Ball State University Athletics
Men's Hoops Opens Great Alaska Shootout Vs. St. John's
November 23, 2010 | Men's Basketball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State takes part in the 2010 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska this week ... The Cardinals will play three games in four days this week ... Ball State will open the Shootout Wednesday evening with a meeting against Big East foe St. John's at 9:45 p.m. (AT) which is equivalent to 1:45 a.m. (ET) Thursday morning back in Muncie ... The Cardinals also have Southern Utah and Drake on their side of the bracket with Houston Baptist, Arizona State, Weber State and host Alaska-Anchorage in the opposite bracket.
This is Ball State's second ever trip to the state of Alaska ... The Cardinals travelled to Fairbanks during the 2002-03 season for the Top of the World Classic where they posted a 2-1 record in the event ... Ball State opened the classic with a 72-64 victory over Jacksonville State before dropping its second game with a 72-67 loss to Weber State ... The Cardinals wrapped up the week with a 73-65 victory over Nebraska.
Great Alaska Shootout Television . . .
The Cardinals open play in the tournament in Anchorage Wednesday when they face Big East foe St. John's ... The game is slated for a 9:45 p.m. start Alaska Time, which equates to 1:45 a.m. Eastern Time start in Muncie.
The game will be broadcast locally in Alaska as well as on four national outlets: Fox College Sports/DirectTV Sports Pak/Dish Network Multi-Sports Pak/AT&T U-Verse ... Also, if the Cardinals win the first game their final two games (semifinals & finals) will be broadcast on those four national outlets ... All games of the tournament will be broadcast online for a fee at www.GoSeawolves.com.
Series History vs. St. John's . . .
Ball State and St. John's have never met in program history ... Ball State will be playing its 24th game against a current Big East foe Wednesday evening and the Cardinals are 3-20 all-time against current Big East members ... BSU is 1-0 against Pittsburgh, 1-1 against Louisville, 1-4 against Cincinnati, 0-1 against Connecticut, 0-2 against Georgetown, 0-2 against DePaul and 0-9 against Notre Dame.
Series History vs. Drake . . .
Ball State and Drake have met one other time in program history ... The Cardinals dropped a 62-60 contest at Drake November 28, 1983.
Series History vs. S. Utah . . .
Ball State and Southern Utah have never met on the basketball court.
Series vs. Opposite Bracket . . .
Ball State is 2-3 all-time against the opposite bracket in Houston Baptist, Weber State, Arizona State and host Alaska Anchorage ... The Cardinals own a 1-1 record against Houston Baptist as they dropped an 81-76 (12/29/75) on the road before evening the series with an 80-67 victory at home (11/22/77) ... Ball State is 0-1 all-time against Weber State with a 72-67 loss in the Top of the World Classic (11/23/02) ... The Cardinals are 0-1 all-time against Arizona State with an 81-66 loss (3/16/95) in the NCAA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn. ... Ball State owns a 1-0 record against the host Seawolves with a 78-77 victory December 29, 1993 in Muncie.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters the Great Alaska Shootout with a 2-1 record on the year ... The Cardinals opened the season with wins over Eastern Illinois and Indiana State before dropping their most recent contest against No. 16 Butler ... Ball State is averaging 69.0 points per game while allowing 64.7 points per game against ... The Cardinals are shooting 40.7 percent (66-of-162) from the field while holding opponents to 40.9 percent shooting (67-of-164) from the field.
Sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife is one of four Cardinals averaging double figures this season as he leads the team at 17.0 points per game ... Scaife is shooting 43.8 percent (14-of-32) from the field and is 90.5 percent (19-of-21) from the free throw line ... Junior forward Jarrod Jones is second on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game and leads the team on the glass at 9.3 rebounds per game ... Jones is shooting just 33.3 percent (11-of-33) from the field this season.
Junior guard Randy Davis is third on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game ... Davis leads the team with 20 assists and owns a 2.5 assist/turnover ratio ... Freshman guard Jesse Berry is tied for third in scoring at 10.3 points per game off the bench while senior forward Malik Perry chips in 9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Scouting St. John's . . .
