Men's BB Notes: SVSU (GLIAC Tourney)
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Tuesday, March
2
Men's Basketball at Saginaw Valley State, 7:30 p.m.
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* The Game: The Ferris State men’s
basketball team will visit Saginaw Valley State for a Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament quarterfinal
game on Tuesday, March 2, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. (EST)
inside O’Neill Arena at the Ryder Center in University
Center, Mich.
* Ticket Info: Tickets are $5 for adults and $3
for students. They will be available at the door or for more
information please contact the Saginaw Valley State Box Office by
calling (989) 964-4261.
* Media Coverage: Tuesday’s game will be
carried live locally on WBRN 1460 AM and 107.7 FM with Rob Bentley
providing the broadcast coverage. It will also be streamed online
at www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com. SVSU is also
slated to offer a live video webcast along with live internet
statistics. Complete links will be available via FSU’s
Athletics Website at www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com -
click on the “upcoming events” tab for links.
* Follow On Twitter: Bulldog fans can also follow
all FSU postseason games via Twitter. To access the service, visit
www.twitter.com/ferrisathletics
to follow the tweet-by-tweet coverage with periodic scoring
updates.
* The Teams: The Bulldogs, who presently have
dropped three of their last four outings, own a current 15-12
overall record and posted a fourth-place tying 13-9 mark in the
GLIAC’s overall standings. SVSU holds a 16-11 overall mark
and tied with FSU at 13-9 in the conference. FSU is the fifth
overall seed in the tournament with the Cardinals seeded fourth by
virtue of a sweep over the Bulldogs during the regular-season.
* FSU Tourney Notes: The Bulldog men, who will be
making their 11th all-time tournament appearance, own a 7-12 mark
in 10 previous trips to the annual event ..... FSU advanced to the
GLIAC Tournament title game in 2005-06 before dropping an 80-58
decision in the final contest (3/3/06) at Grand Valley State
......... Ferris captured the 1997-98 league tourney title and will
be making its fifth appearance in the last six years, including a
second-straight berth ...... FSU has never faced SVSU in GLIAC
Tourney play ....... Ferris dropped a 67-49 quarterfinal-round
decision in last year’s tourney opener at Grand Valley State
(3/3/09).
* Tourney Notebook: The tournament remains on
campus sites this season for the eighth year in a row. Prior to the
2002-03 season, the four previous tournaments were held at a
neutral site location, with the final three taking place at the
DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids, Mich ....... The winner of this
season’s GLIAC Tournament will receive the league’s
automatic berth into the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Tournament slated
for March 13-16 at a site to be determined.
* The Records: Ferris State (15-12, 13-9
GLIAC) has won nine of its last 14 games to date this season, but
presently lost five of its last six to date. FSU recorded a 14-14
overall record during the 2008-09 season and placed third in the
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North
Division with a 12-10 league mark.
Saginaw Valley
State holds a 16-11 overall mark and was also 13-9 in GLIAC
play this season. The Cardinals and FSU tied for second place in
the North Division standings. SVSU has won three of its last five
overall to date this year.
* The Coaches: Ferris State – Bill Sall
(Calvin, 1994), 8th season, 121-119 (.504) – (9-7 vs. SVSU).
Sall was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American at Calvin
College from 1985-90 and previously held assistant coaching
positions at Calvin (1992-95), Ferris State (1995-98) and Hillsdale
(1998-02). He served as FSU’s interim coach for a brief
portion of the 1995-96 season.
Saginaw Valley State
– Frankie Smith, 3rd season at SVSU. Smith took over
prior to the 2007-08 after helping NCAA Division I Miami (Ohio) to
three-straight postseason appearances as an assistant.
* Third Meeting This Year: Tuesday’s
contest will mark the third meeting this year between FSU and SVSU.
The Cardinals swept both regular-seson meetings by winning 86-72 in
Big Rapids (Jan. 9) and 68-66 in University Center (Feb. 18).
* The Tourney Field: The other quarterfinal round
games include Lake Superior State (#6 seed) at Hillsdale (#3 seed),
Wayne State (#7 seed) at Grand Valley State (#2 seed) along with
Ashland (#8 seed) at Findlay (#1 seed). The HC-LSSU game will also
take place Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. (EST) with the other two matchups
beginning at 8 p.m. (EST). The remaining teams will be reseeded
after the quarterfinals and the semifinals and finals will be held
Friday and Saturday, March 5-6, at the site of the highest
remaining seed. Findlay is the top overall seed.
