Mules tip-off exhibition play on Saturday at Duke

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TIP-OFF
• The defending NCAA-II National Champion Mules open the 2014-15 exhibition portion of their schedule with a trip to Durham, North Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 8 to take on the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils at 12 p.m. CDT.
• This will be game No. 1 of the Doug Karleskint era. He takes over the reigns from Kim Anderson, who was hired as the head coach at the University of Missouri following the 2013-14 national championship.
• This will be the first ever meeting between Central Missouri and Duke.
• The Mules enter the season as the top pick in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Duke comes in at 1-0 in exhibition contests this season. The Blue Devils beat Livingstone 115-58 on Tuesday night in Durham, North Carolina.
• The Blue Devils are the preseason favorite to win the ACC and Jahlil Okafor is the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year in addition to being an AP Preseason All-American.
• Central Missouri is 8-12 in exhibition games over the past 12 seasons, including 4-12 in exhibition games against Division I opponents.
• The Mules were 30-5 a season ago, the third 30-win season in program history, the seventh 20-win season in the last 12 years and the 23rd in school history.
• Last season was the 11th straight season of at least 18 wins for UCM, the longest active streak in the MIAA and tied for the longest streak in conference history with Northwest Missouri, who accomplished the feat from 1997-2008.
• Central Missouri finished 16-3 in MIAA play and captured a share of the MIAA regular season championship for the third straight season. It was the sixth conference crown in the last 12 years and 24th in school history.

QUICK HITS
• This is the 110th season of Central Missouri Mules basketball.
• Central Missouri is third all-time in NCAA Division II men's basketball with 1,615 wins.
• In the Mules' 30 wins last season they are averaged 81.5 points per game and shot 50.6 percent from the field. They limited opponents to 40 percent shooting and 66.2 points per game.
• In the Mules' five losses they averaged 75.2 points per game and shot 42 percent from the field.
• The Mules lost nearly 54 percent of their scoring and 49 percent of the rebounding from last year's team.

STARTING FIVE
• The Mules projected starting line-up consists of four players who played significant minutes for UCM last season in Preston Brunz, TJ White, Brennen Hughes and Kyle Wolf. The fifth starter, Brad Woodson, redshirted last season after coming to UCM from St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis.
• Brunz started 20 of 27 games played last season, averaging 5.4 points per game. White averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game off the bench, while Hughes started five games and averaged 5.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Wolf started 18 of 35 games during his freshman campaign and averaged 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

MORE QUICK HITS
• UCM returns one all-MIAA performer from a season ago. Dillon Deck was a First Team All-MIAA pick last season after averaging 13.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He was a second team All-District selection by the NABC and was named to the Cenral Region and Elite Eight All-Tournament Teams.

SERIES HISTORY
• This will be the first ever meeting, exhibition game or regular season, between Central Missouri and Duke.

ABOUT THE BLUE DEVILS
• Duke enters the season ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press preseason poll and the top choice to win the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• The Blue Devils return two starters and seven letterwinners from last year's team that went 26-9 and finished third in the ACC with a 13-5 conference mark.
• Duke lost leading scorer and rebounder Jabari Parker to the NBA, but return starters Quinn Cook (11.6 ppg) and Amile Jefferson (6.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg) as well as reserve Rasheed Sulaimon (9.9 ppg).
• The Blue Devils added four McDonald's All-Americans; National Player of the Year Jahlil Okafor, three-time Minnesota Player of the Year Tyus Jones and two-time Texas Player of the Year Justise Winslow and Grayson Allen. All four players averaged over 22 points per game last season.
• The Blue Devils beat Livingstone 115-58 on Tuesday night in their exhibition opener.
• Seven different players scored in double figures in the win for Duke, including Winslow's game-high 19 points.
• Jefferson and Semi Ojeleye paced the team in rebounding with eight boards apiece.