St. John's, under the direction of first-year head coach Steve Lavin, enter the Great Alaska Shootout with a 1-1 record on the year ... The Red Storm opened the season with a 76-71 loss at St. Mary's (Calif.) before notching its first victory of the year with a 79-66 win over Columbia ... St. John's is averaging 75.0 points per game while allowing 71.0 points per game against ... The Red Storm is shooting 41.0 percent (50-122) from the field while opponents are shooting 40.2 percent (41-102) from the field.
D.J. Kennedy leads three Red Storm players in double figures scoring as he averages 13.5 points per game ... He is shooting 44.4 percent (8-18) from the field and is hitting 83.3 percent (10-12) from the charity stripe ... Freshman Dwayne Polee is second on the team in scoring at 13.0 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 6.5 rebounds per game ... Malik Stith rounds out the double figure scorers as he chips in 12.0 points per game.
Guard Malik Boothe leads the team with six assists and is fourth in scoring at 9.5 points per game ... Justin Burrell is tied for the team lead on the glass at 6.5 boards per game.
Scouting Drake . . .
Drake enters the Great Alaska Shootout with a 1-1 record on the year and will face Southern Utah is the first game Wednesday evening ... The Bulldogs opened the season with a 60-46 victory over Texas Southern before dropping a 91-43 decision at Iowa State ... Drake is averaging 51.5 points per game this season while allowing 68.5 points per game against ... The Bulldogs are shooting 28.4 percent (33-166) from the field and are allowing opponents to shooting 48.1 percent (51-106) from the field.
Ryan Wedel leads the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game ... He is shooting 47.1 percent (8-17) from the field and has connected on seven three-pointers in the first two games ... Aaron Hawley is second on the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game and is second on the team with four three-pointers ... Seth VanDeest is third on the team in scoring 8.0 points per game while Jordan Clarke leads the team on the glass at 7.0 rebounds per game.
Scouting Southern Utah . . .
Southern Utah enters the Great Alaska Shootout with a 1-2 overall record ... The Thunderbirds opened the year with a 79-69 loss against Cal Baptist before evening their record with a 66-58 victory at CSU Bakersfield ... Southern Utah dropped a 66-53 decision at home against Utah State last time out ... The Thunderbirds are averaging 62.7 points per game while allowing 67.7 points per game against ... Southern Utah is shooting 41.2 percent (63-153) from the field and is allowing opponents to shoot 44.5 percent (65-146) from the field ... SUU has only hit six three-pointers during the first three games.
Ramell Taylor leads the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game as he is shooting 60.0 percent (21-35) from the field ... Taylor also is tied for the team lead in rebounding at 5.3 boards per game ... Ray Jones is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game ... Jones leads the team with eight assists ... Jordan Weirick is third on the team in scoring at 8.0 points per game.
Last Time Out . . .
Ball State suffered its first loss of the season Saturday (11/20) with an 88-55 loss at No. 16 Butler ... The Cardinals battled through foul trouble for most of the game as they allowed the most points in Billy Taylor's four years ... Butler shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field and held the Cardinals to 32.7 percent (17-of-52) shooting from the field ... Senior forward Malik Perry scored a team-high 13 points, despite playing only 19 minutes due to foul trouble ... Perry was 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from the free throw line ... Junior Jarrod Jones added nine points and seven rebounds while freshman Jesse Berry scored eight points off the bench.
Lending A Helping Hand . . .
Junior guard Randy Davis has tallied 20 assists so far this season in the first three games and has only committed eight turnovers ... His 20 assists lead the Mid-American Conference this season ... He handed out a game-high eight assists against Eastern Illinois ... He followed that up with a nine-assist effort against Indiana State that tied his career-high (Miami - 1/26/10) ... Davis has only reached eight assists on one other occasion in his career as he tallied eight his freshman season at UC-Santa Barbara (12/29/08).
Turning Up The Defense . . .
Ball State continued its defensive dominance under fourth-year head coach Billy Taylor in the first two games ... The Cardinals held Eastern Illinois to just 46 points, its lowest scoring output since posting 42 points against St. Louis last December ... The Cardinals forced the Panthers into 21 turnovers in the victory as they recorded 11 steals as a team ... Ball State turned the EIU miscues into 24 points off of turnovers.
The Cardinals forced Indiana State into 26 turnovers ... . Ball State turned the turnovers into 33 points and has scored 57 points off of turnovers so far this season ... The Cardinals also held the Sycamores to just 4-of-17 shooting from three-point land after ISU entered the game averaging 9.0 three-pointers a game.
