Eastern Michigan Athletics

Eastern Returns to the Road at Illinois State
12/5/2022 5:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Eagles looking for second road victory in a row
Men's Basketball at Illinois State | |
Date | Wednesday, Dec. 7 | 7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET |
Venue | Normal, Ill. | CEFCU Arena |
Preview Info | EMU Notes (PDF) | Media Guide (PDF) | Digital Game Programs |
Live Stats | Fan Stats | Media Stats |
Watch | ESPN+ |
Listen | WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) | The Varsity Network App | Eastern Insider Podcast |
@EMU_MBB | @EMUAthletics |
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team returns to the road Wednesday, Dec. 7, as the Eagles travel to Normal, Ill., to face Illinois State University at 7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET inside CEFCU Arena. The Eagles (2-7, 0-0 MAC) are coming off a 101-73 home loss to Florida Atlantic University, Dec. 4, while the Redbirds (3-6, 1-1 MVC) won, 87-77, at home the same day over Belmont University in their Missouri Valley Conference home opener.
The game will air on ESPN+ with Scott Sudikoff and Kelly Burke 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:
» Emoni Bates currently leads the Mid-American Conference with 21.5 points per game, which also ranks him 11th nationally. He is one of just three sophomores nationally, and the top among those three, to average 21.0 or better so far this year.
» Bates scored 29 points against Florida Atlantic, Dec. 4, marking his fourth game with 20+ points this season. With those games, Eastern has had at least one player recorded 20-or-more points in at least four games in a single season for three years in a row with current Eagle Noah Farrakhan posting 10 last year and Ty Groce recording four in 2020-21.
» Kevin-David Rice made his season debut at Florida International, Nov. 30, before earning his first start of the 2022-23 season, Dec. 4, against Florida Atlantic. He finished with 11 points in his fourth collegiate start and his first on his home court.
» The EMU-FAU game saw 4,192 fans in attendance, the seventh-largest crowd to see an EMU game at the George Gervin GameAbove Center since it opened its doors in 1998. The attendance figure is the second-highest of the year as well behind the 4,677 fans for the Wayne State game, Nov. 7.
» The game at Illinois State, Dec. 7, will mark the second game this year Eastern has played against a former conference foe. Eastern has already played former Presidents' Athletic Club rival Wayne State, Nov. 7, before taking the Redbirds, who battled the Eagles in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference between the 1949-50 and 1961-62 seasons.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE: The Redbirds enter the contest with a 3-6 overall record and stand 1-1 in Missouri Valley games after defeating visiting Belmont University, 87-77, Dec. 4, before falling in overtime at Murray State University, 70-67, Dec. 1. The win over the Bruins, Dec. 4, halted a five-game losing streak that included three in a row at the Cayman Islands Classic before Thanksgiving. Three players are averaging double figures in scoring with Kendall Lewis leading the way at 12.6 points per game while also averaging a team-best 7.8 rebounds per contest. Both Seneca Knight (10.7) and Darius Burford (10.0) are also averaging 10-of-more points each contest with Burford also averaging 2.6 assists per game.
IN THE SERIES WITH ISU:
» The Redbirds hold a 22-10 lead in the all-time series with the Eagles having won the last two in a row.
» Eastern won the last meeting, 103-98, in double overtime last year in Ypsilanti, Nov. 12, 2021.
» Illinois State leads the series, 13-2, when playing host to the game and has won two in a row when the game is played in Normal, Ill., with the last game coming Dec. 6, 2003, an 80-69 win for the hosts.
» Of the 32 games played so far, eight of those contests, including the last seven, were non-conference games as both Eastern and ISU were members of the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for games played between 1950 and 1962.
STREAK EXTENSION?: In the series with the Redbirds, the Eagles have managed to win two games in a row three different times, including a two-game sweep in the 1951-52 season before back-to-back home games that were played in 1954 and 1955. Eastern has won the last two games in the series, which included a 72-63 home win Dec. 4, 2007, and a double overtime, 103-98, home win last year, Nov. 12, 2021. If the Eagles can grab a victory in Normal, Ill., Dec. 7, it would be the first three-game winning streak for the Green and White. ISU had three big winning streaks that included three in a row in 1955-56, 11 in a row between 1957 and 1962, and four in a row from 1967-2003. The most recent streak was snapped by EMU's current two game swing.
QUICK REVIEW • FAU: Sophomores Emoni Bates and Tyson Acuff combined to score 44 total points as the Eagles fell to the Florida Atlantic Owls, 101-73, at home inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center, Dec. 4. The Eagles (2-7) had three players score in double figures, led by Bates, who had 29 points and six rebounds. Acuff added 15 points while sophomore Kevin-David Rice helped out with a season-high 11 points.
Eastern Michigan struggled out of the gate, falling behind, 41-31, heading into halftime. The Eagles trailed by as much as 14 in the opening stanza, but a 7-0 run that included five-consecutive points from Bates, helped trim the margin to 10 at the break. In the second half, the visitors shot at a 66.7 percent clip from the field while the Eagles were able to hit just 39.4 percent from the floor. All told, the Owls shot 50 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 12-of-24 attempts while the Eagles were limited to just 3-of-20 shooting from three.
