Mules Basketball opens season at Sanford Pentagon Basketball Showcase

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TIP-OFF
• The defending NCAA-II National Champion Mules officially open the 2014-15 season at the Sanford Pentagon Basketball Showcase this weekend in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
• The Mules will open the season on Friday night at 6 p.m. against 14th-ranked Minnesota State before taking on Sioux Falls on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
• This will be the first official game 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.
• The Mules enter the season as the top pick in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• 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 national championship team.

STARTING FIVE
• The Mules projected starting line-up consists of three players who played significant minutes for UCM last season in Preston Brunz, Brennen Hughes and Kyle Wolf. Brad Woodson, redshirted last season after coming to UCM from St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis and the fifth starter, Rakeem Dickerson transferred to Central Missouri from Arkansas State, where he averaged 4.5 points and 2.0 assists in 32 games last season.
• 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 between Central Missouri and both Minnesota State and Sioux Falls.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
• Minnesota State enters the 2014-15 season ranked No. 14 in the NABC Division II Preseason Poll.
• The Mavericks return two starters from last season's conference championship team that finished 30-5 overall and earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Regional. MSU advanced to the regional semifinals, where they lost to Northwest Missouri State, 71-66.
• Assem Marei and Zach Monaghan both return after leading the team with 16.3 and 15.4 points per game, respectively. Marei also led the Mavs in rebounding with 8.2 per contest, while Monaghan led the team with 8.1 assists per game.
• The Mavericks averaged 84.9 points per game a season ago and held opponents to 68.7 points per outing. MSU shot 50 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range, while opponents shot 40 percent from the floor and 32 percent from beyond the arc.
• Minnesota State had a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio with 600 assists and 361 turnovers. The Mavericks averaged 17.1 assists and just 10.3 turnovers per game.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• Sioux Falls is coming off a 15-12 season in 2013-14, including a 12-10 conference record and a sixth place finish in the NSIC South Division.
• The Cougars return three starters from last season's squad, including Charles Ward who averaged a team-leading 13.6 points and pulled down 5.1 rebounds per game last season.
• Jordan Stotts also returns after starting 26 of 27 games last year. He averaged 9.6 points and a team-leading 5.8 boards per contest.
• Sioux Falls averaged 80.9 points per game last season, while giving up 82.4 per contest. They shot 45 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. Opponents shot 47 percent against the Cougars, including 41 percent from beyond the arc.
• They averaged 34.9 rebounds per game and averaged nearly 20 made free throws per game.
• The Cougars averaged 13.6 turnovers per game a season ago.

LAST TIME OUT • DUKE 87, CENTRAL MISSOURI 47 • 11/8/14
DURHAM, N.C. -- The defending Division II National Champion Mules got off to a fast start, but eventually fell to Division I fourth-ranked Duke 87-47 in exhibition action on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Mules jumped out to a 13-7 lead five minutes in to the game.
    The Mules jumped out to the early lead on a layup from Sean O'Brien and a Rakeem Dickerson jumper to grab a 6-3 lead. Kyle Wolf drilled a three-point on the next possession and UCM led 9-3 with 15:02 to play in the half. A Preston Brunz jumper at the 13:24 mark pushed the UCM lead back to six at 13-7, but that's when Duke took over.
    The Blue Devils got a pair of free throws from freshman Grayson Allen to pull within four and start a 17-0 run that gave Duke a 24-13 lead with 5:57 left in the first half. A layup from Brennn Hughes and a three-pointer from Jordan Epps stopped the run, for the time being. The half-ending run was 33-9 and gave Duke a 40-22 lead at the intermission.
    The second half started in the same fashion that the first half ended, the Blue Devils scored the first 10 points out of the break to lead 50-22 with 14:04 to play in the game. Hughes scored the first points of the half for UCM on a layup with 13:51 remaining, but Duke went on a 28-13 run to open a 78-37 lead with just over 5:00 left in regulation. The Blue Devils went on to win the game by 40, 87-47.
    The Mules were led by O'Brien's 12 points and four rebounds off the bench. Dickerson had eight points in his UCM debut and Hughes added six. Central Missouri shot 37 percent from the field, 21-of-56, including 3-of-10 from behind the three-point line. The Mules were 2-of-3 at the foul line. UCM pulled down 31 rebounds in the game and had 13 assists to 23 turnovers.
    Duke had four players in double figures, led by Justise Winslow's game-high 17 points. Preseason National Player of the Year Jahlil Okafor had 15 points and game-high nine rebounds. The Blue Devils shot 50 percent from the floor, 29-of-58, and made 7-of-25 from beyond the arc for 28 percent. Duke was 22-of-31 at the foul line for 71 percent.
    The Blue Devils out-rebounded the Mules 39-31 and had 17 assists to 13 turnovers. They came up with 11 steals and six blocks in the game.

MULES IN SEASON OPENERS
• The Mules have won 12 straight season-openers and are outscoring their opponents 83.3 to 59.6 in those 12 games.
• Central Missouri beat Northern State 66-65 in last year's season-opener at the Sanford Pentagon Showcase.
• UCM's last loss in a season-opener was a 76-56 defeat to Evangel to tip-off the 2001-02 season under Don Doucette.

MULES IN NON-CONFERENCE ACTION
• The Mules are 115-29 in non-conference games over the last 12 seasons. The Mules went 14-2 in non-MIAA games last year.
• Central Missouri is 53-1 in the last 54 non-conference games at the Multipurpose Building.

MULES IN NEUTRAL SITE GAMES
• UCM is 50-20 in neutral site games over the last 12 years after going 9-1 in neutral site games last season.
• The Mules went 2-0 at the Sanford Pentagon Showcase last year, beating Northern State and Augustana to open the season.

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 official game at Central Missouri on Friday night against Minnesota State.
• 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 30-minute 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 return home to host Missouri S&T in the home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The UCM Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be hosting a food drive that night. Fans who bring four canned food items or non-perishable food items will be given a free general admission ticket to the game. All donated items will go to the Warrensburg Food Pantry.
• Central Missouri will host Westminster College on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. at the Multi.