LAST TIME OUT • CENTRAL MISSOURI 84, WEST LIBERTY 77 • 3/29/14
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- In a game that saw 14 ties and nine lead changes, the Central Missouri Mules used  a 6-0 run in the last minute to beat No. 7 West Liberty 84-77 to win the NCAA-II Men's Basketball National Championship. The Mules rallied from a nine-point deficit to claim their first men's basketball title in 30 years.
    The Mules (30-5) came out of the gates on fire, jumping out to a 9-2 lead just two and half minutes into the game. The Hilltoppers (31-4) found their footing, however, and began to get to the bucket against the UCM defense. West Liberty tied the game on a Shawn Dyer layup at the 13:52 mark and again on subsequent possessions. A jumper from Jordan Epps put UCM back in front 19-17, but Seger Bonifant drilled a three-pointer to ignite a 10-0 run that gave the Hilltoppers a 27-19 lead with 8:27 to play in the half.
    Jon Gilliam drained a triple for the Mules that broke the WLU run and pulled UCM back to within five. The teams traded free throws and the Hilltoppers led 33-25 with 5:41 to play in the half. The lead grew to nine following a Cedric Harris jumper, but Brennen Hughes' layup and TJ White's tip-in pulled the Mules to within five at the 3:06 mark. Following a Harris layup the Mules hit back-to-back threes, from Epps and Preston Brunz, to pull within 37-36. A Charles Hammork free throw tied the game at 37, but a Harris layup with four seconds left in the half gave West Liberty a 39-37 lead at halftime.
    Mike Lamberti drained a three out the intermission to give the Hilltoppers a five point lead, but a layup from Dillon Deck and a dunk tip-in by Hammork pulled the Mules back to within one. The Mules tied the game at 43 on a Hughes layup with 16:58 to play. West Liberty went right back in front as the teams traded buckets on seemingly every possession.
    A three pointer from Brunz gave the Mules a 48-47 lead, but Keene Cockburn put West Liberty right back in front with a bucket on the other end. Neither team led by more than three points in the next few minutes as the lead changes hands back and forth. Down by three on two different occasions, Epps and Daylen Robinson each hit three pointers to pull UCM even. Robinson's first three at the 8:21 mark tied the game and his second in a row 1:20 later gave the Mules a 68-65 lead.
    Harris drained a three at the other end to tie the game, but Robinson hit another three to put UCM in front 71-68 with 5:31 to play in the game. Deck rebounded a missed free throw on the next trip and put it back in to give Central Missouri a 73-68 lead.
    Harris hit one of two free throws on the other end to cut the lead to four and Dyer's layup with 3:47 to play cut UCM's lead to 73-71. Hammork drained an open three-pointer to push the UCM lead back to five, but Dyer hit a pair at the line to pull the Hilltoppers within three.
    The lead was three at 78-75 following a pair of CJ Hester free throws when UCM turned the ball over on West Liberty's end of the floor. The Hilltoppers drove to the bucket, but missed the shot and Deck was fouled grabbing the rebound. He hit both free throws to give the Mules a five point lead with 34 seconds to play.
    On the next two possessions, the Mules forced turnovers and got run-out layups to seal the win and give head coach Kim Anderson his first national championship and the second in Central Missouri history.
    Robinson led UCM with a game-high 21 points. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the Elite Eight. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Deck and Hammork, who finished with 16 points and nine points, respectively. Hammork also pulled down 12 rebounds. Epps finished with 11 points off the bench for the Mules.
    Dyer and Harris led West Liberty with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Hester had 11 points off the bench. Dyer and Harris were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
    The Mules shot 44 percent from the field, 30-of-68, and limited the nation's No. 1 offense to 45 percent shooting, 28 of 62. The Mules made 11 threes in the game and shot 52 percent from beyond the arc.

BLOCK PARTY
• Senior Dillon Deck blocked 32 shots last season, the eighth most in a single season in Central Missouri history.
• He is three blocks shy of cracking UCM's career Top 10 list for blocked shots.

