Men's Basketball Game Notes: Calvin (Nov. 10)
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* The Game: The Ferris State University men’s
basketball team visits Calvin for its final exhibition game on
Tuesday, Nov. 10, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) inside the new
Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.
* Ticket Information: Tickets will be available
prior to the contest. For more information, please call Calvin
Athletics Department at (616) 526-6037.
* Media Coverage: There will be no local Ferris
media or radio coverage for Tuesday’s exhibition contest.
Live internet statistics are tentatively slated to be provided for
the game and a link will be available on FSU’s Athletics
Website. Calvin will also provide an audio webcast.
Please visit the FSU website at
www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com and click on the
"upcoming events" scoreboard tab for direct links.
* Follow On Twitter: Bulldog basketball fans can
follow Tuesday’s contest and all other FSU games this year
via Twitter. To access the service, please visit www.twitter.com/ferrisathletics
to follow the tweet-by-tweet coverage with periodic scoring
updates.
* About Ferris State: Ferris State University is
a NCAA Division II school located in Big Rapids, Mich., with an
enrollment of 13,572. The Bulldogs are a member of the Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Big Rapids is located
in West Michigan approximately 60 miles north of Grand Rapids or 40
miles west of Mount Pleasant, Mich. FSU also plays NCAA Division I
men’s ice hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association
(CCHA).
* Last Time Out: Ferris State battled the
preseason nationally-ranked Dayton Flyers tough for most of the
night, but came out on the short end of a 88-73 exhibition decision
last Tuesday (Nov. 3) evening at the historic University of Dayton
Arena in Dayton, Ohio. An announced crowd of 11,169 fans watched
the Flyers take a 48-35 halftime edge. The Bulldogs whittled the
lead down to 10 points with 4:38 to play, but could get no closer.
The Bulldogs had three players reach double-figure scoring. Junior
forward/center Justin Keenan (Grand Rapids/Ottawa
Hills), a preseason NCAA Division II All-American, paced Ferris
with a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard
Austin Randel (Lake City/McBain) added 22 points
and junior guard Darien Gay (Detroit/Henry Ford)
chipped in with 10 points for FSU. Dayton is currently ranked 21st
in the Division I Associated Press preseason poll along
with 22nd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
* Coming Up Next: Ferris tips off the regular
season with a non-league tilt at Lewis (Ill.) on Sunday, Nov. 15,
at Romeoville, Ill. The following night, Nov. 16, the Bulldogs
visit Central Michigan for a regular-season contest against the
NCAA-I Chippewas in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
* The Records: Ferris State (0-0, 0-0 GLIAC)
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. Calvin finished the 2008-09
season with a 19-8 overall record and captured the Michigan
Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) crown with a 12-2
league mark.
* The Coaches: Ferris State – Bill Sall
(Calvin, 1994), 8th season, 106-108 (.495) – (3-2-0 vs.
Calvin). 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. Calvin – Kevin Vande
Streek (Dordt, 1981), 14th season at Calvin, 20th season
overall. Vande Streek was named the 1999-2000 Division III Coach of
the Year by Basketball Times, DIII News and by the National
Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) after leading the Knights
to a Division III National Championship.
* Series Information: Last season (11/11/08), the
Bulldogs posted an 80-66 home win over Calvin in an exhibition game
at FSU’s Jim Wink Arena in Big Rapids. Overall, FSU and
Calvin have squared off 82 times in men's basketball regular-season
action with the Knights holding a commanding 65-17 series'
advantage, but the Bulldogs registered a 78-64 road win in the last
meeting nearly four years ago (11/22/05). The Bulldog men own a 3-2
regular-season record against the Knights under Bill
Sall.
* Welcome Back: Ferris State welcomes back eight
letterwinners this season from a year ago. Included in the total
are two all-conference picks in junior forward/center
Justin Keenan and junior guard Darien
Gay. They helped form one of the nation’s youngest
teams as part of a nine-member freshmen class two years ago.
