WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Feb. 3, 2021) - After four consecutive home games, Central Missouri Basketball is back on the road with MIAA match ups against Pittsburg State and Missouri Southern.
Opponents:
Pittsburg State Gorillas (8-7, 8-7 MIAA)
Missouri Southern Lions (8-7, 8-7 MIAA)
Where:
Thursday - John Lance Arena - Pittsburg, Kan.
Saturday - Leggett & Platt Athletic Center - Joplin, Mo.
When:
Thursday, Feb. 4 - 7:30 p.m. vs. Pittsburg State
Saturday, Feb. 6 - 3:30 p.m. vs. Missouri Southern
Fan Information:
In Pittsburg -
• Pittsburg State's John Lance Arena is limited to 25% capacity. Fans are strongly encourage to purchase their tickets in advance at the link above.
• Face masks are required at all times.
• Fans are strongly encouraged to socially distance themselves when seated and only sit with the group they entered the facility with.
• Restrooms and east-end concessions will be open, but fans are asked not to congregate in hallways or the lobby.
In Joplin -
• There will be no visiting fans permitted for Saturday's game at Missouri Southern.
On the Air:
• Home games will be broadcast on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and now the all new 107.9 fm. You can also stream online at warrensburgradio.com with Greg Hassler calling the action.
• All games will also be webcast online through the MIAA's Blue Frame portal at http://www.themiaanetwork.com/ucmmules/.
• Links to live stats and live video can also be found at ucmathletics.com.
Tip off:
• Central Missouri went 1-1 last week with a 89-82 upset victory over No. 23 Missouri Western before losing to No. 3 Northwest.
• The Mules were riding a four-game winning streak before meeting the Bearcats last week. Central Missouri recorded a season offensive performance scoring just 37 points against Northwest.
• Pitt State enters this week on a three-game winning steak after sweeping a pair of road games last week with wins over Northeastern State (68-62) and Rogers State (79-68).
• Missouri Southern also faced the RiverHawks and Hillcats week. The Lions defeated Rogers State 96-87 and Northeastern State 100-83 for their third consecutive victory.
• Missouri Southern's three-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night as No. 3 Northwest defeated the Lions 84-74 in Joplins. Cam Martin led MSSU with his third-straight 30-point game and earned his sixth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
• Prior their meeting with the Mules, MSSU will host Lincoln on Thursday, Feb. 4th.
Mules Feed:
• The 6-9 Mules are currently averaging 69.5 points per game shooting 44.5% (360-809) from the floor to rank ninth in the MIAA.
• Four players,
Cameron Hunter,
Ja'Cor Nelson,
Koray Gilbert and
Gaven Pinkley, are currently averaging in double-figure scoring.
• Four different Mules have led the UCM offense in their last four games. Last week, Hunter led the offense with 16 points in the Mules 70-64 victory over Missouri Southern while Gilbert led UCM with nine points in their loss to No. 3 Northwest Missouri.
•
Cameron Hunter leads the Mules offense averaging 12.9 ppg. The senior guard also leads UCM in free-throws made (76), free-throw percentage (86.4%) and assists (49). Hunter's free-throw percentage ranks fourth in the MIAA while his 1.6 assist to turnover ration ranks third.
•
Ja'Cor Nelson leads the offense with 68 made field goals at 49.6% shooting to average 11.9 ppg. Nelson also leads the Mules with 27 steals and is the second-best rebounded on the squad with 4.0 boards per game.
•
Gaven Pinkley leads the Mules at the boards with 4.7 rebounds per game while also averaging 10.9 ppg. Pinkley is currently shooting 42.4% (56-132) from the field and is tied with
Jalen Blaize for the team-high 22 made threes.
•
Koray Gilbert is shooting 50.7% from the field and 40% from the three-point range to average 10.9 ppg.
• Blaize leads the Mules from the three-point range with 22 three's on the season while averaging 9.5 ppg.
• Central Missouri's bigs
Ante Sustic and
Mohammed Abubakar lead the Mules from inside the paint. Sustic posts the team-high 62.8% field goal percentage and averaged 4.9 ppg while Abubakar is shooting 57.1% with 3.6 ppg.
• The Mules rank third in the league with 8.53 steals per game and fifth with a .740 team free-throw percentage.
• Central Missouri has shot over 50% in four games this season, including a season-high 56% in their win over Pittsburg State earlier in the season.
• The Mules have out-scored their opponents in the second-half in all games but five games.
Series History vs. Pittsburg State:
• Central Missouri picked up their first win of the season against Pittsburg State on Nov. 24th. The Mules shot a season 56% from the field and 62.5% from the three to defeat the Gorillas 88-80.
•
Jalen Blaize led the Mules offense against PSU with a season-high 25 points.
• The Gorillas have one four of the last six meetings against UCM. The Mules haven't won in Pittsburg since the 2016-17 season.
• Pittsburg State is currently 4-3 while playing at home this season.
Series History vs. Missouri Southern:
• In their second game of the season UCM suffered a 67-58 loss to MSSU in the Multipurpose Building.
• The Lions have one all but one of the last six meetings against the Mules. Central Missouri's last win over MSSU was a 54-52 upset over the No. 10 Lions at home last season.
