Men's Hoops Opens 2008-09 Season Today At Worthen Arena

November 15, 2008 | Men's Basketball

By: Ball State Athletics

What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals open up the 2008-09 regular season Saturday afternoon as they host Eastern Illinois ... The game marks the season opener for both teams and is the fourth straight season in which Ball State has opened the year at home at Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals are under the direction of second-year head coach Billy Taylor while Eastern Illinois is led by fourth-year head coach Mike Miller ... Taylor owns an 87-93 career record while Miller has a 110-142 tally in his career ... The game will also be broadcast online at www.ballstatesports.com by the Ball State Sports Link and will also be available on Cardinal Vision Ch. 57 on campus.

88th Season Underway . . .
Saturday's game also marks the beginning of Ball State's 88th season of men's basketball ... The Cardinals have posted a 1065-963-1 record all-time, which is good for a .525 winning percentage ... Ball State is 707-304 all-time at home in Muncie as the Cardinals have won 69.9 percent of games here ... The Cardinals are 50-37 all-time in season openers in program history and are 38-9 in season openers in Muncie.

Series History . . .
Saturday's game marks the 18th meeting all-time between Ball State and Eastern Illinois. The Cardinals hold a 13-4 advantage in series history but the two teams have not met since Jan. 21, 1985 when Ball State claimed a 74-73 victory at EIU ... The two teams have not played in Muncie since the 1982-83 season ... Ball State owns a 7-1 record against the Panthers in Muncie ... The two teams first met during the 1941-42 season when Ball State claimed a 42-40 victory at home.

Cardinals Name 2008-09 Team Captains . . .
Second-year head coach Billy Taylor has announced his 2008-09 team captains in seniors Anthony Newell, Brandon Lampley, Laron Frazier and Rob Giles ... The four players combined to play in 103 games last year, including 47 starts ... This marks the second straight season that Newell has been one of the team's captains.

Newell Named Preseason All-MAC . . .
Senior forward Anthony Newell was named to the preseason All-Mid-American Conference West Division team by the league head coaches and the MAC media members ... Newell, a team captain, earned Honorable Mention All-MAC honors last season despite missing nine games due to an injury ... He led the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game and in rebounding at 8.0 caroms per contest last season ... He would have finished the season tied for the MAC lead in scoring and second in rebounding if he had appeared in enough games to qualify.

Newell scored in double figures in 19 of his 21 games last season, including six games of 20-plus points ... He played in all 16 conference games for the Cardinals, averaging 16.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, to rank second and third in the league, respectively. ... He enters the season as the Cardinals' most experienced player have seen action in 73 career games with 42 career starts ... He enters his senior season having scored 798 career points and notching 463 career rebounds.

Walking The Stage . . .
The Cardinals have a unique situation this season as two of their four seniors, Anthony Newell and Brandon Lampley, received their bachelor degrees this summer ... Newell became the first member of his family to earn a degree as he received a bachelor of science in criminal justice ... He is working on a second bachelor degree this season ... Lampley also graduated this summer as he earned his degree in english studies ... He is working on his master's degree in secondary education this season.

Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State returns seven letterwinners from last season and welcomes in eight newcomers this fall ... The Cardinals return one of the top defenses in the Mid-American Conference as they held their opponents to just 63.9 points per game, which was the fourth-best scoring defense in the MAC.

The Cardinals are headlined by a quarter of seniors in Anthony Newell, Brandon Lampley, Laron Frazier and Rob Giles ... Newell led the Cardinals' attack as he averaged 16.9 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per contest last year ... Lampley started 11 games last year and averaged 4.2 points per game while dishing out 47 assists ... Frazier posted seven starts in his first year with the Cardinals and averaged 6.3 points per game ... Giles saw action in 22 games, including eight starts last year.

Sophomore forward Malik Perry returns to the court after starting every game last year ... Perry averaged 6.7 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per contest in his freshman year.

Ball State welcomes in eight newcomers this year with three transfers and five true freshmen ... Incoming transfers include senior Terrence Watson and juniors Brawley Chisholm and Eric Wormely ... Watson will have to sit out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

The Cardinals' freshman class includes guard Randy Davis, forward Maurice Hubbard, guard Pierre Sneed, forward Jarrod Jones and center Zach Fields.

Scouting Eastern Illinois . . .
Eastern Illinois is coming off of a 7-22 record last season in which the Panthers finished 10th in the Ohio Valley Conference ... EIU returns five letterwinners from last season, including one starter ... The Panthers welcome in seven newcomers this season under fourth-year head coach Mike Miller.

