Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Northern Illinois
Eagles Welcome Northern Illinois Saturday
1/19/2023 2:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Doubleheader day will feature two games, several celebrations
| Men's Basketball vs. Northern Illinois | |
| Date | Saturday, Jan. 21 | 3:30 p.m. (30 minutes after women's game) |
| Venue | Ypsilanti, Mich. | George Gervin GameAbove Center |
| 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 action at home Saturday, Jan. 21, with the Northern Illinois University Huskies in town for a Mid-American Conference tilt scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. tip inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. The Eagles (4-14, 1-4 MAC) and Huskies (6-12, 2-3 MAC) will meet in the second half of an EMU-NIU doubleheader with the women's teams set to meet in a 1 p.m. tip.
The men's game will air live on ESPN3 with Ryan Wooley and EMU Hall of Fame head coach Ben Braun on the call and Dannie Rogers reporting from the sidelines. Tom Helmer, the Voice of the Eagles, will have the radio call on WEMU (89.1 FM) and the Varsity Network app.
DAY OF CELEBRATION: Fans are encouraged to get their tickets now for the Saturday, Jan. 21, doubleheader as the men's and women's games with Northern Illinois will be surrounded by a day of celebration.
» Former men's head coach Ben Braun will be on hand for a special alumni reception during the women's game (1 p.m.) before serving as the television analyst for the men's contest on ESPN+. Braun also will be recognized at the under-12-minutes timeout in the first half of the men's game.
» Fans can also celebrate the football team's 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Championship by picking-up posters, taking photos with the Potato Bowl and Michigan MAC trophies. A specialty baked potato bar also will be available to fans during the men's game.
» The women's game will be the team's Pride Game and fans can pick up free, Eastern-themed Pride T-Shirts (while supplies last) and visit with various campus groups that focus on LGBTQIA+ communities.
» The men's game will be the team's Local Heroes Day with a visit from the Mayor of Ypsilanti, Nicole Brown, and members of her office while highlighting their efforts within the local community.
» Alumni can purchase discounted tickets ($8) for the doubleheader and the men's Feb. 11 game with Toledo by using the code EMUALUM when purchasing their tickets online.
DOUBLE UP: The Eagles' men's and women's teams are set for their second of four home doubleheaders Saturday with both teams set to face Northern Illinois. The two teams swept their foes on opening night, Nov. 7, with the men downing Wayne State, 75-66, and the women defeated Lindenwood, 71-56.
OPENING TIPS:
» Emoni Bates got back into his scoring rhythm against Kent State, Jan. 17, as he scored 24 points, marking the eighth game this year he has gone for at least 20. He currently leads the MAC with 20.0 points per game, ranks 21st nationally, and is the top-scoring sophomore in the NCAA.
» Noah Farrakhan moved up to 78th on the program's all-time scoring ledger and now has 649 points in his time with Eastern. He trails Steve Pettyjohn (2001-03), who scored 656 points, for 77th overall.
» Farrakhan also kept his assist streak going as he has dished out at least one helper in all 18 games this year and 30 in a row dating back to last season.
» The Eagles sent 10 players to the floor against Kent State, Jan. 17, with nine playing at least 11 minutes each, scoring at least two points, and adding at least two rebounds. It marks the sixth time this year that at least nine players scored in a game and the second in a row after 10 tallied points at Akron, Jan. 13.
» Despite the loss to Kent State, Jan. 17, the Eagles did something they had done just twice before this season: win the rebound battle. Eastern out-rebounded the Golden Flashes, 38-37.
» The Eagles were just 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the free throw line against Kent State, their lowest percentage in a conference game this year. Despite the performance, the Eagles are hitting 75.6 percent from the stripe, ranking them second in the MAC and 21st nationally.
» Individually, the Eagles have four players ranking in the leagues' top 25 (all games played) in free throw shooting percentage, one behind Toledo. In conference-only statistics, Eastern is the only school with four individuals on the ledger with Western Michigan and Ball State each having three.
» The Eagles finished the game with Kent State, Jan. 17, with four made three-point baskets to extend their consecutive game streak to 569 games in a row. The last time they didn't hit a triple came Jan. 24, 2004, at Miami.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies enter Saturday's game with a 6-12 overall record and stand 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference after winning, 81-77, at Miami, Jan. 17. NIU, who has traded wins in each of their last four games, also hold a victory over Central Michigan in league play. Keshawn Williams leads the way offensively for the Huskies with 17.9 points per game while pulling down the second-most rebounds at 4.7 per game. David Coit (14.3) and Zarique Nutter (10.7) are both averaging double-digit point totals with Nutter leading the team in rebounding with 5.3 boards per game.
IN THE SERIES WITH NORTHERN ILLINOIS:
» Northern Illinois leads the all-time series, 56-46, with Eastern holding a 31-22 advantage in Ypsilanti.
» Eastern won the last meeting, 74-72, Feb. 22, 2022, in Ypsilanti, to earn a split of the season series last year.