* Preseason All-American: Ferris State junior
center Justin Keenan has been named a NCAA
Division II Preseason All-America selection by three different
sources, including being tabbed to the Division II
Bulletin “Super 16” Preseason squad. He also
claimed acclaim from both The Sporting News and
Basketball Times. Keenan was honored last season as a
National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II
All-Midwest District Second Team pick along with a Daktronics
All-Midwest Region Second Team and All-GLIAC North Division First
Team selection. He led the GLIAC in scoring (20.2 ppg.) while
ranking second in offensive rebounds (3.4 rpg.), fourth in
rebounding (7.3 rpg.) and fourth in field goal percentage (.546)
last campaign. He’s a two-time team MVP.
* FSU Wins Exhibition Opener: Ferris State opened
its 2009-10 exhibition slate by beating Aquinas 66-56 in a
preseason tilt on Oct. 29 at Greenville (Mich.) High School’s
North Gym. The Bulldogs led 29-23 at halftime and outscored the
Saints 37-33 in the final half. Four players reached double-figure
scoring with junior forward/center Justin Keenan
pacing the Bulldogs with a game-high 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Both junior guard Darien Gay and senior guard
Austin Randel chipped in 12 points apiece while
sophomore guard Dontae Molden (Detroit/Pershing)
totaled 11 points. The contest marked the return of Bulldog junior
guard Matt DeHart (Greenville) to his hometown for
the game.
* Good Exhibition Mark: Ferris had won three
consecutive exhibition games prior to last Tuesday’s loss at
Dayton. Last year, the Bulldogs defeated Cornerstone 74-73
(10/30/08) and Calvin 80-66 (11/11/08) in home exhibition games at
FSU’s Jim Wink Arena with the third victory coming in this
year’s exhibition opener against Aquinas.
* Sall vs Calvin: Last year’s exhibition
win over Calvin in Big Rapids enabled FSU head coach Bill
Sall to continue his recent success in the Ferris-Calvin
series. Sall, who was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American as
a standout player at Calvin from 1985-90, has been involved in 13
previous Calvin-Ferris regular-season meetings while emerging
victorious 10 times. Sall led the Knights to three victories as a
player (1987-90) and recorded a 2-1 mark as a Calvin assistant
coach (1992-95) against the Bulldogs. He helped guide FSU to a 2-1
ledger during his initial Bulldog coaching stint from 1995-98 and
is currently 3-1 versus the Knights since returning as
Ferris’ head coach in regular-season play.
* The Last Meeting: Three players reached
double-figure scoring as Ferris State rolled to a 80-66 win over
longtime West Michigan rival Calvin in last year’s exhibition
(11/11/08) inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena. The Bulldogs jumped out to
a 48-31 halftime lead and never trailed in the final 30 minutes of
the game while leading by as many as 25 points with 17 minutes to
go in posting the convincing win. Ten of the 12 FSU players who
played in the outing scored. Justin Keenan paced
FSU with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
* FSU Picked Second: Ferris State was picked to
finish second in the 2009-10 GLIAC North Division Preseason Media
Poll announced in conjunction with the league’s annual media
day teleconference. The Bulldogs totaled 107 points in the
balloting and picked up two first-place votes while finishing
second in the North Division. Grand Valley State earned 17 of a
possible 24 first-place votes and led the division with 130 points.
Defending NCAA Division II National Champion Findlay earned 22
first-place votes in being selected the South Division favorite by
a group of 24 media members.
* Preseason Honorees: Ferris had two of the five
players named to the 2009-10 GLIAC North Division Preseason
All-Conference Team as chosen by the league’s head coaches.
Both Justin Keenan and Darien Gay
were on the five-member divisional team. Keenan was a first-team
all-league pick last season while Gay claimed All-GLIAC North
Division Second Team kudos a year ago.
* Last Season: FSU finished 14-14 overall and
placed third (12-10) in the GLIAC North Division last season. In
2008-09, Ferris also made its 10th GLIAC Postseason Tournament
appearance and fourth in the last five years. Last year represented
the seventh consecutive year the Bulldogs had won 10 or more games
under head coach Bill Sall after the program had
not done so in the four years prior to his arrival.
* The Bulldog Roster: Ferris’ current
2009-10 roster includes three seniors, four juniors, two sophomores
and four freshmen. Eight of the 13 players are guards while the
remaining five are frontcourt players. All 13 players on the
Bulldogs’ roster hail from Michigan.