* Key Tourney Notes: The Bulldogs have dropped
each of their last two GLIAC Tourney quarterfinal games as FSU fell
on the road at rival Grand Valley State in the first round of both
the 2007 and 2009 tournaments ...... FSU holds a 3-5 overall mark
to date in GLIAC Tourney play under head coach Bill
Sall ...... Ferris beat Northern Michigan in the
quarterfinals at home in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006
...... Overall, the Bulldogs are 3-2 in GLIAC Tourney
quarterfinal-round play since the league implemented the current
eight-team format.
* Looking At SVSU: Saginaw Valley State presently
holds a 16-11 overall record and was 12-9 in the conference. A year
ago, SVSU posted a 9-17 overall record and finished fifth in the
GLIAC North Division standings with a 9-13 league record. The
Cardinals have dropped four of their last seven outings to date
this year, but are coming off a 70-64 road win at Michigan Tech in
the regular-season finale this past Saturday (Feb. 28). Senior
guard Avery Stephenson leads four players in double-figure scoring
at a team-best 16.3 points per game this campaign. SVSU is
presently 10-5 at home this season.
* Series Info vs SVSU: Ferris maintains a 46-33
lead heading into Tuesday’s 80th series meeting with Saginaw
Valley State. Last year, the two teams split a pair of meetings
with the Cardinals winning by a 93-84 score in University Center
(1/10/09) and Ferris capturing a 80-69 win in Big Rapids (2/19/09).
Earlier this year (Jan. 9), SVSU pulled out an 86-72
triumph at Wink Arena before beating the Bulldogs 68-66 only a
week and a half ago (Feb. 18) in University Center. Ferris head
coach Bill Sall owns a current 9-7 career coaching
mark against SVSU. The Bulldogs have won 10 of the last 18
series’ encounters overall, but Saginaw Valley State has
captured four of the last five to date.
* Looking For The First: Ferris has lost
four-straight games at the Ryder Center with the Bulldogs’
most recent win in the facility coming more than three years ago
(1/31/07) by a 84-73 count. No current Bulldog player has ever beat
SVSU in University Center, Mich.
* Career Leaders vs SVSU: FSU junior
forward/center Justin Keenan has averaged 16
points and 7.3 rebounds against the Cardinals in six previous
career meetings, including a 28-point and 12-rebound effort versus
SVSU in the most recent matchup (Feb. 28) .... Senior guard
Josh Young has averaged 13.8 points and 4.8
rebounds in four meetings against the Cardinals with junior guard
Darien Gay netting 10.6 points in six outings
..... The Cardinals held Young and Gay to a combined total of only
two points in the last meeting ...... Senior guard Austin
Randel tallied two double-figure scoring efforts versus
SVSU this year with 14 points and 10 points.
* FSU Notebook: Junior forward Lou
Williams ranks third all-time on FSU’s career
blocked shots leaders list with 104 and needs 12 more to move into
second place ..... Justin Keenan passed former
Bulldog standout Dennis Johnson (528, 1969-73) to become the
school's all-time leader in made free throws during this
year’s game at Saginaw Valley State (Feb. 18). He currently
has made a school-best 547 of 741 (.738) career attempts.
* Bulldog Bites: FSU’s Justin
Keenan scored his 1,500th career point last week versus
Northwood (Feb. 25) and now has 1,534 points to date. He moved past
former standout Dennis Springs into ninth place on the school
scoring chart and is now only 10 shy of tying former guard Carlton
Epps (1,544) for eighth place ....... Darien Gay
is currently sixth on the school’s career list with 315
assists and is only five steals shy of 10th place all-time in that
category at FSU ....... Senior guard Josh Young
recorded his 600th career point against Northwood ...... Senior
guard Austin Randel has reached double-figure
scoring 10 consecutive games and 12 times overall in his last 14
outings this season. Randel has compiled 10 points or more in 17
outings this year ...... Darien Gay is 22 points
away from recording his 800th career point while Austin
Randel needs 17 points for his 500th career point. Randel
had a FSU career-high with 24 points in last week’s win over
Northwood.
* Conference Record Book: The 465 points scored
by FSU’s Justin Keenan in conference
regular-season games this season was only six away from matching
the league’s all-time seasonal record of 471 points recorded
by Saginaw Valley State’s Michael Williams in 1993-94.
Additionally, Keenan’s 176 free throws made and 253 attempts
in league games topped the previous conference single-season
records of 132 makes and 196 attempts owned by former Bulldog
center Adam Anderson in 2000-01.
* Seniors Honored At “Operation
Giveaway”: The Bulldogs’ honored the senior
trio of Austin Randel, Jon Yeazel and Josh
Young prior to their final home contests last Saturday at
Wink Arena. The annual “Senior Day” celebration came
before a season-high crowd of more than 1,800 fans who turned out
for the “Operation Giveaway” promotion in which the FSU
Athletics Department handed out more than $16,000 worth of prizes
and giveaways. All three seniors reached double-figure scoring in
the setback to Wayne State.
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