QUICK NOTES • FAU GAME:
» Emoni Bates led Eastern Michigan on the offensive side of the ball, scoring 29 points and adding six rebounds. These totals for Bates marked his third game with at least 20 points and six rebounds in the same contest. Bates has also scored 15 or more points in all of his eight games as an Eagle.
» Eastern Michigan had some good contributions as well from Tyson Acuff, scoring 15 points for the Green and White. It is the fifth time the guard has scored double-digit this season.
» Kevin-David Rice earned his first start of the season after seeing his first minutes at Florida International University, Nov. 30. It is his third career start - and his first career home start - after starting games at Northern Illinois University, Jan. 15, 2022, and at Miami University, March 4, 2022, last year.
» Rice recorded a career-high in rebounds with five, shattering his previous best of three, which he set at Miami, March 4, 2022. Additionally, the sophomore guard set a new season-high with 11 points, besting the seven he scored at FIU, Nov. 30. This is Rice's fourth career double-digit scoring effort, and first of the 2022-23 season.
» The game with Florida Atlantic saw 4,192 fans in attendance, the seventh-largest crowd to see the Eagles play inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. It is the second-largest home crowd of the season after 4,677 fans were on hand for the Eagles' 75-66, season-opening victory over Wayne State University, Nov. 7.
» With the loss, the Eagles fall to 0-1 in the all-time series with the Owls.
» The loss against FAU snapped Eastern's three-game winning streak against members of Conference USA (excludes games played against Marshall University when it was a member of the Mid-American Conference). Eastern is now 3-15 all-time against CUSA and 1-1 this year after winning at Florida International University, Nov. 30.
LEADING THE WAY: Emoni Bates scored 29 points against Florida Atlantic, Dec. 4, marking the second-highest total of his career behind the 30 he dropped on then No. 22 Michigan, Nov. 11, in Detroit. Through eight games played, Bates has scored no fewer than 15 points in a contest and is averaging a MAC-leading 21.5 points per game. That average stands as the 11th-best in the NCAA (through games played Dec. 4) and ranks as the highest for a non-junior or senior player.
ON THE LIST: Through games played Dec. 4, the Eagles have three players ranked in the top 25 of the MAC in scoring, including Emoni Bates at No. 1 (21.5), Noah Farrakhan at No. 17 (13.4), and Tyson Acuff at No. 19 (12.9). Eastern is one of three schools in the league with three or more players ranked in the top 25 with Ball State having four and Toledo three. The Eagles and Rockets each have all three players ranked in the top 20 as well.
MORE THAN AVERAGE: Emoni Bates is currently averaging 21.5 points per game. Although the season is just getting underway, if he is able to remain near this pace, he could 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.
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 eight games played this year, Bates has already drained 24 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 six times this year. Bates also has or is close to equaling several other season totals from last year as he has already tied his 59 made field goals and is seven rebounds away from the 59 he pulled down for the Tigers.
BIG NUMBERS: Through eight games, Emoni Bates has tallied 20-or-more points in four games, including hitting for at least 26 in the past two 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.
HOME COOKING: Ahead of the Nov. 30 game at Florida International, College Basketball Reference made note that the Eagles are among the top five nationally in regards to points scored per game by in-state players with Eastern, at the time, ranking third at 55.0 points per game. Additional research shows that those same in-state players have accounted for 73.9 percent of the team's scoring through nine games with Michigan-born Eagles having collected 502 of the team's 679 points scored so far in 2022-23, an average of 55.8 points per game.
INSTANT RICE: After being unavailable during the first seven games of the year, Kevin-David Rice has seen action in the last two games and has made an instant impact. In the road game at Florida International, Nov. 30, Rice came off the bench and scored seven points, including a big three that helped Eastern erase a 12-point deficit on its way to a 12-point victory. Against Florida Atlantic, Dec. 4, Rice earned the fourth start of his career and his first at home and tallied 11 points for his fourth-career double-digit point total. Rice, who was 4-of-10 from the floor, including 1-of-2 from three, posted a career-high five rebounds, outdoing his previous best of three.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY: The game with Florida Atlantic, Dec. 4, saw 4,192 fans on hand inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center, a figure that ranks seventh on the attendance ledger for the facility that opened in 1998. The attendance also is the second-highest home total this year behind only the 4,677 fans on hand for the season-opener with Wayne State, a 75-66 victory, Nov. 7.
FREE TO THROW: "True" freshman Orlando Lovejoy has been shooting well from the free throw line as the rookie is hitting on 90.9 percent of his attempts so far this year. Lovejoy ranks third in the MAC based on free throw percentage. If Lovejoy maintains this pace, he would become the first Eastern player to hit over 90 percent of his visits to the charity stripe in a single season. Additionally, two other Eagles are highly ranked in the league as Tyson Acuff ranks 12th at 82.1 percent and Emoni Bates 22nd at 69.8 percent.
MILESTONE WATCH: Heading into the season, several wins can help the Eagles reach several milestone victories. With the win at Florida International, Nov. 30, Eastern now needs 14 more wins to bring its all-time victory total to 1,350 while two more wins would mark 675 all-time wins as an NCAA Division I member. On the home front, the Eagles are now six wins from 225 victories inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
UP NEXT: The Eagles will wrap-up their final road game before the holiday break as they venture to Niagara, N.Y., to take on the Purple Eagles of Niagara University, Sunday, Dec. 11. The battle of eagles is set for a 1 p.m. tip inside Gallagher Arena and will be aired live on ESPN+.