Mules Basketball Host A Pair of Games This Weekend

OPPONENTS: William Jewell Cardinals (1-3)
                      Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars (1-1)

WHERE: Warrensburg, Mo. - UCM Multipurpose Building

WHEN:    Friday, Nov. 6 vs. William Jewell - 5 p.m.
             Saturday, Nov. 17 vs.Illinois Springfield - 4 p.m.

TIP-OFF
• Central Missouri Mules Basketball will continue their homestand to start the 2018-19 season. The Mules will go head to head with the Cardinals Friday at 5 p.m., then turn around to play the Prairie Stars at 4 pm on Saturday.
• The Mules finished the 2017-18 season 20-10 overall with an 11-8 mark in MIAA play to finish fifth in the regular season standings. The Mules season ended with a 72-68 loss to Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Tournament.
• The Mules were picked to finish fourth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• William Jewell went 20-9 last season and 10-8 in the GLVC, their best season since becoming an NCAA D-II institution.
• The Cardinals were selected seventh in the GLVC Preseason Poll.
• Illinois- Springfield went 14-14 overall last season and 6-12 in GLVC play, that record was the best season for UIS since 2011-12.
• The Prairie Stars were picked 12th in the GLVC Preseason Poll.

ON THE AIR
• The games will be broadcast on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with
Joe Moore Friday and Greg Hassler calling the action Saturday.
• The games will also be webcast online through the MIAA's Blue Frame portal at http://www.themiaanetwork.com/ucmmules. It is a pay-per-view webcast.

PROGRAM SNAPSHOT
• This is the 114th season of Central Missouri Mules basketball.
• The Mules have won two NCAA Men's National Championships (1984 & 2014) and four National Championships overall (1937 & 1938 NAIB).

MULE FEED
• The Mules return seven letter winners from last season as well as three redshirts to their 2018-19 team while adding five transfers and only one true freshman to the program.
• The Mules averaged 71.6 points per game and shot 48.2 percent from the field last season. Defensively, UCM allowed 66.3 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting.
• Back this season are three starters from a year ago: Jakob Lowrance, Blake Spellman and Matt Wilkinson.
• Eleven different Mules have appeared in the first two games this season.

SERIES HISTORY
• This will be the 35th meeting between Central Missouri and William Jewell dating all the way back to 1909. The Mules lead the series over the Cardinals 26-8.
• UCM and UIS have never met, this weekend match-up will be the first meeting.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
• The Cardinals went 20-9 last season and 10-8 in GLVC play, finishing second in the West division of the conference.
• The Cardinals are coming off their best season since moving to NCAA-II at 20-9 overall and qualified for the postseason tournament for the first time since 2015.
• Head Coach Larry Hollen leads the Cardinals in his 40th season. He has a record of 819-440 while coaching at William Jewell and a career record of 906-559.
• WJC returns two All-GLVC performers in seniors Pharroh Gordon and Keith Hayes.
• Pharroh Gordon will look to continue his double-double action. Last season Gordon averaged 14.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Gordon was named Male Athlete of the Year (Cecil Martin Award) after breaking a 39-year old WJC record with 9.1 defensive rebounds per game. He also was named second-team All-GLVC and received All-Defensive Team honors.
• Keith Hayes was also named Second Team All-GLVC and was one of the top scoring guards in the GLVC conference. Hayes led the team and averaged 18.4 points per game in his junior season shooting 48% from the floor and 40% behind the arc.
• Byran Hard will also be a player to watch for the Cardinals who averaged 13 points per contest while dishing out three assists per game.
• Last year, the Cardinals averaged 78.3 points per game, while giving up 83.3. They shot 46.4 percent from the field and allowed 46.8.

SCOUTING THE PRAIRIE STARS
• Illinois-Springfield went 6-12 last season in conference play and finished 14-14 overall. The Prairie Stars finished third in the GLVC conference in the Central division.
• The Praire Stars are lead by Bill Walker who is 45-66 at UIS and entering his third season as head coach.
• In the GLVC Preseason coaches poll the Prairie Stars were tabbed 12th.
•UIS is returning 10 players and four starters from their 2017-18 team. Their leading scorer Gilwan Nelson, as well as other key players such as Aundrae Williams, Vince Walker, Zach Steinberg, and Logan Gonce.
• Senior Gilwan Nelson is the returning top scorer for UIS. Nelson averaged 10. 8 points last season shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from behind the arc.
• Aundrae Williams was a young asset last season who averaged 8 points and 2.3 assists in his freshman season. Vince Walker is one of the teams top three-point shooters. Walker is among the program's all-time three-point leaders shooting 32.7 from the three-point line.
• Zach Steinberg is a returning top rebounder for UIS and is close to becoming the program's all-time leading rebounder. Steinberg averaged 5.6 boards per contest last season, with 3.8 being defensive. Logan Gonce is the teams returning assist specialist, averaging 2.8 assists per game last season.
• Last year, the Prairie Stars averaged 74.8 points per game and gave up 73.8 while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and allowing 44.8 percent shooting.

NEW ADDITIONS
• Central Missouri welcomes six newcomers to the roster in 2018-19 along with redshirt freshmen Mylan Collins (Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln College Prep HS), and Dawson Jones (Johnston, Iowa). The incoming players include five transfers and one freshman in Drew Apsher (Sedalia, Mo./ Bellevue (Neb.), Malik Barnett (St. Louis, Mo./ MCC-Penn Valley), James Byrd (Kansas City, Mo./ Missouri State), Solomon Finley (Winchester, VA./Cloud County CC (Kan.), Jafar Kinsey (Syracuse, NY./North Dakota), and Gavin Pinkley (Hillsboro, Mo./ Hillsboro HS).