NEW ADDITIONS
• Central Missouri welcomes seven newcomers to the roster in 2014-15 along with redshirt freshman Brad Woodson (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney HS). Newcomers include Donte Adams (Bronx, N.Y./Cecil CC), Tony Cochran (St. Louis, Mo/Harding), Rakeem Dickerson (Little Rock, Ark./Arkansas State), Taylor Johnson (Flower Mound, Texas/Central Arkansas), Michael Luscombe (Boonville, Mo./Moberly CC), Jared Pearson (Osceola, Mo./Wentworth Military Academy), and Rico Richardson (Topeka, Kan./Howard College).

KARLESKINT ERA BEGINS
• New head coach Doug Karleskint will coach his first game at Central Missouri in the exhibition opener at Duke.
• He spent the previous five seasons at Arkansas Tech, including the last four as head coach. He compiled a 90-34 (.726) record with the Wonder Boys with four conference championships and four trips to the NCAA-II National Tournament, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2012.

MULES IN THE POLLS
• Despite returning two starters and eight letterwinners from last season's national championship team, the Mules are not ranked in any of the Division II preseason polls.
• The Mules have been ranked in 139 polls in the history of the program, the seventh most in NCAA-II history.

MULES BASKETBALL HISTORY
• As we begin the 110th season of UCM basketball, the Mules have compiled a 1,615-924 (.636) record in 2,539 total games.
• The Mules are the third winningest program by victories in NCAA-II history.
• Central Missouri is one of just three NCAA-II programs with 1,600 all-time wins.
• The Mules have won 20 or more games 23 times in the history of the program.
• Central Missouri has won 30 or more games in a season three times, including last year.
• UCM has won or shared 24 MIAA regular season championships and five MIAA tournament titles.

THE NEXT LEVEL
• In the past 12 years, 21 former UCM players have gone on to play professional basketball.
• Four players are either currently playing professionally or on a professional roster; Charles Hammork (Kosovo, Ylli Therande), Michael Hicks (Poland, Polpharma-Pakmet), Sanijay Watts (Germany, Dorsten) and Zack Wright (Germany, Brose Basket).

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETICS
• Central Missouri has won a combined 200 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured seven MIAA regular season titles, the most of any school in league history and the second time Central Missouri accomplished the feat.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 146 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won six national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003 and men's basketball in 2014) and eight national championships overall.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM
• Central Missouri had 220 student-athletes named to the 2013-14 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 41 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned all-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 17 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had 12 student-athletes earn Academic All-Region awards in their respective sports with seven of those earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

MULES BASKETBALL ON THE AIR
• Central Missouri basketball is broadcast live on the 44,000-watt 98.5 "The Bar, 1450 KOKO and online at warrensburgradio.com. All games are broadcast by 1450 KOKO/98.5 "The Bar" Sports Director, Greg Hassler and Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, Mike Knipper.
• The Doug Karleskint Show, Live from Traditions Restaurant presented by Bob Showers of Ameritas Investment Corp. will air on Monday nights at 6 p.m. on 98.5 The Bar and 1450 KOKO as well as warrensburgradio.com.
• The Central Missouri Sportspage is your weekly one-hour look at UCM athletics each Thursday night at 7 p.m. on KMOS-TV and re-airs on Saturdays at 5 p.m.

LIVE VIDEO STREAMING
• Live video coverage for all Central Missouri home and away MIAA games will be available through Stretch Internet on a pay-per-view basis. The cost is $9.95 for a day pass or $89.95 for an all-season pass for UCM basketball. With a day pass, fans can access any MIAA game being broadcast that day. Fans can access webcasts through the GameCentral by Stretch Internet link on the UCM Athletics homepage or through the "Video" links on the Mules Basketball schedule page. Fans can also go directly to
portal.stretchinternet.com/ucmo/

UPCOMING
• The Mules open the 2014-15 regular season next weekend at the Sanford Pentagon Basketball Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. UCM will open the regular season on Friday night at 6 p.m. against 14th-ranked Minnesota State. UCM will take on Sioux Falls on Saturday at 2 p.m. to wrap up the season-opening tournament.