* Season Opener: Ferris tips off the regular
season with a non-league tilt at Lewis (Ill.) on Sunday, Nov. 15,
at Romeoville, Ill. The following night, Nov. 16, the Bulldogs
visit Central Michigan for a regular-season contest against the
NCAA-I Chippewas in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
* Home Opener: The Bulldogs’ 2009-10 home
opener at FSU’s Jim Wink Arena in Big Rapids will be on
Monday, Nov. 30, when archrival Grand Valley State comes to town
for an 8 p.m. (ET) tilt. The contest will also mark Ferris’
initial GLIAC encounter and will be the second game of a
doubleheader with the Bulldog women facing the Lakers at 6 p.m.
(ET).
* Two Make Debut: Two FSU players saw their
first-ever action in a Bulldog uniform in the exhibition win
against Aquinas, including freshman forward Daniel
Sutherlin (Detroit/Renaissance) and senior guard/forward
Jon Yeazel (Middleville/Thornapple-Kellogg).
Sutherlin scored six points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two
shots in his debut. Yeazel is a former transfer from NCAA Division
I Central Michigan who redshirted last season..
* Head Coach Bill Sall: A 1994 Calvin graduate,
eighth-year FSU head coach Bill Sall previously
held assistant coaching positions at Calvin (1992-95), Ferris State
(1995-98) and Hillsdale (1998-02) prior to being named Ferris
State’s 11th head coach. Before joining the coaching ranks,
Sall was a standout player at Calvin from 1985-90. He twice
(1989-90) received second-team National Association of Basketball
Coaches Division III All-America honors and led Calvin to three
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAA) championships,
four NCAA-III Tournament bids and the 1990 NCAA-III Final Four.
* FSU History: Ferris State’s impressive
basketball tradition includes 11 GLIAC titles, eight NCAA Division
II Tournament appearances and a berth in the 1988 NCAA-II Elite
Eight. Ferris, which last won the GLIAC Tournament championship
during the 1997-98 campaign, captured a league record four
consecutive conference titles from 1986-90.
* Great Run: Ferris won back-to-back GLIAC North
Division crowns under Bill Sall in 2003-04 and
2004-05 while reaching the NCAA-II Tournament in both 2004-05 and
2005-06. FSU advanced to the NCAA-II “Sweet Sixteen”
during the 2004-05 season, which was Sall’s third season at
the Bulldog helm.
* Turnaround Time: The Bulldogs had posted only a
21-82 (.204) mark in the four seasons prior to head coach
Bill Sall's arrival, but have since went 101-100
(.501) and claimed two divisional titles while making two NCAA-II
Tournament appearances in his seven previous seasons at the helm.
FSU won only four games (4-22) the year before Sall arrived in
2001-02.
* Career Milestones: Ferris’ Justin
Keenan will enter the regular-season needing only 15
points to become the 26th player in school history to register
1,000 career points. He’s only eight rebounds shy of notching
his 400th career rebound as well.
* Looking At The Knights: Calvin finished the
2008-09 season with a 19-8 overall record and captured the MIAA
crown with a 12-2 league mark. Head coach Kevin Vande
Streek’s squad was selected as this year’s MIAA
co-favorite along with Hope. Calvin returns two full-time starters
and two part-time starters from its MIAA championship team of a
year ago headlined by 6-9 senior center John Mantel, who garnered
first team All-MIAA accolades after averaging 13.6 points and 7.3
rebounds a game. The Knights were listed 18th in the DIII
News Top 25 Preseason Poll with Mantel being chosen as a
Division III Preseason All-American.
* Van Noord Arena: The Van Noord Arena opened in
January of 2009 and is part of the $50 million dollar Spoelhof
Athletic Complex which features the Huizenga Tennis and Track
Center, the Venema Aquatic Center, the Hoogenboom Health and
Recreation Center and the Marian Hoogenboom Health Services. The
air-conditioned Van Noord Arena seats approximately 5,000 people
within 175,000 square feet of athletic and event-ready space.