» The Eagles have won two in a row at home in the series and 10 of their last 11 inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. The lone loss in that stretch came Feb. 25, 2020, a 73-71 decision for the Huskies.
» In the 102 previous meetings, the two teams have played 22 one-possession games, including three in the last three seasons, with the teams tied, 11-11, in those games. Of the 22 games, 14 have been played in Ypsilanti.
QUICK REVIEW • KENT STATE: Emoni Bates collected 24 points as the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team fell to the Kent State University Golden Flashes, 77-63, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The Eagles (4-14, 1-4 MAC) had three players score in double figures, led by Bates, who posted 24 points and six rebounds. Tyson Acuff added 12 points while Yusuf Jihad chipped in with 11 points off of the bench, the second-highest scoring output of his career and only his second time scoring 10+ in a game.
Led by Javantae Randle's two offensive rebounds, Eastern Michigan crashed the offensive glass, pulling down 12 boards that resulted in 16 second chance points. Additionally, all nine players that logged 11 minutes or more in the game pulled down at least two boards and added at least two points.
QUICK NOTES • KENT STATE GAME:
» Emoni Bates scored 24 points, marking the eighth time this year he has tallied 20-or-more points in a single game and his first since scoring 23 at Western Michigan, Jan. 10. Bates led the Eagles at the charity stripe, converting six of nine. He has attempted at least two free throws in 16-of-17 games this season and has made at least one attempt in 15 of those 16 contests.
» Yusuf Jihad scored 11 points on the night, the second-highest total of his career behind the 17 he scored at Detroit Mercy, Dec. 18, marking just the second time he has scored 10+ points in his career.
» Noah Farrakhan finished the game with three points, bringing his career total to 649 and moving him up to 78th on the program's all-time scoring ledger, surpassing Ty Toney (2015-17), who finished his EMU career with 648 points. Next up on the list is Steve Pettyjohn (2001-03), who scored 656 points for the Eagles.
» Farrakhan kept his individual assist streak alive as he finished the game with one assist to tally at least one helper in all 18 games this year and 30 games in a row dating back to last season. For his career, Farrakhan has recorded at least one assist in 40-of-43 games he has suited up for the Eagles and 47-of-54 games in his collegiate career, including the 2020-21 season with East Carolina.
» Tyson Acuff drained a three-point shot at the 16:12 mark in the first half to extend the Eagles' streak to 569 games in a row with at least one made triple. The last time Eastern failed to hit a three-point basket in a game came Jan. 24, 2004, when the Eagles were 0-of-7 at Miami.
» On the glass, the Eagles out-rebounded the Golden Flashes 38-37. It is the just the third time this season that Eastern Michigan has had at least 38 rebounds in a game. Individually, nine of the 10 players that saw action in the game recorded at least two rebounds with five pulling down at least four.
» In the game, 10 players saw minutes with nine logging at least 11. All nine of the players scored at least two points on the night to go along with at least two rebounds as well.
FROM THE STRIPE: Eastern Michigan has found great success from the free throw line this year with the Eagles converting 75.6 percent, which ranks second in the MAC and 21st nationally. Through 18 games played (Jan. 17), the Eagles have made their way to the stripe 20+ times in nine games, including in four of the last five games, in which Eastern is converting at 80.0 percent.
In three of the nine games EMU has shot more than 20 free throws, it has converted over 85.0 percent of their chances in three of those games and nearly added a fourth after shooting 22-of-26 (84.6 percent) at Akron, Jan. 13. One game prior, at Western Michigan, Jan. 10, Eastern opened the game 14-of-14 from the line before finishing the game 19-of-21 for a 90.5 shooting percentage, the highest the team has posted since shooting 10-of-11 at Ohio, Feb. 3, 2022, a 90.9 conversion rate. The Eagles were 9-of-17 against Kent State, Jan. 17, hitting 52.9 percent.
MOVING UP: The Eagles are currently hitting at a 75.6 percent clip from the free throw line this season. 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.
In conference-only games, the Eagles rank third in the MAC at 77.2 percent shooting while ranking second in both makes (95) and attempts (123).
CHARITY CHARTS: On an individual basis, Eastern players rank highly in league standings in regards to free-throw shooting with Tyson Acuff (82.0), Legend Geeter (78.3), Emoni Bates (75.5), and Noah Farrakhan (74.5) all ranking in the top 25. Their percentages in conference-only statistics all have them in the top 20 of the MAC with Farrakhan ranking seventh (90.5), Geeter is 11th (85.7), Bates is 18th (79.5), and Acuff is 19th (78.6).
Overall, Eastern is the only school to have four players ranked in the top 25 for free throw shooting in conference games with Western Michigan and Ball State each seeing three of its players on the list. In all games played, Toledo leads the way for five individuals on the ledger while Eastern has four and both Ball State and Miami see three individuals on the chart.