BACKCOURT NOTES
• The Mules will have a number of options in the back court this season as they return four letterwinners, one redshirt freshmen and welcome five talented newcomers. Blake Spellman, Daniel Farris, DJ Anderson and Michael Winger will all return for the Mules this season. James Byrd and Jafar Kinsey join UCM as transfers from Division I schools Missouri State and North Dakota, and add three other transfers in Drew Apsher, Malik Barnett, and Solomon Finley, respectively.
• Spellman, Farris and Kinsey all started both games last weekend with Byrd and Finley both played significant minutes off the bench.

FRONTCOURT NOTES
• Jakob Lowrance looks to anchor the front court, for his last season as a Mule. Matt Wilkinson will be a contributing factor going into his junior season after appearing in 30 games 16 of which he started as a sophomore and averaging 20.0 points per game. Dawson Jones who redshirted the 2017-18 season will look to be a factor as well as Brandon Emmert who played in 29 games averaging 10.3 points per game. The Mules welcome one newcomer to the front court in one true freshmen. Gaven Pinkley comes in as a Freshman from Hillsboro, Missouri where he scored over 2,000 points in his career and grabbed over 1,000 rebounds.
• Lowrance, Pinkley and Emmert all saw big minutes last weekend with Dawson Jones getting his first taste of collegiate action as well.

MULES IN NON-CONFERENCE ACTION
• The Mules were 8-3 in non-conference games last season, including a 6-2 mark in regular season non-con games. They are 143-35 over the last 15+ seasons with their 2-0 start this year.
• Central Missouri is 70-1 in the last 71 non-conference home games at the Multipurpose Building.

MULES AT HOME
• The Mules are 46-15 all-time at home under Coach Doug Karleskint with their 2-0 start to the 2018-19 season.
• Last season they were 11-4 at the Multipurpose Building and are 512-103 at the Multi in their 43rd year in the arena.

INDIVIDUAL MILESTONES
• Jakob Lowrance is 77 points shy of cracking UCM's career Top 20 list for scoring, and 64 points shy of eclipsing 1,000 career points.
• Blake Spellman is one point away from reaching 250 career points.
• Matt Wilkinson needs 15 more rebounds to reach 100.

MIAA LEADERS
• Central Missouri is currently home to the No. 1 scoring defense in the MIAA. They've given up 64.5 points per game to lead the league.
• The Mules also lead the league in free throw percentage at 92.9% which is also the second best in Division II.
• UCM's 52.8% shooting from the field is second in the conference.
• Blake Spellman's 4.5 assists per game rank sixth in the MIAA and he's third in the league shooting 54.5% from three.

UCM DURING THE KARLESKINT ERA
• Doug Karleskint has a record of 82-41 (.667) as he begins his fifth season as head coach at Central Missouri and a 171-75 (.695) overall mark in his eighth season as a head coach.
• He became the first Mules' head coach to start his first season at UCM 7-0 when he accomplished the mark in 2014-15.
• His 25 wins in 2014-15 were the most by a first-year head coach in Central Missouri history.
• Karleskint became the fourth Mules' head coach to win at least 20 games in his first season.
• Before coming to UCM, he spent the previous five seasons at Arkansas Tech, including the last four as head coach. He compiled an 89-34 (.724) 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 BASKETBALL HISTORY
• In the past 16 years, 23 former UCM players have gone on to play professional basketball.
• Four players are either currently playing professionally or on a professional roster; Donte Adams (Conejos De Tuxtla (Mexico), Charles Hammork (Kosovo, Ylli Therande), Michael Hicks (Poland, Polpharma-Pakmet), and Zack Wright (Germany, Brose Basket).

THE NEXT LEVEL
• In the past 16 years, 23 former UCM players have gone on to play professional basketball.
• Four players are either currently playing professionally or on a professional roster; Donte Adams (Conejos De Tuxtla (Mexico), Charles Hammork (Kosovo, Ylli Therande), Michael Hicks (Poland, Polpharma-Pakmet), and Zack Wright (Germany, Brose Basket).

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETICS
• Central Missouri has won a combined 215 MIAA regular season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured two national championships, two MIAA regular season and two MIAA tournament championships.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 161 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won 10 national championships during Hughes' tenure (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014, women's indoor and outdoor track & field in 2015, and women's soccer and women's basketball) and 12 national championships overall.
• In 2016-17 and 2017-18, Central Missouri won the first two MIAA's Commissioner's Cup trophy for the conference's top overall athletic department.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM
• Central Missouri had 252 student-athletes named to the 2016-17 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 22 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.
• 20 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had five student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in their respective sports.
• All-time UCM is fourth in NCAA-II with 103 Academic All-Americans.
• Carly Thomas of Jennies Bowling was awarded prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships last year.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Daniel Farris: G; 6' 1"; Junior

#22 Matt Wilkinson: F; 6' 6"; Senior

#12 Michael Winger: G; 6' 4"; Redshirt Junior

#23 Gaven Pinkley: F; 6' 9"; Sophomore

#15 Drew Apsher: G; 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#5 Daniel Farris
: 6' 1"; Junior
: G

#22 Matt Wilkinson
: 6' 6"; Senior
: F

#12 Michael Winger
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#23 Gaven Pinkley
: 6' 9"; Sophomore
: F

#15 Drew Apsher
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G