Junior guard Romain Martin is the leading returning scorer from last season as he averaged 13.6 points over 17 games ... He connected on 38.3 percent (44-of-115) from three-point land last year ... Also returning for the Panthers is junior center Ousmane Cisse who started 28 of 29 games last season ... Cisse averaged 5.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding at 5.8 boards per contest.

Eastern Illinois has played one exhibition game this season, claiming an 86-66 victory over Illinois College Nov. 8 ... The Panthers shot 58.3 percent (35-of-60) from the field in the victory, including 50 percent (7-of-14) from three-point land ... EIU was led in scoring by Martin who scored 18 points in 27 minutes ... Martin connected on six-of-eight from the field in the victory.

The Panthers also received double figure scoring efforts from James Hollowell, Tyler Laser and Edin Suljic ... Hollowell who tallied 14 points off of the bench on seven-of-14 shooting form the field ... Laser and Suljic each chipped in 11 points in the victory.

798 and Counting . . .
Senior forward Anthony Newell enters the season within reach of becoming the 25th player in Ball State history to reach the 1,000-Point Club ... He enters this season with 798 career points after posting a career-high 355 points last season ... He has scored in double figures 45 times in his career (45-of-73), including 19 times last year ... He has reached 20-plus points on 10 different occasions in his career.

Eight New Faces . . .
The Cardinals welcome in eight newcomers this season in the form of three transfers and five freshmen ... Forward Terrence Watson joins the Cardinals as a senior and will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to BSU from Ole Miss ... Also transferring into Ball State is junior college guard Brawley Chisholm and JUCO forward Eric Wormely.

The Cardinals' five freshmen include guard Randy Davis, guard Pierre Sneed, forward Maurice Hubbard, forward Jarrod Jones and center Zach Fields ... This five-member freshman class marks the largest class of true freshmen for the Cardinals since the 1994-95 season when Ball State also welcomed in five freshmen ... The five freshmen that season were Antwaan Jones, Ryan Reed, Charles Smith, Steve Smith and Bonzi Wells.

Brought To New Heights . . .
Last season, the Cardinals' tallest player on the team was 6-foot 5-inch forward Anthony Newell ...This season, Ball State brings a markedly taller version of the Cardinals to the court ... Ball State has four players this season that are taller than 6-5 including forward Maurice Hubbard (6-6), forward Eric Wormely (6-8), forward Jarrod Jones (6-9) and center Zach Fields (6-10) ... Newell is the fifth tallest player on the team this year.

New Faces On The Sidelines . . .
Second-year head coach Billy Taylor has a new look with him on the sidelines this season as Jay Newberry has moved from director of basketball operations to assistant coach this year ... Newberry takes over the assistant coach spot that was vacated when Jim Molinari was hired as the head coach of Western Illinois this off season.

Also, former Missouri Southern assistant coach Matt Laur has been added to the BSU staff as the director of basketball operations this season ... Both Laur and Newberry join Bob Simmons and Joseph Price on Taylor's staff.

Taylor's Defensive Prowess . . .
The trademark of a Billy Taylor led team begins on the defensive end of the court and that was no different last year in Taylor's first season at Ball State ... The Cardinals' defense finished the year fourth in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense as it held opponents to 63.9 points per game ... The Cardinals held their opponents under 65 points in 19 of 30 games last year.

BSU Picked Fifth In MAC West . . .
The Cardinals were tabbed to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the preseason poll conducted by league coaches and members of the MAC News Media Association ... Western Michigan was selected to capture the league's West Division title, picking up 122 points ... Eastern Michigan (122 points) was chosen second, followed by Central Michigan (79 points), Toledo (71 points), Ball State (55 points) and Northern Illinois (39 points).

Voting for the East Division saw Kent State come out on top, earning 122 points ... Miami was second with 109 points, followed by Bowling Green (70 points), Akron (67 points), Ohio (66 points) and Buffalo (35 points).

The Golden Flashes were also the favorite to win the 2009 MAC Tournament title, earning 11 votes, followed by Miami (7), Bowling Green (2) and Eastern Michigan (2).

Looking Ahead . . .
The Cardinals hit the road for the first time in the 2008-09 season Wednesday night as they travel to rival Butler for a 7 p.m. start at Hinkle Fieldhouse ... The game will be the 100th meeting all-time between the Cardinals and Bulldogs.

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