CLIMBING HIGHER: With three points scored against Kent State, Jan. 17, Noah Farrakhan brought his total to 649 points scored for the Eagles since joining the program ahead of the 2021-22 season. Farrakhan's point total currently ranks him 78th in program history as he passed Ty Toney (2015-17), who scored 648 points for Eastern. With seven points, Farrakhan would tie Steve Pettyjohn (2001-03) for the 77th position on the charts. If Farrakhan were to maintain his current scoring average the rest of the regular season, he would reach the top 50 in program history while surpassing 800 points.
NOT ALL SCORING: While Noah Farrakhan continues his climb up the program's all-time scoring ledger, he also continues to assist teammates on their scoring. Through 18 games played this year, Farrakhan has tallied at least one helper in all 18 contests and has dropped at least one dime in 30 consecutive games dating back to last season. In fact, in his two seasons with the Eagles, Farrakhan has recorded at least one assist in 40-of-43 games played (93.0 percent) for Eastern and, when including his one season with East Carolina (2020-21), he has done so in 47-of-55 career games (85.2 percent).
TEN OR MORE: In all but two games so far this season, Emoni Bates has scored in double figures as the sophomore is making his case for one of the top scorers in the MAC and the NCAA. With his 24 points at home against Kent State, Jan. 17, Bates reached double-figure points for the 15th time in the 17 games he has played while scoring at least 15 points for the 14th time. Additionally, he reached the 20-point mark for the eighth time this year and the third time in five games. All told, Bates leads the MAC at 20.0 points per game and ranks 21st nationally.
20 AND OVER: With eight games of 20-or-more points this season, Emoni Bates ranks 13th for such games in a season for Eastern, dating back to the 1998-99 season. Should he reach 10 games with 20+ points scored, he would not only move into a tie for the seventh-most such games in a season with current teammate Noah Farrakhan (10 in 2021-22), but would give the Eagles back-to-back seasons with a pair of teammates reaching 10, 20-point games. The last time this happened came with Raven Lee and Elijah Minnie each tallied 13, 20-point games in 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively.
MORE THAN AVERAGE: Emoni Bates is currently averaging 20.0 points per game, which ranks him first in the MAC and 21st nationally. He also is the highest scoring sophomore in the nation. If Bates 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. If he is able to finish at 21.0 points per game or better this year, he would be the first Eagle to do so since Earl Boykins averaged 25.7 in 1997-98.
SPREADING IT AROUND: In their game with Kent State, Jan. 17, the Eagles saw nine players record at least 11 minutes of action with each scoring at least two points while also adding at least two rebounds. From a scoring standpoint, the nine players in the book is the second-most in a game this year behind the 10 players that scored at Oakland, Nov. 19, and at Akron, Jan. 13. It also marked the 11th time this year at least eight players found their way into the scoring column and the fifth time in MAC games. Additionally, the game with the Golden Flashes marked the third time this year that nine players pulled down multiple rebounds in the same game and first since Eastern did so in back-to-back contests at Bradley, Nov. 15, and at Oakland.
WE SEE YU-SUF: To say Yusuf Jihad has come to life this season 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, Dec. 18, 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.
Against Kent State, Jan. 17, Jihad had another solid day as the big man tallied 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting to record just his second game with more than 10 points scored. While he was just 1-of-6 from behind the arc, he did connect on one made three in back-to-back games for the first time since hitting in four consecutive earlier this year. All told, Jihad, who entered the season with only four total made three-pointers in his career, has 10 on the season, making him the fourth player with double-digit triples, joining Emoni Bates (44), Tyson Acuff (24), and Noah Farrakhan (15) on the list.
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. 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.
Through the Jan. 17, game against Kent State, where he scored 12 points and added a team-high three assists, Acuff appears in several league rankings, including 24th in scoring (12.5), eighth in free throw percentage (82.0), 15th in assists per game (2.8), and sixth in steals per game (1.5). In five conference games, he ranks third in steals with 2.3 per game.
WAY DOWNTOWN: Eastern connected on four three-point attempts in its game against Kent State, Jan. 17, to extend the program's streak to 569 games in a row with at least one triple drained. Tyson Acuff extended the streak for EMU with his lone triple of the game, which came with 16:12 remaining in the first half of play. The last time the Eagles failed to hit from downtown came Jan. 24, 2004, when Miami held Eastern to 0-of-7 from three.
HOME COOKING: According to the latest update from College Basketball Reference, Jan. 18, the Eagles currently rank fourth nationally in regards to points scored per game by in-state players with Eastern averaging 54.2 points per game from its Michigan-born players. Northern Iowa (68.3), Youngstown State (58.2), and Georgia State (54.3) rank just ahead of the Eagles. Additional research through 18 games played this year shows that those same in-state players have accounted for 75.1 percent of the team's scoring with Michigan-born Eagles having collected 976 of the team's 1,299 points.
UP NEXT: The Eagles return to the road Tuesday, Jan. 24, when they venture to Toledo, Ohio, to face the University of Toledo Rockets inside Savage Arena in a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network and on WEMU (89.1 FM) and the Varsity Network app.