• Missouri Southern is 3-3 in home games this season
Scouting the Gorillas (8-7, 8-7 MIAA):
• The 8-7 Gorillas are averaging 75.1 ppg and are shotting 45.2% (389-861) to rank sixth in the MIAA. They also rank seventh in the league from behind arc shooting 34.5% (111-322) from the three-point range.
• Pittsburg State's defense ranks third in the MIAA with 519 total rebounds and sixth with 34.6 per game. PSU also ranks fifth in blocks per game (2.53) and steals per game (7.2).
• The Gorillas have three players averaging in double figures on the season – junior forward Bobby Arthur-Williams, junior guards Martin Vogts, and junior guard Quentin Hardrict.
PSU Key Players:
• Arthur-Williams is shooting 47.8% from the field (64-134) while averaging a team-leading 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. He ranks ninth in the MIAA in rebounding and 17th in scoring.
• Martin Vogts leads the Gorillas from outside the arc with a team-high 31 made three pointers. Vogts also leads PSU with 28 steals this season.
• Quentin Hardrict is averaging 10.4 ppg and leads the Gorillas with 37 assists.
• Senior forward Zach Burch leads the Gorillas from inside the paint shooting 68.1% while averaging 7.6 ppg. Burch als owns the team-high 11 blocks.
• Burch recorded a season-high and team-high 17 points with the team-high eight rebounds in the Gorillas 68-62 win over Northeastern State last Thursday.
• Cameron Huefner led the Gorillas offense with 19 points in last Saturday's victory over Rogers State. The freshmen forward finished 7-10 from the floor, 3-4 from the three adn 2-2 at the line while also bringing down the team-high eight rebounds.
Scouting the Lions (8-7, 8-7 MIAA):
• Missouri Southern is the Division II leader in total blocks (52) and ranks second in total rebounds (123).
• The 8-7 Lions lead the MIAA in total blocks and rebounds, while ranking second points per game (80.7), total rebounds per game (37.9), total assists (196), rebound margin (3.6), blocks per game (3.71) and assists per game (14.0). The Lions rank third in the league with 8.1 three pointers per game.
• As a team, the Lions are currently shooting 47.6% (398-837) from the field to rank fifth in the league and 36.5% (114-312) from the three to rank fourth.
• Missouri Southern was ranked in the top-25 in the first four weeks of the 2020-21 season.
MSSU Key Players:
• Senior Cam Martin is the MIAA's top scorer with 359 total points and 25.6 ppg. Martin also leads the league in free-throw attempts (107) and total field goals made (219) while his .584 field goal percentage ranks second in the league.
• Martin was named this week's MIAA Player of the Week after averaging 34.5 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks last week against the Hillcats and RiverHawks.
• Against Rogers State, Martin had 38 points with eight rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal. He followed that with a 31 points, 12 rebound performance against Northeastern State. In the two contests, Martin shot 73 percent from the field, 71 percent from beyond the arc and hit 84 percent of his free throw attempts.
• Stan Scott is shooting 50% from the floor and 42.9% from the three to average 14.0 ppg for the Lions. Scott also averaged 5.6 rebounds per game and leads MSSU with 20 steals and the MIAA with 15 blocks.
• Winston Dessesow is also averaging in double-figure scoring with 12.6 points per game and leads the Lions with a .833 free-throw percentage.
• The Lions also saw two career-best performances last week from Christian Bundy and Lawson Jenkins.
• Bundy started the game at Rogers State 6-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from the three-point line and finished with a career-high 25 points, as well as his first double-double of the season with 10 rebounds.
• Jenkins had a career game at Northeastern State as he scored 29 points on 7-of-12 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
• Missouri Southern was ranked in the top-25 in the first four weeks of the 2020-21 season.
Last Time Out:
WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Jan. 30, 2021) - The third-ranked Bearcats held Mules basketball to a season-low scoring performance as Northwest Missouri picked up its 13th consecutive road win, tying the longest active streak among NCAA Division II schools.
• Northwest Missouri opened the first half of the game shooting 53.6% (15-28) from the field and 60% (9-15) from the three.
• The Mules landed just eight field goals on 25 attempts for 32% shooting in the first 20 minutes.
• The Bearcats offense only improved in the second half, hitting 11-18 field goals for 61.1%.
• In total, Northwest Missouri finished 26-46 for 56.5% shooting from the floor. The Bearcats recorded their second-best three-point field goal percentage of the season at 56.5% (13-23) and tied their second-best free-throw percentage of the season at 93.8% (15-16).
• Central Missouri finished with season-low shooting percentages from the field, three-point range, and foul line. The Mules went 16-50 from the field for 32%, 2-14 from outside the arc for 14.3%, and 3-7 from the line for 42.9%.
• Northwest out-rebounded the Mules 42-15.
• The Mules finished with the game-high eight steals and the game-low 11 turnovers.
•
Koray Gilbert went 4-9 from the field with one three to lead UCM with nine points. Gilbert also finished with the team-high three assists.
•
Gaven Pinkley finished with six points.
•
Ja'Cor Nelson led the Mules defense with three rebounds.
• Garrett Luintra,
Mohammed Abubakar and Nelson each finished with two steals.
Individual Milestones:
• Gavin Pinkly surpassed 600 career points in UCM's win over Newman.
• Pinkley is five rebounds away from his career 300th.
•
Garrett Luinstra surpasses his 200th career point last week against Rogers State and is just three rebounds away from his career 100th.
•
Koray Gilbert is nine points away from his career 200th.