Jones In Season Openers . . .
Junior foward Jarrod Jones turned in another strong performance in a season-opener as he scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Sunday against EIU ... In his three career season-openers, Jones is averaging 18.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game ... He is shooting 19-of-33 (.576) from the field in the three contests ... In his first career game in 2008-09 against EIU, he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds ... Last year against Valparaiso, he tallied 19 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Freshmen Debuts . . .
Freshman guard Jesse Berry opened his Ball State career in stellar fashion Sunday as he scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench ... Berry connected on 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-9 from three-point land in the victory ... His 15 points marks the third straight season that a BSU freshman has opened their career with a double figure output, joining Jauwan Scaife last season (14 points) and Jarrod Jones (21 points) in 2008-09.
Taylor Names Team Captains . . .
Head coach Billy Taylor has named team co-captains for the 2010-11 season in senior forward Malik Perry and junior guard Randy Davis ... Perry is entering his fourth year with the program and has already played 85 games in his career, with 68 starts ... Davis took over the starting point guard position last season and made 29 starts while averaging 10.3 points per game.
Cardinals MAC West Favorites . . .
Ball State was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Conference West Division according to the preseason poll conducted by members of the MAC Media News Association ... The Cardinals are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Billy Taylor and are preseason favorites to claim the MAC West Division for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
The Cardinals received 124 total votes, including 12 first place votes, to out-distance second place pick Central Michigan by two votes (122, 8). In the East Division, Ohio has been selected as the preseason favorite with 128 total votes and 12 first place selections. The Bobcats have also been selected to win the 2011 MAC Tournament with 10 of 24 votes.
Ball State returns four full-time starters and five players who started at least 11 games last year. Those five players have combined to play in 285 career games and have made 223 starts at Ball State. The Cardinals also add a six-member recruiting class which includes five highly touted freshmen who are expected to contribute this year.
Jones Earns MAC Honors . . .
Junior forward Jarrod Jones was selected as preseason All-Mid-American Conference West Division by the league's head coaches ... . Jones earned All-MAC and All-Region accolades last year as he led the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game and rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per contest ... He has led the Cardinals in scoring and rebounding since he stepped on campus after being named MAC Freshman of the Year in the 2008-09 season.
New Faces . . .
Ball State welcomes in a strong six-member recruiting class for the 2010-11 season, a class that includes five true freshman and one sophomore transfer ... The Cardinals welcome into the program freshmen Jesse Berry, Tyrae Robinson, Chris Bond, Jay Copeland and Matt Kamieniecki as well as sophomore transfer Tyler Koch.
Berry joins the Cardinals after a four-year career at Lafayette Jefferson High School where he set the Tippecanoe County scoring record with 1,553 points ... He was 10th in the state in scoring as a senior (23.5) and second in the state as a junior (27.3).
Robinson joins the team after playing two seasons at Bowman Academy ... He led Bowman to the Class A State championship and a 24-1 record when he was named First Team All-State ... Bond also was part of the Bowman Academy team the past two years and averaged 18.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game as a senior.
Copeland comes to BSU after being a four-year letterwinner at King's Fork High School in Virginia ... He guided King's Fork to an 85-19 record in his career, including a Virginia AAA State championship his junior year ... He averaged 13.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as a senior ... Kamieniecki was a four-year letterwinner at Clarkston High School in Michigan ... He led the Wolves to a 91-12 record during his career ... He earned First Team All-State honors as a senior when he averaged 19.0 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.
Koch joins the program after transferring from Wright State ... He will have to sit out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules ... Prior to WSU, he set the Winchester career scoring record with 1,774 points, including 22.2 points per game as a senior ... He led Winchester to the 2A State Championship as a junior and was a two-time Star Press Player of the Year.
Defensive Prowess . . .
Ball State was one of the top defensive teams in the Mid-American Conference last season and have been since head coach Billy Taylor took over the program ... The Cardinals led the MAC last year in scoring defense (62.4), field goal percentage defense (.400) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.312) ... Ball State was also 43rd in the nation in scoring defense, 36th in field goal defense and 43rd in three-point defense ... Two years ago, the Cardinals held opponents to just 59.7 points per game.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State will be off until December 8 when it travels to Eastern Illinois for the second game of the home-and-home season series.
