, finishing the tour with a 2-2 record after Eastern downed the Titans, 79-77. Earlier this year, the Eagles opened the season with a win over Wayne State University (36.9 miles), 75-66, Nov. 7, in Ypsilanti, fell to then-No. 22 University of Michigan (6.6 miles), an 88-83 loss at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, Nov. 11, and lost at Oakland University (52.9 miles), a 92-90 overtime decision, Nov. 19.
DOING IT ALL: Tyson Acuff did it all against Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, as the sophomore not only tied for the team lead with 19 points, he also dished a team-best six assists, led the way with five steals and turned the ball over just twice. His second-highest point output behind the 25 he scored against Winthrop, Nov. 22, at the Cancun Challenge, Acuff also jump started the defense with his five thefts, the most for an Eagle in a single game since Yeikson Montero took the ball away five times against Bowling Green, Feb. 23, 2021. Combined with his own ball control, Acuff now ranks third in the MAC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.9.
10-4, GOOD BUDDY: Tyson Acuff recorded at least 10 points and four assists against Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, to mark the sixth time this year he has accomplished the feat as he tallied 19 points and six helpers against the Titans. Combined with Noah Farrakhan's three instances this year, the Eagles' duo has reached the mark nine times through 12 games.
WE SEE YU-SUF: To say Yusuf Jihad has come to life recently might be an understatement. After back-to-back games of firsts, including his first career start at Illinois State University, Dec. 7, and his EMU-best seven points at Niagara University, Dec. 11, Jihad posted a career day against Detroit Mercy as he exploded for 17 points - nine more than his previous career high of eight against Detroit Mercy, Dec. 26, 2020, while playing for Oakland University - while also posting career-highs for field goals made (six), field goal attempts (13), three-point field goals made (two), free throws made (three), and minutes played (25). Additionally, Jihad's two three-point attempts, three free throw attempts, five rebounds, and one assist tied season-bests. To date, Jihad is 7-of-11 from three-point range after going just 1-of-10 all of last year.
LONG DISTANCE: The Eagles are connecting on an average of 6.8 three-point baskets per game this year and hitting 35.8 percent of those attempts as well. With eight made threes against Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, Eastern has connected on at least one made triple in each of its last 563 games in a row. The last time the Eagles failed to hit from downtown came Jan. 24, 2004, when Miami held Eastern to 0-of-7 from three.
LET IT FLY: In the Dec. 18 game with Detroit Mercy, Emoni Bates connected on four made three-point baskets, marking the fourth time he has hit four or more in a game and the seventh time overall he has made at least three triples. Ranked third in the MAC with 2.7 made threes per game, Bates is hitting at 36.6 percent clip so far this year.
MAN IN THE MIRROR: In his 18 games with Memphis last year, Emoni Bates scored 25 three-point baskets, hitting at least one in 14 of those contests. Through 11 games played this year, Bates has already drained 30 deep shots. Additionally, during his time with the Tigers, Bates tallied three or more made triples in a game three times, something he has done seven times this year. Bates also has or is close to equaling several other season totals from last year as he has already surpassed his 59 made field goals (currently has scored 71) and 59 rebounds (has 63) he pulled down for the Tigers.
BIG NUMBERS: Through 11 games, Emoni Bates has tallied 20-or-more points in four games. With his 29-point performance against Florida Atlantic, Dec. 4, Bates extended a streak for the team to having one player recorded at least four, 20-point games in a season to three in a row. Last year, Noah Farrakhan scored at least 20 points in 10 games while Ty Groce recorded at least 20 in four games during the 2020-21 season.
MORE THAN AVERAGE: Emoni Bates is currently averaging 19.4 points per game, which ranks him fourth in the MAC and 30th nationally. If he is able to finish the year at or above 20.0, he would be the first Eastern player to average more than 20 points per contest for the season since the 2005-06 campaign when both John Bowler and Carlos Medlock accomplished the feat.
FREE TO THROW: In the game with Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, the Eagles connected on 23-of-26 free throw attempts, a conversion rate of 88.5 percent for the game. That percentage ranks as the eighth-best shooting performance by any team in a game played inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center since it opened in 1998 and stands as the third-best performance by an EMU team. Additionally, the 88.5 percent shooting ranks as the third-best in facility history - and the best by an Eastern team - when attempting 20-or-more free throws in a game.
FROM THE STRIPE: Thanks to its stellar shooting against the Titans, the Eastern has moved up to third in the MAC and 32nd nationally as it is hitting at a 75.9 percent rate from the line. As it stands, the current Eagles have the best shooting percentage from the line in program history with the 2020-21 team's 74.5 percent shooting ranking first following its 18 game, COVID-shortened season. When looking at teams that played full seasons, the 2007-08 squad leads the way at 72.9 percent following its 31-game slate.
ROBIN HOOD: Through 12 games this year, the Eagles are averaging 6.92 steals per game as a team with three players currently tied for 12th overall in the MAC at 1.3 thefts per contest. Those three Eagles include Tyson Acuff (14 in 11 games played); Orlando Lovejoy (15 in 12); and Legend Geeter (15 in 12).
HOME COOKING: According to the latest update from College Basketball Reference, Dec. 28, the Eagles currently rank third nationally in regards to points scored per game by in-state players with Eastern averaging 55.2 points per game from its Michigan-born players. Northern Iowa (68.3) and Youngstown State (57.5) rank just ahead of the Eagles. Additional research through 12 games played this year shows that those same in-state players have accounted for 73.6 percent of the team's scoring with Michigan-born Eagles having collected 662 of the team's 899 points so far in 2022-23.
MILESTONE WATCH: Heading into the season, several wins can help the Eagles reach several milestone victories. With the win over Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, Eastern now needs 13 more wins to bring its all-time victory total to 1,350 while one more win would mark 675 all-time wins as an NCAA Division I member. On the home front, the Eagles are now five wins from 225 victories inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
UP NEXT: The start of the New Year will mean the start of Mid-American Conference play as the Eagles will play host to the Falcons of Bowling Green State University inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center, Jan. 3. The MAC opener for both teams is set for a 7 p.m. tip and will be streamed live on ESPN+ and on WEMU (89.1 FM).
