OPPONENT: Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (23-0, 13-0 MIAA)
Missouri Western Griffons ( 11-13, 5-8 MIAA)
WHERE: Maryville, Mo.
St. Joseph, Mo.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 13 - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 16 - 3:30 p.m.
TIP-OFF
• Central Missouri Mules Basketball is back on the road after a 1-1 week at home.
• Last week, the Mules took on Washburn and Emporia Stare. The Mules fell to Washburn Wednesday, 74-69.
• The Mules brushed that off and were focused for Saturday to play Emporia State. A long battle to the finish, but a jumper from Jafar Kinsey with 1.6 seconds left defeated Emporia State 73-71. • Northwest Missouri comes into this match up 23-0 overall and 13-0 in the MIAA. Last time out the Bearcats conquered Lindenwood 72-41, before taking down Lincoln 75-57 in Jefferson City.
• The Griffons of Missouri Western come into the match up 11-13 and 5-8 in the MIAA. Before the Griffons host the Mules on Senior Day they will host Southwest Baptist, on Thurs. Feb. 14.
ON THE AIR
• The games will be broadcast on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with
Greg Hassler calling the action.
• The game will be web streamed on the miaanetwork, and live stats will be available from sbubearcats.com
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.
• This season the Mules are averaging 70.2 points per contest and shooting 43.9 percent from the field.
• Defensively, UCM allows 69.6 points per contest on 43.0 percent shooting
SERIES HISTORY
• The series between the Mules and Northwest dates back the 1919-20 season. The Mules lead the series overall 127-94, on the road Northwest leads 54-51.
• The Mules and the Griffons first met in the 1986-87 season. The Mules lead the overall series 39-28.
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
• Northwest enters the 2018-19 season 23-0 after going 2-0 last week in the MIAA. The Bearcats defeated Lindenwood 72-41, before taking down Lincoln 75-57 in Jefferson City.
• NWMS is averaging 87.0 points per game, shooting 52.8 percent from the field as a team 42.8 percent from behind the arc, and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line.
• The Bearcats have four players averaging double-digits per contest thus far this season in Joey Witthus, Trevor Hudgins, Ryan Hawkins, and Bernard Diego.
• Joey Witthus leads NWMS averaging 21.4 points per game, shooting 52 percent from the field, 86.9 percent from the free-throw line.
• Trevor Hudgins is next averaging 19.2 points per game, a team-high of 5.7 assists, shooting 53 percent from the field and 85.5 percent from the line.
• Ryan Hawkins is another solid player for the Bearcats, leading them in rebounds with 9.6 a game, leads the team in blocks with 18, and is averaging 14.9 points per contest. Hawkins leads the team in steal with 55, he shoots 91.7 percent from the free-throw line, and 54.3 percent from the field.
• The last Bearcat in double-digits is Bernard Diego. Diego, averages 12.1 points per matchup and shoots 51 percent from the field
SCOUTING THE GRIFFONS
• The Griffons enter the 2018-19 season 11-13 after going 1-1 last week in the MIAA. MWSU fell to Lincoln in Jeff City 66-52. But went on to St. Charles to defeat Lindenwood 88-81.
• MWSU is averaging 75.7 points per game, shooting 42.6 percent from the field as a team 33.1 percent from behind the arc, and 71.1 percent from the free-throw line.
• The Griffons have four players averaging double-digits per contest thus far this season in Lavon Hightower, Bryan Hudson, Tyrell Carroll, and Tyus Millhollin.
• Lavon Hightower leads MWSU averaging 19.5 points per game, shooting 48.1 percent from the field, 73.6 percent from the free-throw line, averages a team-high of 7.3 rebounds per contest and has a team-high of 14 blocks on the season.
• Bryan Hudson is next averaging 14.1 points per game. Hudson shoots 51.8 percent from field goal range, 77 percent from the line, and leads the team behind shooting 43.9 percent from the three.
• Tyrell Carroll leads the Griffons in steals with 24 on the season. Carroll averages 13.3 points per contest and leads the team in assists with 3.5 a game.
• Tyus Millhollin is the final Griffon averaging 11.1 per contest, he is second in steals with 16 thus far and shoots 79.3 percent from the line.
MULES STAT LEADERS
• The Mules have found a way to move the ball to get points on the board. UCM has three players averaging double-digits, and two more players close to tapping into double-digits. Jafar Kinsey leads UCM scoring 12.8 points per contest. Jakob Lowrance is next averaging 12.4 per game. Blake Spellman is the final Mule in double-digits, scoring 10.6 points per game. Daniel Farris is a strong player for the Mules averaging 9.6 points, as well as Matt Wilkinson who averages 8.2.
• The Mules are shooting 43.9 percent from the floor, 68.9 percent from the free-throw line, and 35 percent from three.
• Daniel Farris is the leader in the field dishing out 76 assists so far which is 12th in the MIAA. Blake Spellman is also ranked in the MIAA for his assist average sitting at 8th averaging 3.6 a game and 54 total. Daniel Farris's 1.1 steals per contest make him 17th in the MIAA in steals.
BACKCOURT NOTES
• The Mules will have a number of options in the backcourt 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.
• Kinsey is back in the mix averaging 12.8 points per game, 5.1 rebounds. Spellman has started in 15 games this season while dishing out 54 assists. Farris has started in every game this season dishing out 76 assists thus far. Spellman averaging double digits with 10.6. Farris averages 9.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Winger has seen some starting action shooting averaging 6.7 per contest.
FRONTCOURT NOTES
• Senior Jakob Lowrance is back on the court after an early injury. Lowrance is back averaging double-digits sitting at 12.4 per game with 6.9 rebounds per contest.
• Freshman Gaven Pinkley and Sophomore Brandon Emmert have stepped up in the frontcourt after a few Mules fell to injury. So far on the season, Pinkley is getting a feel of things on the court averaging 4.5 points per game, 2.7 rebounds. Brandon Emmert has had several standout games for the Mules averaging 6.0 points per contest and 4.4 rebounds per game.
• Matt Wilkinson went down due to injury in the Washburn game, which gave Pinkly his first career start as a Mules against Mid-America Nazarene. Wilkinson started in 21 games and leads the team in steals with 20 while grabbing 3.0 rebounds a game. Wilkinson returned against Avila and lead the Mules to an 86-71 victory with 16 points and is back averaging 8.2 points per game shooting, 73.3 percent from the free-throw line.
MULES IN CONFERENCE ACTION
• In the 2018-19 season, the Mules have had a rocky start to conference play but have come back strong within the last week with a record of 5-8 in the MIAA.
• A season ago the Mules were 11-8 in conference play.
• Under the direction of Head Coach, Doug Karlskint the Mules are 51-41 overall in conference play.
MULES ON THE ROAD
• The Mules are 22-28 all-time on the road under Coach Karleskint. The Mules got their first road victory against Central Oklahoma this season and are 1-6 on the year thus far. UCM went 4-5 on the road last season and are 0-2 this season.
